"The best gift we can give this country is to raise up a whole new generation of Christian leaders," said renowned author and speaker Dr. John Maxwell this week during a banquet celebrating Landmark Christian School's 10th anniversary. "We have a leadership vacuum."

And leadership, he said, is one of the necessary elements of success. The other elements are relationships, equipping others and attitude.

You have to put energy into relationships, he said; be others-oriented and smile. "People won't go along with you unless they can get along with you."

Then we must pour our lives into developing others and passing our vision on to them, Maxwell said. In the church, for instance, there are many laymen with wonderful spiritual gifts who, when equipped, will add great value to the senior leader. In fact, Maxwell said he believes the major change of the church in the 20th century will be a move from solo pastors to team leaders.

Attitude, he said, is "the only huge difference-maker we have a choice in. ... If you don't like it, change it." He noted many people have "destination disease" and think, "if only I could ..." These people are not unhappy with where they are, he said they're unhappy with who they are.

To raise up good leaders, Maxwell said, it is vital to be good leaders first. "We teach what we know, but we reproduce what we are," he said. "An organization never grows beyond the level of its leadership." He also noted that the secrets to success and failure are found in our daily agenda; neither happen overnight.

"God's gift to me is my potential," Maxwell added. "My gift to him is what I do with my potential."

Maxwell is known across the world as a motivator, encourager and equipper of leaders. He was senior pastor of one of America's largest churches for 14 years, and recently founded Injoy, Inc., a leadership development institute. He has authored such books as "Developing the Leader Within You" and "Be a People Person." He and his wife Margaret live in Atlanta and have two children.

Landmark Christian School, now in Fairburn, was formed in Fayetteville in 1988 as a nondenominational college preparatory Christian school that seeks to honor God through the pursuit of excellence in nurturing the spiritual, academic, physical and social growth of its students. From a first-year enrollment of 170 students, the school has grown to a total this year of 770 students in grades K4-12 and has seen great expansion of its buildings and programs.

Honored during Landmark's "Celebrating a Landmark Decade" annual banquet Thursday in the Georgia International Convention Center were Charles Perry Duncan, first chairman of the board, Dan Cathy, coach Bill Thorn, Ed Kosiba, and Martha Doran, for whom Landmark's library will now be named.

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