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

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins is joined by Jim Martin, vice president of spiritual formation at International Justice Mission (IJM). During their conversation, they discuss focusing on our identity as a child of God and building and maintaining intimacy with your family. BEST QUOTES "We as an organization are focusing on this idea that the work that we are doing to protect the poor from violence, the weight of that rests on God's shoulders, not on ours.""How do we engage this work without being crushed by the weight of it?""How do I make sure that I am operating out of my deepest and truest identity - that I am a child of God?""I need things that are going to help me not take myself or my work so seriously.""For 20 years my primary identity was husband and father. Now that my kids are all out of the house it's a little disorienting.""Leadership in the home has boiled down to building and maintaining intimacy with my wife and my kids.""Be present where you are at and do what is in front of you with integrity and earnestness." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network International Justice Mission IJM.org/freedom-sunday The Just Church by Jim Martin Freedom Sunday Resources Symbol or Substance by Peter Kreeft 5LQ Episode 358: Gary Haugen This Episode's Sponsor:  Every church must be equipped to respond well in the initial stages of learning about instances of sexual, physical, or emotional abuse. That is why the Southern Baptist Convention, Lifeway, and ERLC partnered together to create Becoming a Church that Cares Well for the Abused. This training curriculum of a handbook and 13 videos brings together top experts from various fields to help volunteers and leaders understand and implement the best practices for handling the variety of abuse scenarios at church, school, or ministry. You can access this free training at ChurchCares.com.

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Brad Waggoner breakdown the leadership book The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker. In their conversation they discuss the following questions: What's the book and why does it matter?Overview of the bookHow applicable is the book to leadership in my church?What are things churches should ignore from the book?What can you do this week in light of the book? BEST QUOTES “Effective leaders fight against being caught up in the day-to-day machinery of their business or ministry.""He would say effectiveness is a learned habit.""This book is applicable to anyone leading any team.""With the limited amount of time we have to assess things, we have to be selective of where we go to receive information.""We want to be careful about not sacrificing what's biblical, effective, or efficient on the altar of what's traditional.""Consensus is not the precondition of leadership, it is the by-product of leadership.""I think there is relevance for this church in this book and how you staff.""One of the trickier parts of leading a church is knowing how fast to change and what to change, but I think we have been too cautious.""I would fall in perfect alignment with him on the importance of making effective decisions, but how you lead people through change in the church can't be immediately applied.""If you have a team that you lead at your church, take a moment and ask where you may be slouching off." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker Auxano Staff Your Church for Growth by Gary McIntosh The Leadership Challenge by James Kouzes and Barry Posner Good to Great by Jim Collins The Speed of Trust by Stephen Covey The 4 Disciplines of Execution by Chris McChesney, Sean Covey, and Jim Huling The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey The Top Ten Mistakes Leaders Make by Hans Finzel First Things First by Stephen Covey Simple Church by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger This Episode's Sponsor:  Every church must be equipped to respond well in the initial stages of learning about instances of sexual, physical, or emotional abuse. That is why the Southern Baptist Convention, Lifeway, and ERLC partnered together to create Becoming a Church that Cares Well for the Abused. This training curriculum of a handbook and 13 videos brings together top experts from various fields to help volunteers and leaders understand and implement the best practices for handling the variety of abuse scenarios at church, school, or ministry. You can access this free training at ChurchCares.com.

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins is joined by Abe Cho, the senior pastor of Redeemer East Side in New York. During their conversation, they discuss creating everyday missionaries and why protecting Sabbath is vital for being healthy. BEST QUOTES “A worship service centered approach to reaching our culture may not be the way to go anymore.""There are a huge number of barriers someone has to go through to go into a church." "How do we form Christians to be everyday missionaries so that the place of gospel ministry is actually in the everyday spaces and places of their lives?""Our culture is understandably looking for genuine, authentic connection.""If I miss this Sabbath, I don't know how my next week is going to go.""We've tried to invite our kids into the process, to say are there a couple of friends in our building that God has made a connection and you like hanging out with?""To follow Jesus is to follow Him wherever you go.""Christians are always going to be joyfully different than the world.""I would tell my 20-year-old self that the inward journey is vital for the outward ministry." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois This Episode's Sponsor:  Every church must be equipped to respond well in the initial stages of learning about instances of sexual, physical, or emotional abuse. That is why the Southern Baptist Convention, Lifeway, and ERLC partnered together to create Becoming a Church that Cares Well for the Abused. This training curriculum of a handbook and 13 videos brings together top experts from various fields to help volunteers and leaders understand and implement the best practices for handling the variety of abuse scenarios at church, school, or ministry. You can access this free training at ChurchCares.com.

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins is joined by Steve Graves, strategist and author of Flourishing and 41 Deposits. During their conversation, they discuss what it looks to live out a calling in a secular job and how to tackle difficult tasks. BEST QUOTES “Regardless of someone's leadership style and what kind of company they are in, if you are the senior leader it's up to you to set these five things.""Does the gospel have anything to do with some of the hard business issues we face each day?" "Calling is embedded at the very beginning of any leader of faith figuring out what it looks like to live on Monday.""We know that a Millennial thinks and practices in much more of a naturally intuitive, integrated way of life. We know a Baby Boomer certainly had much more performance-based and a segmented way of life.""Every CEO that I have, I will always ask them to pick a knowledge, skill, attitude, or behavior that they really want to grow in.""Every leadership season has to have a serious evaluation at the end of it to answer: am I the right person to still set direction, speed, risk, resources, and culture?""Every Sunday afternoon I will create a seriously intense list of things that must be done that week and everyday I will spend a few minutes checking that list.""Once a leader is clear, most leaders are going to move. Clarity is 70 to 80 percent of the game.""I have a theory that you can move Mt. Everest in 15 minute increments of work." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Flourishing by Steve Graves 41 Deposits by Steve Graves Doing Life With Your Adult Children by Jim Burns The 5 Tasks That Every Senior Leader Needs to Know by Steve Graves This Episode's Sponsor:  Every church must be equipped to respond well in the initial stages of learning about instances of sexual, physical, or emotional abuse. That is why the Southern Baptist Convention, Lifeway, and ERLC partnered together to create Becoming a Church that Cares Well for the Abused. This training curriculum of a handbook and 13 videos brings together top experts from various fields to help volunteers and leaders understand and implement the best practices for handling the variety of abuse scenarios at church, school, or ministry. You can access this free training at ChurchCares.com.

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Ben Mandrell are joined by Jackie Hill Perry, author of Gay Girl, Good God and a Jude: Contending for the Faith in Today's Culture Bible study. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: Why is the book of Jude important for you?Why is contending in the faith in today's culture a timely message?How have you seen wrestling through a conflict benefit you and your leadership?Who did you have in mind when you wrote this book?How does the book of Jude draw us back in to be hopeful?What do you dream that your legacy will be?What is a pain that is producing righteousness in you right now?What's the best advice you've been given? BEST QUOTES “Jude gives us a lot of tools for how to contend practically but also how to have a sober mindedness as we contend.""One of the temptations of our day is to allow our affections to determine how we are supposed to view ourselves and God, where we start inward and then look up.""Part of contending for my own soul is to allow the Scriptures to determine how I behave and how I live and who I trust.""If it's true and it's wise, we have to disregard how we feel about it and just admit to it.""I have this tension of I often what my children to be more impressed with my leadership than the public.""I'm learning how much people-pleasing can go into the reason for my busyness.""I cannot be effective while trying to do a ministry and be a wife and a mother without people God has gifted with the gift of administration to be able to help me say no and manage things.""Even if I don't feel needy, I have to believe that I am needy just by my virtue of being a created being.""I don't look at prep as a separate thing from intimacy, I actually see it as this is how I get it inside me and apply it before I get it out.""Leadership is so much more than authority, but also humility." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Gay Girl, Good God by Jackie Hill Perry Jude: Contending for the Faith in Today's Culture by Jackie Hill Perry The Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer The Holiness of God by R.C. Sprouls The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer This Episode's Sponsor:  Every church must be equipped to respond well in the initial stages of learning about instances of sexual, physical, or emotional abuse. That is why the Southern Baptist Convention, Lifeway, and ERLC partnered together to create Becoming a Church that Cares Well for the Abused. This training curriculum of a handbook and 13 videos brings together top experts from various fields to help volunteers and leaders understand and implement the best practices for handling the variety of abuse scenarios at church, school, or ministry. You can access this free training at ChurchCares.com.

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins is joined by Clay Scroggins, author of How to Lead When You Are Not in Charge and How to Lead in a World of Distraction. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: What is at risk if we don't deal with distraction?What causes the most distractions for leaders?How is this like emotional intelligence and how is it different?What did you learn from writing this book?How does one identify when they have a distraction issue? BEST QUOTES “The book is really about what is on the other side of distraction.""If you want to grow as a leader you have got to trend toward emotional health.""Distractions are a mask that we use to cover up those things we don't want to feel.""If something is broken in your organization, it is just easier to turn up the distraction.""Sometimes in leadership to move forward you have to turn around and address things behind you.""Great leaders turn down the noise low enough and long enough to be ruthlessly curious of their emotions.""Your emotions are messengers and they are trying to tell you something.""Negative emotions don't usually come from something positive and that's why we don't want to deal with it." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network New Churches Q&A Podcast How to Lead When You Are Not in Charge by Clay Scroggins How to Lead in a World of Distraction by Clay Scroggins Primal Leadership by Daniel Goleman The Emotionally Healthy Leader by Pete Scazerro This Episode's Sponsor:  Every church must be equipped to respond well in the initial stages of learning about instances of sexual, physical, or emotional abuse. That is why the Southern Baptist Convention, Lifeway, and ERLC partnered together to create Becoming a Church that Cares Well for the Abused. This training curriculum of a handbook and 13 videos brings together top experts from various fields to help volunteers and leaders understand and implement the best practices for handling the variety of abuse scenarios at church, school, or ministry. You can access this free training at ChurchCares.com.

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins is joined by Brady Boyd, pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs. During their conversation, they discuss how prayer and community can help a church survive any tragedy and why pastors need to be willing to listen and learn from people they don't agree with. BEST QUOTES “I thought I had been called to New Life to be a hospice pastor, to give a once great church an honorable funeral. To my surprise, in the last 12 years, we've had a resurrection story.""When you teach your church to pray, and you build really authentic community inside your church, it can survive almost anything.""What helped us survive and thrive was the deep culture of prayer.""If you don't allow a church to heal, they will take the pain into the future with them.""There is a moment in every church when you have to admit you are healed and the city needs your church.""We've seen manageable growth every year since we turned our attention outside the church.""If you are going to make disciples, you better understand the people who are listening to your sermons.""I think pastors need to read outside their own echo chambers or they will only reach people who will agree with them.""My main point of emphasis is making sure we are continuing to raise up communicators on our team.""The goal is for us all to not preach the same sermon, but to have a unity of thought.""Do not despise the days of silence because God can only do holy work in your when you are quiet and settled in His presence." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Remarkable: Living a Faith Worth Talking About by Brady Boyd A Month of Sundays by Eugene Peterson Irresistible Faith by Scott Sauls Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam Canoeing the Mountains by Todd Bolsinger This Episode's Sponsor:  Every church must be equipped to respond well in the initial stages of learning about instances of sexual, physical, or emotional abuse. That is why the Southern Baptist Convention, Lifeway, and ERLC partnered together to create Becoming a Church that Cares Well for the Abused. This training curriculum of a handbook and 13 videos brings together top experts from various fields to help volunteers and leaders understand and implement the best practices for handling the variety of abuse scenarios at church, school, or ministry. You can access this free training at ChurchCares.com.

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins is joined by Jenni Catron, consultant and author of The Four Dimensions of Extraordinary Leadership and Clout. During their conversation, they discuss the challenge as a leader of being fixated on growth and what you can learn through personality assessments. BEST QUOTES “We are looking at how we best serve executive church leaders and how we can help lift the burden.""I am seeing in myself and the leaders we are working with that we are so fixated on just growing up and to the right as fast as we possibly can.""We've got to steward well what God has entrusted to us and if I am just fixated on growth it's not going to be sustainable.""Beyond spiritual disciplines, I need to be reading books and resources. I will spend an hour and a half to two hours each morning in spiritual disciplines and reading.""Because my work requires me to always be pouring out, the input component of what I'm learning is super important.""One of my rules is I will read a book when it's been recommended to me three different times.""For any leader, self-leadership is key.""Show up everywhere a door opens and don't second guess it.""If you haven't been invited to that table yet, keep working hard and keep diligently doing what you feel called to do until you can sit at that table." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Ministry Grid 4Sight Group jennicatron.com The Four Dimensions of Extraordinary Leadership by Jenni Catron Clout by Jenni Catron Harvard Business Review Deep Work by Cal Newport A Beautiful Constraint by Adam Morgan and Mark Barden 5LQ Episode 330: Personality Assessments for Leaders with Steve Cockram Nine Lies About Work by Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall This Episode's Sponsor:  Every church must be equipped to respond well in the initial stages of learning about instances of sexual, physical, or emotional abuse. That is why the Southern Baptist Convention, Lifeway, and ERLC partnered together to create Becoming a Church that Cares Well for the Abused. This training curriculum of a handbook and 13 videos brings together top experts from various fields to help volunteers and leaders understand and implement the best practices for handling the variety of abuse scenarios at church, school, or ministry. You can access this free training at ChurchCares.com.

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Jenaye White are joined by Andrew Peterson, award-winning singer/songwriter and author of The Wingfeather Saga books and Adorning the Dark. During their conversation, they discuss the importance of community and knowing God through an artistic craft. BEST QUOTES “There's something beautiful about how art seems to draw people together.""Delegation is the key to leadership.""The point is the story. The point is not the guy that is telling it.""I'm always having to fight this cultural lie that I will only be happier somewhere else.""Sometimes your community are the ones who can see your gifting better than you can.""The Lord is using my fear of loneliness to bring people together.""Sometimes shifting gears from being a performer to sitting in a boardroom is like trying to turn the Titanic around.""Beekeeping forced me to every day go out and look at something God made, not something I made.""Inventing a story and carrying a couple of characters through a few thousand pages of story and bringing them to a conclusion that is satisfying is a way of knowing something about God.""When I meet a pastor who says he doesn't have time for fiction I wonder what his sermons are like.""At some point, my role as a parent is to learn from my children as much as it is to teach them." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network The Rabbit Room The Wingfeather Saga books Adorning the Dark by Andrew Peterson Behold the Lamb of God "Adam's Choice" by Jeanne Murray Walker Living Into Focus by Arthur Boers This Episode's Sponsor:  Every church must be equipped to respond well in the initial stages of learning about instances of sexual, physical, or emotional abuse. That is why the Southern Baptist Convention, Lifeway, and ERLC partnered together to create Becoming a Church that Cares Well for the Abused. This training curriculum of a handbook and 13 videos brings together top experts from various fields to help volunteers and leaders understand and implement the best practices for handling the variety of abuse scenarios at church, school, or ministry. You can access this free training at ChurchCares.com.

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins is joined by Kent Ingle, author of The Modern Guide to College, Framework Leadership, and 9 Disciplines of Enduring Leadership, and the president of Southeastern University. During their conversation, they discuss how systems help organizations move through change and how routines make our whole life more healthy. BEST QUOTES “We have six frameworks that guide every decision we make for our organization.""If we are going to grow, we are going places we've never been before.""A system provides a structure, rationale, method for moving an organization forward in the change process.""If I'm not healthy physically, everything else is going to suffer.""Routines every day bring vitality, life, learning, a lot of elements to our home that make us strong and healthy." "Discipline and routine is extremely important on a day by day basis in our home.""Always be others oriented in everything you do.""Think of ways that you can still providing that mentoring influence in a way that will understand boundaries." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network The Modern Guide to College by Kent Ingle Framework Leadership by Kent Ingle 9 Disciplines of Enduring Leadership by Kent Ingle Southeastern University Lead to Win Podcast This Episode's Sponsor:  Every church must be equipped to respond well in the initial stages of learning about instances of sexual, physical, or emotional abuse. That is why the Southern Baptist Convention, Lifeway, and ERLC partnered together to create Becoming a Church that Cares Well for the Abused. This training curriculum of a handbook and 13 videos brings together top experts from various fields to help volunteers and leaders understand and implement the best practices for handling the variety of abuse scenarios at church, school, or ministry. You can access this free training at ChurchCares.com.