Can Focus survive without Dobson as leader?

James Dobson resigned Friday as chairman of Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family, and although he will continue to host the organization's radio broadcast and write its newsletter, his departure raises the question of whether Focus can survive without his leadership.

Dobson, 72, has been easing away from the helm of the organization he founded in 1977.

Six years ago, he resigned as Focus' president and gave up day-to-day operational duties.

His departure as chairman means he will have little involvement in administrative duties.

"For 32 years I've flown this plane one way or another, and it has been a wonderful ride," said Dobson, whose wife, Shirley, also resigned from Focus' board of directors.

Dobson, who has had heart problems in the past, said during a press conference Friday that health was not an issue in his decision. He said simply that the time had come to move on.

"I feel good about it and sad about it," he said.

Dobson said he's confident that Focus will continue on as strong as ever, but he is also realistic.

"Everything has a shelf life," Dobson said.

Dobson's resignation is a reminder that the day will come when his separation from Focus will be complete - and that could be a blow to the Christian organization.

Indeed, some Christian ministries have found it difficult to continue without their charismatic founder.

After the late Jerry Falwell backed away from hands-on operation of the Moral Majority, a Christian lobbying group of the 1980s, the organization shuttered soon after. When Pat Robertson stepped down in 2001 as head of the lobbying group the Christian Coalition of America, it became shadow of itself, with membership in a freefall.

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has struggled to replace its legendary founder, and announced Monday that it was laying off 10 percent of its staff.

The TV ministry "Hour of Power" has struggled since its 82-year-old founder, the Rev. Robert H. Schuller, pared down his appearances on the show. And Grace Cathedral, the glass-walled megachurch in Garden Grove, Calif., where Schuller preached thousands of sermons before giving the reins to his son three years ago, reported losing $5 million in revenue last year.

Some experts call these dramatic turns of fortune a symptom of "the cult of personality" - the result of the messenger becoming equally or more important than the message.

Dobson, for decades the charismatic face of Focus, may be in this category, said Randall Balmer, a professor of American religion at Barnard College in New York.

"Any organization that coalesces so completely around a charismatic individual is going to have difficulty making a transition to new leadership," Balmer said.

Laura Olson, a political science professor at Clemson University in South Carolina, is an expert on the intersection of faith and politics. She said recent evangelical history reveals "a cautionary tale when your organization stakes too much on one individual."

"The challenge of Focus now," she said, "is to put a new face on it, and that is a very tricky thing."

But Olson also said that Focus has done everything right so far.

"They have been transitioning Dobson out gradually over years," Olson said, "and the fact that he will continue doing his radio show will further dilute any negative impact."

Gary Bauer, head of American Values, a conservative Christian nonprofit in Washington, D.C., said Focus will continue unscathed after Dobson because of its long-term transition planning and continued emphasis on helping couples maintain strong marriages.

"There are still plenty of stressed-out families looking to Focus for guidance," said Bauer, who has worked with Dobson and co-wrote a book with him.

"People are following Focus, not James Dobson," added Phil Burress, president of the Citizens for Community Values, a faith-based group in Ohio.

Focus still faces hurdles, however. Last fall, Focus cut more than 200 jobs and is down to 950 employees. And Dobson's influence in the political arena was questioned when his support for Republican presidential candidate John McCain failed to give the Arizona senator much of a boost among evangelicals.

But Focus officials are optimistic the organization will survive because Dobson's been laying the groundwork for a smooth transition.

"One of Dr. Dobson's objectives during the last decade has been to help identify the next generation of leadership for the ministry, and to see it established securely before he stepped away from administrative oversight. That purpose has now been fulfilled," Focus said in a news release.

As for Dobson, he said he's not ready to retire just yet. In addition to hosting his radio show, he said he'll continue to speak publicly about family values and other issues.

"If you think you are rid of me in that respect," he said, "you are wrong."

Patrick P. Caruana, a Focus board member since 1996, is taking over as chairman.

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ABOUT JAMES DOBSON

James Dobson, 72, was raised in Bethany, Okla., and San Benito, Texas, the only child of a Nazarene preacher and a mother who "modeled the virtues of the Christian family," according to a biography by Rolf Zettersten.

In 1967, Dobson received a doctorate in child development from the University of Southern California. From 1969 to 1983, he was an associate clinical professor of pediatrics at the USC School of Medicine. He also served for 17 years on the attending staff of Children's Hospital of Los Angeles in the division of child development and medical genetics.

By the late 1960s, he had become increasingly disturbed by the cultural changes in the U.S. According to Zettersten's book, he started speaking at churches and teacher conferences, where he "condemned the new morality, demanded more discipline in the schools, taught parents how to reassert their authority at home and unflinchingly called sin by its biblical name - sin."

In 1970, he published his first book, "Dare to Discipline," which gave him national notoriety. He started Focus on the Family from a one-room office in Arcadia, Calif., in 1977. The organization moved to a 185,000-square-foot campus in Pomona, Calif., then moved to Colorado Springs in 1991, in part because of the high cost of operating in Southern California.

As Focus' following and influence grew, Dobson was courted by presidential candidates, and he became a player on the national stage on issues related to the family, serving on a number of national commissions and panels. He's written about three dozen books, and last year, his nationally syndicated radio show became the first faith-based radio program to be inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame.