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 Eric Geiger are joined by Jon Acuff, author of Finish. During their conversation, they discuss curating ideas to be a better leader and vulnerability. BEST QUOTES “Perfectionists would rather get a zero than a C. They are an all or nothing people.” “If I tell you my goal the wrong way, I’m less likely to do it.” “Social media gives you the high of accomplishing something you haven’t accomplished.” “Sometimes perfectionism is pretending you don’t have faults or admitting the safe ones.” “You should be fully vulnerable as a leader with a small group of people who can tell you the truth and say that’s not right.” “Surround yourself with people whose livelihood isn’t dependent on you, because they can only tell you a percent of the truth.” “I want my leadership impact to be that people would try things they didn’t think they could do.” “Your character impacts your skills and impacts your job.” “If you are a leader, you need to be an idea curator. You don’t have a problem with writer’s block, you have idea bankruptcy.” “The reason a stranger on a plane can give you advice is because they are so far removed from your orbit.” “Shock closes ears, surprise opens them.” “A great sermon is built Monday through Saturday interacting with people and understanding this is what they really need.” “The start of a sermon isn’t ‘what do I want to preach about?”, it’s ‘what do people need to hear?’ And if I’m not interacting with people I don’t know.” “If you have stagnant relationships your sermon will reflect that.” “Starting is fun, but the future belongs to finishers.” RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Ministrygrid.com Finish by Jon Acuff Do Over by Jon Acuff Creative Slide podcast

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Eric Geiger are joined by author and teacher Priscilla Shirer. During their conversation, they discuss celebrating weakness and what leadership in the home looks like. BEST QUOTES “I’m learning a lot about humility. That humility is the key for relationships in families, in working relationships, in ministry. Humility is what lays the framework for effective relationships.” “Kids can be the best teachers in helping you to see the world in a different light and see yourself more clearly. It’s like staring in a mirror and recognizing there’s some stuff that needs to be straightened out.” “It might not be perfect, but it’s going to be purposeful, and we are going to do the best we can.” “On the heels of that correction, there was a conversation about what my father saw could possibly be a gift that God has given me that needs to be molded by God’s Spirit for His purposes.” “Something else that was caught for me was not disciplining out of anger, but looking at it through the perspective of the Lord. Could it be that this characteristic is unruly in their life could be the thing that God might have put in their life and given me the privilege to help hone to use for His glory?” “I think that weaknesses are the very thing we should celebrate in a person.” “Instead of letting someone’s weakness be what makes them feel discouraged, I actually want to highlight it and say, ‘This is the platform on which God’s strength is going to be displayed in your life.’” “Fear highlights the weakness. It makes your weakness so overwhelming that it will paralyze you so that you never step into the very thing that is the opportunity for God to display His strength.” “We can’t let guilt keep us from having the intimacy with God we are supposed to have.” “Often it’s not until I am just outside walking, that a message I’ve been working on, or a paragraph I’ve been trying to finish, or a thought I’ve been trying to make sense of, it doesn’t settle until I stop studying and just go move my body.” “In prayer, one of my prayers is always, ‘Lord, today will you give me the opportunity to be the answer to someone else’s prayer.’” “What being a good leader looks like is submitting well to my husband. That’s a hard thing when you have a demonstrative personality like I do.” “The discipline of being submitted and patient and honoring my husband in that is what leadership looks like to me.” “I’m grateful to submit to a man who I know is submitted to the authority of someone who has spiritual covering over his life.” “As a single woman, put yourself in scenarios where you have to be submitted to some spiritual authority in your life, because that’s not a characteristic that jumps on you when you walk down the aisle and say, ‘I do.’” “Learn how to be a continual learner.” “Do less talking and more listening and learning because that will make me a better leader in the future.” “The only way we can be effective as a leader and in that role of mentoring others, is if we listen well, if we have our noses in a book, learning, reading, gleaning from people who are different from us, who have different theological frame of references from us, different denominations from us, different perspectives than ours, different racial backgrounds than ours.” RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Ministrygrid.com The Prince Warriors by Priscilla Shirer The Prince Warriors and the Unseen Invasion by Priscilla Shirer

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im complete the series on recruiting volunteers with a discussion on how to onboard new volunteers. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: * How important is it to onboard volunteers well? * How important are clearly articulated vision and values to an onboarding process? * How do you audit the elements your onboarding process? * Where can I find some of these tools? * What are some practical immediately applicable ways you can improve your onboarding this week? BEST QUOTES “You have either cast vision and inspired a person to be in a volunteer position or you have guilted them to be in a volunteer position. Either way you want to ‘wow’ them by being clean and clear.” “You can’t onboard a person through an email or an information sheet.” “It is very important to have people imbedded in each ministry area whose role is taking someone through the onboarding process.” “It’s always best to recruit to vision. Don’t recruit to a need. Don’t shame or guilt people to serve.” “When we serve we are becoming more like Christ in and through that. As you serve you begin discovering your giftedness and your passion.” “Serving is part of the process of discipleship, growing, and development.” “The higher you go in a leadership pipeline, the more oversight or responsibility that you are giving to a person, the more important the selection of that person is. Their vision and values must align with the church’s vision and values.” “You need to identify your core values that influence and impact who serves, who doesn’t serve, and how you recruit people to vision.” “If you can’t seem to close the backdoor in your church, look at your core processes and see where your gaps are and where you are bleeding.” “If you implement Ministry Grid at your church, it’s like we have brought you to the 20-yard line and given you four downs. We aren’t going to get you all the way there, because you need to contextualize it and make it your own, but there are 750 courses, 3,000 plus videos, and templates.” “Challenge yourself and your team to begin to have recruiting conversations; to look at each of your circle of contacts, identify one to two people who aren’t currently serving, and make the ask.” “In this day and age, you can no longer rely on someone’s connection or conviction to be connected to your church as an institution. If you want someone’s time, talent, or treasure, it has to be connected to a compelling vision.” RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Pipeline 2018 conference – Use promo code: recruitingweek to save 20% off the conference through May 29, 2018 Ministrygrid.com New Churches Podcast Episode 266 90SL Relationship Between Strategy, Vision, and Values

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Eric Geiger, Todd Adkins, and Daniel Im continue the series on recruiting volunteers with a practical discussion on creating a culture of recruiting. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: * How important is culture to recruiting volunteers? * What are some of the best levers leaders have at their disposal to create and embed culture? * How do I assess my current culture? * Is culture created by poetry or plumbing? * What are some practical steps to actually start changing your culture? BEST QUOTES “Culture is important for any discipline or value you want proliferated across the church.” “Just having a recruiting culture isn’t enough.” “The argument on which comes first isn’t as important as deciding you need both culture and systems.” “If you want to create culture you tell stories that embody the values you want to see in the culture.” “You create culture by who and what is celebrated.” “You change the culture by telling new stories and pointing to new heroes.” “You can assess the culture by listening to what’s talked about, what’s prayed for, what stories are told from the past, and what heroes are lifted up as the kind of person that is celebrated by the church.” “If you don’t assess your current culture, you might go into a loop thinking you are doing something new when you actually end up back at your original starting point.” “Take a look at your policies and your processes because those systems pieces speak very loudly to what your culture actually is. A lot of churches have policies and processes in place because of something bad that happened at some point in time.” “We can be so obsessed with learning what other churches are doing that we don’t spend enough time assessing our own.” “Leadership development is poetry and plumbing. It is vision that inspires and the system and processes that deliver on the dream.” “If you are all poetry and no plumbing, you are a dreamer. You are just talking about development and recruiting.” “If you are all plumbing and no poetry, you are a doer. It’s about the task, not about the person.” “Identify the actual values you want to retain. Celebrate those. Have less aspirational values, but have a plan to imbed them in the culture.” “When it comes to practical steps to start changing your culture, you have to know your values so you can move ahead and bring about a new culture.” RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Creating and Curating a Recruiting Culture e-book Designed to Lead by Eric Geiger and Kevin Peck 5LQ Episode 233: Jean Twenge No Silver Bullets by Daniel Im

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Eric Geiger, Todd Adkins, and Daniel Im continue the series on recruiting volunteers with a discussion on current methods of recruiting. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: * How do churches normally recruit volunteers? What are some of the most common ways you see churches recruit leaders? * Do you feel these methods are effective? Where do these methods come up short? * Let’s talk about some of the times we have been put into leadership before we were ready. * Now, share a story about when you placed someone in a position that they were not ready for, and what could you have done differently? * How do you give your volunteers the tools to succeed even when they may not be fully ready? BEST QUOTES “You are never going to get a better result than making a personal ask.” “If you are having a good experience in this ministry, you are our best bet at getting more people in.” “Recruiting is going to be effective if there is a relational component. No matter what terminology you are using.” “Effective recruiting has a vision component. Here’s what we are praying and hoping the Lord does in people’s lives.” “The third element in effective recruiting is some type of immediate, strategic element. There is a clarity of the ask.” “Culture and vision are transferred by people, not paper.” “We grow the most often when we are overwhelmed.” “I am not overly concerned about giving people too much, if you can be there with them.” “Dr. Allen Tough says, ‘70 percent of how we learn is by doing, 20 percent by coaching conversations, and 10 percent by informal environments.’” “All it takes, in most situations, is a good and godly person to give us feedback and walk us through. They don’t have to be the expert, they don’t have to be the leadership guru, they just have to be willing to have that conversation with us and help us move forward.” “There are going to be people who come into my ministry that appear to be ready to lead in that capacity, but don’t have the spiritual maturity to lead.” “We want to help church leaders not just get volunteers, but train them well.” “You have to have a specific map in mind for your volunteers that there is a destination in mind and ports of call along the way. It’s not just a cruise to nowhere.” “Help them find their area of passion. Give them the skills they need to get the job done that week. In the off weeks, give them ongoing training so that they grow in their ability to lead a group.” RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Pipeline 2018 conference – Use promo code: recruitingweek to save 20% off the conference through May 29, 2018 Ministrygrid.com

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Eric Geiger, Todd Adkins, and Daniel Im continue the series on recruiting volunteers with the focus on types of recruiting. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: * What are the different types of volunteer roles in the church? * How do you recruit these different types of volunteers? * What are the main reasons that people give for not volunteering in the church? * How do you respond to a volunteer who doesn’t have the time? * How do you ensure you honor the time and commitment of your volunteers? BEST QUOTES “Even within a volunteer level there are different types of roles. Some of those are weekly or biweekly, but some are really based on trust and level of responsibility.” “When you use your offering time as a way to cast vision for a ministry area, you can excite people about the ministry area without sounding desperate that you need more volunteers.” “If you leapfrog your own pipeline, you don’t get an opportunity to see people develop along the way. And then they are not able to say to people they are overseeing, ‘I did this when I was in that role…’” “There are people in the church who are not yet at a place where their heart is overwhelmed with the reality that Christ served them. And so they are not serving others, they are not going to volunteer, because they haven’t been rescued from their selfishness yet.” “When you serve, that’s how you become more like Christ.” “If you as a leader are overwhelmed and busy, you face the temptation of thinking everyone else is living the exact same way as you.” “Assuming you’ve made a strong ask, if someone says they don’t have enough time, you accept it.” “Recruiting and manipulation are not the same thing. You make the ask. You do so with passion and conviction because you believe it’s what’s best for the person.” “When someone says no, there is always a reason behind the no.” “Every person in your church is not going to become a pastor. There’s some that should. But if you want to change the course of your church, of your community, then the best asset you have is the person in your pew. The average attendee of your church is how you should be benchmarking the health of your church.” “The fruit of a volunteer is another volunteer. The fruit of a leader is another leader.” RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Pipeline 2018 conference – Use promo code: recruitingweek to save 20% off the conference through May 29, 2018 90 Second Leadership Ministry Grid  

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Eric Geiger, Todd Adkins, and Daniel Im begin a series of discussions on recruiting volunteers. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: * Why do so many churches feel like they never have enough leaders? * What do we mean by recruiting? * Why is recruiting important to leadership development? * What are some common mistakes to recruiting? * Whose job is it to recruit volunteers? BEST QUOTES “How do you grab people who haven’t bought into the vision of the local church to the extent that they are going to volunteer and give time to this grand mission?” “Whatever your culture currently is, you are basically training your church to be that. If you are always looking for leaders, if you always have a dumpster fire every Saturday, it’s going to be really hard to break out of that until you can shift that mindset and that culture. Especially if you’ve chosen to buy leaders instead of build them.” “There is a theological issue, that in some churches there has been an unhealthy view of the church over the years that if we want something done, we pay people to do it.” “You are doing too much. Everything you do as a church has an opportunity cost. Everything you do may have been good at one time, but if it doesn’t align with the mission, and if it doesn’t align with your vision, and your strategy, then you need to cut it out.” “Recruiting is inviting people to join a great mission. Not just to do a job.” “You cannot experience spiritual maturity apart from using your gifts in service to Christ.” “Recruiting is important to leadership development, because recruitment is not just about finding warm bodies. It’s not just about filling the position. You have to recruit them toward the vision of the ministry, but then you have to develop them.” “If you recruit them, and it’s not just about a warm body, but you’re continuing to develop and equip them and develop them in their competencies then they are going to continue to grow with you.” “Recruitment paints a big picture that there’s a mission, and if a mission is big enough it’s going to require development.” “Who I am recruiting says a lot about my ministry and says a lot about who is going to be connected to my ministry down the road.” “The leaders that you initially bring on board will have a direct effect on who comes down the road.” “Church planters that mentored leaders of other new churches had higher average worship attendance.” “Church plants who had a leadership development plan saw more people make decisions for Christ.” “Move from learner to leader to multiplier. A multiplier is somebody who is investing in someone else at that same level, bringing them in, helping them grow.” “You want to build a culture where recruiting happens at every level.” RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Creating and Curating a Recruiting Culture e-book  Gallup Q12 Engagement Survey New Churches podcast Newchurches.com Pipeline Conference

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Matt Perman, author of How to Get Unstuck. During their conversation, they discuss how theology and practicality go together. BEST QUOTES “You don’t have to choose between being theological and being practical. They are intended to go together.” “I’m driven by questions about the text.” “Let’s be God-centered in how we lead, not just come up with our own ideas.” “There’s two main factors that determine how we spend our time. They are urgency and importance." “We often assume that because something is urgent, it must also be important.” “The urgent things are often times crowding out the important things.” “The noise of urgency creates the illusion of importance." “I’d rather do it, and do it mediocre, than not do it at all.” “If you try to excel in 20 things, you probably won’t excel in anything at all.” “You need to learn the skill of leading in your home. It’s not going to come automatically." “Don’t look down on leadership. You need to learn it.” “I’ve made a lot of mistakes over the years not from lack of good intentions, but from lack of knowledge.” RECOMMENDED RESOURCES The Gospel at the Center What’s Best Next by Matt Perman Psalms 1-72 by Derek Kidner Psalms 73-150 by Derek Kidner Matthew by D. A. Carson Luke 1:1-9:50 by Darrell Boch Luke 9:51-24:53 by Darrell Boch Christ From Beginning to End by Trent Hunter and Stephen Wellum How We Love by Milan and Kay Yerkovich The Surprising Secrets of Highly Happy Marriages by Shaunti Feldhahn The Good News About Marriage by Shaunti Feldhahn For Women Only by Shaunti Feldhahn For Men Only by Shaunti Feldhahn The Pleasures of God by John Piper

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Jason Allen, president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. During their conversation, they discuss the importance of being a learner and daily patterns for success. BEST QUOTES “To be a leader is to be a learner.” “The leader who is sitting on top of a totem pole wanting everyone to bow down to him, is detached and removed, and not only is it off-putting to those who you lead, it also is robbing you of the intellectual contributions those people you lead can make.” “Know your own self, Your own context. You are bumping into a youth minister or a pastor. Ask them based on their expertise: What are you reading? Where are you learning?” “Leadership is contextual. You have to know yourself, your life context, know the context in which God has called you to lead and serve. And you are having to adjust and to lead and to learn based upon that context and those contextual needs.” “I would rather have a really big intake valve, whether it’s podcasts, books, subscriptions that I can collate quickly and cull quickly, and just knock to the side stuff that’s not helpful, than have a small tunnel and wishing I had more resources and information coming in,” “The way God has wired me, I just kind of get up and go. I find joy in productivity.” “Our kids have received a steady diet of confession and repentance and forgiveness from me and my wife.” “A lot of imperfection and a lot of intentionality are the two words that define our house.” “Take yourself less seriously, take your calling more seriously.” RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Ministrygrid.com Discerning Your Call to Ministry by Jason K. Allen Being a Christian by James K. Allen Portraits of a Pastor  Craig Groeschel Leadership podcast Peter Drucker books Presidential podcast Malcolm Gladwell Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary For the Church blog

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Paul Tripp, author of Parenting: 14 Gospel Principles That Can Radically Change Your Family and What Did You Expect? Redeeming the Realities of Marriage. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: * What is a conflict or a failure that has benefited you in leadership? * Who or what in your life has been the greatest influence? * What do you want your leadership legacy to be? * What habits or practices do you focus on so you can continue to learn as a leader? * What’s the best piece of leadership advice that you’ve ever been given? BEST QUOTES "God doesn’t always promise me a perfect instrument that is going to speak to me." "I want to be humble enough to say that even in this hurtful message there is something that I need to hear." "Every leader needs that older guy, whose been in the battle, who understands the issue. You can talk to the guy in shorthand and he gets it right away. He is trustworthy. He won’t carry private things to somebody else. He loves you. He will follow up with you to make sure you are doing OK. Everybody needs this." "I think my ministry is a community project. I wasn’t wired to do this by myself. It’s been great to walk through that with somebody who knows me, knows ministry, has wisdom and integrity." "Every pastor needs to be pastored. There’s no indication in the New Testament that there is any leader who is safe living up above or outside of the body of Christ." "To need to be lead is not just a condition of being a follower. It’s a condition of humanity. Every leader needs to be lead." "I don’t want to have a leadership legacy. I want my work to be my legacy." "We have too much of a leader-centric leadership culture." "I’m a person in the middle of my own development. I want to read, I want to learn, I want to study." "No one is going to say no for you. You have to say it. It’s not always spiritual to say yes." "Sometimes the most God-honoring thing I can say is, “no.” "There’s no specific clear or detailed discussion in the New Testament that assumes the tension between ministry and family." "If I accept this, what will be the impact on other areas that I have to be committed to?" "Where’s the church going to get mature leaders if immature leaders run?" "You’re not in ministry or in leadership because you are able, but because your Lord is able." "You’ve got to be willing to be weak and to fail and not run." "Maturity is the product of staying and continuing. People who run every time they get exposed or they get discouraged, miss all the lessons that are there. All the growth that is possible just hanging in there." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Myleadershippipeline.com/learningcommunity   The Faith Playbook Paultripp.com

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins is joined by Jerry Vines, former pastor of First Baptist Church, Jacksonville, FL and editor of the Vines Expository Bible. During their conversation, they discuss being a leader in your home and how to handle criticism. BEST QUOTES “My emphasis is to try to be an encouragement to pastors and to people.” “The secret of a person’s life is always behind the scenes.” “High on my priority list is telling my wife how much I love her and how much she means to me.” “Every teacher and every Christian should be a student.” “Being the leader in your home does not mean that you are the dictator and that you are always right.” “Be willing to be used of God wherever He puts you.” “Face your problems. Be willing to learn from your problems and be willing to apply what you know to be true.” “You will find some of the greatest Christians in the world in small places. It’s not a bad thing to build your life in a small place." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Ministrygrid.com The Inspiration and Authority of Bible by B.B. Warfield Thy Word Is Truth by E.J. Young "Fundamentalism" and the Word of God by J.I. Packer Why I Preach That the Bible is Literally True by W.A. Criswell Warren Wiersbe – B Series Power In The Pulpit by Jerry Vines and Jim Shaddix

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Chris Brown, host of Life Money Hope podcast. During their conversation, they discuss the importance of gratitude and moving past the baggage you have in life. BEST QUOTES "A lot of times we judge ourselves based on our intentions and others on reality and that’s not fair." "When I think about leadership in the home, it’s just so much harder than leadership in an organization. It’s less clinical. It’s a lot more emotional." "No matter your context is, whether you are in the marketplace or in church, whatever the duties are, the tasks are, the responsibilities, the weight is. You’ve got to have this whole I do, we do, you do idea." "Generosity and gratitude are contagious. Opportunity is attracted to generosity. Generosity is the currency of gratitude. It’s gratitude in action. Silent gratitude is absolutely useless." "When you are not filled with gratitude, you are not going one inch outside your job description." "Solve the biggest problems. Sometimes you can really work 60 hours a week solving problems no one is even noticing." "I do not want to be the 36th person on this roster. I want to be the person that people pass the rock too." "Managing God’s blessings in God’s way for God’s glory." "I don’t call it baggage; I call it ammo. It’s arsenal that I can use to shoot toward the Devil. And I can win people for Christ using my experience and what God has pulled me through." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Ministrygrid.com Brene Brown To subscribe to Life Money Hope podcast, text LMHpodcast to 33789 or go to stewardship.com for more information.

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Eric Geiger are joined by Ron Edmondson, senior pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church and author of The Mythical Leader: The Seven Myths of Leadership. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: * What is a conflict or failure that has benefited you in leadership? * Who or what has been the greatest leadership influence in your life? * What do you want your legacy to be? * What habits or practices do you focus on to continue to learn as a leader? * What's the best piece of leadership advice that you've ever been given? BEST QUOTES "I’ve got something else to learn and there is somebody else who has already learned it, so I’m going to go find them." "One of my principles in leadership is you can’t lead people you don’t love." "I like to hear from different voices, even voices I don’t agree with." "I have discovered pastors are terrible at disciplining their time, at learning to say no, and at really resting." "Leaders are leaders in more than just what we say." "Seek your affirmation in the right places." "We are trying to learn how to do church in an Amazon world now." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Ministrygrid.com Ronedmondson.com Fast/Forward: Make Your Company Fit for the Future by Julian Birkinshaw and Jonas Ridderstrale The Mentor Leader by Tony Dungy Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus by Lois Tverberg and Ann Spangler Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus by Lois Tverberg

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Eric Geiger discuss Eric's new book, How to Ruin Your Life and Starting Over When You Do. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: * What lead you to write this book? * What are some of the patterns you see in David's life? And why is it so important to keep those in check? * What can leaders learn from David's implosion and redemption? * What message from the book do you hope resonates with leaders the most? * What are some ways a leader might use this book for their own personal growth and for their team? This is a great book to go walk through as a team. Click here to download a team discussion guide. BEST QUOTES "There are private failures before a public fall." "I used to not think it was a big deal when a leader would say, “I’m bored. I need a new challenge.” But boredom means we aren’t looking at the Lord, because He’s never boring, He always satisfies." "Isolation. Boredom. Pride. Sins that should not be tamed in my heart; those sins must be slain in my heart." "Anything that’s not Him is less than Him and is created by Him. And even those things that are good that are created by Him, they can’t satisfy me, because they aren’t Him. I wasn’t created for those things I was ultimately created for Him." "If we lead a team of people, we want to be very mindful that all of us are very frail. We want to care for the people on our teams’ hearts." "The best way is to not wait for these tragedies, but to pour into your team, and to care for their character, not just their competence." "Recognize those patterns in your heart as quickly as you can, by God’s grace, and repent. And then repent again. And repent again. And repent again." "If this can happen to David, it can happen to me." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Ministrygrid.com Simple Church by Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger Ruinyourlife.net How to Ruin Your Life Team Discussion Guide

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Chris Hogan, author of Retire Inspired: It's Not an Age, It's a Financial Number. During their conversation, they discuss continual improvement and retirement tips. BEST QUOTES "We’re all in process. None of us are a finished product. It’s a matter of the tuning, and the awareness that we have as individuals that will allow us to grow." "As a leader, people have to know that you care. We can get so caught up in the title and in the position of leader, I think we forget the obligation and opportunity of leadership." "We are perfectly capable of improvement. Being an improved leader means you are getting better and better day in and day out." "A mistake is something that can happen, but if it keeps happening over and over its no longer called a mistake. Now it’s called a choice." "I know as a leader, if I can improve in my style and my performance and my knowledge, I can also improve in my impact on people." "A good leader can help someone get better at their job, but a great leader helps someone get better at their life." "It’s hard to be hateful when you are grateful." "Understand the value of unity." "There’s nothing you can’t achieve when you find people of like-mindedness." "You can’t wait to get serious about money until you get more, because you will just do more things wrong." "Dreams can motivate us more than fear can scare us." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES MinistryGrid.com Good to Great by Jims Collins Necessary Endings by Dr. Henry Cloud Living With a SEAL by Jesse Itzler ChrisHogan360.com