Can one liberal, Bible-doubting preacher take down a strong Bible-preaching church?

Les explains that he could already see that great, strong, Bible-preaching churches, by just the coming of one liberal, Bible-doubting preacher, could go down the tube, and he says we have all seen it. He connects this to the principle that a church will rise no higher than its leadership. That leadership centers naturally in the pastor, but it also involves his leadership of lay people, whether called elders or deacons. The congregation will rise no higher than that leadership takes them. Les applies the same truth to everyday intercourse: we become like the people with whom we spend the most time. He illustrates it with an Iowa politician's cliche: if you run with skunks, you will smell like them. Running with people of no integrity or no compunction about right and wrong means their ways rub off, and you cannot help it.