Clay Smith took over Johnson Ferry Baptist Church just before the pandemic hit. He was 40 at the time, following a leader who planted the church and had been there since he was 2.

Now 43, Clay looks back and shares some of the lessons he’s learned about following a legacy leader.

“First, you are an interim,” he says, “We are all coming and going.” 

That is, you might be at your church for 3 months, for 3 years, or for 30 like Clay’s predecessor… but your job is temporary.

That said, Clay highlights five lessons he’s learned— and is still learning.

“We’re all learning,” he reminds us.

Jonathan Moore is the Founding and senior pastor of NorthRock Church in San Antonio. He met Shawn at the Velocity Conference, over a decade ago, when Shawn was in Atlanta.

NorthRock launched a campus during the middle of the pandemic AND relaunched second campus in a different spot (this campus was in a school, which could no longer be used).

Right now, Jonathan is telling leaders to take care of themselves.

“Self-care has always been important,” he suggests, “but the previous two years have highlighted why we need to pay attention to it.”

As he works to “rebuild the church” he’s also working on rebuilding himself.

This “rebuilding you” occurs when you start scheduling you first— your time alone with the Lord, your time to exercise, your time to connect with your spouse. A healthy you is a better you and can more readily lead the church forward in healthy ways.

“This also includes,” Jonathan adds, “living with healthy rhythms…”

Those rhythms include things like—

• Daily diversions (moving away from the grind of the urgent and into the un-rush of the important)
• Weekly withdrawals (Sabbath, a true day off)
• Quarterly quarantines (these may be different, depending on where you are— but certain season deplete us and necessitate rest)
• Annual abandonments (taking a vacation where you completely check out)

Jonathan encourages leaders to be intentional about their time off. “Work on you while you’re off,” he says. “Use that time to do something that builds you.”

 

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Personal Gears of Growth  = assess the five areas where we all need to grow, find the weak point, and gain momentum by starting there: https://www.courageouspastors.com/offers/PzhK2GiJ

Connect with Jonathan online:  @JonathanDMoore 

NorthRock Church, San  Antonio = https://www.northrocksa.com

Schedule a free strategy session at www.CourageousPastors.com/strategy

JC Worley leads Go Church in South Atlanta. He and his wife, Kimberly, lead Go Church.

Go Church was the host location for the first-ever Courageous Pastors Gathering, and— more relevantly to this talk— JC is taking a more proactive role with CourageousPastors.com.

 

From 2006 until 2013, JC was the youth pastor at Go Church, for his father-in-law. He left to plant a church in the Metro D.C., area, with his father-in-law’s blessing.

They launched— and led— the church for 4 years.

His father-in-law approached him about retiring and taking over his home church at that point.

After much prayer— and wise counsel— JC and his wife relocated BACK to Atlanta, transitioning the Maryland location into a satellite.

 

This year, at Easter, Go Church launched a 3rd campus in the Atlanta area.

Just before the pandemic, Go Church was— under JC’s leadership— one of Outreach Magazine’s Top 100 / fastest-growing churches.

 

A former client himself, JC is a coach on the team. And, he’ll begin hosting the Courageous Pastors podcast.

His believes Courage to Lead provides two things:

#1 = Quality. It’s been tested over-and-over, and has a developed framework. So, there’s consistency.

#2 = Content. The system includes information which pastors can use and apply in their unique context— immediately.

These two factors create a consistent experience for others…

… and it provides an on-ramp to help others apply the content and receive incredible results.

 

Feel alone? 

You don't need to-- join the tribe.

 

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Schedule a Strategy Session at www.CourageousPastors.com/strategy

Learn more about Go Church at https://www.mygochurch.com/

Follow JC on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/jcworley/

Register for The Gathering videos at www.CourageousPastors.com/gathering

Michael Turner is the founding and lead pastor of Turning Point Church in McDonough, GA— south of Atlanta. The church turned 19 in March 2022.

Recently, Michael gifted everyone on his staff with a Fitbit— as part of a 30-day fitness challenge.  They decided to evaluate three areas:

• Steps per day
• Weekly weight loss
• Sleep hours per night

This quick accountability— especially the “sleep part”— highlighted what was truly happening with everyone’s health. And, as Michael reminds us, the challenge connects us to the idea that we’re about TOTAL HEALTH and wellbeing, not just spiritual health.

Furthermore, this step was important because it helped him lead his team towards PERSONAL development as well as the PROFESSIONAL development we usually focus upon.

 

Lately, Michael actually HAS been working on some of the PROFESSIONAL things, though…

For instance, his church has focused on reclaiming the “in person” gatherings.

Sure, there are a lot of empty chairs.

(The truth is that, post-Covid, most churches have MANY empty chairs.)

“But preaching to SOME empty chairs,” Michael says, “is much better than preaching to ONLY empty chairs and a camera.”

 

As they reclaim the gatherings, they’re adjusting their metrics as well.

“Attendance isn’t the only indicator,” he says. “There’s so much more… like engagement. And connection.”

They’re also evaluating things like finances and relationships and other items we may not have measured in the past.

 

Michael embraces the perspective-shift. His church has experienced seasons of fast-growth. And, when they did, he learned that EVERYTHING— including unhealth— replicates quickly.

That is, unhealthy culture multiplies.

Hidden assumptions, underneath-the-surface hurts, and other doubts replicate quickly, as well…

“You can’t outgrow unhealth,” he says. “At some point you must deal with the issues.”

He’s learned to celebrate those moments of fast growth, but to pay attention to the things that mater even more— like the pulse of his staff, as well as their personal lives.

“We’ve got to care about them,” he says, “more than we care about growth.”

 

During the pandemic, he learned to focus even more on caring for people— not just his team but others in his church, too.

“We began reaching out and actually CALLING people on the telephone,” he says.

Then— “We also sent hand-written birthday cards. And DoorDash gifts…”

The connections multiplied as they discovered new ways to connect and reconnect.

“We even dropped by people’s homes and visited them,” he offers. “Everyone was always so excited to see us.”

He refers to all of this as “Care Equity,” and suggest it’s one of the most important metrics you have.

 

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Shawn’s book, Building a Killer Team Without Killing Yourself or Your Team: www.KillerTeamCoaching.com 

Personal Gears of Growth  = take the assessment here: https://www.courageouspastors.com/offers/PzhK2GiJ/checkout 

Access the free Killer Teams Crash Course at www.CourageousPastors.com/cc 

Register for a free Strategy Session at www.CourageousPastors.com/strategy 

Learn more about Michael’s church at https://turningpointchurch.tv

When you meet Brandon Bilbo two things strike you:

• He’s a bit country, and
• He’s a brilliant leader

 

Back in 2014 Brandon was a financial advisor, managing a $30MM portfolio. Then he felt called to plant Cross Church in Houma— 20 miles south of New Orleans.

For the first 18 months, he pulled double-duty, pastoring during the nights and weekends while working full-time during the normal 9-5 workweek.

In its first 6 years, the church grew to 1,200 in attendance.

 

Recently, Brandon’s area was hit by Hurricane Ida— a high-level hurricane that produced flooding as far away as New York City. The wind was so strong in “blew out” the wind gauges.

As Brandon says, “It was catastrophic. Everyone was touched by the trauma.”

 

The day after the storm, Brandon saw his church in action. Turns out, they could move faster than the government because they weren’t hamstrung by bureaucracies and processes.

And, very quickly, churches began working TOGETHER to help people in need.

 

Brandon makes an observation, “Pastors in the US pull together when there’s a disaster. In other nations where I’ve been on mission trips, they pull together all the time. That’s just how they do it.”

He encourages us to make those connections NOW— knowing that, at some point, troubles are coming.

Develop the relationships, nurture them… and enjoy them.

Eventually, we will need them in other ways.

 

The recent storms provided a platform for the church to reach everyone, everywhere. Literally.

“Everyone had some degree of damage,” he says, “and so everyone was reachable in some way.”

One day, in a distribution line, 79 people gave their lives to Jesus. Even though there was no sermon. Even though there was no altar call.

On another day, they asked people who came for help if they wanted prayer. Not a single person turned them down.

An elderly woman had multiple trees down in her yard. She’d just survived Covid and was now devastated by the disaster. Whereas tree companies price-gouged, volunteers from the church arrived at her home and helped her free of charge. She began weeping. It was the tangible love of Christ in action.

“Problems become our opportunity, our chance, to love people,” Brandon reminds us. “That is, if we can keep our poise when those things happen.

We still preach the same message we were preaching 2 years ago. But, in some way, it’s a bit different. It’s less about “come and see” and more about “we’re coming to you.”

 

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The Killer Teams Crash Course = www.CourageousPastors.com/cc

 

Schedule a free Strategy Session:

 

Brandon’s Church, Cross Church = https://crosschurchhouma.com and https://www.facebook.com/crosschurchhouma

 

Brandon is a coach with CourageousPastors.com = https://www.courageouspastors.com/brandon

Adam Weber shares words of wisdom with us in this episode of The Courageous Pastors Podcast. 

“Control what you can control,” he says, “and trust God with the rest.”

We often do the exact opposite. We fret about the things outside our reach, but don’t handle the things we can truly manage. 

 

Adam has been using words, like these, to encourage pastors as he speaks with them. More than any other time, he reminds them to take care of themselves, and to acknowledge their limits. 

One leader recently told him, “In 18 years of ministry, I’ve never wanted to quit… until now.”

 

“Focus on where you ARE, not where you were,” he says. 

Again, you can control things in the past. You can only live in the present. 

 

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Read more + find the links to the show notes at www.CourageousPastors.com/blog/014

Pastor Q always knew— since he was first called— he would plant a church in his hometown. The church has just completed its sixth year.

In his own words, “It’s been both better than I thought AND harder than I thought…”

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Read more at www.CourageousPastors.com/blog/017 

Jeff Leake has been pastoring a long time. He was the pastoral assistant 30 years ago. Two years in, the lead pastor moved to CA to work at another church…

Jeff stepped into the interim role, then became the lead pastor.

Today, he leads the same church— now a multi-site congregation, spanning 6 physical locations, in the PIttsburgh area. 

During this season he enjoys looking back and serving young leaders, pastors who stand in the position he found himself three decades ago. More so, he especially likes serving young leaders who want to plant a church.

 

In this episode Jeff mentions “the good ol’ days.”

It’s easy to look back and live nostalgically. But that’s not what he refers to at all.  He doesn’t suggest we should just look back in order to complain about the present, either. 

Rather, looking back is a way to remind us of God’s goodness, His faithfulness…

 

Recently, Jeff rode through a nearby area with the leader of one of their first church plants outside the Pittsburgh area. 

“We drove through the streets,” he said, “and I remembered our drive years before— when the church didn’t exist, when it was just an idea, a dream…”

He adds, “As I sat on the front row of that church, celebrating that first decade, I was moved to tears. None of this was here just years before.”

(We can also learn lesson when we glance in the rear view mirror. People say that experience is a great teacher, but mere experience isn’t. EVALUATED experience, on the other hand, truly is.)

“Looking back,” Jeff says, “offers the opportunity to celebrate the faithfulness you can easily forget.”

 

Many pastors faced a “crisis of faith” coming through the pandemic.

(Some are still feeling it, in fact.)

 

Jeff refers this to “pruning in the pandemic.” And, he reminds us that “God’s pruning is always for our good AND for future fruit” (see John 15:1f.). “Even when it comes in odd ways,” he adds. “Even then we can look back and see his past faithfulness…”

What does this pruning include? 

Jeff refers to something MANY of the guest on the podcast have referenced: “We’ve been measuring the wrong things.” Or— “We’ve measured the right things in the wrong ways…”

 

Jeff endeavors to transform his church into a “Barnabas house,” that is, a place of encouragement— sacred space which launches people into their calling. 

Barnabas is the Apostle who sold a plot of land and gave the proceeds to the early church. He’s the leader who stood by Paul, effectively endorsing him when everyone else was still nervous about his recent conversion. He’s the sage who believed in Mark, also, even though he’d bailed on Paul and Barnabas amidst their first mission venture. 

You know the outputs of these actions…

• The church had resources to feed the widows and expand its footprint.
• Paul led mission trips, planted churches, and penned the letters which became the Scriptures we often read.
• Mark wrote what many believe to be the first Gospel. 

At each beginning of each of these stories stands that character Barnabas, the one who breathed life into people and pushed them— in a healthy way— towards their call.

 

 

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Links: 

Allison Park Church 

Allison Park Leadership Network = AllisonParkLeadershipNetwork.com 

Gears of Growth = www.CourageousPastors.com/ogg  

Schedule a free Strategy Session = www.CourageousPastors.com/strategy 

Scott talks about “two wings” all leaders need in order to move their organization forward: Respect and Relationship. In the same way an airplane won’t fly without two wings, you can’t “fly” your church or ministry without these two…

✈️ If you have the respect wing but no relationship wing, you won’t be able to lead people. They might respect you (for who you are, what you know, where you’ve been, etc.), but they won’t follow you because you lack connection.

This leads many leaders to develop a “buddy syndrome” with the people they’re called to lead. When that happens, they forfeit respect. 

Here’s the problem that creates…

✈️ If you have the relationship wing but not the respect wing, they’ll connect with you— but they won’t follow.

You need BOTH in order to move the organization— that is, the church or ministry— forward. 

Andy begs pastors to find a band of brothers. Sure, he enjoys “talking church” and even theology (to learn, even with leaders who see things differently), but— even better than those conversations is the talks where you can be yourself. 

Where you can connect.

Where you know you’re not alone.

Where you can cry and laugh at the same time.

“Most pastors are uptight,” Andy says. “They don’t feel safe. They carry the weight of so much…”

Furthermore, “The only people who know pastors ARE pastors… “

In truth, you can’t lead well if you can’t laugh well. Find a place where you can laugh.