Unseen Leadership Episode 37: Derwin Gray on Focusing on Discipleship More Than Leadership

In this episode of the Unseen Leadership podcast, Chandler Vannoy and Josh Hunter are joined by Derwin Gray who is a former NFL football player and the founding and lead pastor of Transformation Church in South Carolina. He is also an author of many books, including his latest The Good Life. During their conversation, they discuss how to learn from failure, how to focus on discipleship more than leadership, and how to find true happiness in Christ. QUOTES FROM EPISODE 37: “Typically where leaders fail is that we delegate tasks instead of delegating responsibility.” “The best teacher is failure.” “I thought pastoring was just getting up and preaching, but it is not. That is about 5% of what I do.” “If you don’t deal with conflict on the front end and it gets toxic, on the back end it’ll be even more expensive and many more people will be hurt.” “Leaders must step into conflict to bring about resolution, to bring about restoration, and to bring about reconciliation.” “The greater we understand the cross and Jesus making peace, the greater that we can be peacemakers.” “In the New Testament, the word leadership is used 3 times and the word disciple is used 269 times. Why don’t we talk about discipleship more?” “Leadership and discipleship are two sides of the same coin. However, you can be a leader without a disciple, but every disciple is called to be a leader.” “Oftentimes we are ambitious for power and status instead of being ambitious for Jesus.” “Happiness is not about what you are getting. Happiness about who you are becoming.”“Wouldn’t it be sad to live a life of effective ministry and be broken hearted at the end of it.” RESOURCES MENTIONED The Good Life by Derwin Gray The Evangelism Linebacker Designed to Lead by Eric Geiger and Kevin Peck On Pastoring by H.B. Charles Jr. Conformed to His Image by Ken Boa Paul by N.T. Wright For more than 25 years, Portable Church® has helped thousands of churches launch strong and thrive in a mobile setting. We design custom solutions that fit each budget, vision, and venue. Everything you need to launch a mobile church — an inviting worship space, kids ministry areas, welcome spaces, storage cases, etc — all in a system refined to make it fast, easy & fun for the weekly volunteer teams. See what this looks like by visiting portablechurch.com/lifeway.