Titus: Requirements for Church Leaders

Paul mentors Titus in how to set up a successful church. First of all, a church needs leaders. There must be an authority structure, a first among equals, a team of decision-makers, leaders. Paul notes that the churches on Crete that lacked leaders were "unfinished" and that the situation needed to be "straightened out". But the authority structure God has in mind for the church is not some random guy getting to call all the shots, do anything he wants, and control people's lives. The standards for church leaders are very high, since they are entrusted with God's work and God's people.
The church leader must have children who follow Jesus and "are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient". This means that leaders do not have the right to hide their family life from the church--leaders must be holding each other accountable and be in each others' lives to prevent them from putting up a nice mask and pressuring their children into performing for the church so no one will think badly of them. When believers become church leaders, they present themselves as the responsible party of their family, as it were, and Paul tells Titus that if these men have crazy, disobedient, unbelieving kids, there must be something wrong with the way they led their families so they shouldn't be put in charge of the church.
The church leader must not be overbearing. He can't pressure people into doing what he wants; he can't force decisions on people; he can't be dictatorial and tyrannical. Instead, he must be hospitable, inviting input and conversation from others in the church. He must be humble, welcoming, gentle, and doing everything out of love for Christ and His church rather than for "dishonest gain". Church leadership is not a one-way line of communication. Leaders make decisions and parishioners submit to those decisions, certainly. But leaders must be hospitable and accountable to their parishioners, welcoming different opinions, personalities, critiques, and suggestions. Church leadership that is a dictatorship is not Biblical.
The church leader must hold firmly to the gospel, for the gospel is the foundation of his whole job as a leader: encouraging others by sound doctrine and refuting those who oppose the message. Specifically, he must hold firmly to the message as it has been taught (e.g., by Jesus), not as he feels it should be or as others want it to be. The leader must not cater to the whims of human desires, whether his own or others'. If he doesn't agree with the gospel as it has been taught, then he ought not be a leader in the church. If other people don't like hearing the gospel as it has been taught, he has a responsibility to them to continue preaching the truth. The leader must not change the message in order to be more popular, or culturally relevant, or seeker sensitive. God has entrusted the church leader with His message and His people, and it is a weighty responsibility. Those who teach and lead God's people will be judged against higher standards (cf. James 3:1), and that is not something to take lightly.