[11:02] Greg’s first business venture was only an entry point to his career
[13:37] Another decision further refined Greg’s niche in business
[15:03] The unforeseen changes that brought me to West Michigan where I met Greg
[15:59] One of the first ministries that we worked on together
[20:00] A leadership lesson we tried to teach to the students at an urban youth center
[20:40] The dream list for us going forward
[22:40] What do we do as consultants?
[24:02] Greg has some cool keynote addresses that he presents
[25:53] How we can help you grow your leadership capacity
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John Maxwell makes it clear in this quote that leaders are to focus on the other person: “Lead according to their dream. Coach according to their weakness. Mentor according to their potential. Delegate according to their strengths. Relate according to their personality.” —John Maxwell
“…One of my favorite analogies of prayer is a wartime walkie-talkie. I like to contrast the wartime walkie-talkie of prayer with the domestic intercom. What I like to say is that one of the reasons prayer malfunctions is because people take a wartime walkie-talkie and try to turn it into a domestic intercom, in which they ring up the butler to please bring another pillow to the den.
“Prayer is not designed as an intercom between us and God to serve the domestic comforts of the saints. It’s designed as a walkie-talkie for spiritual battlefields. It’s the link between active soldiers and their command headquarters, with its unlimited fire-power and air cover and strategic wisdom. When you understand this, you can pray the locks off people’s hearts.” —John Piper
“I do not think that there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance.” —John D. Rockefeller
“Envy is the demand that what will make me happy is what I do not possess.” —Dr. John Townsend
Here is a brief clip from a recent Craig And Greg Show leadership podcast that honors my grandpa’s words and gives something for all leaders to aspire to: honoring others…
[3:20] Leaders look for ways to honor those around them
[3:48] Can you honor too much?
[4:29] How can we honor our parents and grandparents?
[5:13] Greg has a book releasing soon called Sage Advice
[9:44] Greg explains that application is the real compliment
[10:36] Honor starts with noticing others and then expressing what was noticed
[11:49] Honoring calls out great potential in others
[12:32] What does it mean to “trust the person with a limp”?
[14:15] Honor is for people who gave, not for people who received
[15:28] Why is hard for leaders to acknowledge the success of others?
[16:27] Leaders need to looking around for opportunities to honor others
[17:11] Hand out compliments publicly for maximum effect
[17:55] Leaders receive honor by first honoring others
[19:45] Our leadership challenge to you
Check out this episode and subscribe on YouTube so you can watch all of the upcoming episodes. You can also listen to our podcast on Spotify and Apple.
[5:40] Greg reminds leaders that there isn’t an award for not taking a vacation
[6:46] Greg has seen the fallout from overly-tired leaders, and I share some ideas for leaders to help themselves and their teammates de-stress
[9:31] How do leaders build playtime into their regular work schedule?
[11:10] Share your ideas with us!
[11:34] Greg shared some playtime activities he used in his organizations
[12:27] Why do leaders think they have to be so serious?
[15:15] Some thoughts for leaders to help their teams
[16:51] Greg emphasizes again the importance of self-care and they guys talk about how we can help other leaders practice self-care
[19:03] Our coaching huddles can help you grow your leadership
[20:02] Is it possible to find work-life balance?
Check out this episode and subscribe on YouTube so you can watch all of the upcoming episodes. You can also listen to our podcast on Spotify and Apple.
[0:15] I adapt a verse from the Bible to talk about generosity and Greg agrees with me.
[1:00] Generosity is so much more than donating money.
[2:15] Generous leaders are proactive, and have appropriate boundaries.
[2:48] Leaders cannot fake generosity.
[3:42] Generosity isn’t in the big things, but the everyday things.
[4:25] Time, talent, treasure are all important components in generosity.
[6:00] Greg shares a telling statistic about how Americans give to charities.
[6:45] Greg says giving your network can be one of the most generous things a leader does.
[7:37] Generosity requires an abundance mindset.
[8:52] What holds us back from being generous?
[10:00] Comparisons kill generosity.
[10:27] Being generous expands our influence, but stinginess strangles it.
[12:55] Our teammates are looking for places to be generous.
[13:53] Generosity opens doors for new opportunities.
[14:51] Greg shares an insightful quote from Anne Frank
[15:17] I make a connection to the change in Ebenezer Scrooge’s life.
[16:11] How we define a generous leader.
[17:38] Our leadership challenge: how can you view generosity differently?
Check out this episode and subscribe on YouTube so you can watch all of the upcoming episodes. You can also listen to our podcast on Spotify and Apple.
Max Lucado addresses the sickening news of sexual abuse coverups in the church. He wrote, “[Jesus] defended the weak, stood up for the forgotten. The idea that His church would be unsafe for His sons and daughters disturbs Him deeply. And you can bet your Bible that He’ll turn a few tables. If history teaches us anything it is this: Jesus will not sit idle while His church drifts from His cause. ‘I will rescue My flock from their mouths,” He declared through a prophet. ‘It will no longer be food for them’ (Ezekiel 34:10).
“Repentance is necessary; heartfelt, tear-stained, face-on-the floor repentance. By all of us in positions of leadership. Will we see it? I pray so. Regardless, I pray that you will pursue the difficult path of seeking Christ in spite of Christians who have let you down. His pastors have failed to pastor. But when they don’t, He still does. Let Him pastor you.”
Darren Carlson wrote, “Healthy pastors experience the fullness and complexity of their emotions, and then hold them up against the sinlessness of Christ. How might Jesus respond to the pain and loss and victory and neediness in front of me? We grow emotionally as leaders by studying the heart of Jesus as he walks among sinners and sufferers.” His post ‘Healthy Pastors Have Emotions: How to Test and Cultivate Your Feelings’ is an excellent read. I explore the emotional health of shepherd pastors in my book.
[17:06] Forgiveness looks forward to better things.
[17:59] The personal experiences that Craig and Greg have had make them well-equipped to work as your coach. Check out our coaching huddles!
Check out this episode and subscribe on YouTube so you can watch all of the upcoming episodes. You can also listen to our podcast on Spotify and Apple.
[6:30] Efficiency and effectiveness don’t have to compete with each other
[7:11] Quality is never an accident
[7:50] Greg shares a helpful list of three items, but to stay on track you can only pick 2-of-the-3
[8:45] What distracts us from pursuing quality?
[10:00] Both quality and quantity have their places, but the leader needs to determine which one takes the priority
[10:47] Greg shares a comical conclusion he made after overhearing a break room conversation
[12:27] Why do leaders find security in “more”?
[13:55] There is one key place where quantity should probably come first
[14:48] Numbers are easy to use to measure quantity, but quality is much harder to measure
[16:38] An important lesson for leaders
[18:14] A leader’s words need to be more qualitative than quantitative
[19:15] Our coaching huddle clients get both quantity and quality
Check out this episode and subscribe on YouTube so you can watch all of the upcoming episodes. You can also listen to our podcast on Spotify and Apple.
Jeff asked me how the challenges of the last couple of years affected the thoughts that went into writing my book Shepherd Leadership. I explained to him how my conversation with a local pastor actually created the subtitle of the book: The Metrics That Really Matter.
In another recent conversation on The Craig And Greg Show, I talked about a comical conversation I had with a church board about their definition of the word “grow.”
In Shepherd Leadership, I wrote,
Growth and success may need to be redefined in your church or ministry. If you’ve been thinking that success is a steadily upward climb in attendance or donations, or a bigger facility, or more people on staff, then it would appear that the ministries of Philip, Paul, and even Jesus were highly unsuccessful. We’ve already seen that Philip went from a large revival in Samaria to one person in the desert. Paul came to the end of his life telling Timothy how many of his companions had abandoned him. And Jesus started His public ministry with twelve emerging leaders, only to see one betray Him, nine run away when He was arrested, and one deny that he even knew Him. When we come up with our plans to “grow” our ministry, or we say “success” is all about what we can count, aren’t we really just self-promoting?
Godly shepherd leaders need to make sure that they are concentrating not on more sheep, but on greater health. Remember: the shepherd doesn’t give birth to sheep, but the shepherd creates a healthy environment for the sheep to reproduce.
I’ll be sharing more clips from this 200churches interview soon, so please stay tuned. Shepherd Leadership: The Metrics That Really Matter is available in print or ebook, and in audiobook through either Audible or Apple.
To fill the granaries of God! —Margaret J. Prescott
My friend and podcast partner Greg Heeres talked about growing and learning through change. You can check out the rest of this episode of The Craig And Greg Show here.
Sometimes the prophetic language in the Bible can be a bit confusing. Like the phrase: “A time, times, and half a time.” Here is how Dr. Henry Halley unpacks this—
“It denotes the duration of the other horn of the fourth beast (Daniel 7:25). It denotes the period from Daniel to the time of the end (Daniel 12:6–7). It is used in Revelation 12:14 as identical to 42 months and to 1260 days (Revelation 11:2–3; 12:6, 14; 13:5), the period of time the Holy City was trampled, the two witnesses prophesied, the woman was in the wilderness, and the revived beast was on the throne.
“The word ‘time,’ in the phrase ‘a time, times, and half a time’ is generally taken to mean year; the phrase thus means three and a half years, which is 42 months, or 1260 days.
“By some, this is taken to refer to a literal three and a half years. Others, on the year-day interpretation (Numbers 14:34; Ezra 4:6), take it to be a period of 1260 years. Still others look upon the figures, not as defining time limits or periods, but as being symbolic: 7 Is the symbol of completeness, while three and a half, which is half of 7, represents incompleteness—that is, the reign of evil will be only temporary.” —Halley’s Study Bible(check out all of the biblical references in this quote by clicking here)
“Ambivalence toward the Law of God is troubling. Theologians discard the Law, and pastors either reject or neglect it. Jesus said that keeping and teaching the Law of God was a mark of Kingdom greatness (Matthew 5:17-19). Apparently that’s not a goal many of us aspire to. He also said that when the Law of God is neglected, love grows cold (Matthew 12:24). The ubiquitous lack of love in our world today is undoubtedly related to our failure to teach and live according to the Law of God. …
“Pastors have three main resources for the work and business of ministry: The Word of God, prayer, and their personal example (Acts 6:4; 1 Peter 5:1-3). If any of these fails, their ministry will as well. Especially must pastors be seen to be men zealous for the Law of God, to obey all the counsel of the Lord in His Word and to resist the devil and overcome every temptation. Jesus did. Paul did. John said this is the way love flourishes (1 John 5:1-3). Throughout this generation, failures of obedience on the part of highly visible pastors have contributed to the Church’s becoming an object of scorn by many unbelievers, while believers have been largely silent about their failings. We must be diligent in obeying Christ if we would teach others to do so and thus fulfill our calling to the Kingdom and glory of God.” —T.M. Moore
Not all viruses need to be eliminated. A study has discovered 5500 new RNA viruses on the ocean, finding “an entire phylum, the Taraviricota . . . found all over the oceans, which suggests they’re ecologically important.” The Creator knew what He was doing!
On this episode of “The Craig And Greg Show” we talk about: 
Craig T. Owens 