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 is joined by Dean Inserra, pastor of City Church in Tallahassee, Fla., and author of The Unsaved Christian. During their conversation, they discuss the benefits of being willing to learn from your younger staff members and engaging the home and family to make an impact. BEST QUOTES "Take heart and commit to learn from your staff. It's not just their job to be learning from you.""When it comes to our lives, there is so much drama nowadays, and in that reality I think self-awareness is really important.""If there is a conflict on our staff at church, we probably did a bad job communicating somewhere along the line.""If people are on edge around you all the time, that's a you problem and eventually you have to say why is that?""Work hard at not taking yourself so seriously.""I focus better when I am surrounded by people.""God gave us our family and our home to share it with other people.""The idol of family that happens in much of evangelic

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Mindy Caliguire, founder of Soul Care and the executive director of Gloo. During their conversation, they discuss the importance of soul health and learning from those who are candle lighters and those who are jet fuel drinkers. BEST QUOTES "Over time God continued to not only heal me, but bring me to environments where I could serve this bigger conversation among others, and in particular among leaders.""I want to talk to anyone who will listen about the primacy, the deep importance, of finding a way of life that keeps the health of your soul at the forefront of your truest responsibilities.""Leaders are leading courageously and dying inside at the same time.""Of all the thing that God has challenged us to die to in the pursuit of living a life with Him, I don't think that an ever diminishing life was one of those things.""We are so prone to self-deception and when we are unhealthy we have huge resistance to

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Hal Donaldson, cofounder of Convoy of Hope and author of Disruptive Compassion. During their conversation, they discuss the importance of spiritual growth to the health of an organization and putting family first before even presidential invitations. BEST QUOTES "It started out of the back of a pickup truck and we've now been able to serve and share with Jesus with more than 100 million people.""If I'm your friend and you are my friend, I am going to try to give you more than you give me.""We don't want to have compassion for the world and our community but then not be able to serve one another.""Convoy of Hope will never grow beyond the strength of the relationships of the team that makes up Convoy of Hope.""The greatest threat to Convoy of Hope is not lack of resources, it is pride.""If you have a crisis at home, it is going to spill over to the workplace.""Journaling is something I have to do. When I don't

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Ryan Myers the COO of He Reads Truth, She Reads Truth, and Kids Read Truth. During their conversation, they discuss planning and executing goals and the importance of Bible reading in the life of a Christian. BEST QUOTES "When you overload everywhere, you under-produce everywhere.""If you are not pursuing one of the defined goals, then it's a waste of time.""We are out of the startup phase, our infrastructure is in place, and we have a clear product direction. It's time to say, "how can we scale?""I really do need a plan for the day, I have a tendency to get on rabbit trails.""I have hours set on Tuesdays and Thursdays reserved for reading or dreaming.""Leadership in our home is a tag-team job.""My wife, Raechel, is a born CEO. She has an incredible awareness for the big picture at work and at home.""Be slow to speak and quick to gather information.""From the start, She Reads Truth has always been about biblic

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins is joined by Louie Giglio, author of Not Forsaken, communicator, and founder of the Passion movement. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: Why did you write Not Forsaken?How does this book address fatherlessness and anxiety?How can those who had positive relationships with their earthly dads benefit from Not Forsaken?When did you come to that place in your life where you understood that God, your Heavenly Father, fulfilled your need to be treasured, affirmed, accepted by your earthly father?What impact have you seen in Christians who fully begin to grasp who God is as their perfect Heavenly Father? BEST QUOTES "What Jesus taught us most about God is that He is a Father.""The wounds that exist in our generation because of broken earthly father relationships are extremely large.""Identity is that ballast that keeps us upright in a crazy competitive world.""The invitation of Not Forsaken is the promise of livi

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Missy Wallace, executive director of Nashville Institute for Faith and Work. During their conversation, they discuss how a day of silence can positively affect your spiritual life and how to have a personal relationship with Jesus while also holding a faith-based job. BEST QUOTES "I had such a transformative aha! moment when I figured out that I had worked for 20 years with bad theology.""I'm really learning how to separate talking about Jesus as a job and vocation versus a personal relationship with Jesus.""Sometimes things about Jesus, or reading a Bible passage or a theological text, ends up on a to-do list because I need to prepare for a class. That is great knowledge, but it does not penetrate the heart at all.""I was really scared that God would not say anything, or He would say too much. And I was worried about both of those.""I'm trying to work toward at least an hour a day of the phone turned off.""We

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Luke Dooley, president of OCEAN Programs. During their conversation, they discuss transitioning out of a busy season and considering what new practices can be helpful for the next season and ways to support entrepreneurs. BEST QUOTES "Fear and isolation are real concerns in the life of an entrepreneur.""Our point of emphasis right now is around trying new things.""We are doing three intentional habits as a team this summer.""We are not going to just be focused on what pops up on the screen in front of us.""I try to use my commute time well to reflect on the day and to prepare my heart and mind to leave the office and walk into the house with my wife and kids.""My wife and I are wrestling with what it looks like to grow our kids up and model Christ-likeness for them.""The 20-year-old version of any of us is probably ill-equipped to handle what the current version of us is handling.""As early as possible, choose

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Daniel Im is joined by Gary Haugen, CEO and founder of International Justice Mission and author of Good News About Injustice and The Locust Effect. During their conversation, they discuss focusing on God through prayer while working on His mission and the realities of slavery in today's world. BEST QUOTES "If what the common poor person was facing was violence, there wasn't a Christian ministry addressing that.""IJM started as a response to that biblical call to care for the poor and to seek justice and to make sure there was a vehicle by which Christians could be loving their neighbors who were victimized by violent abuse and oppression.""There are more people in slavery today than in any other time in human history.""After the first 7 years, we started to sense that God wanted to pour more of His presence and power out among us, but that we weren't really spiritually prepared to receive it.""If we don't have a work that we are engaged in that has

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Jana Magruder, director of Lifeway Kids. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: What is the state of Kids Ministry?Why is all of this important?What surprised you most about writing Nothing Less and about the research in general?What are the 10 greatest influencers of spiritual health for kids?What should parents and churches do with this? BEST QUOTES "The primary discipleship of a child should be in the home.""We like to encourage Kids Ministry leaders to lead up and lead out.""As a mom, one of the things that surprised me, is that family who ate meals together at least once a week did not make the list.""Standing around the island and grabbing a quick bite counts, but it's not necessarily what moves the dial.""School choice is important, but it's not what moves the dial in spiritual health later in life.""The greatest infleuncer of spiritual health for kids is a child regularly r

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Alex and Stephen Kendrick, directors and producers of "Overcomer," "Courageous," "Fireproof," and "War Room." During their conversation, they discuss leading a team in love and unity and moving from Ephesians 2:8-9 to 2:10. BEST QUOTES "The Lord's not done with you until He's done with you.""When I hear about everything you've been through in your life, I realize God has saved you from this and now He has uniquely gifted you to carry out the Great Commission.""God was in the middle of all of it preparing us to take the gospel and speak and communicate it in the terms of this generation through visual media.""The cross is the perfect picture of His mercy, but also His wrath.""We have to set the tone for attitude, work ethic, and unity.""As a leader, better to go down path B in unity to accomplish your goal, than to stay on path A and fight all the time.""In the busyness of the work day, we should never neglec

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Drew Dyck, editor at Moody Publishers and author of Your Future Self Will Thank You. During their conversation, they discuss the importance of spiritual disciplines at the start of your day and the challenges of working from home with small children also at home. BEST QUOTES "I see people in ministry as the ones on the front lines.""Test your ideas out on readers first in a short format and then try to graduate to writing a book-length project.""If I start my day with Scripture and a short time of prayer, that makes such a huge difference in the rest of my day when it comes to how I interact with people and my productivity at work.""There are certain seasons, I believe, you just have to get through with your sanity and your morality intact and consider that a win.""It's so easy to neglect those core spiritual disciplines when you are in a busy season.""The best thing about working from home is you can work a

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Michael Kelley, Lifeway director of Discipleship. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: What have you learned from producing Bible studies for the last 13 years?What have you found are the most popular Bible study topics and why?What are some of the bug shifts happening in the church right now as it relates to discipleship?What are your thoughts on churches doing Growth Track?Discuss the 10 years of longitudinal research on discipleship. BEST QUOTES "There is a version of a child that you are progressively becoming like as you move further and further along in your relationship with Jesus.""Clarity is king. When you write there's a temptation to be clever at any cost.""Outlines are a helpful tool if you really want people to grasp and internalize the message.""As a publisher, we don't just have an a la carte approach to the way we publish.""People really do find value in studying

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Dave Schroeder, marketing leader for B&H Books and cohost of the Table of (Mal)Contents Podcast. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: Why are leadership biographies important for church leaders?Which leadership biographies are your favorites?Which biographies should leaders stay away from?What do you say to those who don't read biographies?What can we learn from history books in general? BEST QUOTES "Most church leaders seem to be reading one category of book.""Pick someone you are interested in. Get recommendations. Do your research.""If the author can't tell a good enough story to keep you captivated to read on, then what's the point?""There is so much value from leaders of the past because they have life lessons that are a gift to the reader.""Even if it's not a history book, you need to be studying people.""Start in a place that brings you joy and entertainment and you will g

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Shaunti Feldhahn, author of For Women Only, For Men Only, and The Kindness Challenge. During their conversation, they discuss how finances impact marriage and how traveling for work affects leadership in the home. BEST QUOTES "We've been studying why in our marriages we fight about money.""What we found out is that when we are sideways with each other about money, it's not about the money.""So many of our marriages are really living separate financial lives.""We talked about that we as women don't always understand what's in the heart of our husband.""The average awesome loving husband has no idea that his wife still questions if she is lovable.""If the average man has that self doubt running under the surface and it is a raw nerve, then the average pastor man that nerve is probably that much more acute.""It was a step of obedience, and now I can't imagine how I got throughout things without this.""Because we

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Karen Swallow Prior, professor of English at Liberty University and author of On Reading Well. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: Why did you write a book on reading and what have you learned from reading widely?What does it mean to read well?What benefit does reading literature have to leading?You encourage individuals to read slowly, why and how do we do that?Explain the virtues you discuss in the book. BEST QUOTES “The art and the skill of reading literature suffers with the digitization of the material we take in.""Literature is an art. It's indirect and doesn't tell you what the moral is.""Reading well in the literal way is reading to comprehend the text, but beyond that is interpreting and applying that meaning to our lives.""When we read well we are practicing being human.""By it's very nature, written words require us to think abstractly and in a more linear fashion tha

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins, Daniel Im, and Earl Roberson breakdown the leadership book Leadership and the One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard. 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 “This book is a reminder that leaders are to adjust their leadership styles to the needs and the uniqueness of the people they give leadership to.""We all have books on our shelves and we treat them like encyclopedias and we go back to them based on the different phases in life we go through, and Leadership and the One Minute Manager is one of those for me.""Leadership style is how you behave when you are trying to influence someone's well-being or their performance.""Sometimes leadership is micro-management.""If you have to be super direct

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Brad Hambrick, pastor of counseling at Summit Church. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: How is the church's response to abuse ultimately rooted in the gospel? Why are both preventative training and response planning necessary for churches when it comes to abuse? What are some of the best examples of practical ways you've seen churches minister to those who have become victims of abuse? How do you provide pastoral care to an abuser in your congregation? How can church leaders develop relationships with local law enforcement and biblical counselors to best serve abuse victims? BEST QUOTES "The gospel is both God's message for sin, and how He ultimately brings comfort for suffering in a broken world." "If we are going to effectively bring a message of hope from Christ for what people in the world around us are going through, we are going to have to be able to talk about the i

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: Why this research? What are the common beliefs and misconceptions about sexual misconduct in the church? What surprised you the most about the research? What's the biggest take away for church leaders? What can churches do now in light of this? BEST QUOTES "Lifeway funded this study and we surveyed 1800 protestant churchgoers to really understand their perspective on this topic." "9 out of 10 church attendees believe the church would be a place for them to heal from sexual assault." "Three-fourths of church attendees believe that if somebody brought allegations within the church that they had been assaulted that they would be believed in that context." "We talk about the church being a place for healing, but only about 1 out of 6 people say they know someone in the church that has

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Michael Kelsey, campus pastor at McLean Bible Church. During their conversation, they discuss taking time alone to be a better decision maker and working under different pastoral leadership styles. BEST QUOTES "God's been good and teaching me to be me and to be humble and realize I'm not David Platt." "I think the thing that has shaped me between the two of them is just an urgency to make sure that the gospel is clear." "He came in wanting to collaborate with the people who had deep roots and a lot of leadership influence in the church." "We have historically been a church that has offered this menu of services tailor-made to every demographic and need, but I think long-term that catches up to you." "I have to have quiet time every day - just stopping and having enough time alone to get clarity for leadership decisions." "Sometimes we short-circuit the process because it's hard." "I'm much sharper, concise, an

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Daniel Im are joined by Bonny Andrews, founder of LiveJam. During their conversation, they discuss how LiveJam is reaching youth in India and how to make time for conversations with high level leaders. BEST QUOTES "We want to make sure that they have the gospel in their world in the way that they like to consume it." "We believe that the local church is the hero and we exist to resource the local church." "You have to be open to conversations from all different directions." "One of the things you hear in leadership circles is that it's lonely at the top. That's not the case for me." "I'm constantly pushing our team to take risks. It's OK to make mistakes." "We come from a shame-based culture. We wanted to kill the stigma around depression." "The greatest hope we can tell people is about the love of Jesus." "I'm constantly trying to talk to people. I have at least an hour a day talking to a person who is a high-level leader." "We ar