Tag: leadership

Podcast Week: Quick Hits

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Okay, to finish up podcast week, here’s a special Friday post!

These podcasts vary in topic and style, so I thought they would fit together as misfits:

  1. The Tony Kornheiser Show – This is not just a “when I have time” podcasts. This is my go to listen away from Ministry and Business. I very rarely fall behind on this one, and it’s a great way to unplug from the day.
  2. EntreLeadership – I like the business side of this podcast, but it’s not in my regular rotation. I do, however, give it a listen when I’m caught up or just looking for a shift.
  3. Worship Artistry – While the topics may be hit or miss, when I listen to this podcast I feel like the hosts genuinely care for my development as a musician. It’s easily my favorite guitar-ish podcast at the moment.
  4. Revisionist History – A few months back I had a whirlwind trip coming up and wanted a break. I rediscovered this podcast, and it was delightful. It kept me engaged and was fascinating at the same time.
  5. Serial – The first season of this is absolutely remarkable. It’s a definite shift from the majority of what I listen to, but if you’re new to podcasts, definitely check this out.

Finally, let me finish podcast week with this: Audiobooks are awesome. Between Audible and our local library, I’m loving audiobooks. In fact, if you click below (full disclosure–it’s an affiliate link), you can give Audible a try. Check it out and let me know!

 

Thanks for sticking with me this week! Happy Listening!

Podcast Week: Entrepreneurship

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I’m continuing my posts sharing some of the podcasts to which I dedicate my listening. Today, I’m going to go in a little different direction and talk about a genre I hadn’t explored significantly until the past few months: entrepreneurship, specifically online business.

I know this may sound strange for a Youth Pastor in West Texas, but I actually find myself regularly being challenged by the content and ideas being presented, plus I’m a blogger, so there’s that.

  1. Smart Passive Income with Pat Flynn – Pat Flynn is probably the best of the ones I listen to. Because of the nature of his expertise and mine, the overlap is sometimes spotty, but he delivers solid content and does a great job with the interview, so I’m generally fully engaged for the duration.
  2. The Soloproneuer Hour with Michael O’Neill – Michael O’Neill was my first toe in the water with this genre, so I forgive a lot of things that would drive me crazy (he’s a shameless self-promoter, which I am not). He provides good content most of the time, but he’s not a must listen in my book.
  3. Online Marketing Makeover with Amy Porterfield – Her delivery is unique. I’m not sure that she doesn’t manuscript and then read her manuscript when she’s not interviewing. As a result, I listen to her at 1.5x speed, if not 2x. In a recent episode I stumbled across a reference she made that sparked some curiosity, so I went back in her archives and found a gem, episode 149 I believe.
  4. Storybrand with Donald Miller – As with most podcasts, when you listen for a while (50+ episodes), you’re with the hosts for a rebranding. The Storybrand podcast has gone through a couple, and I’m still on the fence about the new direction. But, the early episodes are pure gold. Give them a listen!

There you go. 4 Podcasts dealing with business and entrepreneurship. I’ll be back tomorrow with a special post talking about my favorites and must listens.

Happy Listening!

Podcast Week: Church Leadership

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Confession time: I admire people who are avid readers. One of my goals this year was to read more books, but it has been a battle (one which I am certain will get blogged about before the end of the year).

But what I lack in reading, I make up for in Podcasts. There are weeks where I will listen to close to 20 hours of podcasts (and audio books are slowly creeping their way into my rotation).

Last year I wrote a few blogs I called Podcast Week. (Click here here and here to read them.) This year, I am going to do something similar, just topical.

So, today, here are my top four church leadership podcasts, all linked to iTunes:

  1. The Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast: These are long form interviews, usually lasting over an hour, but can be quite fascinating. For a season, this was my running podcast because I knew I wouldn’t have to deal with intros and outros during my run. The bottom line is I usually grow as a leader because of the time investment I’ve made listening to CNLP. My recent favorites are episodes 218 (Francis Chan) and 212 (Erwin McManus).
  2. The Unstuck Church Podcast with Tony Morgan: I can’t remember how I stumbled across this podcast, but I am so glad that I did. These, unlike Carey Nieuwhof, are quick hit podcasts, usually between 15 and 20 minutes. The content is fascinating, and this has become one podcast that I feel the urge to binge listen to every episode. My recent favorites are episode 55 (Thom Rainer) and episode 60 (Andy Stanley).
  3. 5 Leadership Questions Podcast: This is my mowing podcast. The chemistry on the show is pretty solid, and they do a good job covering a range of topics I would not normally explore on my own.
  4. Youth Ministry Booster: I’m going to be honest here: I have a difficult time with youth ministry podcasts. Most of them can’t hold my attention, mostly because I feel they are way too insider (one group takes around 20 minutes to get to their content), but YMB has my attention. When I want a word on youth ministry, I turn to these guys, and I’m rarely disappointed.

That’s it for today. Happy listening!

Substance vs Surface

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Where I live in Texas we have mesquite trees. They are everywhere. I have a few around my house that have been alive undoubtedly for decades.

Years ago, I spent a a month or so trying to grub mesquite trees. The trick, however, was you had to get down into the root system to truly get rid of them. Generally about 1 foot under the surface, there would be a bulb in the root system, and that was our target. If we could get the bulb, we could get the tree.

Our words should be the same way. As leaders, the things we say need to have roots, need to have substance.

Too many people get by in life by saying things that sound good but really have no substance. Or they say things that stand up until you think about what they’re actually saying, then you realize there is no root in their words.

Some people specialize in surface statements. They want to be quotable and tweet-able, but upon further thought, their statements have no root in truth or reality.

We, as leaders, should be different. Let your statements have root, let them carry weight.

Surface flatters someone for the sake of flattery, but substance points out and highlights the positives in their life.

Just like the mesquite trees that cannot be pushed over, I want what I say to the people around me to be filled with truth, with encouragement, and with love.

The truth is that regardless of what we say, our words have a lasting impact. I’m challenging you, as a leader and as a person in general, to let what you say mean something.

Leaders Step Up

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Leadership in itself can be a stick situation. The temptation is to always think someone else is going to step up, but a strong leader is able to realize when the situation calls for someone to step up who wouldn’t normally be expected to do so.

Think of it like this: when i was a freshman in high school, i was one of the oldest kids in the ministry. As a result, my attitude toward how old a teenager has to be to lead has been altered.

The temptation in youth ministry is to wait until a student is a junior or a senior to give them leadership responsibilities, because they’re older and more mature by that time. And that makes sense.

For me, however, I want a kid who is willing to step up and make a difference, regardless of age. Sometimes this means we have 8th graders on our leadership team, other times it means we have mostly high school.

Part of my role, as a leader who seeks to develop other leaders, leads me to encourage younger students to step up to a role they may not think they fit.

The same idea applies to you: you are going to be presented with opportunities to step into a position for which you may not think you are ready. Too often, however, leadership opportunities arise because we are willing, not because we are ready.

Are you willing to step up? What situation are you facing that feels like you’re on the edge of a cliff trying to build the courage to jump? What’s holding you back? What fear do you need to give up? Why have you not given your fear up yet?

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