On this brief episode, I welcome Georgene Rice to the show to talk about her calling as a long-standing leader in our community and the upcoming Ignite Women's Conference. Georgene has been a talk show host with KPDQ for more than 30 years and has traveled internationally as a station correspondent. In 2003 Georgene served as the chief spokesman and debater for the Defense of Marriage Coalition, which successfully amended Oregon’s constitution. She has lectured on university campuses and is a frequent speaker and worship leader at Christian conferences and retreats. Georgene has served on several Boards and regularly volunteers for charitable organizations. A musician Georgene and husband Dan have traveled around the world teaching and performing Gospel music.

Welcome David Stidham to the show today! David serves as the VP of Business Affairs & General Counsel for The Chosen, Inc. Prior to working for The Chosen, he spent nearly 6 years as the General Counsel & Director of Licensing for RightNow Media, as well as 2 years working as an Assistant District Attorney in Dallas, TX. He holds a BBA and MBA from Harding University, a JD from New England Law Boston, and graduate certificate in Negotiation Mastery from the Harvard Business School Online. He and his family live in Denver, CO.

David was a delight to interview as we discuss how God prepared him for a dynamic career and calling in using his legal degrees. Raised in the Church, David found faith crucial in all he did and decided. Through stories and examples, David expresses how God led him through pivotal conversations, relationships and opportunities. David talks openly about his trajectory from business law and marketing to negotiating and finally law school.

After working as an assistant district attorney, David accepted a role at Right Now Media where he worked negotiating intellectual property.

What does it look like for an attorney who follows Jesus to work in the marketplace? David says what keeps him in the race is remaining faithful while making informed decisions. As a leader in his field, David talks about the path to saying yes to varied roles before becoming VP of business and legal counsel for The Chosen.

David talks openly about how his past experiences ultimately prepared him for each next step along the way. His leap of faith from district attorney to director of licensing at Right Now Media seemed right for him as he asked the CEO of the company, "How will you use my skills?"

Through relationships and an unexpected opportunity, David was offered a contract job at The Chosen. During our candid conversation, David demonstrates how humility covers him in the day to day of his life. Being a part of The Chosen has opened David's eyes to how they are doing things in a different way as a Christian television production company. Using his negotiation skills anew in this role, David admits that working Hollywood is testing his skill set like never before. Are people condescending because The Chosen is a Christian show? How is that communicated to David? What does it feel like to negotiate just to get to the table and convince others you belong there?

David calls forth followers of Christ to step into legal roles in various places--even the darker places: court rooms, dark secular places, even Hollywood. Finally, David shares how he keeps his faith alive and building through reading Scripture and prayer.

I hope you will enjoy this dynamic conversation with a leader in the legal realm who is listening well to his dreams and how the Spirit of God is leading him.

Welcome to the show Donna Johnson who is an entrepreneur who has been one of the most successful and highly respected professionals in direct marketing for decades. She received the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award for her profession. Her story (on stage or in her writing) has inspired millions through her new book, "My Mentor Walks on Water: Spirit-Led Mentorship in Every Area of Your Life. Donna and her husband, Thomas, reside between Wisconsin, Arizona and Sweden. They have six children and eight grandchildren. Their charity "Spirit Wings Kids funds orphanages in India and Africa along with a permaculture farm and soccer academy in Uganda.

Welcome Ryan Dougherty to the show! Helping people and teams grow is Ryan’s passion. He believes if you love what you do and who you do it with you can achieve amazing results.

Ryan is a co-owner and principal partner at TG Three (www.tgthree.com), a strategy company that equips leaders and Christian institutions to get from where they are to where they want to be. 

Prior to his consulting and coaching work, he served for 20 years in enrollment and marketing at George Fox University outside Portland, Oregon, leading to unprecedented growth. By developing people, creating a pipeline of accountable leaders, and implementing innovative strategy, the university experienced explosive enrollment gains beginning in 2013 resulting in an additional $65 million in revenue. Before departing to launch TG Three, he served as Vice President of Enrollment and Marketing.

Ryan earned an undergraduate degree in Psychology and a Master of Business Administration. He has two great kids–a 16-year-old son and a 13-old-daughter–with his amazing wife, Meredith.

In this episode, we talk about key moments in saying yes to helping people and what that looks like as a leader. Ryan and I talk about how helping people happens when we see the needs around us and step in to offer our skills and giftings. We answer the question of how leaders keep saying the right "yes"? Ryan offers his wisdom by saying, "Do great work in the position you're in and step up when there's opportunity."

Ryan shares about a time when he and his wife faced a trauma in their lives and how each of their lives shifted greatly and what that meant for their leadership lives.

Some questions we unpack during our conversation are as follows:

What is our motivation as we follow the call to being a leader?

How do we lean in to growth and challenge?

What is the definition of "Responsiblity?"

Is being "Over responsible" in a role ever a good thing?

Does a Leader always need to be "Out front?"

What are we leading for and to what end?

Some advice Ryan offers is as follows:

Set time for work is set time for work.

Priorities are a weighting of our responsibilities.

Might we be stealing from another person's leadership and development when we show up for everything?

At the crux of leadership is the concept of love. If we don't love the people we are leading, we will lead with the wrong motivation.

If you have a calling for leadership, determine and discern your motivation.

Just get out of yourself and contribute to others' lives--that's Christian leadership.

If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go with others.

Family is a bedrock for teaching others about leadership.

Leadership isn't about my style; it's about the people who I am leading.

We conclude our discussion with the important topic of support. Trust, compassion, and hope are support. When leaders face transition, they often lose their peer support. Ryan points to Gallup's research that say that you have to have a friend at work for your best work to happen. He also suggests that a boss who cares about their employees shows support. They show it by developing their employees, creating space for trust, and genuine relationship. If leadership is about development and relationship, it doesn't matter how different a person's style or age may be. What matters is that leaders develop others where others are and where they are going. Enjoy the Show!

You will not want to miss this amazing episode with Denny Lawrence, a Christian leader in the Portland area for more than 30 years who recently retired. Denny has worked for more than 40 years in the hospitality industry including serving as the Director for Hospitality Services for 5 Legacy hospitals in the Portland area. You will hear how a leader's life becomes more focused as they commit and accept leadership responsibilities for the long haul.

Denny talks authentically and candidly about his years serving in leadership positions. In our conversation, he talks about how a leader progresses in responsibility, looks for challenges and works hard at being prepared. Denny's wisdom is offered to us through his experiences from being enlisted in the army, to receiving others' perspectives of him as a young leader, to the time he was fired from a high level leadership position. We talk about the years he was called to serve as an elder to his church and where the support for those long days came from when he was burning the candles at both ends. Denny claims when God calls us to hard things, He also equips us. Stay through to the end where Denny Lawrence offers is best advice to leaders (and he has a lot to say!).

At a recent gathering, I met an international trainer and Christian business coach who wants to support leaders. If you are interested in growing your business and being mentored as a business/ministry owner/leader, please consider joining Here. If you mention my name/podcast, Real Life with Pamela Lau, you will receive 10 percent off.  

In today's episode, DMetri and I cover the wide range of unspoken pressures young, emerging leaders face and what we can do to pay closer attention to one another and the Presence of God in our lives.  We talk about how even small children can learn to become leaders in simple ways as parents teach well.  How does one develop God-given self-confidence? What does that look like and how does a leader serve humbly?  How does God lead young and upcoming leaders when the path is unknown?  Even unplanned? We cover the hard conversation of the difficulties of being a person of color.  Why it's so important (profoundly so) for people of color to see representation at professional gatherings, on LinkedIn, in director positions. We talk about the power of seeing someone who looks like you, ahead of you in a position.  We dive deep into what culture is pressuring leaders to look and sound like.  What happens when you are called to lead but you don't want to be the loudest person in the room? When do you shut down the voices that shout, "Take Charge!"?  How is Jesus' example of being fully present to individuals a role for leaders?  How might the example of Moses whose hands were held up until the battle was won work for us in today's individualistic culture? Where does support come from for a leader? How does a supervisor show genuine support and how might a peer be supportive? When do family and friends need to step in?  What am I valuing as a Christian leader?  In order for an organization to flourish, one voice is valued but how do we value the institutional mission? What's the role of mission and vision while still maintaining value for the individual?  When an organization and an individual work together, it's a form of flourishing.  Why is struggling and suffering over important issues an opportunity for leaders to come to the table for clarity?  Why does "shutting down" the conversation back-fire? We end our conversation talking through how leaders can help keep going the most difficult conversations.  How might our perceived "failures" or the "failures" of leaders ahead of us teach us about what we can do differently?

I am delighted to interview Martin Eans on the show today! Marvin Eans is chair and assistant professor of graphic design at George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon. Marvin is an experienced and award-winning graphic designer and artist. His works are showcased in national and international exhibition spaces, and book cover designs are featured as New York Times Best Sellers for world-renowned Christian authors. Marvin is a passionate creative interested in research that involves the intersection between traditional and digital art formats and their impact on visual messaging. With a focus on impacting culture through design in a positive way,— Marvin's work engages people through a lens of empathy, hope, and unity.  We discuss all things creatives face when being called to lead, how parents of creative children can encourage the spirit of design while calling forth leadership qualities, what pressures Christian artists face in the designing world and how Jesus calls us to leadership that sets us apart--how do we handle that?  Why are we hesitant to say yes to leadership in Christian organizations? Where are the unrealistic expectations coming from?  How do we navigate feelings of letting God down when He is the one calling you to higher levels of leadership?  We cover how a godly leader sets priorities for their teams by prioritizing their spiritual lives, what does work/life balance look like in the marketplace compared to education?  What is the culture's expectation of us as leaders even in environments where we are asked to do projects against our values and beliefs? Our discussion takes a turn to the question of support for leaders--What do leaders need or even want when it comes to support? Why do we face so many barriers in asking for help? Leading in a design area as a college professor allows for flexibility to create stronger relationships with the next generation.  How is leading in the design industry a service? Meeting another's need? What does it look like to honor people? We talk about failing in our role and facing the reality by asking, "Who am I really working for?"  

What a treat to have Matt Heisler on my show this week!  Matt Heisler has been the Director of Ministry with Youth and their Families at Lake Grove Presbyterian Church since May 2021. He received his BA in Psychology at George Fox University (2011) and his Masters of Divinity at Princeton Theological Seminary (2021). Matt has several years of experience in leadership capacities, including youth ministry, compassion/outreach ministry, coffee shop management, and in behavioral rehabilitation with at-risk teens. In the coming years, he hopes to continue to come alongside young people and their families in their walk with Christ.   Matt has been married for nine years and has a young daughter.

In this episode we discuss meaningful work in working with at-risk kids who face looming challenges and how that learning experience developed leadership skills, knowing limits when you work with families, how parents model leadership to children who live in their home, how welcoming young people into leadership roles is paramount, what does the discernment process look like in the long haul, and how education does indeed provide preparation and support for future leadership.  We cover what spiritual direction groups can offer to up-and-coming leaders, mentors who support for the long haul, and saying yes to being in Bible study; what it costs as a young married man and parent.  We dive deep into how leaders are always following someone or something, why we are called to follow and called to lead, why is spiritual abuse so common in the church, leaders must seek accountability no matter how they evolve, when is accountability misplaced and what does wisdom teach us about vulnerability.  Where should support come from for leaders, what does a leader rely on for care, support, and friendship?  What does following God look like for a leader?

We discuss how systems within an organization can provide support for its leaders, what does the research show us about support/sense of belonging for our up and coming leaders, the importance of remembering someone's name creates a strong sense of belonging, institutional decline breeds the epidemic of loneliness, Springtime Research encourages steps for leaders to create belonging: Notice, Name and Know the people around you. All people need a deeper sense of being known.  We know when we don't have it.  We talk about institutional decline and are we working toward better, richer places of belonging since so much as has been pulled apart. Finally, we end our discussion of what it's like to follow Jesus when the presence of failure is looming over a leader's life. Is the Church a place for healthy leaders to not burn out?  What can happen to young leaders when burn out extinguishes the light?  We conclude that faithfulness in the long run is part of the answer, saying no, saying yes, moving out and doing the work of discernment.  Self care truly is detrimental.  Find a place you can worship, be in a small group without leading.  Find someone to follow, respect and want to be in 5-10 years.

Whatever it is you create, you can never get enough practical advice to keep you inspired.  Today's guest, Melanie Dobson, is an award-winning author of more than twenty historical romance, suspense and time-slip novels.  On today's show, Melanie talks candidly about the voices of doubt that can wreak destruction in our co-creations with God.  Even if you are creating a bridge, a book, a painting, a garden, a design, a new room, or a friendship, creating is a form of worship.  Listen in as we talk about ways to keep the creative juices flowing in your life, work, and relationship with God.  Five of Melanie's novels have won Carol Awards. Catching the Wind was nominated for a Christy Award in the historical fiction category and won an Audie Award in the inspirational fiction category; and The Black Cloister won the Foreword magazine Religious Fiction Book of the Year. Melanie is the former corporate publicity manager at Focus on the Family and owner of the publicity firm Dobson Media Group. When she isn't writing, Melanie enjoys teaching both writing and public relations classes. Melanie and her husband, Jon, have two daughters and live near Portland, Oregon.