Night Fears

John Ortberg explored Leaders' greatest fears — not the obvious and persistent ones, but the danger of a leader's mission being subverted by what he called their "shadow mission" — the persistent but enticing false identity that, e.g., Jesus encountered on the Mount of Temptation.

Relating this to the Book of Esther, he explored how to stay on track and be the person we were called to be — "who knows, but God could have put you in this position for just such a time as this?" (Esther 4:14)

He gave some nightmare Shadow missions for Churches:

• "A Successful Church for Successful people"
• "We may not be growing, but we know how to judge Churches that are"
• "Successfully avoiding conflict since 1893"

What's our/my real mission, and what's the ghastly subverting shadow alternative?