A friend called me recently. A mega-church pastor has offered him a senior position on the staff. "But," he said, "there's one problem. We have a fundamental disagreement on a philosophy of vulnerability. He thinks it's bad and I think it's good."

If you're a leader, I hope that statement explodes in your spirit. It does in mine. It takes a secure leader to be vulnerable. By showing his weaknesses, he gives his enemies potential weapons with which to attack him. Expose your underbelly to someone and they might shoot you - it goes against our self-protective instincts. My guess is that maybe 10% of leaders practice this.

The problem is, self-protection isn't Jesus' way of leading. He said, "The first shall be last and the last first." When you're weak, you'll be made strong. In essence, "Show your underbelly to the people who might hurt you and let me take care of protecting you." And, of course, he modeled this for us right to the end.

Only by making ourselves vulnerable do we truly empower our followers. A great majority of people live with truck-loads of self-doubt. They are well aware of how they regularly mess up and live in prisons of fear.

The key to unlock the jail door and liberate them from this prison is vulnerability. "You're not alone," it says. "To be human is to mess up. Here's what grace looks like. I've got prison clothes on, too."

Vulnerability is a good thing. It allows us to take the enemy's weapons and use them against him. Do yourself a favor - never follow a leader who doesn't regularly model vulnerability. Any gospel that doesn't include large measures of vulnerability is not a true gospel and any leader worth following will wear his humanity openly.

"This man has been prayed for, he has been brought back from the dead by prayer in the name of Jesus."

Louis Aguirre: "So where was Jeff during all of this? He believes he left his body and crossed over to the afterlife."

Jeff Markin: "I was actually standing in the back of the funeral home, and I came to realize that this was my funeral. But, in the middle of sitting alone in darkness, Jeff says a figure suddenly appeared to him.

Jeff Markin: "There was a figure that identified himself as Bob, and he was going to make sure that everything was going to be OK. I'm figuring that was my guardian angel. At that time, a very peaceful feeling and very relaxed feeling came over me, and then he said he had to go and, the next thing I know, I woke up in my daughter's arms."

He woke up to a second chance, one that can't be explained by medicine or science. As Dr. Crandall puts it, the only answer is divine intervention.

Dr. Chauncey Crandall: "You are speaking to a scientist, a cardiologist, someone who loves medicine. I've never, ever seen this. There are always people that do not believe these events, and I will just tell them that it did happen. It was a real story, a real life that was restored."

Jeff wasn't exactly a believer before that day. He didn't regularly attend church or read the Bible, but this experience has made him believe there is a higher purpose for his life.

Jeff Markin: "I feel like maybe I am supposed to be a messenger. I want to get the right message across that miracles do happen."

A miracle that brought him life after death.

Jeff Markin: "I'm so happy I have a second chance."

Louis Aguirre: "Jeff says he is now attending church mainly because he wants to figure out why he was chosen for a second chance at life."

See another blog on vulnerability here.