Leading Second Podcast

It’s another Thursday, and that means another episode of the Leading Second Podcast! We have a heart to see the local church be healthy in this season and my prayer for our tribe is unity for us towards our pastors and leaders. I believe that division is the biggest challenge facing the church today (we have a great episode all about that in season three with John Morgan), and I pray that we are part of the solution, not feeding into the problems. That’s where this episode starts today. I share some of my heart and prayers in this season in an opening segment before diving into our conversation.

We got another great question from one of our listeners for this week’s episode! (4:16 if you want to jump to that) Our question that we tackled in this episode is, “When do we stop focusing on what was and shift to what is?” Please, if you ever have any questions that you’re facing right now or trying to wrestle through, don’t hesitate to ask. That is what the Leading Second community is all about!

And finally, I’m so excited about our guest for this episode. Back to the podcast for the second season in a row, Julian Lowe! (Listen to our last episode with him if you missed that as well) When I first met Julien, he was an Executive Pastor at Oasis Church in Los Angeles, but is now the Lead Pastor there! I’m always fascinated when I get a chance to talk with pastors who have been on either side of that role. So from 11:39 through 27:02, we talk through his ministry life and what those various roles looked like, how he stayed the course, remained humble and healthy, and he shares some excellent advice and wisdom from his own personal journey in that time.

Our big question if the week is (28:06), “What does a healthy, effective leader look like for the coming season?”

Julian shares some unique insights on this episode. He challenges what we think “great” is and what it takes to BE great. He also shares some traits that he believes are going to be needed by leaders right now. This episode finishes up with him talking about ways that he stays fresh right now.

I challenge you to listen to this episode and find something to take away and apply to your life right now. There is so much gold in this conversation, and I am so blessed to have Julian in my life.

Run healthy this week,

Brandon

After the Episode

Questions to ask yourself and your team this week:

How has God given you grace or an anointing for the challenges you are facing?

What are some practical habits you can implement this week to recover and continue leading strong?

Follow Pastor Julian’s lead, and evaluate your day today. Ask yourself: How’s my soul today? How did my day go? Consider how you are doing, and ask the Holy Spirit to give you wisdom for tomorrow.

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We want you in our tribe! Stay connected to all Leading Second has to offer:

Website: leadingsecond.com

Instagram: instagram.com/leadingsecond

Connect with Brandon Stewart

Facebook: facebook.com/brandonmstewart

Instagram: instagram.com/brandonmstewart

Leading Second is an extension of the Team Church tribe. For more information on Team Church Conference and One Day events, check-out teamchurchconference.com or search Team Church on Facebook.

It’s only the second episode of this new fourth season, and we’re already mixing it up! We want to switch things up every once in a while this season, and this is one of those episodes. We gathered a panel of executive pastors and campus pastors. These are some incredible second-chair leaders, who sat down with me, and just got to fire away some questions that they’ve been having this past year as they navigated leading during COVID-19.

This panel is from churches of various sizes, different demographics, and from all over the country. I was so happy to sit down with Jeffery Davis from Verve Community Church, Nick Dekold from Lakeshore Church, Sarah Nelsen from The Well, Stephanie Blanton from Freedom House Church, and Dillon Ritchie from Coastlife Church.

The goal of today’s episode is just to share some wisdom, and our big question is, “What does leadership look like during COVID-19?”

There isn’t exactly a playbook on how to lead during a pandemic. Our pastors have some of the same questions that we’ve all been asking ourselves. There is so much uncertainty right now, and we need constant flexibility. So what does leadership look like, and how do we lead well from the second chair right now? I believe the questions asked were some that so many of us have been facing this past year. We tackled real problems that we’re facing and had some excellent conversations wrestling through these topics together.

Here are the questions and topics we cover in this episode:

What advice on developing healthy relationships would you give pastors/ leaders transitioning into new roles or churches during this time?

We live in a world where people are worshipping opinion over God, self over others, and convenience over the church. In what ways can we support our Pastors in challenging worldly culture, which sometimes causes people to exit the church and at the same time focus on mobilizing the church for growth?

For those of us who have gotten the opportunity to return to in-person gatherings, one of the hurdles I think many of us have experienced is re-building our Serve Teams. What are some ways or maybe some methods that can help re-engage our church family in serving?

What are some things that I can do as a second chair leader to help continue to move the vision of the church forward in a time of uncertainty and during a season where everything seems like it has been put on pause?

When the church (The Christian church as a whole) is under so much pressure, our Senior Pastors need us to hold their arms up more than ever. How can we do a good job of this when we ourselves need someone to hold our arms up? How do we tap into support while we are their support?

I pray this leaves you with some practical wisdom so we can all lead at our absolute best.

Run strong this week,

Brandon

After The Episode:

What are you doing as a leader right now to fill in the gaps that you see?

What practical steps can you take to create and guard alignment with your Pastor and your team this week?

SUBSCRIBE

COMMENT

LIKE & SHARE

We want you in our tribe! Stay connected to all Leading Second has to offer:

Website: leadingsecond.com

Instagram: instagram.com/leadingsecond

Connect with Brandon Stewart

Facebook: facebook.com/brandonmstewart

Instagram: instagram.com/brandonmstewart

Leading Second is an extension of the Team Church tribe. For more information on Team Church Conference and One Day events, check-out teamchurchconference.com or search Team Church on Facebook.

New year, new look, new perspective, new season... same Leading Second.

We are back with season 4 of the Leading Second Podcast and we’ll be bringing you new episodes every Thursday this Spring!! This first episode of the season is dropping on Leading Second’s fourth birthday and we couldn’t have lined up a better guest to get things kicked off and started on the right foot.

Our guest today has become such a great friend to me, as well as anybody who regularly listens to this podcast. He is a campus pastor at Elevation Church, a team builder, and honestly one of the absolute best second chair leaders in the world. Our conversation today is with the one and only, Larry Brey.

Things look different today than they did a year ago. We’ve gone through a season of change unlike most of us have ever experienced before. Things that used to work, no longer work anymore. The needs people have right now, are not the needs that we were addressing a year ago. The solutions that we had for problems, need to be adjusted now. And things that seemed so important, we’ve realized, are maybe not quite as pressing.

So… Where do we go from here??

That is the big question that we tackle today. With everything that has gone on and everything that has changed, what now? Pastor Larry is filled with so much wisdom, and this episode is packed with great takeaways that will help navigate this season of life and ministry.

Some of the questions that we tackle in this episode are:

How have things changed?

What good do you see that this season has brought out of leaders and the local church?

What do you think the leaders who will thrive in the coming season look like?

What would you say to the leader who is experiencing alignment issues right now?

Pastor Larry even opens up a lot about some of his own struggles this past year. So if you’ve felt isolated in this past year or like you’re facing challenges by yourself, know that you’re not alone in any of this. We’d love for you to join our community and tribe on Facebook because we are all better together.

If you get nothing else out of this episode, be sure to catch Pastor Larry’s prayer for second chair leaders towards the end of the episode. He is somebody who prays continually for people in our shoes.

I hope this episode leaves you encouraged.

Until next week, let's run strong and in health.

Brandon Stewart

This week I am joined by Brandon Catoe, Ryan McDermott, and Dave Simiele. These incredible men are all leaders at Christ Fellowship Church, under the leadership of Pastors Todd & Julie Mullens. Christ Fellowship Church is a thriving, life-giving, multi-site church in South Florida. I had the opportunity to be with them for a leadership gathering almost a year and a half ago, called Church United. Their team and their culture so impacted me that I’ve been looking forward to having them on the podcast ever since. There is something so unique and authentic about their culture.

Like all of us, they are wrestling with life after COVID, as well as organizational clarity and restructuring. We can glean a lot here, so grab your team and let’s join this conversation with the team from Christ Fellowship.

This week's episode is another conversation taken from an online meet-up. If you're not already, I'd love for you to be a part of our tribe over on Facebook at The Leading Second Collective, so you don't miss out on these. They are so fun and prove to always bring us conversations that leave a mark.

We've had Kayla Stoecklein on the podcast before, so if you haven't heard that, I definitely recommend going back and listening to that episode as well (Ep. 054). Her story is truly incredible. Since her last time on the podcast, she has come out with a book! It's titled "Fear Gone Wild: A Story of Mental Illness, Suicide, and Hope Through Loss," and it is brilliant and has truly life-saving potential. We get to hear a bit about the book and her heart behind it.

One of my favorite things about Kayla is how she prioritizes mental health and tries to break the shame associated with talking about it. She gives us permission to be human. In this season, I've had a reborn commitment that leadership health is far more critical than just leadership ability. In this season, we've seen that the lasting leaders are the ones who have committed to personal health.

If anyone reading this has had moments or seasons of burnout, depression, challenges with your mental health, or you just want to stay healthy… this conversation is for you.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Leading on Empty by Wayne Cordeiro

The leadership game changes for every generation. Millennials are almost 40 now and Gen Z are coming up on 25. Are you a Gen Z leader? Maybe you lead a team of them? If you don’t already, you’re sure to lead them in the very near future. Wherever you are on that scale, this conversation is for you! I hope this speaks to Gen Z leaders themselves, as well as to the pastors or people who are leading Gen Z.

Our Conversation today is with Noah Herrin. Since the last time we had Noah on the Leading Second Podcast, he’s recently moved to Atlanta, GA where he is now on staff at Neighborhood Church. He is also the author of a new book! It’s called Viral Jesus: How One Man Broke the Algorithm Forever.

I had such a great time talking to Noah about how we view and approach ministry today. We both have recently sat on the thought of digging the wells deeper in our own lives and truly focus ministry on making disciples. Those things don’t always come with big crowds and sexy titles but are so necessary.

My hope in today’s conversation is that it will help us to be sharp and effective in leading a new generation of leaders and Christ followers called Gen Z.

This is the first installment of a series that we will be periodically doing called, 'I Am With You.' Where we sit down and have a conversation with a lead pastor and of their key team members.

A couple of weeks ago, we had a live meet-up with Pastor Chris Durso and Ralph Castillo from Saints Church in New York. Chris has been planted at his father’s church for many years and was the youth and young adult pastor before being handed the role of the lead pastor, in January of this year. Talk about a crazy time to jump into the role of lead pastor. Ralph and Chris grew up together and have been doing ministry together for years, so their connection runs deep, as you will see as our conversation unfolds. They discuss the challenges that their relationship brings, but also the blessing that it's been for them. This episode is a fun glimpse into an incredible relationship of mutual honor and respect.

This was a live meet-up, so on top of the questions that I had planned for Chris and Ralph, people who were tuned in and watching got to submit questions that they wanted to be answered by Chris and Ralph. There were some fantastic questions asked and we tried to get to as many of them as we could during our conversation.

Be sure to join us for future meet-ups on our Leading Second Collective on Facebook, so you can join in and ask questions!

Join us as we have a conversation with truly life-saving potential for leaders of any capacity and people from any walk of life. We have John Morgan talking with us about identifying and guarding against division. John has been in ministry for more than three decades now, serving in many different roles. He is a coach, a strategist, and a communicator who lives to see the local church healthy and thriving. He works with leaders all over and personally helped shape the way that I thought when it comes to leading from the second chair.

Today, division can come in so many forms in our lives. It can be found in churches, in marriages, in friendships, in work. This topic covers so many bases, but when we actively work against division and towards honor, we can see all of these areas in our lives healthy and thriving. John introduces and takes us through the honor slide, which goes from honor to familiarity, to contempt, to dishonor, and finally leads to division. But he then talks us through reversing that slide and bringing us back to honor.

Please do not listen to this episode alone. Or if you do, send it to somebody so you can discuss it together afterward. This is such a needed conversation today.

For this episode, I have a conversation with our great friend Joshua Bingle. He is the Pastor of Genesis Church in Spokane, WA, and has such a brilliant mind. We talk all about the necessity of a Biblical Worldview (especially for those of us in Church leadership), postmodern thought, and digging wells.

So many of the big conversations our culture is having this year really stem from the ecosystem of worldview. As young leaders, we can be tempted to jump on every trendy and popular train of thought that comes our way or looks good from a graphic on Instagram. But how often right now are we stopping to consider the gospel’s place in our worldview conversations? This is one area where those of us in leadership cannot afford to be trendy or popular. The well that we draw from matters. It is so important to have a deep well in Christ and draw the foundation for our thoughts from there. Unity is paramount in this season.

Resources referenced in this episode are:

Cynical Theories by Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay

Neil Shenvi’s Apologetics

Why Revival Tarries by Leonard Ravenhill

Born After Midnight by A.W. Tozer

Resilient Faith by Gerald Sittser

There is a question I've been asking myself this summer. What does the message of authority sound like now, to a world that is increasingly "anti-authority?" Join me and our guest, Nicole Smithee, on this episode of the podcast as we wrestle with this complex question.

Nicole is a friend of Leading Second who has joined us on the podcast before. In case you missed the last time she was with us, Nicole is on the team at Liberty Church in New York, which has campuses globally. She also co-founded an organization that is doing great things called Iridescent Women.

In this conversation, here are a couple of questions that we cover:

Why does living under authority matter to you?

Where do you see this conversation going wrong in culture today?

Do you find it a challenge to embrace the attitudes and thinking of a Kingdom, for those of us who live in a democracy?

How has submitting to and honoring authority worked out in your life?