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 Dave and Jon Ferguson, authors of Exponential and founders of the church planting network New Thing. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: Has there ever been a time when you said I can't work with my brother anymore? What does conflict look like between the two of you in front of your team?How do you lead together? How do you lead separately?How do you separate ministry and family, or do you?What's the main point of your emphasis at New Thing and Community Christian?What does the leadership pipeline look like in your church? BEST QUOTES "It started with five of us in a restaurant saying what would it look like if God did something that only He could do.""I can think about how things could be different with someone else or I can be reminded about how God has been good to us in allowing me to work with my brother for 30 years.""I've always felt that Dave genuinely has my best interest in my mind and the mission's best interest at heart, and we are going to walk out of that room and I don't have any question in his loyalty.""You are always going to work with or for somebody. Is your brother the kind of person you want to work with?""We more and more see our locations as being launching pads for new locations and churches.""Over the last three years, we've more than doubled the number of networks. We now have 155 networks, 2,600 churches are committed to reproducing, and those churches have planted over 1,600 churches.""When people become Christ-followers that's the key leverage point for changing a person, a family, a community.""I was pursuing the American Dream and found out it wasn't the real dream, and now I am pursuing the dream God has for me.""You will reproduce who you are.""I encourage leaders to lead at the smallest leadership level and at the highest level.""Everything it takes to multiply small groups on a different scale is what it takes to multiply a church.""Finding your way back to God is a life-changing moment, but it's also a life-growing process." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Exponential by Dave and Jon Ferguson New Thing Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman and Mark C. Winters Exponential Community Christian Leadership Residency Leadership Pipeline by Ram Charan, Steve Drotter, and Jim Noel Email Dave at daveferguson@communitychristian.org This Episode's Sponsor: You’ve probably heard about the movie OVERCOMER. But you may not know there are a few books and Bible studies inspired by the film. One is called Defined by Alex Kendrick and Stephen Kendrick, which is a book and Bible study based on insights from the Book of Ephesians. You can find these books and Bible studies at Lifeway.com/Overcomer.

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im discuss Daniel's transition back to church leadership. BEST QUOTES "Last Fall we sensed God stirring in our hearts that transition was on the horizon.""When we talk on the podcast, it's not just us reading from our notes, it is us learning from each other.""What I've realized about the output and the learning is that it's not as complicated as we might think.""I didn't realize how much the answers are actually within a lot of churches if you have a person who can observe and point out and make the connections.""I feel like with us there has been a synergy in the way that we've been able to work off each other that I haven't experienced before.""Look at the 100x that can happen when you have a healthy relationship with your boss.""Who your boss is can make or break your work, your satisfaction in the work, and your enjoying the ministry that you are doing.""Never did I imagine that I would have the privilege to serve church leaders in the capacity that I have these past few years. It's been a gift.""Regardless of how many years of experience you have, you can still mentor and help others.""I would encourage you to ask the five leadership questions to the leaders in your life." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network ImBetween Podcast New Churches Q&A No Silver Bullets by Daniel Im Planting Missional Churches by Ed Stetzer and Daniel Im Leadership Pipeline Ministry Grid

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Ken Shigematsu, Senior Pastor of Tenth Church in Vancouver, BC, and author of God in My Everything and Survival Guide for the Soul. During their conversation, they discuss how meditation can make us more compassionate and his rule of life. BEST QUOTES "A lot of us who believe in God would say 'I believe God loves me,' but we often still function as though our true value is determined by what we do and how others view us.""It's been interesting to learn about how spiritual practice connects with neuroscience and the way we actually experience life.""After the 15 to 20 minutes of meditation is up I feel a bit more relaxed and throughout the day I feel more focused and aware of the presence of Jesus in my life.""When we take time for the care of our soul to connect with God to receive from Him, it's not a selfish thing, it means we have more to offer to the people around us.""Of course we want to grow in size, but the most important thing is to determine what is in God's mind and heart and to live that out.""Our commitment to serve the poor has invited the Spirit's presence to be more richly present.""When we engage in a simple thanksgiving exercise, it will start to seem like more good things are coming into our lives even though that may not be objectively true.""It's not just about surviving, it's about really thriving.""If you are working in a factory, then the hours that you put in will directly correlate with your production, but if you are working in a world that requires presence or wisdom, then after you work a certain amount of hours, your presence will drop off." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Survival Guide for the Soul by Ken Shigematsu God in My Everything by Ken Shigematsu Centering Prayer App Reimagining the Examen App Tenth Church @KenShigematsu on Twitter

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins is joined by Dino Rizzo, author of Servolution and Serve Your City. During their conversation, they discuss the importance of serving in church planting and taking time to listen better to make relationships better. BEST QUOTES "We tell all our church planters, make sure you are serving in the community before you are having your first service that way people know why you are there.""You don't have to be a big church to help people.""We took half of our staff and put them in 4-5 cities so we could contextualize and make sure that what we are training in the launch is reality in the street.""Remember your vision and values and whatever method that is working at that time should serve the vision and value of what you are trying to do.""I don't love people well if I'm into social media too much.""There have been days in my life where friendship has carried me through the valley.""I'm trying to lead my home through loving, generosity, and listening better.""I need to realize they are not a problem to solve, they are a person to love.""My life, my work, my church, my message, is just one brick in the house that God is building." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network ARCchurches.com Servolution by Dino Rizzo Serve Your City by Dino Rizzo Re-visioning by Greg Surratt Group Answers Podcast This Episode's Sponsor: With Ministry Grid’s library of over 3,500 training videos and 800 courses, it's now simpler than ever to train every volunteer and leader in your church. For the month of August, you can get unlimited access to Ministry Grid for YOUR ENTIRE CHURCH for just $399 a year. If you want to take advantage of this incredible deal, just go to ministrygrid.com/podcast.

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Noel Heikkinen, pastor at Riverview Church in Lansing, Michigan and author of Unchained and Wretched Saints. During their conversation, they discuss taking an annual social media fast and a five year vision to be more of the same. BEST QUOTES "I am learning more and more from people who have a total posture that doesn't draw hard lines in the sand.""It was a joy to be in a church where they didn't just wad me up and throw me in a corner, but they said 'we want to help, how do we structure your world so that you can end well?""I take the month of July off of social media and then I usually have other things that I find are changing my perspective or absorbing my time in a disproportionate way and take those away as well.""My sabbatical came on the end of a couple of years of us doing some internal analysis.""We just wrote a vision statement for the next five years that is all about being more of who we actually are.""We are both a 'come and see' and a 'go and tell' church and we want more of both.""I watched guys lose their prophetic edge when they were no longer preaching to their geological area.""My kids need more of my time than they've needed in a long time, but in a different way.""If you think about the gospel journey for each one of us, the movement is always from law to grace and I think it is the same in our parenting." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Unchained by Noel Heikkinen Wretched Saints by Noel Heikkinen Riverview Church Mockingbird Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler GTD Getting Things Done NoelJesse.com The One Thing Podcast This Episode's Sponsor: With Ministry Grid’s library of over 3,500 training videos and 800 courses, it's now simpler than ever to train every volunteer and leader in your church. For the month of August, you can get unlimited access to Ministry Grid for YOUR ENTIRE CHURCH for just $399 a year. If you want to take advantage of this incredible deal, just go to ministrygrid.com/podcast.

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Bob Roberts, founding pastor of NorthWood Church and author of Lessons from the East. During their conversation, they discuss how to reach non-churched people and church planting outside the United States. BEST QUOTES "When we train planters we teach that there are three expressions of the church. There's the house church, or simple church, where we meet in community, the equipping church which is the congregation, and the global church that we connect to.""I don't want church planters just to read the Bible and missiology books. I want them to know the culture and be able to speak to the culture.""Read non-Christian authors if you want to understand the culture.""When I preach Sunday morning I am constantly aware that there are people listening to me that are not in Heller, Texas.""If I really want non-churched people to follow Jesus how do I communicate my values without being hateful, mean-spirited, partisan, and tribal?""I want you to choose God because you have the freedom to do it, not because it's forced.""I think apologetics has moved from confrontational to relational.""Get invited to where the lost people are, then you are a minority speaking for Jesus in the public square.""Think now about who you are raising up and you will always be relevant.""If our identity is not in Jesus, we find our fulfillment in our ministry.""I was more concerned about growing my church than about growing my soul." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Lessons from the East by Bob Roberts The Multiplying Church by Bob Roberts The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard E. Stanley Jones Glocal.net Group Answers Podcast This Episode's Sponsor: With Ministry Grid’s library of over 3,500 training videos and 800 courses, it's now simpler than ever to train every volunteer and leader in your church. For the month of August, you can get unlimited access to Ministry Grid for YOUR ENTIRE CHURCH for just $399 a year. If you want to take advantage of this incredible deal, just go to ministrygrid.com/podcast.

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins is joined by Jud Wilhite, senior pastor of Central Church and author of Uncaged. During their conversation, they discuss dealing with burnout and being more concerned with God's fame than your own. BEST QUOTES "Clarity, simplicity, and execution is the main point of emphasis with my team right now.""A leader's job is to bring clarity, even over inspiration.""A strategy change is a challenge and the bigger a ministry is the longer it takes to get it all down.""The best processes come up with something incredibly simple that you probably think someone could have scribbled down on a napkin running on a treadmill.""What I found in music was a way to escape all the fishbowl syndrome - where you are like a fish in water who can never get out of it.""My first ministry is my family, and my first small group is my home.""I had my own brush with burnout and it was significant.""The surprising thing about getting close to burnout for me was that it took 18 months to feel joy again about preaching.""This is about God's fame and you are going to be privileged just to serve Him.""I was amazed when I stepped into senior ministry leadership how quickly the church moved past the previous senior pastor and it was a reminder that they will do the same with me." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Uncaged by Jud Wilhite Uncensored Truth Bible for New Beginnings Living the Life You Were Meant to Live by Tom Patterson Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast Blessings Ranch Making Disciples Podcast This Episode's Sponsor: With Ministry Grid’s library of over 3,500 training videos and 800 courses, it's now simpler than ever to train every volunteer and leader in your church. For the month of August, you can get unlimited access to Ministry Grid for YOUR ENTIRE CHURCH for just $399 a year. If you want to take advantage of this incredible deal, just go to ministrygrid.com/podcast.

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Bryan Rose, Lead Navigator for Auxano. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: What does it mean for a church to breakthrough?How is breakthrough different than church growth?Where do you start with a strategic outsider to help them experience breakthrough?What are some categories of breakthroughs?Examples of churches who have experienced breakthroughWhat are some tried and true method of achieving breakthrough? BEST QUOTES "Breakthrough is clearing the fog and seeing God's hand at work, His leadership, and following Him where He is leading.""When we can learn what it means to make disciples in our context, then that breakthrough happens.""We don't start with a notion that you have to grow to be good.""You have to make disciples to see God at work and fulfill that calling He has given the local church.""We believe leaders are more known for the questions they ask than the answers they have.""What is God calling you to do as the local church in your unique context and how does that identity lead to breakthrough in the problems that you are facing or the challenges that lie in front of you?""Testimony is the currency of transformation.""The longer you are in a system or organization, especially as a leader, the harder it is for you to see it as it truly is." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network My Ministry Breakthrough Podcast Auxano God Dreams by Will Mancini and Warren Bird Deep and Wide by Andy Stanley Making Disciples Podcast This Episode's Sponsor: With Ministry Grid’s library of over 3,500 training videos and 800 courses, it's now simpler than ever to train every volunteer and leader in your church. For the month of August, you can get unlimited access to Ministry Grid for YOUR ENTIRE CHURCH for just $399 a year. If you want to take advantage of this incredible deal, just go to ministrygrid.com/podcast.

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins is joined by David Platt, author of Radical, Counter Culture, and Something Needs to Change. During their conversation, they discuss what a prayer gathering looks like and seeking humility, wisdom, and courage. BEST QUOTES "I need to remind myself that the world doesn't look like what I see around myself every day.""It was awesome to see the Lord, even in McLean Bible Church, do a work where we were reminded in a powerful way that Jesus is the center of all that we do.""If I am not in community with some people who have different perspectives on a variety of issues than me, then I am missing out.""I found in my own life that spiritual discipline and physical discipline go together in many ways.""If I'm not careful, I will check my email right before dinner and then I am thinking about that and robbing my family of their time.""My wife and I use the same Bible reading plan and it's been so good processing the same word from God.""Our family worship is more Bible story, singing goofy songs, and usually ends up with us wrestling on the floor.""Especially when it comes to leadership, when you are in a position of leadership it's so easy to lose and not have humility.""I don't want to be wise and timid, because then I will never do what God is calling me to do.""I want wisdom to know God's will and courage to walk in it." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Radical by David Platt Counter Culture by David Platt Something Needs to Change by David Platt Making Disciples Podcast This Episode's Sponsor: With Ministry Grid’s library of over 3,500 training videos and 800 courses, it's now simpler than ever to train every volunteer and leader in your church. For the month of August, you can get unlimited access to Ministry Grid for YOUR ENTIRE CHURCH for just $399 a year. If you want to take advantage of this incredible deal, just go to ministrygrid.com/podcast.

In this engaging conversation, career expert Ken Coleman explores his book, The Proximity Principle, providing insightful advice on building meaningful connections. He emphasizes the importance of surrounding yourself with the right people and environments to achieve personal growth. Ken discusses how to navigate networking without being obnoxious and reframes setbacks as growth opportunities. He also highlights the role of the Holy Spirit in leadership, encouraging authentic engagement and faith-filled transitions.