5 Leadership Questions: A Leadership Podcast Featuring Interviews With Carey Nieuwhof, Craig Groeschel, Matt Chandler, Jen Wi

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by Josh Patterson, lead pastor of The Village Church. They discuss the following questions: What current local regulations are in Dallas? What does your Sunday service look like right now and how does that change week to week?What are you doing in different ministry areas?What advice would you share to listeners on how to think strategically during this time?What are the biggest challenges you are facing and what are you doing to overcome these challenges?Where are you leading your team and their focus?How have you adapted roles during this time? BEST QUOTES "Our question as it relates to meeting has not been politically motivated, but it has been pastorally motivated.""We are in a particular zone where the numbers are going in the wrong direction, and as a church of our size we didn't want to contribute in anyway to growing numbers.""This season is pressing us to find new forms of what it means to gathe

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by Jay Kranda, online campus pastor of Saddleback Church. They discuss the following questions: What does your Sunday service currently look like? What are you planning on doing moving forward?What does your online service look like?When we return to in-person gatherings, how will you handle online services? What do you think the church will look like for the next few years? How will online church play into that?How do you effectively disciple people online? What's the difference in doing it when they are geographically far and geographically near?What are the goals and metrics churches should have to say this was an effective Sunday?What are some vanity things people got hyped about the first three weeks and they weren't a reflection of reality?What are some of the biggest challenges you are facing and how are you overcoming them? BEST QUOTES "We have gone all digital with our services. The only things

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by Philip Langford, president of IJM. They discuss how churches can work with IJM through Freedom Sunday and about leading through crisis. BEST QUOTES "We are all about protecting the poor from violence.""IJM is embarking on this 2030 vision where we actually picture getting to this place where a half billion of the world's poorest and most vulnerable to violence are actually safe and protected and able to grow up into the lives that God imagined for them.""We lead out of who we are on the inside.""A crisis of this scale always affects the poor most profoundly, so in a nutshell we are seeing violence and vulnerability increase everywhere we work around the world.""What has been really profound about these days is there is a way in which this pandemic has brought to light the more hidden pandemic of violence that affects the poor every day.""Necessity is the mother of invention and we are actually seeing am

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by Eric Geiger, senior pastor of Mariners Church. They discuss the following questions: What are the current government restrictions in your location?How have you led through this time to bring clarity to your culture? And clarity to why you are doing what you are doing?What does your Sunday service currently look like? What are you planning on doing moving forward?What are you doing in each specific ministry?How are you moving people from online into a deeper relationship both with the church and with the Lord?What are the biggest challenges you are facing and how are you overcoming those?How have you adapted existing staff and volunteer responsibilities to meet your current needs? If new roles have emerged, what are those roles and responsibilities? BEST QUOTES "Just like an offensive coordinator, we would call plays based on what we saw in our culture.""In June, we called play two, which is Mariners h

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by Dave Ferguson, author of Exponential, Hero Maker, and Finding Your Way Back to God. They discuss the following questions: What are the current government restrictions in your location?What does your Sunday service currently look like?What are you doing in each specific ministry?What are the biggest challenges you are facing and how are you overcoming those?How have you adapted existing staff and volunteer responsibilities to meet your current needs? If new roles have emerged, what are those roles and responsibilties? BEST QUOTES "From every measure that we have our engagement is significantly up." "While on one hand I want us to get back together in face-to-face worship, I think there are some things we are learning and it is a season ripe for innovation and I don't want to let that opportunity slip by either.""If we can continue to make sure that people are in relationships and they are taking care o

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by Jamie Ivey, podcaster and author of You Be You. They discuss learning from sources outside of your normal circle and working with contractors as opposed to full-time staff and bringing them into your business culture. BEST QUOTES "I'm learning from someone who is ahead of me in ministry, and I am learning from people online that are teaching me and opening up my mind to things I never thought about much because it didn't affect my life much.""As leaders, when we expand out to learn about things, I think it makes us better leaders, better listeners, and better understanders in everything we are doing as well.""How do we grow and how do we become more efficient in what we are doing?""How do we, as much as we possibly can, bring them into our team culture?""When you feel like you are connected to something, you want to do your best.""Whatever you can do, do it with excellence.""When I get to the end of my l

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by Jared C. Wilson, editor of For The Church, professor, and author. They discuss gospel centrality and how reading can benefit preaching. BEST QUOTES "The aim of the church doesn't change, but what has changed is our means of connection.""Conversions, baptism, and discipleship - people growing in Christ - those are harder things to count.""I would encourage pastors not to rethink the aim of your church, but to see all of the things you are doing not as a replacement for the mission but as the new way of getting at the same old aim.""If you want to steward your seminary education for the kind of depth that will actually serve you as a pastor, you need to be somehow applying your studies to your affections for Christ.""Seminary is not designed that you can take a break from being part of the body of Christ.""Reading things outside of your normal best practices stretches different muscles and expands my sense

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Ben Mandrell is joined by Pete Scazzero, author of The Emotionally Healthy Leader. They discuss how pastors can focus on their spiritual and emotional health. BEST QUOTES "The pandemic has put a pressure on both leaders and churches that is probably unprecedented in our lifetime.""We are not God, so when we try to be God and give more than we are, we violate our God-giving humanity.""So often we aren't even aware we are angry, but our body feels it.""To pastor and lead a church in the name of Jesus is no small task.""When you are attached and filled with things that you cling to, that means that there is not an empty space for Jesus to fill.""God has just upended American Christianity in particular.""Success is doing the will of God and becoming the person God has called you to be.""I am convinced that this pandemic is a gift to the church in retooling for the sake of the glory of Jesus and the mission of Jesus going forward.""We want to get to a pl

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by Bob Russell, former pastor of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville. They discuss mentoring preachers and handling challenging situations in the church. BEST QUOTES "Ministry is a wonderful calling, but it is a tough occupation.""We can't just pour out of the Holy Spirit without being filled of the Holy Spirit.""Preachers need times when they are off by themselves and aren't ministering to anybody and they are being replenished.""God's call on my life right now is to be an encouragement to preachers.""It's a time to remember God does not evaluate our effectiveness by number. He is going to evaluate our effectiveness by our faithfulness.""I wouldn't be surprised if the average church, when we reassemble, loses up to a third of its church members.""You can go through a lot when you have unity at the core. It's when you have disunity at the core that you are in trouble.""I think most of our preaching sho

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by Dan Darling, VP of communications at the ERLC, host of The Way Home Podcast, and editor of The Church and The Racial Divide study. They discuss how having a routine sets up your day and how your work life changes with seasons. BEST QUOTES "When you are a leader, being attentive to the needs of the people that work for you is important.""Most people don't want to be leaders, they want to be led.""Personal insecurity is a real driver of bad leadership.""If I go a few days without doing any creative work I feel empty.""I have learned the value of routines and regimen.""People in my church who are a few miles ahead in parenting have been the most helpful.""Trust the Lord. God directs your steps. Take opportunities that are presented to you.""Be willing to work hard in your profession in obscurity for a while.""If you have multiple things you enjoy doing, you will have seasons in your life where that is how y

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by Timothy Lupfer, author, speaker, and leadership consultant. They discuss the two tools of leadership and recognizing others self interests. BEST QUOTES "My definition of leadership is: leadership is a role where you affect followers to achieve the organizational goals.""People can be great specialists, but that doesn't make them leaders.""There are two tools in leadership: authority - which is top down - and influence - which is more bottom up.""Influence is your ability to personally interact with people.""Character is only effective in a leader if it rests on an existing foundation of giving direction and demonstrating capabilities.""For the vast majority of us, leadership is hard work.""To be most effective, we need to recognize the self interests of others as well and try to work in a way that these things are not mutually exclusive.""You are leading people to achieve an organizational goal and that

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by Clayton King, is a speaker, author, pastor at NewSpring Church, and founder of Crossroads Ministries. They discuss fulfilling God's call on your life and pursuing friendships. BEST QUOTES "If I'm not communicating on a stage and on a page, then I am not actually fulfilling God's call on my life.""I am going to have to answer to God for what I did with the gifts that He put in me.""This covid season has given us a great opportunity to come together as a team.""I am trying to take inventory of everything in my life that I have been doing and was doing up to the point of the pandemic.""What was I doing that I could not do and not miss that would free up space and capacity in my life to do things that I absolutely cannot live without?""I want to have kids and grandkids that love Jesus, in part, because they saw me love Jesus and they saw me allow Jesus to love me.""In order for me to have a friend, I have t

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins is joined by Daniel Im, former 5LQ cohost and senior associate pastor at Beulah Alliance Church, and Kevin Peck, lead pastor at Austin Stone. They discuss the following questions: What is your best ministry story so far?What has realigning your staff looked like?What are the best practices that have come out of this situation?What tools and frameworks are you using?How important is it for church leaders to stay emotionally healthy? How are you doing that? BEST QUOTES "We have three times as many people in Alpha as we would normally have at this time of year.""Generosity has not stopped and our people, candidly, are leading us as much as we are leading them.""We want people to help in a new digital world that's not digital by preference, but by necessity.""In order to preserve management structures, we took whole teams and assigned them to one of those tasks.""We've seen a lot of energy coming out of people being assigned to do new wor

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Chandler Vannoy and Ben Mandrell are joined by John Eldredge, author of Wild at Heart and Get Your Life Back. They discuss soul care and how technology causes distractions. BEST QUOTES "My attention has been fragmented by the way I work, the way I move, the way I consume media. I want my attention back.""Transformation, human restoration, takes place when you are able to give God your attention.""If we put some boundaries around technology we get to be people again.""The modern pastor has the most ruthless job on the planet.""The human soul is nourished by creation.""Every leadership meeting has some component of waiting for God to lead.""You have to unplug from your world to move into other things.""We are in love with distraction because distraction keeps you from having to look at anything inside.""If you don't take care of your soul, you will dry out. And then you will look for relief." RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Netw

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by Léonce Crump Jr., pastor of Renovation Church in Atlanta and author of Renovate. They discuss why and when pastor's need to be vulnerable and the fear of failure. BEST QUOTES "Last year was the hardest year, ministerially, of my life.""Your Enneagram is the person you felt you had to become to navigate your world as you were developing.""Last year's conflict forced me into a place of exposure and vulnerability that made me a better leader.""A part of the reason pastor's want to look like they have it all together is because that is the pressure and the expectation.""Ensure that you put yourself in a position in which you can be vulnerable, in which you can be your whole self uncensored.""The people you lead need to know some things so that they know you are both sheep and shepherd.""There are four relationships every ministry leader needs: friend, coach, counselor, pastor.""If we are seeing this as a dis

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by Derwin Gray, lead pastor of Transformation Church and author of The Good Life. They discuss leadership as modeling and what true happiness is. BEST QUOTES "Leadership is influencing people to become what you are asking them 'to do.'""You can be a leader without being a disciple, but every disciple has an opportunity to be a leader because you are influencing people to become something.""You can work hard at doing the wrong thing.""The goal of working hard is not accomplishment. Working hard is the goal. That's the reward.""When we lose our life in Christ, that's when we find our lives.""No matter what's happening keep your mind, keep your vision, and adapt.""We want people to know that the church is not the building. The church is the people.""If we dismiss grief, we forfeit growth.""We have looked for happiness in the things that God has created for us to use, and we've actually missed the person who ca

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by Rasool Berry, teaching pastor and host of "In Pursuit of Jesus." They discuss the mission of the church during the pandemic and why reflecting on the past is useful. BEST QUOTES "What I learned was that Jesus is more glorious and more worthy of worship after I went through this journey than I even had an appreciation of before.""I thought how amazing would it be for us as a church for people to not be able to talk about the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 without talking about the church's response.""For every hand that you can't shake, that should be a phone call or text that you make.""When we are able to gather and relax these social distancing policies we are always going to make available online our resources.""More than ever, being aware of what's happening in our city, in our nation, around the globe, is just part of what has to happen.""We have most of the New Testament because someone was writing corr

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by Ken Costa, a London-based banker, author, and speaker. They discuss the following questions: How does this coronavirus crisis compare to others in the past?How should leaders be using this time to grow personally as a leader and in their relationship with ChristWhat advice would you share with pastors to be prepared financially for what is next?What does good leadership look like in crisis?How would you advise leaders to improve in their flexibility and decision making? BEST QUOTES "There is nothing ordinary about where we are at the moment.""There is an opportunity for the moment for people to stop and reflect.""This whole nature of what is ordinary has never been able to be examined in the stripped down way in which we've been forced to examine it now.""Wherever God finds you and me, He calls us to that place.""This is the moment to be self-investing.""Don't forget that your credit card is theology

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins is joined by Joel Manby, author of Love Works. They discuss the danger in not being completely honest about our mistakes and leading through crisis. BEST QUOTES "None of us should put our self-worth in whether we keep our job as the lead pastor or not.""We have to lead in the short term and think in the short term, but at the same time we have to lead and vision to the future. That's one of the most exhausting things as a top leader.""When I've made the huge mistakes in my life, I haven't been completely truthful.""It never gets better, it only gets worse, if we don't own up to every mistake we make.""The pastor's leading is not more important than what is going on with their children or their home.""This is such a stressful time that we have to take care of ourselves first - eat, sleep, exercise. If we don't do that it causes unhealthy living.""A lack of trustworthiness can cause a meltdown personally because you've taken on too much.""

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by JT English, pastor and cohost of the Knowing Faith podcast. They discuss how adopting structure in ministry can be beneficial and why deference is an important leadership skill. BEST QUOTES "When you get into ministry or leadership, a lot of what you end up doing relates to your story.""This philosophy of ministry is more scalable than any other philosophy of ministry.""If you adopt a structure and predicable approach to ministry, people will buy in.""I think God does organic things out of structured ministry.""As leaders we are not just called to pick up our preferences and run with them until everybody else submits to them. We are also called to lay our preferences down and learn what deference looks like to others.""In order to lead in a healthy organization, deferring is a leadership instinct that has been lost.""That kind of leadership shows us that the privilege of leading is greater than the pain