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, Chandler Vannoy, and Brad Waggoner discuss the following questions: Lifeway Research shows that only 1 in 4 churches have a staff development plan in place, and 1/3 of churches spend $250 or less on training and development of paid staff members. Why is this a problem?How does role clarity, job descriptions, and clear goals help in development?How often should you meet with your direct reports? How often should you have performance reviews?When should you give stretch assignments and how does adding responsibility help develop your staff?What are three practical steps someone can take and implement tomorrow to begin to develop and lead their staff? BEST QUOTES "It's leadership negligence to not make this a really high priority.""The number one resource we have been called to steward is the people.""There should be clear expectations of what is it you expect them to do.""If people are left to their own devices, they are going to creat

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Brad Waggoner breakdown the leadership book Necessary Endings by Dr. Henry Cloud. In their conversation they discuss the following questions: What's the book and why does it matter?Overview of the bookHow applicable is the book to leadership in my church?What are things churches should ignore from the book?What can you do this week in light of the book? BEST QUOTES "The amount of disruption that goes on, I think, forces change on people at a breakneck pace.""From a leadership lens, he is trying to help people understand that change, including endings, doesn't have to be a negative thing.""He is an actual psychologist who does the hard work of distilling it and making it within reach to apply.""If you've thought through your measures of success, then you can objectively go back and say what is not contributing to that success.""I think it takes a little time to do the self-reflection this book will provoke.""This book can help give

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins, Chandler Vannoy, and Brad Waggoner discuss the following questions: What is the biblical calling of church staff and why does a church need a staff?Why does the structure of your church staff matter?How should an org chart in a church function?How do you structure a volunteer staff and make sure they are effective in aligning with the strategy?How does church staff structure set up churches for growth? BEST QUOTES "The whole idea of calling in the church has gotten somewhat confusing.""The clergy are not the ones who are supposed to do all the ministry.""Strategy precedes staffing.""I think a family minister is more common because the pendulum swung away from the minister of education.""It's the leadership's responsibility to cast the vision and to then bring alignment.""The outcomes drive whether or not there needs to be an adjustment to the strategy.""No matter how elegant your mission statement is, eventually you have to take a lo

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins, Chandler Vannoy, and Brad Waggoner discuss the following questions: When is the right time to hire more staff?When should churches hire part-time paid staff and what type of roles are best for part-time?Where should churches look when it comes to hiring new staff?What questions should you ask during the interview?What are the common mistakes we see when it comes to hiring church staff? BEST QUOTES "I've always believed that a good staff hire will pay for him or herself fairly quickly in many circumstances.""If the church is large enough that it is wrestling with growing the staff, consider where are you currently weak?""Be careful when hiring staff, because they will necessitate their existence. Once you do have that spot, they will create ministry where ministry was not.""Hiring a person is not a strategy.""Start out with the future you would love to see developed and then reverse engineer that.""Identify the functions that will get

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins is joined by Will Mancini, founder of Auxano and author of Younique, Church Unique, and God Dreams. They discuss how the process of becoming who God wants you to be can be challenging and how the church in North America has been operating from a functional Great Commission. BEST QUOTES "All leaders have been given a special assignment from God, but most don't understand it and haven't named it in a real precise kind of way.""Rather than projecting a sense of what I want to be when I grow up, what if I actually take seriously who God made me to be?""Moving into consulting was really about me responding to increased self-awareness that my gift of discernment was higher than my gift of leadership.""Church leaders are addicted to events and products, but it's process that produces the clarity.""My primary legacy is for the local church to return to it's movemental dynamic that Jesus always intended it to have.""We stopped talk about evangeli

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by Scott McConnell, Executive Director of Lifeway Research. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: Why do churches need to pay their staff? How much of a church's budget should go toward staff?What is the average salary of a pastor in America?What are some common mistakes churches make when it comes to compensation?What are some trends we are seeing in research when it comes to church staff and salaries? BEST QUOTES "The number one expense at most churches is people, followed quickly by facility costs.""The median we are seeing in the studies we have done is 47% of the budget spent on salaries.""Even if you are just giving a cost of living increase to keep up with inflation, you can quickly get out of whack and most churches start cutting ministries.""Ministry is never going to have less people if you do it right.""Every person is a member of the body and should be engaged in th

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins is joined by Ben Mandrell, president and CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources. During their conversation, they discuss the transition from established church pastor to church planter to Lifeway and the importance of listening to a diverse group of people from the larger group you lead. BEST QUOTES "All ministry is hard, no matter where you serve.""Pastoring the established church requires a lot more patience, when you are a planter you are driving a speedboat.""If I could go back and be an established pastor again, I would be a church planting pastor.""Planting a church in the west was the hardest thing I've ever done, but very rewarding.""I think Lifeway is now positioned to make a massive impact in the local church.""I think a lot of learning happens through good conversation and good question asking.""If you aren't constantly articulating the overall mission, then all of the subgroups begin to take on their own focus and lose sight of t

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Ben Mandrell are joined by Carey Nieuwhof, author of Didn't See It Coming. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: What is a conflict or failure that has benefited you and your leadership?How are you adjusting to the identity change of who you've been for so many years is not who you are anymore when you wake up?Who or what has been the greatest leadership influence in your life?What do you want your leadership legacy to be?How do you keep you well full of fresh water so that when you sit down to write you have something fresh to say? BEST QUOTES "When I burned out, it was so dark. I thought life, leadership, and ministry were over.""Here's the irony, I write on leadership, but I am also the leadership lid.""Understanding what the problems are and then dealing with them in your own life those are two different things.""If it's on vision, on strategy, and on budget, then I don't even need to know about it,

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Jenaye White are joined by Esther Daniel,the global director of talent acquisition at International Justice Mission (IJM). During their conversation, they discuss finding joy in the midst of difficult work and how her work has transitioned to developing leaders. BEST QUOTES "If you want to see sustainable change, you need to see the public justice systems transformed.""I've learned to live my life with open hands, my husband and I, wherever God takes us whatever He wants us to do for His kingdom.""When I look back at what God has been doing in my life, it has been building leaders.""I have to constantly center myself on this thing we are doing as an organization: This is God's weight, and this is our work, yes, but we do it Jesus' way.""It's important to balance the darkness with finding joy.""I know that when I submit to my husband, there's a blessing in it.""Rest in God's sovereignty and have an eternal perspective.""God is really

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins is joined by Dave Schroeder, marketing leader for B&H Books and cohost of the Table of (Mal)Contents Podcast. During their conversation, they discuss their five favorite leaders and what they have learned from them. BEST QUOTES "I love Shackleton because of his fortitude, resilience, leadership in the flesh.""General Oliver P. Smith led from within and he stayed with his troops. He survived in the way that they survived.""Eleanor Roosevelt had a lot of influence as first lady and took advantage, in a good way, of that position, as well as anybody before or since, to do great good.""Condoleezza Rice's reputation is a tower of strength as a leader and a sharp and shrewd negotiator who held a position that was not normal for a woman or minority and did it excellently.""Churchill never slowed down. He took losing his position as a big punch, but hung on.""My favorite story about Lincoln that is helpful for me every day is when Lincoln would

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins is joined by Jim Martin, vice president of spiritual formation at International Justice Mission (IJM). During their conversation, they discuss focusing on our identity as a child of God and building and maintaining intimacy with your family. BEST QUOTES "We as an organization are focusing on this idea that the work that we are doing to protect the poor from violence, the weight of that rests on God's shoulders, not on ours.""How do we engage this work without being crushed by the weight of it?""How do I make sure that I am operating out of my deepest and truest identity - that I am a child of God?""I need things that are going to help me not take myself or my work so seriously.""For 20 years my primary identity was husband and father. Now that my kids are all out of the house it's a little disorienting.""Leadership in the home has boiled down to building and maintaining intimacy with my wife and my kids.""Be present where you are at and

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Brad Waggoner breakdown the leadership book The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker. In their conversation they discuss the following questions: What's the book and why does it matter?Overview of the bookHow applicable is the book to leadership in my church?What are things churches should ignore from the book?What can you do this week in light of the book? BEST QUOTES “Effective leaders fight against being caught up in the day-to-day machinery of their business or ministry.""He would say effectiveness is a learned habit.""This book is applicable to anyone leading any team.""With the limited amount of time we have to assess things, we have to be selective of where we go to receive information.""We want to be careful about not sacrificing what's biblical, effective, or efficient on the altar of what's traditional.""Consensus is not the precondition of leadership, it is the by-product of leadership.""I think there is relevance for t

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins is joined by Abe Cho, the senior pastor of Redeemer East Side in New York. During their conversation, they discuss creating everyday missionaries and why protecting Sabbath is vital for being healthy. BEST QUOTES “A worship service centered approach to reaching our culture may not be the way to go anymore.""There are a huge number of barriers someone has to go through to go into a church." "How do we form Christians to be everyday missionaries so that the place of gospel ministry is actually in the everyday spaces and places of their lives?""Our culture is understandably looking for genuine, authentic connection.""If I miss this Sabbath, I don't know how my next week is going to go.""We've tried to invite our kids into the process, to say are there a couple of friends in our building that God has made a connection and you like hanging out with?""To follow Jesus is to follow Him wherever you go.""Christians are always going to be joyfully

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins is joined by Steve Graves, strategist and author of Flourishing and 41 Deposits. During their conversation, they discuss what it looks to live out a calling in a secular job and how to tackle difficult tasks. BEST QUOTES “Regardless of someone's leadership style and what kind of company they are in, if you are the senior leader it's up to you to set these five things.""Does the gospel have anything to do with some of the hard business issues we face each day?" "Calling is embedded at the very beginning of any leader of faith figuring out what it looks like to live on Monday.""We know that a Millennial thinks and practices in much more of a naturally intuitive, integrated way of life. We know a Baby Boomer certainly had much more performance-based and a segmented way of life.""Every CEO that I have, I will always ask them to pick a knowledge, skill, attitude, or behavior that they really want to grow in.""Every leadership season has to ha

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Ben Mandrell are joined by Jackie Hill Perry, author of Gay Girl, Good God and a Jude: Contending for the Faith in Today's Culture Bible study. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: Why is the book of Jude important for you?Why is contending in the faith in today's culture a timely message?How have you seen wrestling through a conflict benefit you and your leadership?Who did you have in mind when you wrote this book?How does the book of Jude draw us back in to be hopeful?What do you dream that your legacy will be?What is a pain that is producing righteousness in you right now?What's the best advice you've been given? BEST QUOTES “Jude gives us a lot of tools for how to contend practically but also how to have a sober mindedness as we contend.""One of the temptations of our day is to allow our affections to determine how we are supposed to view ourselves and God, where we start inward and then look up.""P

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins is joined by Clay Scroggins, author of How to Lead When You Are Not in Charge and How to Lead in a World of Distraction. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: What is at risk if we don't deal with distraction?What causes the most distractions for leaders?How is this like emotional intelligence and how is it different?What did you learn from writing this book?How does one identify when they have a distraction issue? BEST QUOTES “The book is really about what is on the other side of distraction.""If you want to grow as a leader you have got to trend toward emotional health.""Distractions are a mask that we use to cover up those things we don't want to feel.""If something is broken in your organization, it is just easier to turn up the distraction.""Sometimes in leadership to move forward you have to turn around and address things behind you.""Great leaders turn down the noise low enough and long enough to be r

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins is joined by Brady Boyd, pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs. During their conversation, they discuss how prayer and community can help a church survive any tragedy and why pastors need to be willing to listen and learn from people they don't agree with. BEST QUOTES “I thought I had been called to New Life to be a hospice pastor, to give a once great church an honorable funeral. To my surprise, in the last 12 years, we've had a resurrection story.""When you teach your church to pray, and you build really authentic community inside your church, it can survive almost anything.""What helped us survive and thrive was the deep culture of prayer.""If you don't allow a church to heal, they will take the pain into the future with them.""There is a moment in every church when you have to admit you are healed and the city needs your church.""We've seen manageable growth every year since we turned our attention outside the church.""If you

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins is joined by Jenni Catron, consultant and author of The Four Dimensions of Extraordinary Leadership and Clout. During their conversation, they discuss the challenge as a leader of being fixated on growth and what you can learn through personality assessments. BEST QUOTES “We are looking at how we best serve executive church leaders and how we can help lift the burden.""I am seeing in myself and the leaders we are working with that we are so fixated on just growing up and to the right as fast as we possibly can.""We've got to steward well what God has entrusted to us and if I am just fixated on growth it's not going to be sustainable.""Beyond spiritual disciplines, I need to be reading books and resources. I will spend an hour and a half to two hours each morning in spiritual disciplines and reading.""Because my work requires me to always be pouring out, the input component of what I'm learning is super important.""One of my rules is I w

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Jenaye White are joined by Andrew Peterson, award-winning singer/songwriter and author of The Wingfeather Saga books and Adorning the Dark. During their conversation, they discuss the importance of community and knowing God through an artistic craft. BEST QUOTES “There's something beautiful about how art seems to draw people together.""Delegation is the key to leadership.""The point is the story. The point is not the guy that is telling it.""I'm always having to fight this cultural lie that I will only be happier somewhere else.""Sometimes your community are the ones who can see your gifting better than you can.""The Lord is using my fear of loneliness to bring people together.""Sometimes shifting gears from being a performer to sitting in a boardroom is like trying to turn the Titanic around.""Beekeeping forced me to every day go out and look at something God made, not something I made.""Inventing a story and carrying a couple of ch

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins is joined by Kent Ingle, author of The Modern Guide to College, Framework Leadership, and 9 Disciplines of Enduring Leadership, and the president of Southeastern University. During their conversation, they discuss how systems help organizations move through change and how routines make our whole life more healthy. BEST QUOTES “We have six frameworks that guide every decision we make for our organization.""If we are going to grow, we are going places we've never been before.""A system provides a structure, rationale, method for moving an organization forward in the change process.""If I'm not healthy physically, everything else is going to suffer.""Routines every day bring vitality, life, learning, a lot of elements to our home that make us strong and healthy." "Discipline and routine is extremely important on a day by day basis in our home.""Always be others oriented in everything you do.""Think of ways that you can still providing that