.

1. What have you found most challenging as a church leader?

Navigating the constant ebb and flows of not only people, but also my own personal mental health.


2. How did you become a church leader? Can you please briefly tell the story?

I was actually in the corporate world. I worked for a Fortune 100 company and was doing pretty well, but I couldn't stop thinking about reaching people far from Jesus. It consumed me. I went to see the pastor of the church I was attending at the time and told him about this wrestling. He said- You are not called. I left that meeting and told myself- I'm not called! 8 weeks later, the wrestling hadn't gone away so I set up another meeting with him. This time his response was- OK, now you are called. I just wanted to see if you would come back.


3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?

I get up between 4:30-5pm....I start with spending time with God. I'm the freshest in the morning, so I'll carve out 4 hours in the morning (except on Tuesday which is meeting day) for creative/writing type of work. Then I'll workout, but while I'm doing that I'm listening to podcasts that will help continue what I started in the morning, as well as help grow my leadership. The last part of the day is filled with either meetings, returning of emails, and/or shooting videos. I get home around 5:30, and then I'm in home mode...no work.


4. What's one book apart from the Bible that has had a profound impact on your leadership so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?

The book of Acts. The more I read it, the more I'm blown away by their focus on getting the message out through church planting, sending people out. My favorite verse that is what I call the "vision" verse for our church is Acts 2:47. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. What I love about this is this is an outcome verse. If we are doing the discipleship part well (see the verses 42-46), then this should be the outcome....people coming to know Jesus. We even say- Disciple to mission....disciple to obedience because of this.


5. What's the most recent significant leadership lesson you've learned?

One? Oh man. I'm going to cheat and give you two. One is you can't shortcut developing staff culture. Second is the focus on doing the right things (process) not the outcomes. If you do the right things well over a long period of time, the outcome will follow.


6. How do you develop a healthy leadership pipeline in a church?

We are working on this one....and I don't know if I'm the person to ask. I do know that there needs to first be a leadership development culture created. The pipeline will flow from culture. The second thing is the leadership pipeline and its system needs to be unified as much as possible across the entire church. The names, qualifications, huddles, modules, all need to be as systematized as possible. Finally, I believe there needs to be a public acknowledgement/expression that leadership is valued and possible. We do that through the leadership community 3 times a year, are now trying to create a leadership voice system, and through public "commissioning" and celebration of leadership at the service gatherings.


7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a church leader so far?

A few years ago, we baptized 100 people in one day....and I didn't do one of them. I just sat in the audience and celebrated with everyone else!