Thom Rainer
Bio: Thom S. Rainer is president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources in Nashville, Tennessee. He was founding dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. His many books include Surprising Insights from the Unchurched, The Unexpected Journey, and Breakout Churches.
Site: Lifeway
The Leadership Blog Interview Questions
1. What gives you the greatest joy in being a leader?
Thom: "I find great joy in leading others to be passionate about sharing the good news of Christ. If my influence as a writer, speaker, and president of LifeWay Christian Resources has that impact, then I believe God has truly used me as a leader."
2. What is your biggest pet peeve as a leader?
Thom: "People who seem obsessed with insignificant issues, and fail to grasp the big picture. Also, people who want to debate about everything and anything. And people with grumpy dispositions."
3. Who made the biggest influence in your life as a leader?
Thom: "My three sons: Sam, Art, and Jess. I have learned so much about being a leader in my struggles and joys as a father. Now that they are all grown, I am still influenced and motivated by them."
4. What books have changed your life?
Thom: "The Bible, of course, but even before I became a Christian I read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. The witness of Scripture and the witness of my high school football coach were instrumental in my becoming a Christian. J. I. Packer’s Knowing God shaped my view of Scripture. All of the works of Francis Schaeffer impacted me greatly. The Christian fiction work In His Steps by Charles Sheldon helped me to match my behavior with my beliefs. I was motivated to become a greater man of prayer after reading Calvin’s Institutes. And I loved the leadership/business book Good to Great by Jim Collins."
5. What's your biggest challenge as a leader?
Thom: "My single greatest challenge is to be a greater spiritual leader. I must model more passionately what it means to be a disciple of Christ. On a lesser note, I tend to be thin-skinned when I am criticized. And in my position criticisms are common."
6. What goals do you have as a leader?
Thom: "My first goal is to be a better and more devoted follower of Christ. Second, I want to be a better leader and husband for my wife, Nellie Jo. Third, I humbly seek God’s face that LifeWay Christian Resources, the organization that I lead, will become the best and leading provider of Christian resources in the world."
7. Where do you see yourself in ten years?
Thom: "I am 51 years old. God willing, I will still be leading LifeWay and writing books in ten years."
Thom, Thank you, your books have made a difference in me!
The Leadership Blog Interview: Thom Rainer
The Leadership Blog Interview: John Ed Mathison
John Ed Mathison
Bio: Dr. John Ed Mathison has been senior minister of Frazer Memorial United Methodist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, one of the fastest growing United Methodist churches in America, for the past 34 years. Under his leadership, Frazer has grown from 400 members to more than 8,400 members, and has the largest Sunday School attendance for United Methodist churches in America.
Church: Frazer UMC
The Leadership Blog Interview Questions
1. What gives you the greatest joy in being a leader?
John Ed: "The greatest joy I find in being a leader is to have people discover God’s purpose for their lives."
2. What is your biggest pet peeve as a leader?
John Ed: "My biggest pet peeve as a leader is that sometimes we leaders don’t perceive that we are actually leading."
3. Who made the biggest influence in your life as a leader?
John Ed: "The biggest influence in my life was my dad."
4. What books have changed your life?
John Ed:
5. What's your biggest challenge as a leader?
John Ed: "The biggest challenge I have as a leader is to not to get too far out in front of people but be sure that I am close enough to people so that they follow."
6. What goals do you have as a leader?
John Ed: "My goal for leadership is to be effective and help people get where it is that God wants them to be."
7. Where do you see yourself in ten years?
John Ed: "In ten years I see myself, at age 78, continuing to do ministry and being excited about what God is doing."
Thanks John Ed for taking time to share your thoughts.
Help a Brutha Out...
I've always wanted to go to the Catalyst Conference. But I've never been. Would anyone want to help me get to the Catalyst Conference? Email me at leadership.blog@gmail.com if you would be able to help.
The Leadership Blog Interview: Erwin Raphael McManus
Erwin Raphael McManus
Bio: Erwin is the lead pastor and Cultural Architect of Mosaic in Los Angeles. Known around the world for its spiritual creativity and cosmopolitan diversity, Mosaic is a community of followers of Jesus Christ committed to live by faith, to be known by love, and to be a voice of hope. Since the early 90’s, Erwin has led Mosaic in a pioneering enterprise whose primary focus is to serve the post-modern, post-Western, and post-Christian world.
Erwin is the catalyst behind Awaken, a collaboration of dreamers committed to creating environments that expand imagination and unleash creativity. Convinced that the world is changed by dreamers and visionaries, Awaken serves the purpose of history by maximizing the divine potential in every human being.
He is also the author of An Unstoppable Force, a Gold Medallion Award finalist; Chasing Daylight; Uprising: A Revolution of the Soul (also companion The Uprising Experience life storyboard); The Barbarian Way; Stand Against the Wind and Soul Cravings, soon to be released at the end of 2006.
Church: Mosaic
Site: ErwinMcManus.com
The Leadership Blog Interview Questions
1. What gives you the greatest joy in being a leader?
Erwin: creating environments that unleashes the God given creativity in others.
risking everything to create the future.
doing it with friends.
2. What is your biggest pet peeve as a leader?
Erwin: that i'm not a better one.
3. Who made the biggest influence in your life as a leader?
Erwin: Jesus -of course.
who knows where i would be going if he had not redirected my entire life course.
4. What books have changed your life?
Erwin: every book i have ever read.
even more so every book i have ever written.
the one that changes me the most is the one i have not yet written.
5. What's your biggest challenge as a leader?
Erwin: caring about more than i can do.
finding the best idea among an infinite number of possibilities.
fusing imagination with action.
holding tight to both ideals and realities.
holding a thought long enough to act on it.
leaving the universe inside my head and reengaging planet earth.
chosing one idea, one thought , one dream, one answer, one challenge.
yes, its caring about more than i can do.
6. What goals do you have as a leader?
Erwin: i would like to change the course of human history.
i'm pretty sure we cant pull this off alone-
so we're doing every thing we can to
identify,
develop,
maximize,
and unleash
the god given potental in every person we touch-
to awaken humanity-
any one of them might be the key.
mosaic exists to create the future.
other than that i dont make goals.
7. Where do you see yourself in ten years?
Erwin: with kim.
Erwin, Thank you for being such a great leader, you've made a huge impact on my life and ministry!
Who needs interviewed?
Check out the current list of Leadership Blog Interviews and let me know who I need to interview that people will actually want to read!