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 Dan Iten are joined by Vance Pitman who serves as the President of Send Network, the largest church planting network in North America. Pitman reflects on his time as the Pastor of Hope Church in Las Vegas, discussing conflicts with church leadership that led to his departure and his subsequent pursuit of intimacy with Jesus Christ. He also discusses his current role as the head of the North American Mission Board's church planting efforts and emphasizes the importance of pursuing intimacy with Christ, prioritizing rest, and aligning oneself with God's mission. BEST QUOTES “The primary call on my life is not ministry, the primary call on my life is intimacy. Ministry is what He does out of the overflow of intimacy.” – Vance Pitman “Spiritual leadership is not what I do for God. Spiritual leadership is what God does through me out of the overflow of my intimate love relationship with Him.” – Vance Pitman “God has really taught m

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Dan Iten are joined by Danny Franks, the Connections Pastor at the Summit Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, as they discuss the book, "Unreasonable Hospitality" by Will Guidara. The book tells the story of Will Guidara, a New York restaurateur, and his experience running the number-one restaurant in the world. The podcast explores the book's main points, such as the importance of exceptional service and authentic connections, and how they apply to leadership and first impressions within the church. BEST QUOTES “They really focused on the service and what happened in the dining room versus what happened in the kitchen. As church leaders, we can really learn a lot about that as we learn to set up the table for guests as they enter our building.” – Danny Franks “It's important for us to understand that in the context of the church, we need to be aware of where the culture has shifted and to adjust accordingly. Not to water down wha

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins is joined by Dr. Angie Ward, a leadership author and teacher with nearly 30 years of experience in church, parachurch, and Christian higher education ministry. She also serves as Director of the Doctor of Ministry program at Denver Seminary. They discuss the concept of adaptive leadership and its importance in today's rapidly changing culture and churches. Dr. Ward shares insights and practical tools for agile and adaptive leadership, including managing leadership anxiety and understanding the emotional aspects of change management. BEST QUOTES “Especially when it comes to change and leading an organization, you're going to have people that want to transfer their anxiety to you. It’s at that point that you must have a barrier up to be able to maintain a clean and clear point of view.” – Dr. Angie Ward “Anytime there's change, that introduces disequilibrium into the system, and then disequilibrium seeks stability.” – Dr. Angie Ward

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Dan Iten are joined by Mark Satterfield, the Lead Pastor at the Glade Church in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. They focus on the five steps to getting things done, which include reducing, prioritizing, planning, executing, and measuring tasks. Satterfield also highlights the importance of having a vision framework, utilizing task management and productivity apps, learning from CEOs, reducing clutter, saying no to non-priority tasks, and delegating effectively. The 5 steps to getting things done are: Reduce: This step involves evaluating tasks and prioritizing them based on importance and relevance. (3:07) Prioritize: After reducing tasks, it is important to prioritize the remaining tasks based on their significance and alignment with vision and values. (14:18) Plan: The planning step involves creating a schedule or a plan to allocate time and resources to the prioritized tasks. This includes using strategies like the Eisenhower matr

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Dan Iten are joined by Jared Musgrove, Co-Founder of the Community Leadership Collective and Executive Pastor of the Well Community Church. The episode focuses on the importance of small groups and communities in church ministry. Musgrove also discusses his new book, "A Short Guide to Groups: The Art of Leading Community," and highlights the transformative power of small groups in personal growth and leadership. The guys also talk about the significance of mid-sized communities as well as the role of prayer in leadership. BEST QUOTES “I want people who lead communities within churches to feel seen and to feel equipped and empowered to get in on what God's doing through those groups.” – Jared Musgrove “The guys that try to go it alone, whether it's planning a church or leading a company ends up burning out really quick.” – Jared Musgrove “Our entire mission is to equip and empower college men to live faithfully and lead courage

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Dan Iten are joined by Daniel Im who is the Lead Pastor of Beulah Alliance Church in Edmonton, Alberta. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: What is one thing you've read recently that you would want to pass along? What is one thing that you've listened to or watched recently? What is one tool or resource that you've started to use recently? Daniel, your church just celebrated 80 baptisms. Can you tell us how that came about and what you learned throughout that process? BEST QUOTES "Leadership is disruption. If you are not constantly leading the disruption, and then bringing about change, then someone else or something else is going to disrupt your organization, and you are going to be out of control of that." – Daniel Im “With customer service, we want people in our churches to be well-cared for as guest services are super important to us. But a lot of times we make it very transactio

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins is joined by Addison Bevere, COO of Messenger International and author of "Words with God: Trading Boring, Empty Prayer for Real Connection". Their discussion covers diverse topics such as leadership, the importance of reading and learning from different sources, prayer, and the impact of the voice of the accuser in today's world. This episode emphasizes the significance of leadership grounded in faith and listening to God's voice. BEST QUOTES “So much of prayer invites us into a form of silence where we discover that the silence is actually a language of God’s. And it's not a form of rejection. It's an invitation to a fresh way of engaging with God's voice and understanding how God has worked with us.” – Addison Bevere “Something about silence drives us to better understand God and our world and ourselves and how it all comes together.” – Addison Bevere “I thought that peace was having all the answers. I didn't realize that peace

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Dan Iten are joined by Mark Dance, Director of Pastoral Wellness at Guidestone Financial Resources, and author of "Start to Finish: The Pastor's Guide to Leading a Resilient Life and Ministry". Mark shares insights on building resilience in ministry, especially during the pandemic. They also talk about the importance of prioritizing relationships according to the Great Commandment, where loving God, family, and others should be at the forefront. They also aim to guide pastors and ministry leaders on how to lead a resilient life and ministry, grounded in a deep love for God and others. BEST QUOTES "This book is not about finances. It's about the comprehensive nature of the great commandment, heart, soul, mind, strength, as they are never meant to be separated and compartmentalized into separate things." – Mark Dance "It's not how we start but how we finish that matters." – Mark Dance “The hardest thing for a pastor to do is to

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Dan Iten are joined by Henry Costa, the CEO and co-founder of Glorify, a Christian daily worship app. Costa shares his background in finance, the military, and the technology industry, and how these experiences have led him to focus on technology for positive societal change. They also discuss the importance of learning from multiple sources, building a council of elders for advice, and the current focus of Glorify's leadership team on communication, remote work, and building culture. BEST QUOTES “I think the Christian world is crying out for better products to help them connect with God better.” – Henry Costa “The thing that makes people love that their job is really understanding what the vision is, what's the mission of how they're contributing directly into that, and then what's the output of that as they bring everything that we do back to the user.” – Henry Costa “Focus on where you're weak rather than thinking that you'

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Dan Iten are joined by Brian Dodd who serves as the Director of New Ministry Relationships for Injoy Stewardship Solutions where they help churches fully fund their mission and vision. During this conversation, Brian emphasizes the importance of continuous learning and curiosity in leadership, advising leaders to ask the second and third questions of everything to gain deeper insights and implications for application. They also touch on the topics of failure, personal growth, and self-leadership. BEST QUOTES “Everybody’s a leader. Because if nothing else, you got to practice self-leadership. So, everybody's a leader, and everybody can get better as a leader.” – Brian Dodd “Failure is a data point to learn from. That's the way you need to view failure. If the failure is not fatal, it's just a data point to learn from.” – Brian Dodd “If you're a leader and you're not reading books, I can’t help you. It is easily the best return

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Dan Iten break down an article from the Harvard Business Review titled "Who Has the D? How Clear Decision Roles Enhance Organizational Performance." The article emphasizes the importance of making quick and effective decisions to prevent loss of ground in businesses. Todd and Dan review two frameworks from the article, bottlenecks in decision-making and the RAPID framework for accountability, and discuss how these frameworks can be applied to improve clarity on decision-making in church settings. BEST QUOTES "Yes, it's important to pay attention to the prompting of the Spirit. But it's never going to go against what Scripture says, or what your good and godly wise counsel and people have to say." – Todd Adkins "Consensus is a worthy goal. But as a decision-making standard, it can be an obstacle to action or a recipe for the lowest common denominator compromise." – Todd Adkins "As a company grows, its operation becomes more com

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Dan Iten are joined by Jeff Dalrymple who serves as the Executive Director of the Evangelical Council for Abuse Prevention (ECAP). In this episode, they discuss the importance of coaching and leading a team toward a shared mission, vision, and values. He shares his experiences in identifying gaps in knowledge and management surrounding child safety in the evangelical community and the challenges of leading a dispersed team during the startup phase of an organization. Jeff also emphasizes the importance of balancing work and family life and provides insights into his leadership approach in his home. BEST QUOTES "Advancing the mission and making things happen is important, but don't forget to care for and invest in the people around you." – Jeff Dalrymple "Shared experiences create relational deposits that are valuable in the life of a child and family." – Jeff Dalrymple "The mission is important, but how you go about accomplish

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Dan Iten are joined by Chuck Peters, who serves as the Director of Lifeway Kids and Scott McConnell, who serves as the Executive Director of Lifeway Research. In this episode, they discuss the current trends, challenges, and needs of Generation Z and Generation Alpha in kids’ ministry. The conversation highlights the importance of adapting to the needs of younger generations, creating a culture of belonging, and addressing the need for identity. They also talk about Lifeway's book called “Flip the Script” which is a resource that offers tools for preschool kids and student ministries to effectively reach Gen Z and Alpha. Overall, the episode provides valuable insights for church leaders seeking to connect with and minister to younger generations. BEST QUOTES "We can't do what we've always done and expect a different outcome." – Chuck Peters "The biggest disconnect is assuming that kids think how we do." – Chuck Peters "The mos

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by David Putman who serves as a Senior Lead Navigator at Auxano where he is committed to catalyzing movements of disciples who make disciples and that plant churches that plant churches. In this episode, they discuss the church’s God-given mandate to make disciples and how to intentionally develop person-to-person discipleship so that your church can start planting other churches. They also talk about the importance of having a clear vision and strategy for churches as well as the need for simple and reproducible tools for discipleship and disciple-making. BEST QUOTES “I think the most important thing missing piece that churches often have is a lack of clarity around their vision.” – Todd Adkins “If you want to see movement on an individual or organizational level, you have to put tools in people's hands, and they need to be simple, reproducible tools.” – David Putman "It's not just about producing d

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins, Chandler Vannoy, and Dan Iten discuss the subject of how to transition jobs well. As Chandler transitions to a new role away from Lifeway, the team reflects on ways that leaders can improve the process of transitioning out of their role and how they can create an environment where open dialogue about job changes is encouraged. Here are some of the questions they discussed: Why is this important to the life of a church? What are some general reasons why people leave their jobs? What are some best practices or opposing views on how people look at this subject? What are some ways you’ve seen this go well and other ways that you’ve seen it go poorly? How do you develop a culture that is comfortable having these types of conversations? What are some best practices for you as the employee leaving to set up the next person for success? BEST QUOTES “If there's anybody that should be able to retain employees or retain staff,

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins, Chandler Vannoy, and Dan Iten discuss the subject of how to conduct better, more effective meetings in whatever leadership setting you find yourself. Here are some of the questions asked during the episode: Why are meetings important for the local church? Why is it important to gather volunteers or others who aren’t paid staff? What are some best practices or opposing views about getting the most out of your team meetings? What are some good filters on how to determine what a meeting is about and whether something should be a meeting at all? What are some real-life examples of leading a team meeting well? How are meetings conducted in an effective manner in a much smaller context? Are there any resources that would be helpful in learning how to conduct more effective meetings? BEST QUOTES “You should not have a meeting to decide on what the question or the point of the meeting is.” – Todd Adkins “If you've got

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Dan Iten are joined by Brad Lomenick who is a leadership consultant, speaker, founder of BLINC, and author of The Catalyst Leader and H3 Leadership. During their conversation, they discuss the following questions: What is one thing you’ve read recently that has had an impact? What are you listening to? What is one tool or resource you’ve started using recently? Who is one person who has influenced you recently? What is one lesson you’ve learned recently? BEST QUOTES “I think a lot of training is really more about confidence than it is competence.” – Todd Adkins “If you become a curator of connections, resources or talent, you automatically have influence in the place you traffic.” – Brad Lomenick “Conversation, community, and connection around a table with people today is arguably more desirable than a conference or a big gathering where it's only about content.” – Brad Lomenick “As you think about the way

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Dan Iten are joined by Chris Horst who most recently served as the chief advancement officer at HOPE International, where he employed his passion for advancing initiatives at the intersection of faith and work. They also discuss Chris’ recent transition into a new chapter of his life and how one can transition out of an organization well while establishing a culture of trust and transparency between team members. BEST QUOTES “We are living in a place where stability is something that we can count on. I think the last few years really revealed how much we, at least for me personally, idolize stability and certainty.” – Chris Horst “The most important performance assessment you'll get is not during your tenure, but it's one, two, or even three years after you transition out of a leadership role.” – Peter Greer “If people are able to express that they might be thinking of leaving or processing a different calling on their life ri

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Dan Iten are joined by Shane Pruitt who serves as the National Next Gen Director for the North American Mission Board (NAMB). In this episode, they discuss the responsibility of ministry leaders to find future leaders under their care and what the process of discipleship looks like in that context. They also discuss how to recognize future leaders in your midst, and what needs to be done in order to call out those whom God has called for full-time ministry leadership. BEST QUOTES “God hasn't stopped calling out those to ministry leadership. I think we as current leaders have stopped asking a whole generation to consider if God is calling them.” – Shane Pruitt “I know young people get told all the time that they are the future of the church and I know what people mean by that. However, that’s not biblically correct because if they'd been bought by the blood of Jesus and are indwelt by the Spirit of God; they are not the future of

In this very special episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Chandler Vannoy and Dan Iten for the first time (or the second) in the history of this podcast will ask Todd Adkins the 5 leadership questions. They discuss how God is influencing Todd’s leadership today and some of the biggest lessons he has learned over the last 500 episodes of this podcast. BEST QUOTES “Instead of looking at our lives and saying, ‘are we getting better and better day by day as a Christian?’ That is what I am called to do. I'm not called to win. I can't win it compared to Christ. Yes, I am a loser. But I'm not playing that game. I'm an eternal being. I'm playing an infinite game and if anybody should understand that it should be Christians that we should look at each day getting better and better.” – Todd Adkins “As pastors, even as Christians, our fruit does grow on other people's trees. And that's not us taking credit for what other people do. It is to say, the fruit of a Christian is another Christian, the frui