Evangelicals Top List of Influential Christian Leaders

According to a new survey of 614 American pastors, Billy Graham, Rick Warren and James Dobson are the most influential leaders in current-day Christianity.

By Pauline J. Chang, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, January 18, 2005

According to a new survey of 614 American pastors, Billy Graham, Rick Warren and James Dobson are the most influential leaders in current-day Christianity.

The survey, conducted by the California-based Barna group, asked pastors to name three individuals whom they believe have the greatest influence on churches and church leaders in the U.S. Of the 300-plus names mentioned, Barna found that only 10 were repeated consistently by 4 percent or more of those surveyed.

Billy Graham, widely regarded as the Apostle Paul of this era, was chosen by 34 percent of the recipients; Rick Warren, the author of the best-selling book series “purpose driven life” and “purpose driven church,” came in second place at 26 percent. Surprisingly, President Bush was named by 14 percent of the pastors; James Dobson, head of the popular Focus on the Family ministry, came in fourth with an 11 percent selection.

Ohters on the list were Bill Hybels at 9 percent, T.D. Jakes at 7 percent, John Maxwell at 6 percent, George Barna at 5 percent, Pope John Paul II at 5 percent, and Max Lucado at 4 percent.

In a separate question, the pastors were asked to list the three individuals they believe would make a good and trusted spokesperson for Christianity.

Graham once again came in first with 58 percent of pastors selecting him; Dobson was second with 20 percent support. Warren came in third with 14 percent of the pastors naming him. George Bush was at 7th place with 4 percent of the votes.

The others listed were: Jakes with 7 percent of the votes, Charles Swindoll and Jerry Falwell –each with 6 percent of the votes, Hybels and Charles Colson – with 5 percent of the votes, and D. James Kennedy Pat Robertson and Lucado – with 4 percent of the votes.

Upon analyzing the data, Barna concluded that the influence of Billy Graham is astounding.

"Billy Graham has been a consistent presence in the minds and hearts of church leaders and the public at large for many years," researcher George Barna said in a statement. "However, many of the other leading influencers in the Christian church are relative newcomers to such widespread impact. Names like Rick Warren, T.D. Jakes, Franklin Graham, John Maxwell, Joyce Meyer and Will Willimon would not have appeared on the list a decade ago.

"It is also interesting, though, how relatively few names -- less than two dozen -- show up on the two lists, across multiple segments of the pastoral community. That suggests that the influence of these leaders is both broad and deep," he said.

Barna also observed that evangelicals highly influential, considering they make up only 7 percent of the nation’s adult population. According to the results, evangelical leaders were three out of every five names – 59% - listed by the pastors as the greatest influence on churches. Contrastingly, pastors associated with mainline Protestant denominations were listed only 6 percent of the time.

Barna also found that denominational background influenced the pastors’ selection. Baptist pastors added Falwell, Adrian Rogers and John MacArther to their list, while Pentecostals chose the fellow Pentecostal leaders Joyce Meyer, G.E. Patterson, Benny Hinn, Pat Robertson and Paul Crouch on the list.

“Pastors tend to list the people they know best and with whom they feel most comfortable, whether the individual has a national audience or not. It’s natural for pastors to assume that whoever influences them also influences other people to a similar degree. However, this research indicates otherwise,” Barna observed.

The survey, released on January 14, was conducted in December 2004. The maximum margin of sampling error was at ±4.1 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

For more information, visit the Barna group online at: www.barna.org