It is always easier to sit in the bleachers and observe the game than it is to play. Observers just walk in and take their seat, often questioning the coach’s decisions, the players’ ability, or the referees’ calls. The real action, though, happens on the field or the court where winning or losing is determined by the skill, ability, and quick thinking of a few dedicated athletes. The same is true in any church, organization, or enterprise. Individuals must decide whether they will be observers or participants—back-row sitters or front-row leaders.

Back-row sitters are those who are content to criticize the actions and decision of others without becoming a part of the solution themselves. Those on the back row have a know-it-all attitude, pointing out the change that needs to take place in the organization, but refusing to be agents of change. 

In Front Row Leadership: Stop Criticizing and Start Leading, Rob Ketterling issues a challenge to every pastor, CEO, student, factory worker, and homemaker, to get off the sidelines and into the game by becoming the change they want to see in others. Ketterling is pastor of River Valley Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a church he planted, that has grown to thousands of attendees across multiple campuses. 

Rob Ketterling issues a challenge to every pastor...to get off the sidelines and into the game by becoming the change they want to see in others. 

Ketterling admits, though, that he wasn’t always a front-row leader. In fact, he’s spent his fair share of time on the back row being a part of the problem. He found that from the back row he could gain an audience, exert a certain amount of control, and gain influence with others around him. Ketterling also discovered that positive change never happens from the back row. In his words, front row leaders kick up dust like a truck driving down a dirt road. The dust is created by forward motion. People on the back row stir up dust too, but “like children in a sandbox—they’re tossing dirt into the air, but they aren’t moving. They stir up dust that just settles back on them.”

Ultimately the difference between back-row sitters and front-row leaders is attitude. Front-row leaders have a forward-leaning attitude that sees endless possibilities rather than a half-empty glass. The solution? Those on the back row must have a change of attitude to come into alignment with leaders already on the front row. Ketterling uses his own example of coming into alignment with his fellowship’s leadership to demonstrate what can happen with a change of attitude and perspective. That alignment, although it takes time and requires humility, results in a new unity with those in positions of leadership as well as opportunities for someone to move into leadership positions.

If you realize you are on the back row but you desire to move to the front, what do you do? You need to be around other front-row leaders, but you need to be around them strategically and wisely. Ketterling offers four pieces of advice: 

1. Pay attention to what’s going on around you (learn to see the big picture, don’t get preoccupied with single issues).
2. Master and demonstrate problem-solving and creative-thinking skills (help your leaders solve problems by thinking with them, not against them).
3. Don’t get lost in the mix (make sure you’re staying close to your leaders).
4. Eliminate back-row banter (prove you can be trusted by controlling your tongue and being loyal).

One of the book’s most critical components from a leadership development perspective is found in chapter 10, “Leading Between the Promise and the Platform.” It is one concept every aspiring leader needs to digest. Ketterling rightly states that one cannot wait to get prepared to lead until their leadership is needed. You must first prepare to lead and then wait patiently for your opportunity. While awaiting their opportunity, front-row leaders in waiting should learn to rejoice (developing an attitude of authentic joy), redirect their attention (focusing on God and others rather than themselves), and relax their minds (living in God’s peace).

Ketterling ends the book with a challenge for front-row leaders everywhere: “If we’re going to be front-row leaders, we must accept our responsibility for developing future front-row leaders.” I agree. The church and the world desperately need more leaders calling Christians to move up from the back row to the front.