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 Daniel Im are joined by Eric Geiger, former cohost of 5LQ and senior pastor of Mariners Church. During their conversation, they discuss leading in the workplace and in the home amidst change. BEST QUOTES  “Vision is always associated with change." "How do we articulate the vision as being an overflow and next iteration in the life of Mariners, as opposed to feeling like this hard right turn?" "We were used to being a small team with one emphasis and now we have to be more sophisticated in thinking about how all the things we've started point back to our purpose?" "How do you make the shift from seeing yourself as the hero to seeing yourself as the hero maker?" "If I'm not daily taking in articles or books, I am not going to be leading to my full potential." "Seeing my girls see how God is in the middle of things is really fun." "It's been interesting to see how my wife has come alive since she has this new purpose." "I wonder what's going on in that person's life that is making them answer that way right now." "Try to gain as much wisdom as you can, but don't lose your passion." "I went from being a guy who could get up and preach at the drop of the hat to struggling to put my thoughts together in a clear way." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network The Narcissist You Know by Joseph Burgo A Beautiful Constraint by Adam Morgan and Mark Barden Blueprint Coaching Text "blueprint" to 888111 for more information on Blueprint Coaching Ministry Grid Christian Standard Bible Ask Me Anything with J.D. Greear Podcast This Episode's Sponsor: What happens when the Bible and humanity collide? Not what you’d expect. Living & Effective, a podcast collaboration between Christianity Today and the Christian Standard Bible, journeys through history, current events, theology, and the human condition to uncover surprising ways the Bible accomplishes God’s plan in the world."

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Scott McConnell, Executive Director of Lifeway Research. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: * Overview of the research * Who are the unchurched? * What are some of the common beliefs about evangelism that this research confirms and denies? * What surprised you most about the research? * What is your personal takeaway from the research? BEST QUOTES  “Of those who said they are a Christian, a third said they aren't devout, and a third said they aren't currently practicing." "A quarter of unchurched people think they are Christians with a strong faith." "Only a quarter of the unchurched have never attended a church regularly in their life." "For the majority of the unchurched, the church has had a chance to present who Jesus Christ is and what we are about and for whatever reasons they have said, 'that is not for me.'" "Just 35% of people say they would be likely to attend if somebody they knew invited them to a worship service." "What if we didn't care who got the credit and we just wanted to meet some people and serve our community while we did it?" "Two-thirds of unchurched people do not see themselves regularly attending church in the future." "Forty-three percent of the unchurched never think about the afterlife." "Forty-seven percent said they would discuss it freely if someone wanted to discuss their religious beliefs." "When we asked the unchurched if a Christian had shared with them about the benefits of becoming a Christian, only 35% said yes." "I've got to start looking at more situations in my life when I can bring Him into the conversation." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Lifeway Research Unchurched Report from Lifeway Research 5LQ Episode 294: Scott McConnell on Bible Research 5LQ Episode 278: Scott McConnell on VBS Research Billy Graham Center Text "research" to 888111 to receive a copy of the research on the unchurched Ask Me Anything with J.D. Greear Podcast This Episode's Sponsor: What happens when the Bible and humanity collide? Not what you’d expect. Living & Effective, a podcast collaboration between Christianity Today and the Christian Standard Bible, journeys through history, current events, theology, and the human condition to uncover surprising ways the Bible accomplishes God’s plan in the world."

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Sam Rainer, Micah Fries, and Josh King, the co-hosts of the Established Church Podcast. During their conversation, they discuss what advice they would have given their younger selves about preparing to lead and what it means to be an established church. BEST QUOTES "I workout for my mind. The physical health benefits are an aside. It's to clear my head." "Daily I will read a couple of chapters of fiction. It helps my brain to shut down before I go to sleep." "I would tell my 20-year-old self I needed to be more comfortable with who I am." "I always knew that I was a chameleon, but it was a survival technique for me. Because I moved so often it was how I could quickly make friends and adjust." "Like a lot of people, I have a constant sense of inferiority and I overcompensate for that with pride sometimes." "I have to rest in who He has made me to be, rest in the Gospel, rest in who He is." "Stop dating that girl, pick up your Bible, and get your butt to church." "I quickly realized that life was bigger than money and gaining credentials." "I was headed down a road of greed and self absorption and God got me back on track. And it was through the local church that all that happened." "A lot of my earlier ministry was worrying about people who might say disparaging things, but as it turned out they had very little power." "It's when you are pastoring a church that is older than a couple of years and there are systems, and cultures that you have to deal with that were established long before you were there." "We hope to encourage pastors that are in those established church settings that don't know how to navigate some of those issues." "Most conflict in the church is over personality and leadership and how you lead change." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Blueprint Coaching Text "blueprint" to 888111 for more information about Blueprint Coaching The Established Church Podcast The Bridge Church Grit by Angela Duckworth Ask Me Anything with J.D. Greear Podcast Uni Watch Blog The Prodigal God by Tim Keller The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership by Gary McIntosh A Leader's Greatest Fear: A Deeper Look at Shadow Mission by John Ortberg New Churches Q&A Podcast This Episode's Sponsor: What happens when the Bible and humanity collide? Not what you’d expect. Living & Effective, a podcast collaboration between Christianity Today and the Chr...

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Mike Harland, director of Lifeway Worship and author of Worship Essentials. During their conversation, they discuss current worship culture. BEST QUOTES "Years ago, I realized that music was not the point, it was only the language." "The idea that you can unify a church around a music style is insanity. You better unify it around Jesus." "When an artist is leading congregational music it can be problematic." "There needs to be a really healthy awareness of the shepherding role that a worship leader has to have." "When we began to print lyrics and project lyrics, suddenly the hymnal wasn't the source book anymore." "What I've seen is the church believing that a worship approach could be a growth strategy for their church, and I just can't see that in the Scripture." "The way a church approaches worship becomes such an identifiable mark of their ministry approach." "In a healthy worship culture, there is a singular focus on the person of Jesus Christ, who He is and what He has done." "If your chief musician is a disciple maker, the ministry he leads will be a disciple making ministry that will be part of the overall strategy, not something that competes." "Healthy worship cultures measure their impact not on how well the set was executed but how engaged the congregation was." "Your people's prayer vocabulary will be built on what they are singing." "The body should prefer each other to any music style." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Worship Essentials by Mike Harland Text "leadership" to 888111 to be entered into a book draw New Churches Q&A Podcast This Episode's Sponsor: What happens when the Bible and humanity collide? Not what you’d expect. Living & Effective, a podcast collaboration between Christianity Today and the Christian Standard Bible, journeys through history, current events, theology, and the human condition to uncover surprising ways the Bible accomplishes God’s plan in the world."

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Scott Sanders and Derek Hanna, cohosts of The One Thing Podcast, part of the Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network. During their conversation, they discuss BEST QUOTES "My tendency always is to run toward getting the thousand things done, but I've realized I need to run toward the team at the moment." "One of the key things I am working on at the moment is how to get out of the way." "It's that process of building relationships that I am working on at the moment." "Reflecting on what's ahead is really important." "Naturally I am a forward thinker. The weakness in that is that I don't always get the stuff done that I need to do in the week." "I've made it a priority to spend a half an hour a day at the end of the day with my boys doing boy stuff and when I don't that's the beginning of everything else unraveling." "It's not just about me pursuing something, it's about us doing ministry together." "Leadership at my home looks like saying sorry a lot." "I want to create a culture of hospitality in our house." "I want to keep modeling to my kids humble obedience to Jesus." "Slow down. Enjoy and reflect on all the good things you are seeing God do in and amongst you." "Have clarity on your biblical convictions and remind yourself of them daily and their implications." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network The One Thing Podcast Developing Emotionally Mature Leaders by Aubrey Malphurs Evangelism in a Skeptical World by Sam Chan A Beautiful Constraint by Adam Morgan and Mark Barden Geneva Push Group Answers Podcast

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins is joined by Terry A. Smith, pastor and author of The Hospitable Leader. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: * What's the connection between leadership and hospitality and how important is that? * What part did hospitality play in the culture of the early church? * What did this look like when you started out both internally inside the church and externally in your community and how did that change through the different stages of growth in the church? * How do you instill this in your culture with the average attendee at your church? * What are some examples of businesses or churches that get hospitality right? * What does it look like for a leader to curate environments? * How can this shift toward hospitality affect things like leading meetings and other aspects of ministry that may seem mundane? BEST QUOTES "I love the connection between hospitality and leadership as long as someone doesn't get confused that it's about either of those things. It's really the marriage of the two." "We had to really work hard to create a hospitable environment in an inhospitable place." "Jesus ministered in a context of hospitality personally in ways that are almost extreme." "We took the best practices of some of the leading churches in the country around hospitality and we integrated it into that small building." "I want you to think about what it would look like for you to reach inside that person's chest and massage their heart." "Everybody is in the heart-warming business." "Everybody is in the business of taking hearts of stone and helping God turn them into hearts of flesh." "I think Jesus offers a beautiful example of someone who curated environments and connected it to successful leadership." "Hospitable leadership is a precursor to every other kind of leadership." "Genuine hospitality is so much more than technique." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network No Silver Bullets by Daniel Im The Hospitable Leader by Terry A. Smith Onward by Howard Schultz Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Scott McConnell, Executive Director of Lifeway Research. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: * What do Americans think about the Bible? * "More than half of all Americans have read little to none of the Bible." Talk about that. * What is surprising about the research? * What do you think churches can do to encourage Bible reading? * What does Bible reading look like for us? BEST QUOTES  “The largest group of people think the Bible is a good source of morals." "Not very many people view the Bible in really negative terms, even though we could quote them verses that would make them think that." "11% of Americans admit they really aren't sure what they think about the Bible." "We do see more females have read at least half of the Bible." "A quarter of 18-24 year olds have read none of the Bible, not even a few sentences." "Young people have not taken the initiative to say, 'I am going to read this book.'" "We become more like Christ when we take the time to read the Bible." "They look up things when they have a need. They see it as a reference book." "It's been proven that reading the Bible has value." "I like reading different translations as I read through the Bible." "As much as we might know the Bible, we forget key parts of who God is and what His message includes." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network 5LQ Episode 278: Scott McConnell on VBS Research Transformational Discipleship by Eric Geiger, Michael Kelley, and Philip Nation No Silver Bullets by Daniel Im Text "research" to 888111 to receive a link to download this research The One Thing Podcast

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Barnabas Piper, former 5LQ podcast co-host. During their conversation, they discuss what resources they are currently learning from and what leadership looks like in their current lives. BEST QUOTES “A lot of times we measure things because they are easy to measure, not because they are important, and then we make them important." "If you are trying to get more members to get more giving, your motivation might be misplaced." "If you want to see true growth in a lot of aspects of your church, including giving, membership is not just a one or two hour class. It has to be multiple weeks in a row where you are growing the relationship and discipling." "Leaders are no longer allowed to expect the same things they did from people decades ago." "I have become reasonable in my expectations of what God is going to do in a service." "I hope when I am 68 years old that I have the same attitude of eagerness to learn and humility." "It is a church that absorbs people who are coming from hurting places really well." "Leadership and management is mainly about helping other people accomplish things." "The recognition that 'I am not the right guy to do the job' is a hard thing to learn." "It does take a lot of maturity to give something to someone else that has been tied up in your identity and continue to set them up to succeed." "Are you trying to elevate yourself or are you trying to accomplish a unified goal?" RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White Imagine It Forward by Beth Comstock and Tahl Raz Letters to the Church by Francis Chan Everything Happens for a Reason by Kate Bowler Business Wars Podcast Choiceology Moneyball by Michael Lewis The Big Short by Michael Lewis Coach: Lessons in the Game of Life by Michael Lewis Measure What Matters by John Doerr The M...

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im breakdown the leadership book Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable ... About Solving the Most Painful Problem in Business by Patrick Lencioni. In their conversation they discuss the following questions: * What's the book and why does it matter? * Overview of the book * How 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 “For a lot of organizations, meetings are a blessing and a curse." "Bad meetings lead to bad decisions." "The format, purpose, and timing of those meetings is vital." "You don't need to buy a summary of any of his books because the latter half is the summary." "A daily check-in meeting is really about what's going on today." "When it comes to our weekly tactical meetings, we typically will mix the daily check-in with the tactical because we've suffered from meeting drift." "Having an agenda for every single meeting is important." "Quarterly audit your weekly meetings to see if they still align with your original purpose." "Don't table everything for a staff retreat." "You need to have an agenda for your meeting because everyone that is walking into the meeting has their own agenda." "Paying attention to what the meeting is, what type of meeting it is, and having that clear expectation set will mean you will be able to move from painful meetings to productive meetings." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Death by Meeting by Patrick Lencioni 5LQ Episode 288: Talent is Overrated Book Breakdown 5LQ Episode 286: The Fifth Discipline Book Breakdown 5LQ Episode 283: Profitable Growth Book Breakdown 5LQ Episode 277: Checklist Manifesto Book Breakdown The Ideal Team Player by Patrick Lencioni Business Wars Podcast The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni 5LQ Episode 5: How to Make Meetings Less Painful stand up meetings 90 Second Leadership - Church Personality Types Blueprint Coaching Events Text "leadership" to 888111 to be entered into a book giveaway and download an a-book right away

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Brad Lomenick, past leader of Catalyst and author of H3 Leadership. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: * How did you go from looking like Uncle Fester to Vin Diesel? * What should we know about the difference in Millennial and Gen Z leaders? * You personally know people who should have been shot out of the saddle, did you notice any patterns in their lives? * As a leader, how do I choose what conference to go to? * When you say "hustle" what does that actually mean and what does it look like? BEST QUOTES “From the inside out, I said that I wanted to pursue health. Spiritual health, physical health, emotional health." "Based on my identity now, I don't have to struggle with the rule of what can I or can't I eat." "Gen Z is risk adverse, where Millennials were risk aggressive." "The average Gen Z has walked through recession, terrorism, an economy that's up and down. Everything in their world pushes them to be more conservative in general." "Millennials are dealing with tons of student debt. Gen Z is way more willing to look at options when it comes to education." "A big pattern is that they are not interested, they are trying to be interesting." "What is the practical piece that you want to walk away with from a conference?" "If you are intentional today, you can learn in a lot of different categories." "Hustle is the outlet for your humility and your hunger." "So much of the hustle posture is one that says, 'I haven't arrived yet and I am still going to work like I'm still trying to get to the top' even if I am." "Your hustle has to be about making other people the center of the story." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network BradLomenick.com Lifeway Internship Opportunities Catalyst H3 Leadership by Brad Lomenick Text "leadership" to 888111 to be entered into a book giveaway and be able to download an e-book right away Group Answers Podcast

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Ed Stetzer, author of Christians in the Age of Outrage. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: * In the book you talk about eight personas of Christian leaders online, some of them being more sheep-like and others being more wolf-like. How would you advise us as Christian leaders to engage online? * In the book you talk about how the Church compromises its faith and witness when it protects the powerful at the expense of the victim. Why do you think this happens and how does it affect our church and leadership? * How should we stand up for our beliefs about human sexuality and lead our churches in light of the way that our culture sees this issue? * Talk about how Christians need to grasp the hypocrisy of engaging online in a way that would be holy intolerable if we were face-to-face with others. * "When we become primarily identified with any tribe outside the body of Christ, especially when we are identified to the point that others are repelled by us, we've traded our Kingdom-based identity for a world-based identity." Talk about that. BEST QUOTES  “Put your social media under the Lordship of Jesus Christ." "Realize that people are watching and listening. Make sure you communicate clearly about things you believe." "A whole world is being discipled by their cable news channel." "Pastors need to lead through social media in a way that glorifies God and helps shape a conversation that is better." "The last few months, the Church of Jesus Christ has lost great credibility. It matters to me that we might take better actions when it comes to accusations." "Most Americans see the issues (same sex marriage and more) as civil rights issues. They perceive our objection as akin to our objection of people of different races getting married." "If we say it is not a discrimination issue, how do we respond to issues of discrimination?" "Getting through the age of outrage is not about pretending we all believe the same thing." "I'm burning bridges with the people I need to be building bridges with and that hurts my witness." "The fruit of the Spirit does not end at the keyboard." "If you don't like multiculturalism, you are really going to hate Heaven." "Far too many people believe Jesus is coming back on Air Force One. That He is coming back on an elephant or a donkey and He is just not." "Don't be comfortable with everything that anyone says." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Christians in the Age of Outrage by Ed Stetzer 5LQ Episode 285: Caleb Kaltenbach Ask Me Anything with J.D. Greear Podcast

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Jason Daye, vice president of mobilization at Outreach and host of The ChurchLeaders Podcast. During their conversation, they discuss the daily practices he uses to be a better leader and leadership in the home as a parent to six children. BEST QUOTES “Life happens at life speed. As much as we plan and prepare, there are going to be things that just occur." "How are we trying to look ahead at where life is going?" "What I am investing most of my time in is new ministry initiatives." "So much of the fabric of America is being an individual and conquering something." "The city wide movements that are really making impact have this excitement rallying around a sense of mission." "I'm submitting myself to the leadership of the Holy Spirit." "Rereading has become a part of my regular discipline." "At home it is helpful to be a lot more fluid so that people stay relaxed." "How you lead them and discipline them is different with every child." "How do you parent all of your kids, and how do you parent each of your kids?" "We are best at being leaders when we are letting God lead us."   RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network To be entered in a book bundle giveaway and immediately download an e-book, text "leadership" to 888111 Outreach The ChurchLeaders Podcast SuperMario: How Nintendo Conquered America by Jeff Ryan Business Wars Podcast Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation by Blake J. Harris Hackers by Steven Levy New Churches EST.church Podcast

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im breakdown the leadership book Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else  by Geoff Colvin. In their conversation they discuss the following questions: * What's the book and why does it matter? * Overview of the book * How 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 “One of the things he doesn't talk about in the book is talent being an important factor." "Some of the people that do become the most successful aren't the people you would think." "Deliberate practice is not fun." "If the activities that lead to greatness were easy and fun, then everyone would do them and they would not distinguish the best from the rest." "The scarce resource is no longer money. It is human ability. The roadblocks we face are mostly imaginary." "At the end of the day, it really is about discipline." "It's not just practice for practice sake, it's designed specifically to improve performance." "Wherever you are, be all there, and be in with your mind." "If you are doing it right, it is exhausting." "Set goals. Self-observation. Get feedback afterwards. And repeat that over and over again." "I find that when it comes to work, you need to put in those rhythms." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Talent Is Overrated by Geoff Colvin 5LQ Episode 277: Checklist Manifesto Book Breakdown 5LQ Episode 283: Profitable Growth Book Breakdown 5LQ Episode 286: The Fifth Discipline Book Breakdown Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise by Anders Ericsson Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth Strengthsfinder The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande Humans Are Underrated by Geoff Colvin

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Jackie Hill Perry, author of Gay Girl, Good God. During their conversation, they discuss being discipled as a new Christian and what led her to write the book. BEST QUOTES “When I talk about my conversion, I am actually teaching about conversion." "God made me right with Himself. And in making me right with Himself, He has given me power over my temptations." "She taught me how to drink deeply from the Scriptures." "My discipler is imperfect, but even when she falls she has the faith to go to Jesus with it." "She discipled my whole person, which was way more beneficial to me than if she zeroed in on my sexuality and left everything else out, as if I didn't need to learn how to walk by the Spirit in all ways." "Over the last year and a half, I've been trying to work harder at becoming a servant in my church, but I want to find ways to serve secretly." "I just want to model what it is to be a woman who is empowered by the Spirit of God to my daughter." "Teaching in the home is such a vulnerable place, but that makes it that much more effective." "By experience, I was able to learn how to love people better." "There is so much talk about sexuality and not enough talk about how God is involved in this subject." "This isn't as much about your sexuality as it is about you being made in the image of God and being made primarily for His glory. And Jesus dying not to make you straight, per say, but to make you like Him." "In our desiring for our family members to come to Jesus, oftentimes we will present straightness and marriage as the means by which they should turn from their sin, instead of Jesus Himself." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Gay Girl, Good God by Jackie Hill Perry

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im breakdown the leadership book The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization by Peter M. Senge. In their conversation they discuss the following questions: * What's the book and why does it matter? * Overview of the book * How 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 “This book is about creating a learning organization." "If you want to grow your church, you have to grow your people." "Non-learning organizations react, whereas learning organizations look at the deeper underlying systems that generate that behavior." "In building learning organizations there is no ultimate destination or end state, only a lifelong journey." "Are you spending more time reacting or acting upon?" "How do we grow people's commitment to the mission that Jesus has given us?" "Learning in front of people is a lot of what your job is as a leader." "A lot of times the short term cure is worse than the long term disease." "Ultimately, you do not want to settle for a warm body model." "Churches are systems." "God uses systems. Systems aren't unholy." "It's really about identifying the natural patterns instead of seeing snapshots of problems." "If you are on staff at a church trying to lead up, this is a great book for next steps." "Today's problems come from yesterday's solutions." "Walk through the framework of the book and then take your team through it." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Ministry Grid The Fifth Discipline by Peter M. Senge Systems Thinking for Social Change by David Peter Stroh Leading Change by John Kotter Accelerate by John Kotter Strengths Finder No Silver Bullets by Daniel Im Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network