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 Chandler Vannoy are joined by Karen Swallow Prior, professor of English and author of On Reading Well. They discuss how and why we should work on developing our reading skills and being comfortable with other viewpoints to better support our own viewpoints. BEST QUOTES "I think you should take notes, mark in the book, or do something to engage with it and read reflectively. Good writing is not the kind of writing you can skim." "Reading one book well is far better than reading ten to check off your list.""We all have skill levels, whether its reading or listening, and we should be trying to develop those and not get frustrated with ourselves because we aren't where we think we should be.""I really want to understand their point of view so that I can understand and support my own point of view.""We are always thinking in community and hopefully we are part of different thinking communities.""When I see leadership potential or any other type of gifting in my students or colleagues, I want to name that in them and encourage them to pursue it.""All this is about nuancing our ability to see and apply the truth and also to pursue it apart from our comfort zone." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Lifeway.com/CoronaVirus 5LQ Episode 351: On Reading Well With Karen Swallow Prior On Reading Well by Karen Swallow Prior How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler Sense and Sensibility: A Guide to Reading and Reflecting by Karen Swallow Prior Heart of Darkness: A Guide to Reading and Reflecting by Karen Swallow Prior This episode's sponsor: For more than 25 years, Portable Church® has helped thousands of churches launch strong and thrive in a mobile setting. They 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.

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by Nils Smith, from Dunham+Company, and Jason Powell, online pastor for Harvest. They discuss the following questions: What did Easter service look like in your context?How are you following up with people after Easter services?What will church look like post COVID-19 season?Tools for doing online church better BEST QUOTES "I think American is hungry for the gospel. I think this is the perfect time right now to advance the kingdom of God using technology like never before.""If someone in this opportunity clicks a banner and fills out their information, we immediately mail them a Bible.""We call every single person that has made a commitment to follow Jesus Christ for the first three weeks and we will talk to them on the phone and give them encouragement.""Those that are really leaning into this technology and having zoom gatherings are having the depth of community and connection the most effectively.""We've got to be realistic and understanding that there will be an anxiety with physical gatherings.""This isn't new for the church. The church was born out of hardship.""Do you have a phone? Does it have a camera? That is enough. Utilize Facebook." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Lifeway.com/CoronaVirus Church Online Platform Zoom Ministry Grid This episode's sponsor: For more than 25 years, Portable Church® has helped thousands of churches launch strong and thrive in a mobile setting. They 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.

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by Jimmy Dykes, sportscaster and author of The Film Doesn't Lie. They discuss how leadership in the sports world applies to all other kinds of leadership and how our words and actions truly reflect God's impact in our lives. BEST QUOTES "From a sports analogy - with coaches and players the real change, the real truth, the real evaluation process begins when they watch a film. I take that same scenario that's used in the sports world and I take us on a spiritual journey throughout the book.""Our walk with God goes to a whole other level when our obedience goes to another level.""I am so blessed to be a part of the ESPN family and that puts me in front of a lot of different people. A lot of coaches are mentors in my life.""If you are a head coach, you have immediate impact - hour to hour - with everyone on your staff, the student athletes you coach, and the actions you lead with speak volumes.""I have a huge platform because of those 4 letters - ESPN - they open a lot of doors for me and because of that I know God has given me a chance to be consistent in who I say He is.""Praying with my wife and daughter is a non-negotiable in my life.""My own quiet time alone with God is crucial right now and letting God speak to my heart about what He wants me to have growth in.""If you are a leader right now in any form, the higher you get the less likely people are to be brutally honest with you at times and the best leaders make sure they have those people around them.""Real lasting change occurs when it comes from the power of God's written Word in our life and letting Him change our heart." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Lifeway.com/CoronaVirus The Film Doesn't Life by Jimmy Dykes CoachJimmyDykes.com This episode's sponsor: For more than 25 years, Portable Church® has helped thousands of churches launch strong and thrive in a mobile setting. They 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.

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by Gene Getz, author of 60 books including The Measure of a Man and the Life Essentials Study Bible. They discuss the life-long journey of learning about the pastorate and the importance of encouraging those who we have learned from. BEST QUOTES "People are sheep and they need to be lead, and they will be lead if you have strong leadership.""You've got to keep learning all the time. If you stop learning, you are going to stop growing.""When I started pastoring, being a writer, I determined that if I was going to do a series I would write my sermon as if you were reading it.""Our main point of emphasis right now is how can we stay on top of all of the tasks we have and keep things moving in spite of this shutdown because of the virus.""If communication breaks down, hit it immediately and open the door of communication. That is what keeps us efficient.""Every one of us is built on the shoulders of someone else.""As I look back over my life, every door that has opened for me was opened by someone else and I was able to walk through it with their encouragement." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Lifeway.com/CoronaVirus Elders and Leaders by Gene Getz The Measure of a Man by Gene Getz The Measure of a Healthy Church by Gene Getz Life Essentials Study Bible Sharpening the Focus of the Church by Gene Getz This episode's sponsor: For more than 25 years, Portable Church® has helped thousands of churches launch strong and thrive in a mobile setting. They 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.

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by Levi Lusko, lead pastor of Fresh Life Church. They discuss how being knowledgeable in areas outside your specialty can benefit your leadership and the unique challenges facing the church during this time. BEST QUOTES "We are only going to be effective in ministry long-term if we can manage ourselves, manage our emotions, and productively minister to people in a way that is life giving.""People that have a wider range than just one discipline will be more likely to explore more options than jump to what they specialize in.""The murky water is how to we execute a clear vision in a dark world?""We have Zoom, we have our Bibles, we have our phones. Let's go.""I have tried to build our home to be a place of Selah for our family.""We are trying to make sure our kids know that their problems and flaws are not ever a problem to me because i am a pastor.""I think the brokenness in the church and so many families and pastors burning out is because of the perceived need to present some sort of lacquered version of what life looks like.""I was so busy wanting to drive the devil out of Montana that I took for granted the call on my life to be intentional about helping other people succeed." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Lifeway.com/CoronaVirus Episode 190: Levi Lusko Through the Eyes of a Lion by Levi Lusko Take Back Your Life by Levi Lusko I Declare War by Levi Lusko The Great Bridge by David McCullough The Path Between the Seas by David McCullough Masters of Scale Podcast A Beautiful Constraint by Adam Morgan and Mark Barden The Fight to Flourish by Jennie Lusko This episode's sponsor: For more than 25 years, Portable Church® has helped thousands of churches launch strong and thrive in a mobile setting. They 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.

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by Dr. Lina Abujamra, founder of Living With Power Ministries and pediatric ER doctor. They discuss the following questions: What does it look like on the frontlines right now?What do we need to know about COVID-19?What advice would you share about ministering during this time?How long do you think this current COVID season will last? And will there be a second round? BEST QUOTES "The very thing that God had directed me to became the hub of ministry and medicine combining like no other time before.""As New York has grown in its crisis, one of the things that has happened in the rest of the United States is that there has been time to prep.""The easiest way for me to talk about plain, old COVID is the trifecta - fever, shortness of breath, and cough - and sort of a flu-like look.""The fear factor is exponentially increased because of so much mis-information out there and that's dangerous.""Something happens in crisis that makes ministry to people so much easier.""People simply want to be seen, heard, and ministered to.""Look at people as individuals who need Jesus desperately now and be a pastor.""Move into the pastoring role of finding those people and setting up systems of dividing up people so they can be seen one-on-one.""I feel like God has given the church this gift of stripping away those things that were background noise that we have made important in our culture that have distracted us from the main thing which is first vertical: love of God, and second horizontal: love for one another.""This week I felt some deep optimism both about the disease itself and about the future of the church. I believe God is going to bring revival in this season." "No matter where we meet, we know who the church is and we will still be connected in some way." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Lifeway.com/CoronaVirus Living With Power This episode's sponsor: For more than 25 years, Portable Church® has helped thousands of churches launch strong and thrive in a mobile setting. They 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.

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Jenaye White are joined by Ian Morgan Cron, author of The Road Back to You. They discuss how the Enneagram helps you become more self-aware and how knowing more about your people makes you a better leader. BEST QUOTES "As I think about the Enneagram and the crisis we are in, it opens up all kinds of opportunities to become the best expressions of ourselves that we can become, to exercise the muscles of compassion and patience and self care.""The Enneagram is a personality typing system that teaches there are nine basic or core personality styles - one of which people gravitate toward and adopt in childhood.""The human ego would like us to believe we know ourselves better than we do and that we are more in control of our lives than we actually are.""The Enneagram helps us see what we are like at our best and at our worst - when we are under a lot of strain and when we are in a good space.""The Enneagram is very simple to learn, it's very hard to master. But you don't need to master it to benefit from it in ways that are incredibly helpful.""The Enneagram can move you along a continuum of self knowledge in a way that is like evolutionary steps forward.""One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to believe that your way of seeing the world is normal." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Lifeway.com/CoronaVirus IanMorganCron.com @ianmorgancron on Instagram The Road Back to You by Ian Morgan Cron The iEQ9 test Insight by Tasha Eurich A Beautiful Constraint by Adam Morgan and Mark Barden This episode's sponsor: For more than 25 years, Portable Church® has helped thousands of churches launch strong and thrive in a mobile setting. They 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.

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by Justin Murff, director of The MENA Collective. They discuss responding to current COVID-19 circumstances as churches move to digital platforms and focusing on family during challenging ministry times. BEST QUOTES "Are we the kind of church that is making a difference in the life of our community and our city, or are we just occupying space and having a good social gathering on a Sunday morning?""Use the tools that you have at your disposal. Facebook Live is a great tool. Zoom is a great tool.""Your congregation needs to see you. They need to hear you. They don't just need to get an email.""We are facing, for the first time in our country's history, we most likely will not be able to gather as a church to celebrate Easter. That is profound.""When we think about digital church it is going to expand some of our boundaries, particularly when we talk about our ordinances or sacraments." "Use what you have, think through it, and use your tradition to best of your ability. We may see God do something completely new.""Take you Sunday School classes into Facebook Groups. Use those opportunities and those technologies that are there.""This is a great opportunity to onboard and recruit that army of digital natives that are in your church that have been there honestly thinking, 'Do I even belong here? Where is my place to serve?'" RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Lifeway.com/CoronaVirus The MENA Collective The African Memory of Mark by Thomas C. Oden Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Reneee Mauborgne This episode's sponsor: For more than 25 years, Portable Church® has helped thousands of churches launch strong and thrive in a mobile setting. They 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.

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by Tim Keller, founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan and author of The Reason for God, The Prodigal God, and the How to Find God Series. They discuss how lessons learned while serving in New York City after 9/11 can be helpful in response to the current COVID-19 situation. BEST QUOTES "Right now, a lot of our cultural idols are being smashed.""How do we minimize the damage of this situation to our ministries and also how do we capitalize on the situation to minister?""This is not like the 2008 recession. This is not like 9/11 in New York City. These are all somewhat unique, but they are all cataclysmic.""After 9/11, we knew that 14,000 small business went away overnight and all the people that worked their lost their livelihood. We put out word that if you could prove you worked there we could help.""It's going to take time, but be looking for ways to step in and if you are praying for it, the Lord will show them to you." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Lifeway.com/CoronaVirus The Reason for God by Tim Keller The Prodigal God by Tim Keller Counterfeit Gods by Tim Keller On Birth: How to Find God #1 by Timothy Keller On Marriage: How to Find God #2 by Timothy Keller and Kathy Keller On Death: How to Find God #3 by Timothy Keller TimothyKeller.com GospelInLife.com Living by Faith in Troubled Times The Triumph of the Therapeutic by Philip Rieff Sources of the Self by Charles Taylor A Secular Age by Charles Taylor Habits of the Heart by Robert Bellah After Virtue by Alasdair MacIntyre Whose Justice? Which Rationality? by Alasdair MacIntyre How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler Marxism and Morality by Steven Lukes The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy Keller with Kathy Keller Jesus, Justice, and Gender Roles by Kathy Keller Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis This episode's sponsor: For more than 25 years, Portable Church® has helped thousands of churches launch strong and thrive in a mobile setting. They 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.

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by Todd McMichen, director of Generosity by Lifeway. They discuss the following questions: What do I say on Sunday?How can you communicate this throughout the week?How can pastors lead their people to live a generous life during this time?What do I do if giving starts to tank?How do we help people have a good experience giving online?During this season, how should churches handle benevolence? BEST QUOTES "We have to settle into this new world and help people see the mission of the church.""Lead with a generosity story of how someone in your church is living generously right now.""If you can give a positive word about your finances, that would be good to do.""Because life is so challenging right now and there are so many distractions, giving to the church is the last thing on their mind.""On Sunday when you refer to the offering you only need to refer to one way to give digitally to keep it simple.""There are lots of ways to take up an offering during the week.""The offering is more important to a human being's faith than it is to a church's budget.""The church is going to have lower resources and it is going to have an increased benevolence need.""The biggest ministry in this season may be a church down the street that you need to lock arms with.""A simple online form that eliminates every conflict you can is what you need to start with for digital giving." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Lifeway Generosity LifewayGenerosity.com/CoronaVirus Lifeway.com/CoronaVirus Church Giving Group on Facebook This episode's sponsor: For more than 25 years, Portable Church® has helped thousands of churches launch strong and thrive in a mobile setting. They 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.