Leading Second Podcast

Today I am so excited to welcome a new friend to the podcast! Clayton Baird joins me as we talk through “How to Lead in A Culture of Offense.” Clayton and his wife Bethany have served on staff at Celebration Church in Jacksonville, Florida, for ten years. He fits right in with the Leading Second family as he has done just about everything in his ministry journey, including worship pastor, youth & young adult pastor, and campus pastor. He is currently serving as a teaching pastor at Celebration while also overseeing Celebration Everywhere - the global online church community. Clayton is somebody who really just embodies the Leading Second spirit, and I’m so glad that he agreed to sit down with me for a little while. You also don’t want to miss another Top 5 this week! Dillion Ritchie gives us his top 5 ways to prepare for a hard conversation.

We start this episode with another incredible Top Five from Taylor Persello, and you’re not going to want to miss it. Then our conversation today is with our great friend Dan Lord. Dan is the pastor of Victory Church in St. Louis, MO. I’m also joined by BJ Cooper, who is on the team at Victory Church and has a bit of gold in him as well. The three of us talk about development, alignment, and transition.

Every once in a while, I have something that I want to take an episode and talk about myself. Well, this is one of those weeks. I’ve had something weighing on me for a while, and I finally feel like it’s something I need to take an episode and talk about. So if you’re a part of this tribe, if Leading Second has meant anything to you, or if you view me as any type of guide or pastor in your life, I want to take today’s conversation and have a pastoral call or pastoral talk with you today. I want to open up a discussion about influence vs. authority.

Here we are at our 100th episode!! I can’t believe we made it this far and if you’ve been with us for any amount of time, thank you so much for your support and for being a part of this tribe. We start this episode with a HUGE announcement that I am so excited about, so don’t miss that. Then I am joined with some friends, Dillon Ritchie, Kelly Goff, Tracy Keene, and Josiah Beougher, as we sit down with Larry Brey to talk about cultivating your calling.

We kick things off today with a special segment for Pastor Appreciation month where some of our Leading Second tribe answered a few questions about their own pastors! Then we dive into a rich conversation with a first-time guest to our podcast, Collin Henderson. Collin is from my hometown, Puyallup, WA! He’s a mental performance coach, speaker, and author who just released a new book called ‘Quiet Mind’ (and ‘Quiet Mind for Kids’). During this conversation, we talk about the impact of a leader’s mindset and its effect on their ministry.

It’s the final episode of our “Healthy Hustle” series, and our conversation for this one is with Noah Herrin! Noah has been on before, but this is the first time we’ve let him loose for an entire episode. If you aren’t familiar with him, he is a Gen Z leader whose voice I have grown to love more and more. He is a young leader who has an incredible anointing on his life and is hungry to grow continually. He has a young adults ministry and is a part of Neighborhood Church in Buford, GA. Join us as we talk about church hurt, coaching, and keeping joy in ministry.

In this episode of our series on “Healthy Hustle,” our goal is to break down the dichotomy between hard work and rest, equipping you to run at a sustainable pace in this season. But before we even get to that conversation, Taylor Persello hops on and lists 5 gifts that we can give our Pastors. They’re simple, they’re actionable, and they will propel you forward in your leadership if you apply them today. Following that, my friend Jonathan O’Reilly, an executive pastor at The Rock in Kansas City, MO, joins me in a conversation with Pace Hartfield! Pace was an incredible second chair leader for years, and he now pastors One Place Church in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. The three of us chase down the question of “how can I avoid burnout?”

For the second episode in our series on Healthy Hustle, I sit down with Colleen Tunis. My friend Rachel Buckner joins us as well, as we talk about staying healthy while leading in a fast-paced environment and the tension between health and hustle. Colleen leads as the programming director at Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC. She is just a wealth of knowledge and perspective, and she carries the weight of ministry so generously.

Depression, anxiety, panic, suicidal thoughts… mental health is a bit of a buzzword right now, but what happens when you experience any of these first hand? We try to tackle so much on our own, but we do get confronted with these genuine issues. When that happens, do you have the courage to raise your hand and say, “I’m dealing with _____ right now.”? Is that even the right thing to do? And if it is, who do you say it to? This week we are kicking off a series called Healthy Hustle. How do we maintain health in all areas of life when we are constantly trying to hustle? I couldn’t think of a better person to start this conversation with than Troy Maxwell. Troy has been on the podcast once before, but if you aren’t very familiar with him, he launched Freedom House Church in Charlotte, NC, where he and his wife Penny have been serving for 19 years. We wanted to explore the question, “What if my emotional health has me leading on empty?” Troy has a conversation with me today where he opens up about his own personal experiences with panic attacks. He shares how they affected his life, and he talks through how to overcome these seasons or struggles in your own life. He wrote a book called Panic Room, which he talks a little about but if you’d like to hear even more from him on this subject, I highly recommend picking it up. Anybody leading on empty right now because of emotional health, this doesn’t have to be your story anymore. I pray that this episode shows people that they aren’t alone in what they are walking through. I pray that it gives people strength. And I pray that it provides some leaders courage to raise their hand if they need to and talk to their pastor about what they are going through. Run strong this week, but run healthy Brandon Resources: Panic Room by Troy Maxwell After the episode: What do you do to ensure that your mental and emotional health stays strong?

If we’ve ever had an episode that’s worth coming back to multiple times, this is it. I had a conversation with a man who has had a profound impact on my life, impacted many churches around the world, and does the best Brian Houston impersonation that I’ve ever heard. Pastor John Morgan joins us for a potentially life-changing episode about transition and how to transition well. My friend Kelly Goff and I got a chance to sit down with John while he was actually walking through a potential transition in his life, going from a volunteer staff role (while his wife Anna is on the executive team) to picking up his family and moving near Washington DC to pastor Word of Life International in Springfield, VA. John has been in ministry for over 35 years and has managed to transition so well multiple times, so it seemed fitting and natural for our conversation to just go there and speak some wisdom into moments or seasons of transition. Here are the things that we cover in today’s episode: John takes us through an overview of transitions that he has been through The importance of transitions and doing them well Planning for transition before it comes time to actually transition How do you help people process a “God told me.” Transitions in, are just as important as the transition out What does a healthy transition look like? It is always such an incredible opportunity to sit down with John. He is just a wealth of knowledge and wisdom in ministry. Even if you’re not currently going through a transition, you will eventually, and it is so important that we know how to do it well. Run strong this week, Brandon Editor's note: John has, in fact, gone to the darkside and is no longer a number 2. He is officially the lead pastor of Word of Life Church, so go on his Instagram and tell him congrats!