Pastors and other church leaders often turn to secular leadership books for insights about how they should lead their congregations. Those books can be helpful, so their advice shouldn't necessarily be discounted.
By the same token, however, the Bible itself is a leadership book, which sets out the distinctive tone and posture of authentically Christian leadership. So, it should be the primary source of guidance for how Christians lead.
In this episode of the Influence Podcast, Influence magazine executive editor George P. Wood talks to Ryan Lokkesmoe about leadership lessons we can learn from the New Testament church. Lokkesmoe is lead pastor of Real Hope Community Church in Houston, Texas. He has a Ph.D. in New Testament from the University of Denver, and he is author, most recently, of Paul and His Team, published in 2017 by Moody.
Episode 128 Notes
You can't lead anything without a vision of your preferred future. This includes leadership in the local church. But that vision must come out of discerning what God is saying to you as you lead.
In this episode of the Influence Podcast, Influence magazine senior editor John Davidson talks to Jeff Leake about the difference between vision and faith, as well as how they work together.
Leake is pastor of Allison Park Church in Allison Park, Pennsylvania. He also provides leadership to Reach Northeast, a church-planting initiative in the northeast U.S., as well asa lead team member of the Church Multiplication Network.
You can follow Jeff Leake on Facebook and Twitter.
Episode 128 Notes
Management consultant Peter Drucker famously said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” That’s true in the business world, but it’s also true in the life of the local church.
In this episode of the Influence Podcast, Influence magazine senior editor John Davidson talks to Greg Ford about how to make your church’s culture healthy. Ford is lead pastor of One Church in Gahanna, Ohio, a church he and his wife Shailyn planted seven years ago. He is also a member of the Lead Team of the Church Multiplication Network, the church planting arm of the Assemblies of God.
You can follow Greg Ford on Facebook and Twitter.
Episode 127 Notes
Generation Z is the name of the demographic cohort born between 1999 and 2015. It is a large, diverse generation, whose ideas, experiences and values present both challenges and opportunities for Christian ministry.
In this podcast, Influence magazine executive editor George P. Wood talks to David Kinnaman about the new Barna Group report, Gen Z: The Culture, Beliefs and Motivations Shaping the Next Generation.
Kinnaman is president of Barna Group and coauthor of numerous books about how the next generation views Christianity, including unChristian, You Lost Me, and Good Faith.
You can follow Barna Group on Facebook and Twitter.
Episode 126 Notes