5 Leadership Questions Podcast on Church Leadership with Todd Adkins and Dan Iten

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Dan Iten break down an article from the Harvard Business Review titled "Who Has the D? How Clear Decision Roles Enhance Organizational Performance." The article emphasizes the importance of making quick and effective decisions to prevent loss of ground in businesses. Todd and Dan review two frameworks from the article, bottlenecks in decision-making and the RAPID framework for accountability, and discuss how these frameworks can be applied to improve clarity on decision-making in church settings. BEST QUOTES "Yes, it's important to pay attention to the prompting of the Spirit. But it's never going to go against what Scripture says, or what your good and godly wise counsel and people have to say." – Todd Adkins "Consensus is a worthy goal. But as a decision-making standard, it can be an obstacle to action or a recipe for the lowest common denominator compromise." – Todd Adkins "As a company grows, its operation becomes more complex. However, senior executives can no longer master the details." – Todd Adkins "Consensus kills when it's a watered-down decision, or it's something that's compromised, that isn't as clear or isn't as executable or doesn't get executed, because nobody owns it." – Todd Adkins RECOMMENDED RESOURCES "Who Has the D? How Clear Decision Roles Enhance Organizational Performance." – Harvard Business Review Article 90-Second Leadership – Vote, Voice, and View Meeting Framework

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Dan Iten are joined by Jeff Dalrymple who serves as the Executive Director of the Evangelical Council for Abuse Prevention (ECAP). In this episode, they discuss the importance of coaching and leading a team toward a shared mission, vision, and values. He shares his experiences in identifying gaps in knowledge and management surrounding child safety in the evangelical community and the challenges of leading a dispersed team during the startup phase of an organization. Jeff also emphasizes the importance of balancing work and family life and provides insights into his leadership approach in his home. BEST QUOTES "Advancing the mission and making things happen is important, but don't forget to care for and invest in the people around you." – Jeff Dalrymple "Shared experiences create relational deposits that are valuable in the life of a child and family." – Jeff Dalrymple "The mission is important, but how you go about accomplishing that mission is just as important." – Jeff Dalrymple "Constant communication and support with team members is necessary for successful leadership." – Jeff Dalrymple "God is calling us to a mission and a calling, but it's important to remember the relationships along the way." – Jeff Dalrymple "Modeling Christ's likeness and good leadership through presence and intentional words is important in the home." – Jeff Dalrymple "The key to leadership is coaching and leading a team towards the same mission, vision, and values." – Jeff Dalrymple RECOMMENDED RESOURCES The Conviction to Lead: 25 Principles for Leadership That Matters by Dr. Albert Mohler TRUST: The Firm Foundation for Kingdom Fruitfulness by Dan Busby This vs. That Podcast by Anchored Hope Evangelical Council for Abuse Prevention

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Dan Iten are joined by Chuck Peters, who serves as the Director of Lifeway Kids and Scott McConnell, who serves as the Executive Director of Lifeway Research. In this episode, they discuss the current trends, challenges, and needs of Generation Z and Generation Alpha in kids’ ministry. The conversation highlights the importance of adapting to the needs of younger generations, creating a culture of belonging, and addressing the need for identity. They also talk about Lifeway's book called “Flip the Script” which is a resource that offers tools for preschool kids and student ministries to effectively reach Gen Z and Alpha. Overall, the episode provides valuable insights for church leaders seeking to connect with and minister to younger generations. BEST QUOTES "We can't do what we've always done and expect a different outcome." – Chuck Peters "The biggest disconnect is assuming that kids think how we do." – Chuck Peters "The most connected generation in history through technology is simultaneously the loneliest and most isolated generation ever." – Scott McConnell "We have an epidemic of loneliness, of isolation, of separation. In real life, kids don't have real relationships." – Scott McConnell "We need to create a culture of belonging and speak to the need for identity among younger generations." – Chuck Peters "Once they find a place to belong, it heavily influences their identity." – Chuck Peters "We as the church have to adapt, based on the research, to use different approaches to connect with kids in ways that are actually meaningful." – Scott McConnell RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Flip the Script: Disrupting Tradition for the Sake of the Next Generation by Chuck Peters, Jana Magruder, and Stephanie Salvatore Hyfi: A Digital Curriculum to Reach the Next Generation of Kids and Students

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by David Putman who serves as a Senior Lead Navigator at Auxano where he is committed to catalyzing movements of disciples who make disciples and that plant churches that plant churches. In this episode, they discuss the church’s God-given mandate to make disciples and how to intentionally develop person-to-person discipleship so that your church can start planting other churches. They also talk about the importance of having a clear vision and strategy for churches as well as the need for simple and reproducible tools for discipleship and disciple-making. BEST QUOTES “I think the most important thing missing piece that churches often have is a lack of clarity around their vision.” – Todd Adkins “If you want to see movement on an individual or organizational level, you have to put tools in people's hands, and they need to be simple, reproducible tools.” – David Putman "It's not just about producing disciples, but disciple makers." – David Putman "If you really want a framework to be carried forward, it needs to be put in the form of a hammer, it needs to be put in the form of something that people can actually use." – David Putman “Every church needs a culture of discipleship. But sometimes we confuse the culture of discipleship with the micro tools of disciple making, so we end up calling everything discipleship.” – David Putman “The Kingdom of God grows by multiplication, not by addition.” – David Putman RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Contagious Disciple Making: Leading Others on a Journey of Discovery by David Watson and Paul Watson Breaking The Discipleship Code: Becoming a Missional Follower of Jesus by David Putman The Gospel Disciple Life: A Micro-Group Strategy for Making Disciples that Make Disciples by David Putman Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter by Liz Wiseman Auxano | Get A Visionary Plan For Real Church Growth

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins, Chandler Vannoy, and Dan Iten discuss the subject of how to transition jobs well. As Chandler transitions to a new role away from Lifeway, the team reflects on ways that leaders can improve the process of transitioning out of their role and how they can create an environment where open dialogue about job changes is encouraged. Here are some of the questions they discussed: Why is this important to the life of a church? What are some general reasons why people leave their jobs? What are some best practices or opposing views on how people look at this subject? What are some ways you’ve seen this go well and other ways that you’ve seen it go poorly? How do you develop a culture that is comfortable having these types of conversations? What are some best practices for you as the employee leaving to set up the next person for success? BEST QUOTES “If there's anybody that should be able to retain employees or retain staff, it's the church. Because the church should be the best place at developing, caring, and encouraging those people.” – Todd Adkins “People don't quit jobs, they quit leaders or organizations.” – Todd Adkins The employees that you have or those who are serving on your team are only there for however long God has them there. They're going to move to something else eventually and you can either look at that as you something that you can be against, or you can be for them in moving for that.” – Chandler Vannoy “One of the best things you can do as a leader is continually have an open dialogue with your team and have the viewpoint that God has whoever's on our team here for a season, and to be open handed with your people.” – Chandler Vannoy “Whenever someone leaves my team, I want them to be pulled towards something else, not pushed away from where they are at.” – Todd Adkins “We rise to our level of incompetence.” – Todd Adkins “You are not a good leader if everything falls apart once you leave.” – Todd Adkins RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Unseen Leadership Podcast by Chandler Vannoy and Josh Hunter

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins, Chandler Vannoy, and Dan Iten discuss the subject of how to conduct better, more effective meetings in whatever leadership setting you find yourself. Here are some of the questions asked during the episode: Why are meetings important for the local church? Why is it important to gather volunteers or others who aren’t paid staff? What are some best practices or opposing views about getting the most out of your team meetings? What are some good filters on how to determine what a meeting is about and whether something should be a meeting at all? What are some real-life examples of leading a team meeting well? How are meetings conducted in an effective manner in a much smaller context? Are there any resources that would be helpful in learning how to conduct more effective meetings? BEST QUOTES “You should not have a meeting to decide on what the question or the point of the meeting is.” – Todd Adkins “If you've got layers of teams, those should be done from a development standpoint to check in and make sure somebody's continuing to grow, or you're able to address any issues.” – Todd Adkins “I think it's really important to let your participants know in advance what type of meeting that's going to be so they can they you know that you have an agenda and a purpose for it.” – Dan Iten “Part of the issue with most meetings and why people feel like they're a waste of time is they don't get anywhere; they don't move things forward.” – Todd Adkins “Nothing frustrates a participant more than leaving a meeting feeling clueless about next steps.” – Dan Iten “Everything is a coaching moment.” – Todd Adkins “Coaching is not just critique; it is also encouragement.” – Todd Adkins “I don't care whether you're in a big church or a small church, everybody has an opinion on the way they make decisions.” – Todd Adkins “The cardinal sin of the modern day is wasting someone's time.” – Todd Adkins “Don't try to do a team meeting just because you feel that need to gather everyone together.” – Dan Iten RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable...About Solving the Most Painful Problem in Business by Patrick Lencioni The Coming Church Revolution: Empowering Leaders for the Future by Carl F. George 90 Second Leadership Starters

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Dan Iten are joined by Brad Lomenick who is a leadership consultant, speaker, founder of BLINC, and author of The Catalyst Leader and H3 Leadership. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: What is one thing you’ve read recently that has had an impact? What are you listening to? What is one tool or resource you’ve started using recently? Who is one person who has influenced you recently? What is one lesson you’ve learned recently? BEST QUOTES “I think a lot of training is really more about confidence than it is competence.” – Todd Adkins “If you become a curator of connections, resources or talent, you automatically have influence in the place you traffic.” – Brad Lomenick “Conversation, community, and connection around a table with people today is arguably more desirable than a conference or a big gathering where it's only about content.” – Brad Lomenick “As you think about the way you curate your church, your content, or the friendships you have, lean more into how are you creating transformational experiences that allow for a person to feel like it's it was created for them.” – Brad Lomenick “The things that are going to perhaps make the most impact on people are the things that don't scale well. It's the things that are one-on-one, very customized, and specific to that individual.” – Brad Lomenick “People want to feel like they're getting something that is so customized to them, something that is built on every sort of their felt needs. This is the challenge in today's environment, especially around leadership.” – Brad Lomenick “One of the things that you'll see whether someone is a pastor or just a normal person is that there is a great desire to be known. Not to be a user, not to be an acquaintance, or distant friend on social media, but to truly be known.” – Todd Adkins RECOMMENDED RESOURCES The Power to Change: Mastering the Habits That Matter Most by Craig Groeschel The Diary of a CEO Podcast with Steve Bartlett How Leaders Lead Podcast with David Novak God Comes Where He’s Wanted (Sermon) by Jon Tyson The Intentional Father: A Practical Guide to Raise Sons of Courage and Character by Jon Tyson Deep Discipleship: How the Church Can Make Whole Disciples of Jesus by J.T. English From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life by Arthur Brooks Lifeway Research Pastor Survey: U.S. Pastors Identify Their Greatest Needs

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Dan Iten are joined by Chris Horst who most recently served as the chief advancement officer at HOPE International, where he employed his passion for advancing initiatives at the intersection of faith and work. They also discuss Chris’ recent transition into a new chapter of his life and how one can transition out of an organization well while establishing a culture of trust and transparency between team members. BEST QUOTES “We are living in a place where stability is something that we can count on. I think the last few years really revealed how much we, at least for me personally, idolize stability and certainty.” – Chris Horst “The most important performance assessment you'll get is not during your tenure, but it's one, two, or even three years after you transition out of a leadership role.” – Peter Greer “If people are able to express that they might be thinking of leaving or processing a different calling on their life right now, I think that is something to strive for as a leader to be able to have those very candid and caring conversations.” – Todd Adkins “Leaders that have an agenda and ambition geared at serving their own careers often miss opportunities to faithfully serve in the places where they are.” – Chris Horst “A problem I see frequently is watching leaders that have come into their role with ambition and expectations, but oftentimes, it felt like they were never able to fully live into the role that they were in because they were constantly thinking about that steppingstone into what was next versus leaders that were just really focused on excelling in their work to serve the organization.” – Chris Horst RECOMMENDED RESOURCES The Gift of Disillusionment: Enduring Hope for Leaders After Idealism Fades by Chris Horst and Peter Greer Strong and Weak: Embracing a Life of Love, Risk and True Flourishing by Andy Crouch

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Dan Iten are joined by Shane Pruitt who serves as the National Next Gen Director for the North American Mission Board (NAMB). In this episode, they discuss the responsibility of ministry leaders to find future leaders under their care and what the process of discipleship looks like in that context. They also discuss how to recognize future leaders in your midst, and what needs to be done in order to call out those whom God has called for full-time ministry leadership. BEST QUOTES “God hasn't stopped calling out those to ministry leadership. I think we as current leaders have stopped asking a whole generation to consider if God is calling them.” – Shane Pruitt “I know young people get told all the time that they are the future of the church and I know what people mean by that. However, that’s not biblically correct because if they'd been bought by the blood of Jesus and are indwelt by the Spirit of God; they are not the future of the church, they are the church right now.” – Shane Pruitt “If young people can handle Algebra, they can handle some doctrine and theology. Don’t dumb it down for them, raise the bar. They can handle it.” – Shane Pruitt “Often I see church leaders reactively responding to a leadership void rather than proactively. So if a Youth Pastor leaves, they have to go out and search for another one, instead of asking themselves if God is raising up somebody in their congregation to fill that role.” – Shane Pruitt “Let young people and young adults start serving. Give them a seat at the table and raise their leadership capacity. I've often found that typically calling will reveal itself in serving.” – Shane Pruitt “The best thing we can do for those who want to be in ministry leadership is to teach them to walk deeply with Jesus. I often see churches move these people to find out their gifts and talents and once those skills have grown, we see a spike in leaders failing. So many leaders are falling into immorality, burnout, and rejection of their faith because on some level, we’ve helped cultivate gifted and talented people and with those gifts and talents, we end up putting them on stages and platforms that maybe their character and integrity weren’t ready for.” – Shane Pruitt “So many leaders focus on the depth of your ministry rather than letting the Lord take care of the width and platform of it.” – Shane Pruitt RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Calling Out the Called: Discipling Those Called to Ministry Leadership by Shane Pruitt and Scott Pace Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders Understanding A Calling to Ministry Resource with Shane Pruitt & Scott Pace

In this very special episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Chandler Vannoy and Dan Iten for the first time (or the second) in the history of this podcast will ask Todd Adkins the 5 leadership questions. They discuss how God is influencing Todd’s leadership today and some of the biggest lessons he has learned over the last 500 episodes of this podcast. BEST QUOTES “Instead of looking at our lives and saying, ‘are we getting better and better day by day as a Christian?’ That is what I am called to do. I'm not called to win. I can't win it compared to Christ. Yes, I am a loser. But I'm not playing that game. I'm an eternal being. I'm playing an infinite game and if anybody should understand that it should be Christians that we should look at each day getting better and better.” – Todd Adkins “As pastors, even as Christians, our fruit does grow on other people's trees. And that's not us taking credit for what other people do. It is to say, the fruit of a Christian is another Christian, the fruit of volunteers and other volunteer, and the fruit of a leader is another leader.” – Todd Adkins “If I am not learning daily, I am not leading daily.” – Todd Adkins “If we're intentional with anybody, it should be with our family.” – Todd Adkins “You can overestimate what can get done in one year and underestimate what can get done in five.” – Todd Adkins “Your role is to do the best that you can do wherever God has placed you and keep the room clean so that when others look at your ministry, your business, or at your role, they go, ‘man, he's doing a great job, she's doing a great job.’” – Todd Adkins RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Ministry Grid Todd Adkins