The Leadership Blog Interview: Dan Kimball

Dan Kimball

Bio: Dan Kimball is the founding pastor of Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, CA. He is also author of "The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations" & "Emerging Worship: Creating Worship Gatherings for New Generations"

Blog: http://www.dankimball.com/
Church: www.vintagechurch.org

The Leadership Blog Interview Questions
1. What gives you the greatest joy in being a leader?
Dan: "Without a doubt it is seeing people understanding the mission God has called us to, and as a community being on the mission together. Each person using their unique gifts and everyone seeing the importance of being in this together and the need for all the gifts, personalities, and dreams functioning as one."

2. What is your biggest pet peeve as a leader?
Dan: "Leaders who are afraid of change. I don’t mean change without thinking about it, or change for change sake (which also can be a pet peeve as this means trendy change). But when there is need for change and evidence for it, yet leaders still cling on to what they find as familiar to them, this is damaging. Or to only cling onto things that worked in the past, so it must still be good for today – this is a huge downfall in allowing effective mission to happen as well it will discourage listening to new ideas and understanding values from emerging leaders."

3. Who made the biggest influence in your life as a leader?
Dan: "Different people have influenced me in different ways, but without thinking too much on this, ones who comes to mind are Stuart Allen, a 83 year old pastor of a tiny, tiny church in England who took me under his wing when I was a pretty new Christian and taught me the importance of mentoring another, seeing past their façade or dress and believing in them. Another is my father-in-law Rod Clendenen who taught me the importance of worshiping throughout the week. Another is Dr. Mitchell, who was a 93 year old professor and founded Multnomah Bible College who met with me while I was a student and taught me to love the Scriptures. My parents shaped my view of marriage and family which does impact me as a leader today. So many people every week that I meet shape me and influence me, people in the church, the staff at my church etc. So, I see influence as being molded constantly. Of course, the correct answer to this is “Jesus” as the biggest influence, but that is almost too cliché to even say and an assumption under this all.

4. What books have changed your life?
Dan: "Too many. I think of them more as influenced my thinking and perspective, not a single one that changed my life. And it depends on what part of my life and during what phase of my life. Some books that I know impacted me significantly when I read them are: Missional Church by Darrell Guder, The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard, Too Busy Not to Pray by Bill Hybels, The Catcher in the Rye by by J.D. Salinger and of course, can’t forget the Bible. "

5. What's your biggest challenge as a leader?
Dan: "To always keep at the forefront the role of leadership in a church to be fully understood by the people in a church. What I mean by this, is that if the paid staff leaders truly are Ephesians 4:11-12 equipping others for the work of the ministry, then it means that the staff has to view their role different and the people of the church need to view the staff and themselves differently. This is hard to do, and even with non-Christians coming in from the outside, they still have perceived understandings of what the “pastor” is that also needs to be re-taught. From this, time then becomes the challenge. How to best leverage and spend time to build a church who is on a mission together, rather than a church built around the personality and gifts of the lead pastor. Also, with this approach it is critical to have a healthy leadership culture where people serving are truly cared for and supported and not just used by the church and burnt out. We are in great sin in my opinion when we allow this to happen to people serving on the mission of the church."

6. What goals do you have as a leader?
Dan: "To walk with God in a such a way where I can be sensing His leading in all areas of my life and continually be growing in my love for Him and other people. This is the ultimate goal which impacts everything I do as a husband, father, pastor, leader."

7. Where do you see yourself in ten years?
Dan: "Encouraging people to “be the church on a mission” rather than “going to church” and to be training and building leaders for the mission Jesus has the local church on."

Thanks Dan for an interesting interview!