Category: Podcast

THE LEADERSHIP JOURNEY PODCAST – Season Two, episode four: Trevor Ramsey

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Trevor Ramsey is Senior Pastor of Newtownbreda Baptist Church in South Belfast, one of the largest Baptist churches in Ireland.

In this week’s episode of the podcast Trevor talks about coming to faith in Christ as a teenager and some of the early influences on him as a young Christian. He talks about his decision to pursue his sense of call by resigning from his job to study at Belfast Bible College, and about his subsequent time as pastor of Limerick Baptist Church in the Irish Republic, including what God taught him the evening no one turned up for the evening service!

For your own reflection:

  • Think about what Trevor says about discerning the call of God: have you experienced the elements he talks about?
  • Trevor talks about realising that what God wanted to do in him mattered more than what God wanted to do through him: have you seen this to be true in your own leadership?

 

The Leadership Journey Podcast – Season Two, Episode Three: Philip Emerson (part 3)

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This week Phil Emerson, from Emmanuel Church in Lurgan is the guest on the podcast one more time.

If you’ve missed the first two episodes, you can get them here (part one) and here (part two).

In this week’s episode, Phil talks about the devastating loss of his first wife – one of a series of losses experienced in his church family around the same time, and the questions about healing that are raised when people are not healed.

He also talks about his wider ministry and some of the challenges and opportunities that come at this season in life and leadership.

And he shares these three pieces of advice for younger leaders:

  1. Give God everything
  2. Don’t go alone
  3. Get around godly mentors

For your own reflection:

  • What have been some of the things that have most struck you from Phil’s story of his leadership journey?
  • What’s your reaction to the three pieces of advice Phil shares in this episode?

The Leadership Journey Podcast – Season Two, episode Two: Philip Emerson (part 2)

Posted on by jsalanwilson in leadership, Podcast

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Phil Emerson is the guest once again on this week’s episode of the podcast (you can listen to part one of his story here).

This week Phil talks about some of the challenging personal circumstances he has had to navigate and how, through some of these, God has given him a heart for the people of his town.

He also recounts the story of a dramatic experience of God’s love, and talks about some of the remarkable growth experienced by his church as well as sharing some of the story of how God provided for them.

For your own reflection:

  • How has God used difficult circumstances in your life to prepare you for leadership?
  • Why is it important that leaders (and others) have an assurance of God’s love?

The Leadership Journey Podcast – Season Two, episode One: Philip Emerson

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After a break over the summer, the Leadership Journey Podcast is back this week. The guest on the first three episodes of this new season is Philip Emerson. Philip is one of the lead pastors at Emmanuel Church in Lurgan, a church that was birthed in his living room over 20 years ago.

In this first episode Phil talks about growing up around the shore of Lough Neagh where he came to faith as a child and quickly developed a love for God and a zeal to serve him and tell other people about him. He discusses some of the people who most influenced him and some of the factors in the development of his leadership.

On a practical note, he shares how he has learned leadership through the years by intentionally seeking out the counsel and wisdom of more experienced leaders.

AND… have you ever heard anyone say that their duck’s a swan? Listen carefully!

For your own reflection:

  • Do you think leaders are born or made?
  • How intentional are you about learning from leaders who are farther along the path of leadership (and may be much stronger leaders) than you?

THE LEADERSHIP JOURNEY PODCAST (30): Helen Warnock (part two)

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This week Helen Warnock is back on the podcast. Helen is Principal of Belfast Bible College in Dunmurry.

In this week’s episode she talks about some of the people who have influenced her along the course of her leadership journey, highlighting a boss who knew how to give people opportunity where he saw potential; again she talks about the importance of friends.

She talks about some of the challenges she has faced (some of them are just life and work issues – not particular to leadership) – including the challenge of knowing yourself – and shares her list of key areas of learning:

  1. You are not invincible
  2. Team is fantastic
  3. Take responsibility for your own life
  4. Ask yourself good questions
  5. We need champions
  6. Don’t be lonely
  7. Heart matters.

For your own reflection:

  • What do you make of the special staff meeting that Helen describes? As a leader, have you ever considered publicly and personally thanking those who work with you (including volunteers)?
  • If you work with a talented team, do you genuinely want them to be better than you?

This episode brings season one of the Leadership Journey Podcast to a close. We plan to be back with season two after the summer.

For more on Belfast Bible College’s 75th anniversary, visit their website.

THE LEADERSHIP JOURNEY PODCAST (29): Helen Warnock (part one)

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This week’s guest is Helen Warnock. Helen has worked in Northern Ireland with Youth for Christ and with Scripture Union. Since December 2016 she has been Principal of Belfast Bible College in Dunmurry.

In this first part of her interview Helen talks about the kind of work she has been doing in her first 18 months at BBC – a college that is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. She talks about some of the early indicators of leadership (organising street concerts as a child in her local housing estate!) and the family heritage of Christian faith.

She describes her years with YFC, when for part of the time she was responsible for a major monthly youth event in Belfast, how she decided to move to Scripture Union (where she became the first director who was not a Presbyterian minister, and where the first three years represented a steep learning curve), and her more recent move to BBC.

Along the way there is an opportunity to reflect on discerning God’s leading, both personally and for organisations, some thoughts on how a 150 year old organisation can remain as relevant today as it was in the past, and discussion of the role of friends in helping to keep her on course.

For your own reflection:

  • Helen talks about ways in which experiences on mission teams helped to form some of her priorities: reflect on ways some of your own early experiences of mission or ministry have contributed to where you are today.
  • In the interview we discuss seasons of events and how to know when it is time to stop and event (even when it has previously been successful): have you any experience of events that may have run longer than they should, or others that have been stopped prematurely?
  • Do you have space in your leadership to be a ‘thinking practitioner’?
  • Do you have friends who can speak to you in the way Helen describes her conversations with her friends?

For more on Belfast Bible College, visit their website – in particular you might like to find out more about the new MA that is being launched this year.

In fairness to other Bible colleges where I am also involved, I should mention Irish Bible Institute, and its MA, as well as the Irish Baptist College and its MA: I find myself in the odd, but privileged place of having input into all three MA programmes!

THE LEADERSHIP JOURNEY PODCAST (28): MALCOLM DUNCAN, PART Three

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Malcolm Duncan, Senior Pastor of Dundonald Elim Church, is back for a third week.

He talks about some of the impressions of the Northern Ireland he has returned to. He suggests that there is a lot of hope (‘if you see cranes in a city, it’s a sign of hope’), while there is also a degree of uncertainty.

We discuss the theme of exile: how do we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land? Malcolm suggests that here is a difference between a church that sings and a church that shouts and he argues that we need to spend more energy telling the Church to get its house in order than telling the world to get its house in order.

He offers some ideas on how the Church needs to respond to the secularisation of society: the Church in Northern Ireland needs to be a hopeful community and a source of hope that could flow beyond these shores.

He reflects on some of the early Irish missionaries and how they went about their work and wonders where the big story tellers are at a time when we may have been guilty of overly dissecting the gospel. Cultivate a bigger vision of the gospel by cultivating a smaller vision of its reality – which means looking for ‘the green seeds of hope’ in your community.

He talks about how he feeds his mind and soul and shares at some length about how he approaches Scripture.

He also talks about the ‘niteblessings’ which you can follow on his social media platforms: @MalcomJDuncan on Twitter and Instagram; RevMalcolmDuncan on Facebook – and watch out for the upcoming book!

Towards the end of the podcast, he shares some of the most important things he has learned in leadership:

  1. You cannot be a good leader unless you are a good follower.
  2. There is always more to learn (‘I understand God less than I have ever understood him, but I love him more than I have ever loved him’).
  3. Leadership is as much about learning to trust God as it is about leading other people (‘I do not need to understand God in order to trust him’).
  4. God is good and his love endures forever (‘I have learned the gift of suffering’).
  5. ‘I have nothing to prove!’

Listeners of a certain age will catch the reference to Larry Norman!

 

Here is the podcast:

For your reflection:

  • How can the Church learn to sing more than it shouts?
  • What does it mean for the Church to be an alternative community on the edges of society?
  • Have you a big vision of the gospel?
  • What might it mean to find God at work in your community, as Malcolm describes it?
  • How do you feed your mind and soul?
  • Have you developed a pattern of engaging with Scripture?

The Leadership Journey Podcast (27): Malcolm Duncan, part two

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maxresdefaultThis week Malcolm Duncan is back on the podcast: Malcolm is Senior Pastor of Dundonald Elim Church in East Belfast.

In this week’s episode, we talk about some of the biblical concepts around the theme of leadership, including a quick overview of five powerful metaphors from the book of Jude:

  • Clouds without rain
  • Hidden reefs
  • Wandering stars
  • Waves of the sea
  • Trees without fruit

For more on the five metaphors from Jude, see Walter Wright’s excellent book,  Relational Leadership.

Malcolm also shares very personally about the experience of sensing God’s call to return to Northern Ireland.

Remember – you can follow Malcolm’s ‘niteblessing’ – a prayer for each evening – via his Twitter page – @malcolmjduncan, or on his Facebook page – RevMalcolmDuncan.

For your own reflection:

  • What leadership pictures do you tend to default to when you try to think about your leadership?
  • Have you ever experienced a powerful sense of God leading you to change direction in your life?

The Leadership Journey Podcast (26): Malcolm Duncan (part one)

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9ey7xfrc_400x400The guest this week (for the next three weeks, in fact) is Malcom Duncan. After spending the past thirty years away from Northern Ireland, where he grew up, Malcolm has recently taken up the role of Senior Pastor in Dundonald Elim Church in East Belfast. Previously – most recently – he was Senior Pastor of Gold Hill Baptist Church in England. Malcolm is well known as a conference speaker at events such as Spring Harvest and New Horizon.

In this week’s podcast, Malcolm talks about returning to the country he left three decades ago, he talks about his dramatic conversion experience at sixteen (which he believes also constituted his call to Christian ministry), and he shares some of his thoughts on leadership and mentoring.

Questions for reflection:

  • As you listen to Malcolm describe his conversion experience, reflect on how you came to faith? Was it a dramatic experience, or was it more gradual? Someone has suggested that some conversions are more ‘Emmaus Road’ than they are ‘Damascus Road’.
  • What do you think of Malcolm’s rationale for team leadership? Do you have a theological foundation for your own leadership model?
  • Do you have a Timothy and/or a Paul figure in your life?
  • ‘You cannot lead people you don’t love’: what do you make of this comment?

You can catch also Malcolm’s ‘nite blessing’ – a prayer for each evening – via his Twitter page – @malcolmjduncan, or on his Facebook page – RevMalcolmDuncan.

The Leadership Journey Podcast (25): Ken McBride (part 2)

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This week Ken McBride is back on the podcast. In this episode he talks about his move from rural Northern Ireland to Orangefield Presbyterian Church in East Belfast, where he stayed for 32 years. Among other things, he talks about how he changed the culture in the church to enable every member ministry and discusses some of the influences on his thinking.

He also talks about the changing face of denominationalism in Northern Ireland (‘we can’t afford the luxury of inter-denominational fighting’).

He discusses the important subject of resilience, highlighting several of the lessons he has learned about this along the way – not least the realisation that he works for ‘an audience of One’, a commitment to regular Bible reading and prayer, and team ministry.

  • As a church leader, how can you help your church to retain what is good while being sensitive to new emphases that the Holy Spirit may want to bring? How easy is it to do ‘what’s right’ without worrying about the label?
  • How do you think leaders can cultivate a resilience that will enable them to serve over the long haul?
  • How do you find the balance between staying true to a course of action while remaining humble enough to admit you could be wrong?
  • Are you part of a leadership team? How are you cultivating the sense of team?

The Leadership Journey Podcast (24): Ken McBride (part 1)

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This week’s guest on the podcast is Ken McBride: Ken retired last year after over 35 years as a minister in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. For most of that time he was minister of Orangefield Presbyterian, in East Belfast.

Ken talks about his childhood faith (‘I gave the little I knew of myself to the little I knew of God, and it’s been a constant journey ever since’) and some of the seeds of leadership that appeared through his involvement with a band who were engaged in music and apologetics. He also discusses how God used the most famous verse in the Bible to lead him out of a period of doubt in his twenties.

Perhaps surprisingly for someone who would go on to spend so much time in church leadership, Ken was initially resistant to work in the institution of the church, though he was inspired to be involved in ministry. Along the way he has learned to allow God to bring him into his plans, rather than the other way around: as a self-confessed talker, he had to learn to listen!

For your own reflection:

Do you tend to ask God to bless your plans more than you ask him to tell him his plans?

The Leadership Journey Podcast (23): Ken Clarke (part 2)

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bishopkenclarkeThis week there is more from Bishop Ken (Fanta) Clarke, mission director of SAMS (UK and Ireland).

The greatest need of my people is my personal holiness (Robert Murray McCheyne).

This week Ken talks about risk taking and younger leaders, about his experience of culture shock when he went to Chile, about the need for leaders to take time to be reflective, and the challenge of trust.

He also tells the story about a somewhat nerve-wracking experience in isolation on an African mountain and what he learned at that time!

And there are these four key pieces of advice:

  1. Don’t be a maverick: think team!
  2. Remember that team members have different capacities;
  3. Have soul friends;
  4. Guard your heart (Proverbs 4:23).

For your own reflection:

  • How easy to you find it to take time to reflect on your purpose as a leader and on the purpose of your church/organisation? How much time do you spend listening to God?
  • If you lead a team, do you train them well enough that they can leave but treat them well enough that they don’t want to?

The Leadership Journey Podcast (22): Ken Clarke (part 1)

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bishopkenclarkeThis week’s guest on the podcast is one of the best known and most popular leaders in the Northern Irish evangelical church: Ken (Fanta) Clarke. Ken has served (and continues to serve) in a number of roles through the years, including time spent in South America as a missionary, local church leadership on both sides of the Irish border, his role as Bishop in the Church of Ireland, and his current role as mission director for SAMS UK and Ireland (South American Mission Society).

In this episode he talks about some of the events and people who helped form him for leadership. He discusses his definition of a leader as someone with a compass in their head and a magnet in their heart and underlines his belief in the potential impact of one godly life.

As you listen:

  • Who are some of the people who have helped shape you in your leadership?
  • Are you seeking to make the most of whatever calling you have to influence others?

The Leadership Journey Podcast (21): Ian Parkinson (part 2)

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Ian Parkinson from CPAS is back in this week’s episode and shares his wisdom on some important aspects of the leader’s task. He discusses the concept of culture in a church or organisation, as well as the process of leading change, drawing from some interesting concepts in the work of William Bridges. He also talks about mentoring and gives us a list of five recommended books.

The first three are written from a specifically Christian perspective:

  1. Growing Leaders (James Lawrence)
  2. The Undefended Leader (Simon Walker)
  3. Relational Leadership (Walter Wright)

There are two more general books:

  1. Leaders (Bennis and Nanus)
  2. The Leadership Challenge (Kouzes and Posner)

It’s only fair to mention Ian’s own Reignite: Seeing God Rekindle Life and Purpose in Your Church.

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The Leadership Journey Podcast (20): Ian Parkinson (part 1)

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This week’s guest is Ian Parkinson. Ian is a leadership specialist with CPAS, an Anglican evangelical mission agency that works with churches. He has also worked as a local church leader and in a leadership role with the New Wine network of churches. He is the author of Reignite: Seeing God Rekindle Life and Purpose in Your Church.

In this episode Ian talks about discovering faith and how he found God developing his leadership gift as he grew spiritually.

He spends some time discussing the theme of wilderness, describing a year long phase that followed his time at university. He has come to believe that an experience of being emptied or shaken is the only basis for effective Christian leadership: the leader needs to encounter God and learn to rely on him.

For reflection as you listen:

  • What do you think about Ian’s claim that leaders need to encounter the wilderness if they are to be truly effective for God?
  • Reflect on a time as a leader when you came to the end of your resources and had to learn to rely on God in a new way.

In next week’s episode Ian goes on to discuss the issues of culture and change in leadership.

THE LEADERSHIP JOURNEY PODCAST (19) PAUL REID (PART 3)

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Paul Reid is back for another episode of the podcast. Among the things we discuss are various styles of leadership and the importance of leaders (and others) figuring out who they are. We also discuss leaders’ insecurity and Paul touches on another of the paradigm shifts in his ministry: the question of women in leadership. He also talks about retirement, and the importance of leaders having a plan in place as they approach retirement.

And he shares some of the lessons he has learned along the way, including:

  • the need to embrace weakness
  • the importance of keeping a united team
  • the value of having people around to care during times of challenge
  • the issue of ‘disintegrated anticipation’ (you will have to listen to the podcast to understand what this is, but it has to do with fads!).

Here is a link to the book Paul mentions on teams – The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.

The Leadership Journey Podcast (18) Paul Reid (part 2)

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This week Paul Reid is back on the podcast. If you missed the first part of his story, you can catch up with it here. This week’s episode picks up Paul’s story from his appointment as pastor of CFC in Belfast.

Among the things Paul discusses during the podcast are issues of church autonomy and his approach to remaining open to outside voices; the influence of John Wimber and his own emphasis on a message of grace; his – and CFC’s experience of the Toronto Blessing; and how he has sought to maintain a balance of Word and Spirit in his ministry.

As you listen to the podcast, here are some things to think about:

  1. If you are a church leader – especially if you are in an autonomous church set-up, how do you and your church keep your leadership open and accountable to others?
  2. Have you thought through a theology of prayer and healing?
  3. ‘There is no small print in the message of God’s love and grace’: how do you respond to what Paul says about grace?
  4. If you are a church leader, how have you gone about ensuring that your ministry is about both Word and Spirit?

In next week’s podcast, Paul will be reflecting on some of what he has learned through the course of his leadership journey.

You can subscribe (for free) to the podcast here.

And here is this week’s episode:

 

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The Leadership Journey Podcast (17): Paul Reid

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This week’s guest on the podcast is Paul Reid who, along with his wife Priscilla, led Christian Fellowship Church in Belfast for over twenty years.

Paul talks about coming to faith in his teens and his early upbringing in a Brethren Assembly. He and Priscilla left this to start a house fellowship and their group eventually became CFC in East Belfast.

He talks about the influence of Spring Harvest – both in his sense of call to leadership and in his experience of the Holy Spirit, and of several notable Christian leaders, including Terry Virgo and Roger Forster.

He also discusses the controversial ‘shepherding’ movement and the reason why he and his fellow leaders felt they needed to resign from their leadership roles.

Some questions as you listen:

  • Paul talks about some key turning points in the early years of his life and ministry: what events and seasons do you look back on as being formative in your own journey?
  • What do you think about the idea of leaders admitting to their followers that they have got something wrong? Is this a sign of strength? How can leaders distinguish between a conviction that they need to persevere in a course of action and a sense that they need to retrace their steps?

Part 2 of Paul’s interview will available after Easter – this will include discussion of several other controversial issues that Paul’s journey has seen him tackle; and there will be a 3rd part, in which Paul will talk about some of what he has learned about leadership and what advice he would give young leaders.

The Leadership Journey Podcast (16): Nehemiah

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This week’s podcast takes a look at the Old Testament story of Nehemiah. While we must always be careful not to reduce the Bible, or any of its stories, to the point where we miss the main point, there are some interesting leadership lessons to be gleaned in observing some of the leaders whose stories are told.

Nehemiah’s story takes us back to the post-exilic world towards the end of the Old Testament timeline: he is in Persia while many of his compatriots are struggling against the backdrop of a ruined city of Jerusalem. From Nehemiah’s deep brokenness emerges a vision of a renewed city and becomes the leader of a great movement for rebuilding and renewal.

As you listen to the podcast, there are three main leadership questions for you to reflect on in relation to your own leadership:

  1. The vision and mission question: what needs to be done?
  2. The team question: who will help you to do it?
  3. The resilience question: what obstacles will you need to overcome?

PS – Keith Lamdin, in his book Finding your Leadership Style, suggests that there are three essential ingredients to leadership: discontent, vision, and courage – interesting in the light of with the 3 Nehemiah questions.

The Leadership Journey Podcast 15: Jonathan Rea (2)

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This week’s podcast is the second part of the interview with Jonathan Rea, Creative Director of New Irish Arts.

In the second part of the interview Jonathan describes the impact of a serious health crisis and – in a section of the interview that will be of special interest to people involved in church music – he discusses some of the things he listens for in choosing new songs.

As you listen, you may like to reflect on these questions:

  1. If you are involved in church music, what do you think of Jonathan’s view that what we sing needs to combine theology and emotional engagement? Do you tend to one side or other?
  2. Are you the kind of leader who is more likely to have a 5 year plan, or is your leadership more about responding the opportunities God gives you?

The Leadership Journey Podcast 14: Jonathan Rea (1)

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This week’s guest on the Leadership Journey podcast is Jonathan Rea, the Creative Director of New Irish Arts, a charity working to be a Christian presence in the arts and an artistic presence within the Church.

In this first part of the interview, Jonathan discusses his journey, both as a Christian and as a musician – two paths that have obviously converged in his life and work, not least as he has taken on leadership of New Irish Arts.

  • Jonathan mentions the potential of peer influence, specifically in his friendship with Keith Getty: how would you assess your peer relationships in this regard?
  • As a leader, are you more of an entrepreneur or someone who picks up an initial idea and runs with it?

 

The Leadership Journey Podcast 13: Harold Miller (2)

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This week’s episode continues the interview with Bishop Harold Miller (you can catch up with part one here).

Harold talks about his season of theological education (and the influence of Michael Green) and how God led him into the various stages of his ministry. He also talks about his vision for leadership and his strong aversion to sectarianism.

Watch out for mention of leaders’ ‘Popeye moments’ and for a remarkable story about tossing a coin, as well as a moving quotation from Helen Roseveare.

As you listen and reflect on your own leadership journey:

  • How has God led you into the various places where you have led?
  • What are you passionate to see changed?

The Leadership Journey Podcast 12: Harold Miller

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The guest this week is Harold Miller, Bishop of Down and Dromore in the Church of Ireland.

In this first part of his interview Harold talks about his conversion experience and the early stages of his growth as a leader while involved in the Christian Union at Trinity College, Dublin (his years there coincided with a remarkable batch of future leaders and missionaries).

He also talks about the role of an Anglican Bishop and the importance of leaders having other people around them.

Here are some questions for you to reflect on as you listen to Harold’s interview:

  • Harold mentions a number of key mentors: what mentors are helping to shape you, and are you building into the lives of other, younger leaders?
  • Harold talks about ‘holes in the cheese’: as you think about your own church tradition, where are some of the gaps?

THE LEADERSHIP JOURNEY PODCAST 11: Alistair Bill (part 2)

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This week’s episode of the podcast features part two of an interview with Alistair Bill, minister of Saintfield Road Presbyterian Church in Belfast (you can listen to last week’s episode here).

Alistair talks about his ministry which has spanned over three decades and has taken him to both sides of the Irish border and he discusses some of the important things leaders need to be aware of.

Leaders need to pay attention to context (‘the leader’s first task is to define reality’ – Max Dupree), to God’s call, the ‘big picture’, and the importance of leading as a team.

THE LEADERSHIP JOURNEY PODCAST 10: Alistair Bill (part 1)

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revd-alistair-bill-saintfield-road-presbyterianAlistair Bill has been minister of Saintfield Road Presbyterian Church in Belfast for almost 24 years. In this week’s podcast – the first part of a two-part interview – Alistair talks about his early years, including how he came to faith through the ministry of Arthur Blessitt (remember him carrying his cross around Northern Ireland in 1972, and the smiley face stickers? – he is now into his 50th year of carrying the cross!) and how he began to sense God’s call into vocational ministry.

In part 2 of the interview (next week) Alistair talks about his years of ministry in Greystones, Monaghan, and his current church – Saintfield Road: he also shares some of the important leadership lessons he has picked up along the way.

Remember that you can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes, where you can also catch up with previous episodes, including interviews with Derek Tidball and David McClay.

Here is this week’s interview: