Monday, August 07, 2006 | |

The Leadership Blog Interviews: Toby Slough

Toby Slough

Bio: Toby Slough is the Senior Pastor of Cross Timbers Community Church. Founded in January 2000, Cross Timbers currently offers six services at three locations each weekend and is ranked #21of the 100 Fastest Growing Churches in the U.S. Committed to active involvement in his community, Toby and his wife Mika live in Argyle, Texas.

Church: Cross Timbers Church

1. What gives you the greatest joy in being a leader?
Toby: Watching people’s lives radically change as they come to know Christ. Seeing a man begin to really love his wife and lead his kids—knowing that the generations to come are going to be different because of God’s work in this dad’s life is indescribably exciting to me.

2. What is your biggest pet peeve as a leader?
Toby: Unwillingness to risk. A “play it safe” mentality will stagnate most organizations, especially a church family. Growth always means risk, and we are called to grow both personally and corporately.

3. Who made the biggest influence in your life as a leader?
Toby: It would be difficult to name just one. I had a high school coach who showed me the power of influence, a college professor who taught me the impact of investing in the lives of others, and a boss in my early years of ministry who mentored me as a pastor, a husband and a father. All of these men played a huge role in shaping me as a leader.

4. What books have changed your life?
Toby: The book of Proverbs would be at the top of the list. Too Busy Not To Pray by Bill Hybels affected me deeply. All of Max Lucado’s early books shaped my devotional life as a young pastor. Peter Drucker’s books on leadership have always been the standard for me leadership-wise.

5. What's your biggest challenge as a leader?
Toby: That’s easy—patience. I have very little of it, and I have come to learn that timing is everything in leadership. My impatience has rarely served me well.

6. What goals do you have as a leader?
Toby: I want to be a better leader this year than last year. I want to hear God more clearly, be more sensitive to the needs of others and make a significant impact in the lives of the staff team that I lead so that it will flow through the lives that they lead.

7. Where do you see yourself in ten years?
Toby: My dream is to be a 55 year old man who is still learning and leading. My address and my job really don’t matter as long as that is happening. I really mean that. If God sees fit to allow me to continue to pastor at Cross Timbers, that would be great. If He has another plan for me, I am in. My heroes are the men and women who continue late in life to learn and grow and make a difference in the lives of people. I pray that I am one of those people

Thanks Toby for taking time for the interview, may God continue to bless your ministry.