July 14, 2023 • 40 mins
Ever felt overwhelmed by the pressures of leadership? Wondered how you could build a dynamic team without burning out? Join us for a thought-provoking discussion with Pastor Joe Negron, the campus director at Grow Church South and founder of My Home Project. Joe shares his wisdom on effective leadership and team-building, the art of delegation, how to recognize and harness each team member's unique gifts, and how to ensure that you avoid feeling drained or overwhelmed in your role. Joe provides valuable insights into the pyramid structure of leadership and the role of Jesus's teachings in leading teams.
In our conversation, we also turn our attention to the significance of cultural alignment in leadership. Joe talks about the importance of language, behaviors, and core values to shape an organization's culture. Joe shares his thoughts on the inspiring story of Juan Cortez and how his narrative can be a metaphor for team leadership. In our final segment, we venture into the world of accountability, values, and nonprofit work. Pastor Joe talks about the power of a clear vision and mission in fostering accountability and aligning decisions with values. He also talks about My Home Project, his Christian non-profit organization partnering with communities to restore children and families in crisis. Join us for a fascinating episode with Pastor Joe Negron!
https://www.myhomeproject.org/
joe@myhomeproject.org
Instagram: @joenegron
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi there, welcome to Conversations where we seek to
advance your leader in teamexcellence by discussing
relevant topics that impacttoday's organizations.
Welcome to the show.
Oh, welcome to Conversationswhere today we have Joan Nodone,
the campus director at GroveChurch South and Sunny Naples,
florida, and founder of my HomeProject helping children and
(00:24):
families in crisis in thecountry of Guatemala.
Specializing throughout theyears in missions and outreach,
joe uses that experience tobuild teams, pastor people and
help transform lives through themessage of Jesus Christ.
Amen, let's go For all you.
Strength enthusiasts, pastorJoe leans with positivity,
(00:46):
strategic achiever, developerand futuristic.
Welcome to the show, joe.
How are you today?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Thank you.
I'm doing so well.
I'm excited.
It's going to be a greatconversation.
Can't wait to see what God does.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
He's always showing up.
We had we'll just tell thelisteners we had a pre-call on a
week or so ago and I said weshould have been recording that.
That's as much fantastic.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Yes, we had a great conversation and looking forward
, looking forward to even more.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
That's right.
Well, we're going to just rollright into it.
I know that you have a passionaround building teams.
Why don't we jump off there andthen we'll see where we go with
everything else?
How's that?
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Okay, let's do it.
I love, first of all, buildingteams.
It's so necessary.
Talking about, I would say,even starting with the portrait
of a leader, what a leader lookslike and what that entails.
The fact is that once we sayyes to God or to positions, or
to everything that we so desirethese positions right we don't
(02:00):
take under consideration that weare leading people.
The minute that we step into arole, that someone's looking at
us.
We're leading people.
That means all around us.
It could be a job, it could beyour calling, it could be at
home, it could be just childrenlooking at you.
Even the other day, I had alittle girl just passing by one
(02:22):
of the daycares at Grove.
She said, hey, you're thecamera guy, because I did
photography at the church formany years and I would take
pictures of them.
Then she says, and I said yeah,that's me.
I said, hey, how you been?
She goes well, I've been good.
But my brother, he loves you,he actually imitates you.
(02:43):
Wow, then I thought to myself,what is he imitating?
Yeah, that is the portrait of aleader.
We are leading in one way or theother, but we don't know
exactly the influence that we'rehaving unless we're intentional
about it.
We are going to influence, buthow are we influencing?
That would be the question athand.
(03:03):
I learned throughout the yearsthat the way that I was leading
was not the best.
That even in itself kind ofburnt me out.
It led me to realize howimportant teams are and the
heart behind it, and what Jesuseven says about it.
I can't wait to share some ofthat.
But it's so important to haveteams around us so that we could
(03:25):
build people, empower people,and not do this alone, because
the results could becatastrophic actually.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
You mentioned a really big word, and that is
burnout.
When we're not being aneffective leader and delegating
to our teams, that's whathappens, yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Yeah, burnout is unfortunately real.
I experienced it.
I guess there was goodintentions behind my work, as I
look at it.
Obviously I was doing evenmissions at the time where I got
burnt out.
My heart was to help people todo all the great things that a
missionary would do.
The problem was that I camefrom a structure of leadership
(04:10):
that the leader was on the topand the people were at the
bottom.
It's like the pyramid, or youhave to close fist of leadership
.
Unfortunately, that wasn'tworking.
I was telling people to moveout of the way.
I got this because apparentlythey weren't doing it the way I
(04:30):
wanted to.
I was leading from a place ofperfectionism.
I call myself a recoveringperfectionist because of the
fact that it is real.
We expect so much out of people.
We really disqualify not justourselves for many things we
(04:53):
disqualify others.
For that reason, I wasn'tbuilding myself.
I wasn't building people.
I ended up literally burningout by trying to do it all
myself and not realizing that Icould invite God into the
picture.
Not only that the Bible, forthose of you that might not know
much about what the Bible saysbut Jesus calls us the body of
(05:15):
Christ.
That's the church we are gifted.
In many ways it identifies thatthere's a five-fold ministry,
that there's different peoplewith different spiritual gifts
and talents.
We can see that around theworld.
Right, the church does notoperate in the way that the
world operates, which is throughcompeting or wanting to advance
your own agenda.
(05:36):
This is more about hey, how canwe advance together?
We need each other, werecognize each other's gift, we
pour into each other.
By knowing God, really gettingto know his heart, we get to
know our own identity in him andthen we could see the identity
that God has for others.
Without that competition, right, without that tug-of-war, yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
It's almost as though we're thumbing our nose at God,
saying he doesn't know whathe's talking about.
Right, don't do this.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Right, it's not my style, it's not my way.
Hey, and so because of that,then I'm going to step in.
Move out of the way.
God, I really even felt like Idid that at points.
Move out of the wayno-transcript.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Yeah, yeah, and I went to that too and I thought
that I was the only one thatcould do certain things within
the organization was a nonprofitand I was not delegating and I
Went through burnout, was very,very ill and it took me a long
time to get back into the officeand then realize, you know,
(06:43):
sometimes God puts you down andteaches you lessons and and it
was a revelation aboutdelegation and the importance of
Delegating and allowing otherpeople, regardless of how it
gets done, let them step up andin, and it's saying that I trust
this person to get it done andif they need me, if they need
(07:05):
you know, I will come along withthem and help them, but it's
really important for thatdelegation to be happening All
right.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
I think that most people would like that, and I
used to say I wish I could clonemyself.
Who would say that?
I don't know, it doesn't even athought on another human beings
, but I really thought I wish Ihad a team full of myself.
Well, you actually can do that.
You can train people.
You can duplicate right you canduplicate yourself exactly.
(07:37):
And so the culture ofempowerment.
We teach a lot, a lot at GrowChurch.
It's to see the potential andcultivate it.
We identify it, and, and thatrequires that we see things
God's way.
It's not like something that weare taught to.
Let's say, in the worldEverything is, it's very
self-centered, and there arejobs that do it well, but there
(07:58):
are jobs that don't.
And there are places that do itwell, but there are places that
that obviously stay away fromthat because of the
competitiveness and thecompetition, I would say and.
And so I think and it was a GLSthat I learned the word get mo,
or the acronym get mo yes, goodenough to move on.
Wow, that that waslife-changing.
(08:20):
You know that, a project that Iremember that it took me 60, 60
hours one week.
The next week I did a similarproject and it took me four
hours.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
So drastic time we waste?
Yes, no, it's like, oh, it'sgot to be part, you know, back
to that perfection, it's got tobe perfect, it's got.
No, it does that it does notgood enough to move on.
Yeah, and so for thoselisteners next.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Right for those listeners that are it's like hey
, what, what do you mean?
Good enough to move on?
It's not.
So is Rather than having aperfection at like as the goal?
A perfection is not really, andshould never be the goal.
The goal should be likeexcellence we're doing because
we have a heart behind whatwe're doing, but we're never
gonna get it to that place.
(09:09):
We're always gonna findsomething.
It's like cleaning a car withour moral.
It just goes on and on and youstart seeing every little detail
and you get so annoyed at theend they like forget it.
I should have just taken thissomewhere else, because you know
we're seeing all theimperfections in the car, all
the Parts that need to be shined.
It's ongoing, and so we don'twant to you, we don't want to
(09:31):
lead ourselves into a place thatwe're gonna waste our time when
, in reality, no one's reallynoticing those little details.
It's a waste of time.
So good enough.
To move on is just like can youget it to a place?
Whereas good enough, what canyou do?
So let's say, like an 80% iswhat actually?
Craig Rochelle is the one thatdid this amazing teaching and he
(09:53):
said take it to the 80%.
Once you get it to the 80%,then what can you do with that
extra 20 that would have takenyou to take it to the 100?
And so, once you get it to that, to that 80%, do something else
with that 20, because inreality You're not adding more
value to that project or towhatever you're doing, just by
adding that extra 20%.
And so he takes it like okay,once you get it down to that
(10:17):
point, to that 80%, the extratime that you have you could use
it and then do somethingImportant with it.
It's almost like what are youcompromising?
Are you compromising your time?
Are you compromising yourfamily?
Are you compromising exercisingyour peace of mind, other jobs
that you could be doing, and so,you know, I just loved when I
(10:38):
heard that and I said, okay,that's amazing.
But then he takes it a littlefurther and he says, okay, once
you get it to the 80% and andyou're a rock star at that you
kind of like got it down to thepoint.
He's like now how can we bendthe curve on that, meaning
you're doing the same thing atan 80%, but because you got kind
of like the flow of it, I wouldsay just a pattern of doing
(11:00):
things right, then you couldactually do it in a faster time,
and that is what it really.
That's what quality means.
You're not adding more time,more money to the project.
You're actually doing it to apercentage which is good enough
to move on.
It's with excellence, butyou're not wasting your time,
you're not wasting yourresources, and we're so easy to
(11:22):
do that.
Oh, it needs a little bit moreof this a little bit more money,
a little bit more time and inreality, that's not a good
return in our investments and,as leaders, we need time.
Yes, we do.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Yeah, and when I think about that whole
excellence versus Perfection,when we think about perfection,
we're really leading out of fear, right, for that it's not gonna
be good enough, or we're notgonna be good enough, or
whatever.
It is Right, instead of risinginto excellence.
God never created us to beperfect, you know, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Right.
We are on our path toperfection will be perfected,
the Bible says, into the day ofJesus Christ.
Yeah, meaning that there is aprocess and his goal is that we
are dependent of him, notindependent of him, and
Therefore we are gonna need him.
We are the ones that are needto be clinging on to even
(12:19):
Solidify our identity day by day, just to to know that that you
know he is our all.
We don't have to take on theburden of Of all the pressure
that this, even a leadershipposition, has and that's part of
burnout, like the pressure of Igotta do all of this, I gotta
take care of this, the worriesthat I didn't answer all the
(12:40):
emails.
And then, in the middle of thenight, you're like some you know
some of them that haveexperienced anxiety, panic
attacks, different things thatyou just can't control your
environment, so they lead youthere and it's just Beautiful to
be freed from that.
That's right.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Who doesn't want to live free?
Right?
Some people just don't knowthey don't know, and that's the
thing.
They just don't know.
And they wake up day after dayafter day and they think that
they need to live that way andthey really don't.
But it's a decision and it's.
It's about learning, it's ajourney.
(13:19):
Yes, people for sure.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
For sure, I gotta enjoy that journey.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
No it.
Well, let's talk a little bitabout I know the growth.
Grow has two campuses Right.
I'd love to talk a little bitabout the culture and how you
help people kind of embed in theculture the people that you,
you lead, kind of what thatlooks like.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Well, we have an amazing culture.
I think that we've solidifiedit even more as we were thinking
about opening another campusand what that looked like.
I think that Culture allows usto have a sense of understanding
that we are in and like, let'ssay, in unity, that we are
walking together, that we'regoing after the same things, and
you know you can't really leador walk together and you know
you can't really lead or walktogether Unless we have an
(14:16):
agreement good communication.
So culture is about that.
It's about establishingcommunication.
That's a common word that wethrow around Business
environments and also aroundchurch, but some people get
don't realize how importantculture is.
I believe that even whenselecting people, culture is,
should be a priority even ratherthan gifting, because someone
(14:40):
that really understands theculture and honors it and
respects it, that's, that's anamazing fit.
Now you're as strong as yourweakest link in reality.
So if you have strong peoplethat understand the culture, you
could, you could teach them,you could be that leader that
then empowers them to take, youknow, to go to that place.
But if you have great leadersbut then they don't even respect
(15:05):
the culture or they don't evenembrace it or they come against
it because they're now I have abetter way of doing things than
we're going to be clashing, andit's going to be a competition
or just you know, there's goingto be tension, I would say,
around whatever we're trying tolead, and we'll feel it.
We just sometimes won't evenknow what it is.
What's that tension?
(15:26):
And it's because somebody,someone's not embracing the
culture.
Now, culture, I would say, isdefined, even something like the
language that we use, ourbehaviors, the things that we
see but we like, and some thingsthat we see and then we don't
like.
Even knowing what we like andwhat we don't like is important
(15:48):
to celebrate the things that welike, that we want to replicate,
right.
But then there's the thingsthat we don't like and hey, we
shouldn't be doing that, that'snot us.
Well, that needs to be alsocalled out.
We call it a church wins andops, where we celebrate the wins
, what people do, and then wespeak about the ops because we
(16:08):
want to make sure that, hey,either we either don't do it
again, right, just plain as if,but don't do it again.
The other thing would be likeall right, that was good, but
there's, these things need to beadjusted and just bring in.
Okay, how can we make thatbetter?
So, working together, and itallows us to always continuously
(16:30):
stay teachable, and that's evenpart of our culture.
That's how we make sure thateverybody's kind of walking
speaking the same way, talkingthe same way, and that doesn't
mean robots, it just means thatwe function with an
understanding that our visionand our mission it's aligned.
It has a way so that we couldgo towards the mark together
(16:54):
rather than separate, and it'spowerful when it's done right.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
And you're obviously doing some things right for sure
, and when I think about when anorganization, whether it's a
ministry, a church or whatever,and they break off and they
start growing and havingdifferent locations, that could
be tricky at times, and so I'dlove to hear, maybe, about how
you found success.
(17:22):
I know it's through the culture, but how do you bring another
location into the mix?
Was it easy?
Was it difficult?
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Let's talk about that .
We know that nothing thatreally is worth fighting for
comes easy.
I would say one of the mostdifficult things that I have
done and yet one of the mostrewarding.
I think that this is used.
(17:52):
I think it's Juan Cortez thathe has.
He's coming to discover Americaand doing different, just
bringing people from Spain,basically just to discover the
lands.
Let's just say that because Iknow that some people don't like
those topics of conquering anddiscovering and because there
(18:12):
was people in those placesalready, obviously.
So here comes Juan Cortez.
I hope I'm saying the nameright.
But Juan Cortez does get tothis place in Mexico where he's
got a crew of people that are sotired, they're exhausted, and
these people they don't want togo into conquering this land.
And yet he's like, hey, we gothere, let's do this.
(18:36):
And he makes a call and thecall is to burn the ships.
I mean I would have probablypassed out if I'm in that crew.
And it's like how do we getback when you've gone through
storms and trials andtribulations?
And he's kind of like sayingthere's no going back.
He is calling the shots bysaying I'm going to burn the
(18:59):
ships.
What does that do?
Is.
It gives no option but to goforward, go forward with the
plan.
I think that I've done thatplenty of times.
I don't know if it's liked bypeople, but sometimes I just
step away and that's because I'mtrusting that God is going to
do something after I have led,after I have done my job.
(19:20):
To empower someone.
Jesus did it with three steps.
He did with hey.
People started following him.
He's like, ok, follow me andyou watch what I'm doing.
And he's like, ok, I'm doingthis Kind of like, just watch.
There's no, it's kind of like ashadow.
We call it a shadow Just watch.
(19:41):
And again he's like I'm goingto actually watch, you do it.
And so now we got the disciplesthat followed him and watched
them.
Now he's like, hey, go feed thepeople while he's there.
It's like nobody wascomplaining that Jesus wasn't
doing anything.
They saw him do enough.
(20:02):
So, as a leader, we do our partto make sure that we are leading
well.
So then, when the time comesfor us to step out, I know
there's going to be a few thatare not going to like it.
There's always going to be afew that are going to come
against that.
But whoever gets it will lovethe empowerment that they're
getting, because it's for thebenefit of the entire team that
(20:24):
the leader at one point stepsout and allows somebody to do it
.
You do that well, by the way,kelly.
Dr Kelly, you do amazing.
I've seen you say even hey,would you take ownership of that
or would you step into that?
And it's like so good.
I'm like, yes, he empowerspeople quickly.
Love it.
Love it, because if not, thenit's all on us.
(20:46):
It's learned, yes, and so thenJesus then does something that
many people don't know how to do, and that's his third step.
He steps out, completely out ofthe picture, because he already
trusts that what he has shown,what he has also taught in the
second step and directed ifthere was any mistake, he's not
(21:10):
leaving them alone in the secondstep.
But now he's like OK, you'regood, but that's also giving
them permission to fail.
Yeah, like he knew they weregoing to fail.
He knew we were going to fail,right, absolutely.
So that's actually empowermentand that has been the best thing
that I have done.
And sometimes that empowermentof releasing it all requires to
(21:32):
burn the ship and just sometimesnot show up Like we think that
it's not going to happen becausewe're not there Sometimes.
I made the call, even bringing aleader along to a group or
something that I'm leading ateam or a group, depending.
We have groups that we gathertogether and we do studies and I
always try to bring someonealong from the beginning that
(21:52):
I'm actually teaching how tolead a group, teaching the
culture, teaching how to leadand lead well, and I let them
know.
There's one day, maybe in thethird, fourth, fifth week, that
I might not show up.
I'll give you a very shortwindow and I'm going to prepare
you for that day and I want youto be prepared that at one point
(22:15):
or the other I won't be there.
And it's worked.
It's worked.
I never thought it was possible, but it's worked throughout the
year.
So I think that by knowing I'mtraining right, coaching right,
as I, you know, thinking aboutthe possibility of once my next
move to step out, and then, whenI step out, then I could see a
(22:38):
flourish and I just water itonce in a while, making sure
that it's still going, that I'mtaking care of them and that I'm
following up with whateverthey're doing so that they can
stay on track, and I'm alwaysavailable.
I'm going to be available.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
I love that story and the progression and how it's a
biblical principle of how youare leading people and that's
beautiful, and so it's alwaysamazing that the Bible is just
so full of wisdom for so manydifferent situations.
It's like, yeah, you just needto know where to go and how to
(23:14):
understand it.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Right, right, it allows us to, not in this case,
in the campus.
My pastors, I mean, they'reamazing leaders.
Pastor James and Pastor TracyBoyd they are.
They have led by example.
They love empowering others, andhe was the one that actually
told me about Get no, he's like.
He's like you're putting toomuch pressure on yourself and on
(23:38):
other people.
Don't disqualify other people.
And I realized I was like, wow,I'm disqualifying people
because I was disqualifyingmyself, you know.
So the fact that he, like,brought me into that culture of
empowerment by saying this iswhat it looks like, this is what
(23:59):
you need to do, these are yournext steps, which is part of our
culture as well to give nextsteps, never allowing for
someone to stay stagnant.
If not, we're not going to be agrowing church and we're not.
Like Jesus said, go and preachthe gospel into the world is the
great commandment, right.
And so for that to happen, weneed to empower others.
(24:24):
Allow people to do what it isthat we have called them, god
has called them to do, but allowthem to do what we've taught
them, because sometimes we teachbut we don't release.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Yes, oh, and I think more people need to understand
that the whole release part ofit for sure, and understand when
to do that.
And somebody may not just youknow, like you mentioned in your
story, something may not alwaysbe ready, but if you don't give
them the opportunity to rise upand in, how are you going to
(24:58):
know?
Right, and how are they goingto know?
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Right, and how is God going to step in and do
something in their lives?
The way that he did it in oursyes, Like we're not, like you
know number one, or like in thefavorites of you know of God's
list, is like he loves us allunconditionally and he's got a
plan for all of us.
And so now I get it.
I'm like, oh, you want to useme so that I could see the plans
(25:26):
that you have for other people,but that requires a dying to
self.
That is very difficult.
That means that selfish desiresthat we have, we got to lay
them down and see the biggerpicture.
And I've let dreams go morethan I wish I did at points.
But in the end the result is sogratifying because we have a
(25:50):
good God and then it builds usso much as people that if that
wouldn't have happened, I justwonder where would I be or how
would I have limited God to workin other people.
I'm sure he would have foundsomeone else, but the fact that
he saw me to be part of thatplan, that's incredible and you
know it's an honor.
(26:10):
We have to understand that itis an honor.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
You know.
That reminds me.
I think it's also important forpeople to understand that just
because you let go of a dream, Imean it may be yours, but if it
is part of God's plan for yourlife, he will find a way to
bring that back around, becauseI've seen that firsthand with me
.
And so he is a good God.
(26:35):
And if it is, if it's for him,if it's really a desire of your
heart and it's of God's heart,then there will be a way.
And it may not be today,tomorrow, next year, maybe 10
years from now, but he does havea way of making good on his
promises to us, right?
Speaker 2 (26:54):
That is.
That's such a good point,because I don't want to pick or
kind of like point.
I got as in he's a dream killerright.
Because I want to make surethat there are dreams that I
needed to give up on.
They were disaster streams,they would have led me to this,
to this lifestyle of basicallyof the world, of being able, you
(27:15):
know, of our culture, of justlooking at what can I gain out
of this situation, you know, andI could go into that, but let's
just leave it there.
Everybody could use theirimagination to think about how
selfish we could be, but whenGod right invites us into this
story, into this vision, intothis dream and I often think I
(27:37):
don't know if you've seen thatmovie Inception- oh no, you were
telling me about the action I'mgoing to have to see we can get
it.
I did after Leon, leonardo deCaprio.
I say it very Spanish, butLeonardo de Caprio is actually
the main character in the movie,and there is.
(28:00):
It's just about getting intosome dreams.
But I'm not going to be a dream, you know.
I mean a movie spoiler here, soI'm just going to leave it at
that.
They go from a dream to anotherdream to a dream.
It's a great movie, but we arenormally like that in life we
have a dream within a biggerdream, and sometimes we think
(28:22):
that our dream is just biggerthan everybody's.
But in reality, if we're ableto listen to God's voice, he is
the dream giver.
He is the one that's givingeveryone dreams, but they're
under his dreams, yes, and it'samazing.
And we're like over herethinking that we're going to
make it happen without him.
No, he's the one that placed itin your heart, so he's going to
(28:45):
partner us as a church.
That's what I found at mychurch.
I found that my dream fitwithin the dream and I was able
to really come to terms of wow,these people have everything,
everything that I am looking for, rather than, oh, my dream is
(29:06):
different than their set apart.
It looks the same, but itdoesn't fit.
I, you know, I submitted and Isaid, lord, what if it looks, if
it sounds the same, what aboutit?
Once I submitted to that and Iwas able to see that God really
had a purpose in that, I startedleading second, like, let's say
like in the leading second role.
(29:27):
Very well, it's almost like Iunderstood that they were for me
and not against me, rather thanyou know, because that's what I
saw from other churches, I said, well, like, I'll do my own
thing while I'm going to thischurch, but they're really not
pouring into whatever God istrying to do through me.
They don't see it.
Yeah, my ministry is so bigover here and you know I don't
(29:50):
need anyone to interrupt it.
No, no lies, it was all lies ofthe enemy so that I wouldn't
have a beautiful covering.
People to do life with, family,people to that would keep me
accountable.
You know people that would say,hey, you know what you're doing
, that wrong, but also celebratewith me and say, hey, you're
(30:11):
doing that right and push me andsay, hey, you know, not like a
push, but you know, like, pushme to do things that I thought
do I have the knowledge, thewisdom to do this?
Of course you do.
They're like you know, and ifnot, we're going to teach you,
we're going to guide you there.
And the beautiful thing is thatthey're so transparent that
sometimes it was like, hey, wedon't know either, but we're
(30:33):
going to trust in God.
And sometimes I'm like is thata cop out?
But in reality, no, we're allleading from a place of the
unknown.
At points, we just have to leadwith confidence that we know
that we've led before or we'vedone something.
It's made a difference inpeople and we're just making
ourselves available so that thatcontinues.
If not, we'll be stopped byfear.
(30:54):
Men.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Yeah, and I also think that more people are
looking for organizations whoalign with their values.
You know where the values arealigning, so they can feel good
going to work and having thatexperience like you have,
Because I think that's important.
We don't want to be getting upand going to work somewhere
(31:17):
where it's just so far to theleft from what we believe in.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Right Right, that environment is so, it's so good.
I mean, I have friendships withpeople at work, but I also know
that there's a challengebetween having friendships and
also leading with people, sothat has to be really clear.
That's a whole other podcast,by the way.
Just leading with your friends,that's fair to be the bad guy,
(31:48):
right.
But you know, what really helpsis first of all the culture.
It really helps.
We could call each other out bythe culture, not by our own
preferences.
No, the culture is.
I just told someone in ameeting the other day and I said
hey, I just saw what you didand it's not our culture, that's
(32:11):
not honorable and call them out, but in a loving way.
Not my opinion as a friend, Iwould have let that go.
But we have to keep each otheraccountable and it is difficult.
But if not, we put at risk Notus as friendships.
(32:33):
At the end of the day, thefriendship is probably going to
still be there.
What are we putting at risk?
The vision, because now thevision is not moving forward
because we're over here having aspats about what they call it.
Right Spits back.
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
I've never used that You've never used that, but I
understand it.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
I should have repeated that.
So yeah, and it's very clear tous that vision and mission
aligns us to be able to make thehard decisions when it comes to
friendships in the work fieldor in leadership Right.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
I would love, before we close, for you to talk a
little bit about your nonprofit.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Oh nice, I want to hear about it.
This movie that just came out,called Sound of Freedom, has
really tugged the hearts ofAmerica.
There was one of the I wouldsay the statistics.
One of the statistics they saidwas that right now there's more
(33:48):
slaves than when it was legaland the majority of those are
children.
That's difficult to hear.
That's tough.
What I've been doing throughoutmost of my life has been working
with children.
I just had a heart for childrenbecause of things that I went
(34:13):
through in my childhood.
It was a very difficultexperience, from bullying to
being rejected, being even at ayoung age already suicidal as a
thought.
It was often there.
The enemy just really wanted tocome against me and those were
things that I was fighting.
Although I was raised in thechurch, you know, and my parents
(34:36):
being Christian parents andvery loving, there was no child
abuse in the home.
There was nothing that in thehome that would say that my life
would be that.
And yet it was because of theenvironment I was brought in and
because of the environment thatthey were fighting to get me
out of Some children.
(34:56):
They just end up in differentenvironments, because of poverty
, because of culture, because ofthe situation, broken homes, so
many scenarios, right Unbeliefand all of that.
And so I started working withchildren and, just really
knowing that it was my purpose,at eight years old, I ended up
(35:18):
getting a vision that I wouldkind of work out orphanages and
own one and lead one.
I was such a little kid to beable to start getting visions
about that.
I carried that dream throughoutand when I got to the country
of Guatemala for the first timeafter I had accepted Jesus in my
heart and made a commitment tolive for him, I literally asked.
(35:39):
The first thing I saw thechildren in the streets working,
being exploited, and I startedunderstanding a little bit more
beyond what the eye sees.
And I just couldn't.
I couldn't stop and think aboutmy day anymore.
My day was like what am I doing?
(35:59):
I'm so selfish.
I, you know, I got everythingaround me and it became about
how can I get back to Guatemalaand from?
I've been there ever since.
2003 was my first time.
I even moved there for sevenyears in a row.
I served about 14 years, andout of those 14 years then,
seven of them were full time,just dedicated, and I didn't
(36:23):
know anything about nonprofits.
I had no idea what that meantat the time I didn't know what I
was getting myself into.
I was just going after what Godtold me to do, which was to
help children, get them off thestreets, sponsor and promote
those organizations that didsupport them in whichever way.
And so I started my own,because I just it was starting
(36:46):
to become a little bit weirdthat people were just dropping
money and giving me money and Iwas like, okay, I need to do
something about it.
And so that's how that startedand again it just it came from a
product of just hearing whatGod was saying and just
following that, being obedientand not worrying about how scary
(37:06):
all of that felt, and goinginto orphanages.
I did feel that I was likerepresenting men I was the only
man in that place and sometimeseven Dr Kelly, honestly being
looked at by women like who areyou, what are you doing here?
Almost with, like I would say,being judged, a judgmental
(37:28):
approach and very unfortunateand, of course, well, that's
what society has labeled men as.
And I was just like I got tomake a difference, not just for
myself, not just for thechildren, but for the people
around me, bring some awareness.
And that's how my home projectkind of began from a you know,
from a heart, from pain, fromall the things that I did not
(37:51):
want to see but I wanted to seechanged.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
That's amazing, and so how can people find out more
about your nonprofit?
Where can they go for that?
Speaker 2 (38:04):
We have a website called myhomeprojectorg and
there we are now revampingcertain things from the country,
because the country has changedsome laws with children for
reasons of trying to implementmore of the foster system, and
so we're revamping our, even our, strategies.
(38:27):
We're, we have a land and we'rehoping that in the future, are
praying about guiding thattowards being a facility where
we can just help families incrisis, because, at the end of
the day, is the family unitthat's going to be able to help
children and bring a safe place,and also partnering with the,
(38:48):
with the actual country, becauseit's not my country, right,
it's the one that God has calledme to work with, but I can't go
in there and try to set my ownrules and my own ways.
I have to also be obedient to,you know, to the laws of the
country, but also then reallysee what yes, yes, very
important and what does God wantto do through this, and so
(39:10):
leading and listening, and sowe're we're right there, just
trying to partner with God withall those things.
But myhomeprojectorg is theplace to go and you'll be able
to see some of the things we'redoing.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
Thank you for sharing that.
It's important we're doing onboth ends with with grow, as
well as your ministry and yournonprofit, so I appreciate that.
Thank you, dr Cunning.
Oh well, you are welcome.
I want to thank you for comingon today.
It's been a pleasure to haveyou and learn about your
leadership and how you run teamsand about culture.
(39:43):
We talked about a lot ofdifferent things, which was
amazing, and I know thelisteners are going to have some
big takeaways from this,especially that Gapmo yes,
nothing else, gapmo For sure.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
For sure.
Thank you so much.
I just if I if I wanted to saysomething to the people out
there is give yourselfpermission to fail.
Just give yourself permissionto fail, because that's not
going to hold you back.
We are going to fail no matterwhat.
So if we come to terms withthat, then we'll just go full
(40:16):
force and and just really allowourselves to grow in the process
.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
That's right.
It's all about growth and it'sa journey.
It's a growth journey.
Yeah yeah, happen overnight,all right.
Well, I look forward toco-MCing with you and us next
month, so that's right.
So I will meet you there, butI'm sure we'll be talking in
(40:43):
between there and please comeback on to conversations.
I would love to have you as aguest.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
Thank you so much.
I'm honored and I can't waitfor GLS.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
I know it's going to be awesome.
All right, you take care youtoo.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Bye, thanks for making all that space out there.
Hi there, welcome to Conversations where we seek to
advance your leader in teamexcellence by discussing
relevant topics that impacttoday's organizations.
Welcome to the show.
Oh, welcome to Conversationswhere today we have Joan Nodone,
the campus director at GroveChurch South and Sunny Naples,
florida, and founder of my HomeProject helping children and
(00:24):
families in crisis in thecountry of Guatemala.
Specializing throughout theyears in missions and outreach,
joe uses that experience tobuild teams, pastor people and
help transform lives through themessage of Jesus Christ.
Amen, let's go For all you.
Strength enthusiasts, pastorJoe leans with positivity,
(00:46):
strategic achiever, developerand futuristic.
Welcome to the show, joe.
How are you today?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Thank you.
I'm doing so well.
I'm excited.
It's going to be a greatconversation.
Can't wait to see what God does.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
He's always showing up.
We had we'll just tell thelisteners we had a pre-call on a
week or so ago and I said weshould have been recording that.
That's as much fantastic.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Yes, we had a great conversation and looking forward
, looking forward to even more.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
That's right.
Well, we're going to just rollright into it.
I know that you have a passionaround building teams.
Why don't we jump off there andthen we'll see where we go with
everything else?
How's that?
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Okay, let's do it.
I love, first of all, buildingteams.
It's so necessary.
Talking about, I would say,even starting with the portrait
of a leader, what a leader lookslike and what that entails.
The fact is that once we sayyes to God or to positions, or
to everything that we so desirethese positions right we don't
(02:00):
take under consideration that weare leading people.
The minute that we step into arole, that someone's looking at
us.
We're leading people.
That means all around us.
It could be a job, it could beyour calling, it could be at
home, it could be just childrenlooking at you.
Even the other day, I had alittle girl just passing by one
(02:22):
of the daycares at Grove.
She said, hey, you're thecamera guy, because I did
photography at the church formany years and I would take
pictures of them.
Then she says, and I said yeah,that's me.
I said, hey, how you been?
She goes well, I've been good.
But my brother, he loves you,he actually imitates you.
(02:43):
Wow, then I thought to myself,what is he imitating?
Yeah, that is the portrait of aleader.
We are leading in one way or theother, but we don't know
exactly the influence that we'rehaving unless we're intentional
about it.
We are going to influence, buthow are we influencing?
That would be the question athand.
(03:03):
I learned throughout the yearsthat the way that I was leading
was not the best.
That even in itself kind ofburnt me out.
It led me to realize howimportant teams are and the
heart behind it, and what Jesuseven says about it.
I can't wait to share some ofthat.
But it's so important to haveteams around us so that we could
(03:25):
build people, empower people,and not do this alone, because
the results could becatastrophic actually.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
You mentioned a really big word, and that is
burnout.
When we're not being aneffective leader and delegating
to our teams, that's whathappens, yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Yeah, burnout is unfortunately real.
I experienced it.
I guess there was goodintentions behind my work, as I
look at it.
Obviously I was doing evenmissions at the time where I got
burnt out.
My heart was to help people todo all the great things that a
missionary would do.
The problem was that I camefrom a structure of leadership
(04:10):
that the leader was on the topand the people were at the
bottom.
It's like the pyramid, or youhave to close fist of leadership
.
Unfortunately, that wasn'tworking.
I was telling people to moveout of the way.
I got this because apparentlythey weren't doing it the way I
(04:30):
wanted to.
I was leading from a place ofperfectionism.
I call myself a recoveringperfectionist because of the
fact that it is real.
We expect so much out of people.
We really disqualify not justourselves for many things we
(04:53):
disqualify others.
For that reason, I wasn'tbuilding myself.
I wasn't building people.
I ended up literally burningout by trying to do it all
myself and not realizing that Icould invite God into the
picture.
Not only that the Bible, forthose of you that might not know
much about what the Bible saysbut Jesus calls us the body of
(05:15):
Christ.
That's the church we are gifted.
In many ways it identifies thatthere's a five-fold ministry,
that there's different peoplewith different spiritual gifts
and talents.
We can see that around theworld.
Right, the church does notoperate in the way that the
world operates, which is throughcompeting or wanting to advance
your own agenda.
(05:36):
This is more about hey, how canwe advance together?
We need each other, werecognize each other's gift, we
pour into each other.
By knowing God, really gettingto know his heart, we get to
know our own identity in him andthen we could see the identity
that God has for others.
Without that competition, right, without that tug-of-war, yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
It's almost as though we're thumbing our nose at God,
saying he doesn't know whathe's talking about.
Right, don't do this.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Right, it's not my style, it's not my way.
Hey, and so because of that,then I'm going to step in.
Move out of the way.
God, I really even felt like Idid that at points.
Move out of the wayno-transcript.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Yeah, yeah, and I went to that too and I thought
that I was the only one thatcould do certain things within
the organization was a nonprofitand I was not delegating and I
Went through burnout, was very,very ill and it took me a long
time to get back into the officeand then realize, you know,
(06:43):
sometimes God puts you down andteaches you lessons and and it
was a revelation aboutdelegation and the importance of
Delegating and allowing otherpeople, regardless of how it
gets done, let them step up andin, and it's saying that I trust
this person to get it done andif they need me, if they need
(07:05):
you know, I will come along withthem and help them, but it's
really important for thatdelegation to be happening All
right.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
I think that most people would like that, and I
used to say I wish I could clonemyself.
Who would say that?
I don't know, it doesn't even athought on another human beings
, but I really thought I wish Ihad a team full of myself.
Well, you actually can do that.
You can train people.
You can duplicate right you canduplicate yourself exactly.
(07:37):
And so the culture ofempowerment.
We teach a lot, a lot at GrowChurch.
It's to see the potential andcultivate it.
We identify it, and, and thatrequires that we see things
God's way.
It's not like something that weare taught to.
Let's say, in the worldEverything is, it's very
self-centered, and there arejobs that do it well, but there
(07:58):
are jobs that don't.
And there are places that do itwell, but there are places that
that obviously stay away fromthat because of the
competitiveness and thecompetition, I would say and.
And so I think and it was a GLSthat I learned the word get mo,
or the acronym get mo yes, goodenough to move on.
Wow, that that waslife-changing.
(08:20):
You know that, a project that Iremember that it took me 60, 60
hours one week.
The next week I did a similarproject and it took me four
hours.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
So drastic time we waste?
Yes, no, it's like, oh, it'sgot to be part, you know, back
to that perfection, it's got tobe perfect, it's got.
No, it does that it does notgood enough to move on.
Yeah, and so for thoselisteners next.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Right for those listeners that are it's like hey
, what, what do you mean?
Good enough to move on?
It's not.
So is Rather than having aperfection at like as the goal?
A perfection is not really, andshould never be the goal.
The goal should be likeexcellence we're doing because
we have a heart behind whatwe're doing, but we're never
gonna get it to that place.
(09:09):
We're always gonna findsomething.
It's like cleaning a car withour moral.
It just goes on and on and youstart seeing every little detail
and you get so annoyed at theend they like forget it.
I should have just taken thissomewhere else, because you know
we're seeing all theimperfections in the car, all
the Parts that need to be shined.
It's ongoing, and so we don'twant to you, we don't want to
(09:31):
lead ourselves into a place thatwe're gonna waste our time when
, in reality, no one's reallynoticing those little details.
It's a waste of time.
So good enough.
To move on is just like can youget it to a place?
Whereas good enough, what canyou do?
So let's say, like an 80% iswhat actually?
Craig Rochelle is the one thatdid this amazing teaching and he
(09:53):
said take it to the 80%.
Once you get it to the 80%,then what can you do with that
extra 20 that would have takenyou to take it to the 100?
And so, once you get it to that, to that 80%, do something else
with that 20, because inreality You're not adding more
value to that project or towhatever you're doing, just by
adding that extra 20%.
And so he takes it like okay,once you get it down to that
(10:17):
point, to that 80%, the extratime that you have you could use
it and then do somethingImportant with it.
It's almost like what are youcompromising?
Are you compromising your time?
Are you compromising yourfamily?
Are you compromising exercisingyour peace of mind, other jobs
that you could be doing, and so,you know, I just loved when I
(10:38):
heard that and I said, okay,that's amazing.
But then he takes it a littlefurther and he says, okay, once
you get it to the 80% and andyou're a rock star at that you
kind of like got it down to thepoint.
He's like now how can we bendthe curve on that, meaning
you're doing the same thing atan 80%, but because you got kind
of like the flow of it, I wouldsay just a pattern of doing
(11:00):
things right, then you couldactually do it in a faster time,
and that is what it really.
That's what quality means.
You're not adding more time,more money to the project.
You're actually doing it to apercentage which is good enough
to move on.
It's with excellence, butyou're not wasting your time,
you're not wasting yourresources, and we're so easy to
(11:22):
do that.
Oh, it needs a little bit moreof this a little bit more money,
a little bit more time and inreality, that's not a good
return in our investments and,as leaders, we need time.
Yes, we do.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Yeah, and when I think about that whole
excellence versus Perfection,when we think about perfection,
we're really leading out of fear, right, for that it's not gonna
be good enough, or we're notgonna be good enough, or
whatever.
It is Right, instead of risinginto excellence.
God never created us to beperfect, you know, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Right.
We are on our path toperfection will be perfected,
the Bible says, into the day ofJesus Christ.
Yeah, meaning that there is aprocess and his goal is that we
are dependent of him, notindependent of him, and
Therefore we are gonna need him.
We are the ones that are needto be clinging on to even
(12:19):
Solidify our identity day by day, just to to know that that you
know he is our all.
We don't have to take on theburden of Of all the pressure
that this, even a leadershipposition, has and that's part of
burnout, like the pressure of Igotta do all of this, I gotta
take care of this, the worriesthat I didn't answer all the
(12:40):
emails.
And then, in the middle of thenight, you're like some you know
some of them that haveexperienced anxiety, panic
attacks, different things thatyou just can't control your
environment, so they lead youthere and it's just Beautiful to
be freed from that.
That's right.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Who doesn't want to live free?
Right?
Some people just don't knowthey don't know, and that's the
thing.
They just don't know.
And they wake up day after dayafter day and they think that
they need to live that way andthey really don't.
But it's a decision and it's.
It's about learning, it's ajourney.
(13:19):
Yes, people for sure.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
For sure, I gotta enjoy that journey.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
No it.
Well, let's talk a little bitabout I know the growth.
Grow has two campuses Right.
I'd love to talk a little bitabout the culture and how you
help people kind of embed in theculture the people that you,
you lead, kind of what thatlooks like.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Well, we have an amazing culture.
I think that we've solidifiedit even more as we were thinking
about opening another campusand what that looked like.
I think that Culture allows usto have a sense of understanding
that we are in and like, let'ssay, in unity, that we are
walking together, that we'regoing after the same things, and
you know you can't really leador walk together and you know
you can't really lead or walktogether Unless we have an
(14:16):
agreement good communication.
So culture is about that.
It's about establishingcommunication.
That's a common word that wethrow around Business
environments and also aroundchurch, but some people get
don't realize how importantculture is.
I believe that even whenselecting people, culture is,
should be a priority even ratherthan gifting, because someone
(14:40):
that really understands theculture and honors it and
respects it, that's, that's anamazing fit.
Now you're as strong as yourweakest link in reality.
So if you have strong peoplethat understand the culture, you
could, you could teach them,you could be that leader that
then empowers them to take, youknow, to go to that place.
But if you have great leadersbut then they don't even respect
(15:05):
the culture or they don't evenembrace it or they come against
it because they're now I have abetter way of doing things than
we're going to be clashing, andit's going to be a competition
or just you know, there's goingto be tension, I would say,
around whatever we're trying tolead, and we'll feel it.
We just sometimes won't evenknow what it is.
What's that tension?
(15:26):
And it's because somebody,someone's not embracing the
culture.
Now, culture, I would say, isdefined, even something like the
language that we use, ourbehaviors, the things that we
see but we like, and some thingsthat we see and then we don't
like.
Even knowing what we like andwhat we don't like is important
(15:48):
to celebrate the things that welike, that we want to replicate,
right.
But then there's the thingsthat we don't like and hey, we
shouldn't be doing that, that'snot us.
Well, that needs to be alsocalled out.
We call it a church wins andops, where we celebrate the wins
, what people do, and then wespeak about the ops because we
(16:08):
want to make sure that, hey,either we either don't do it
again, right, just plain as if,but don't do it again.
The other thing would be likeall right, that was good, but
there's, these things need to beadjusted and just bring in.
Okay, how can we make thatbetter?
So, working together, and itallows us to always continuously
(16:30):
stay teachable, and that's evenpart of our culture.
That's how we make sure thateverybody's kind of walking
speaking the same way, talkingthe same way, and that doesn't
mean robots, it just means thatwe function with an
understanding that our visionand our mission it's aligned.
It has a way so that we couldgo towards the mark together
(16:54):
rather than separate, and it'spowerful when it's done right.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
And you're obviously doing some things right for sure
, and when I think about when anorganization, whether it's a
ministry, a church or whatever,and they break off and they
start growing and havingdifferent locations, that could
be tricky at times, and so I'dlove to hear, maybe, about how
you found success.
(17:22):
I know it's through the culture, but how do you bring another
location into the mix?
Was it easy?
Was it difficult?
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Let's talk about that .
We know that nothing thatreally is worth fighting for
comes easy.
I would say one of the mostdifficult things that I have
done and yet one of the mostrewarding.
I think that this is used.
(17:52):
I think it's Juan Cortez thathe has.
He's coming to discover Americaand doing different, just
bringing people from Spain,basically just to discover the
lands.
Let's just say that because Iknow that some people don't like
those topics of conquering anddiscovering and because there
(18:12):
was people in those placesalready, obviously.
So here comes Juan Cortez.
I hope I'm saying the nameright.
But Juan Cortez does get tothis place in Mexico where he's
got a crew of people that are sotired, they're exhausted, and
these people they don't want togo into conquering this land.
And yet he's like, hey, we gothere, let's do this.
(18:36):
And he makes a call and thecall is to burn the ships.
I mean I would have probablypassed out if I'm in that crew.
And it's like how do we getback when you've gone through
storms and trials andtribulations?
And he's kind of like sayingthere's no going back.
He is calling the shots bysaying I'm going to burn the
(18:59):
ships.
What does that do?
Is.
It gives no option but to goforward, go forward with the
plan.
I think that I've done thatplenty of times.
I don't know if it's liked bypeople, but sometimes I just
step away and that's because I'mtrusting that God is going to
do something after I have led,after I have done my job.
(19:20):
To empower someone.
Jesus did it with three steps.
He did with hey.
People started following him.
He's like, ok, follow me andyou watch what I'm doing.
And he's like, ok, I'm doingthis Kind of like, just watch.
There's no, it's kind of like ashadow.
We call it a shadow Just watch.
(19:41):
And again he's like I'm goingto actually watch, you do it.
And so now we got the disciplesthat followed him and watched
them.
Now he's like, hey, go feed thepeople while he's there.
It's like nobody wascomplaining that Jesus wasn't
doing anything.
They saw him do enough.
(20:02):
So, as a leader, we do our partto make sure that we are leading
well.
So then, when the time comesfor us to step out, I know
there's going to be a few thatare not going to like it.
There's always going to be afew that are going to come
against that.
But whoever gets it will lovethe empowerment that they're
getting, because it's for thebenefit of the entire team that
(20:24):
the leader at one point stepsout and allows somebody to do it
.
You do that well, by the way,kelly.
Dr Kelly, you do amazing.
I've seen you say even hey,would you take ownership of that
or would you step into that?
And it's like so good.
I'm like, yes, he empowerspeople quickly.
Love it.
Love it, because if not, thenit's all on us.
(20:46):
It's learned, yes, and so thenJesus then does something that
many people don't know how to do, and that's his third step.
He steps out, completely out ofthe picture, because he already
trusts that what he has shown,what he has also taught in the
second step and directed ifthere was any mistake, he's not
(21:10):
leaving them alone in the secondstep.
But now he's like OK, you'regood, but that's also giving
them permission to fail.
Yeah, like he knew they weregoing to fail.
He knew we were going to fail,right, absolutely.
So that's actually empowermentand that has been the best thing
that I have done.
And sometimes that empowermentof releasing it all requires to
(21:32):
burn the ship and just sometimesnot show up Like we think that
it's not going to happen becausewe're not there Sometimes.
I made the call, even bringing aleader along to a group or
something that I'm leading ateam or a group, depending.
We have groups that we gathertogether and we do studies and I
always try to bring someonealong from the beginning that
(21:52):
I'm actually teaching how tolead a group, teaching the
culture, teaching how to leadand lead well, and I let them
know.
There's one day, maybe in thethird, fourth, fifth week, that
I might not show up.
I'll give you a very shortwindow and I'm going to prepare
you for that day and I want youto be prepared that at one point
(22:15):
or the other I won't be there.
And it's worked.
It's worked.
I never thought it was possible, but it's worked throughout the
year.
So I think that by knowing I'mtraining right, coaching right,
as I, you know, thinking aboutthe possibility of once my next
move to step out, and then, whenI step out, then I could see a
(22:38):
flourish and I just water itonce in a while, making sure
that it's still going, that I'mtaking care of them and that I'm
following up with whateverthey're doing so that they can
stay on track, and I'm alwaysavailable.
I'm going to be available.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
I love that story and the progression and how it's a
biblical principle of how youare leading people and that's
beautiful, and so it's alwaysamazing that the Bible is just
so full of wisdom for so manydifferent situations.
It's like, yeah, you just needto know where to go and how to
(23:14):
understand it.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Right, right, it allows us to, not in this case,
in the campus.
My pastors, I mean, they'reamazing leaders.
Pastor James and Pastor TracyBoyd they are.
They have led by example.
They love empowering others, andhe was the one that actually
told me about Get no, he's like.
He's like you're putting toomuch pressure on yourself and on
(23:38):
other people.
Don't disqualify other people.
And I realized I was like, wow,I'm disqualifying people
because I was disqualifyingmyself, you know.
So the fact that he, like,brought me into that culture of
empowerment by saying this iswhat it looks like, this is what
(23:59):
you need to do, these are yournext steps, which is part of our
culture as well to give nextsteps, never allowing for
someone to stay stagnant.
If not, we're not going to be agrowing church and we're not.
Like Jesus said, go and preachthe gospel into the world is the
great commandment, right.
And so for that to happen, weneed to empower others.
(24:24):
Allow people to do what it isthat we have called them, god
has called them to do, but allowthem to do what we've taught
them, because sometimes we teachbut we don't release.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Yes, oh, and I think more people need to understand
that the whole release part ofit for sure, and understand when
to do that.
And somebody may not just youknow, like you mentioned in your
story, something may not alwaysbe ready, but if you don't give
them the opportunity to rise upand in, how are you going to
(24:58):
know?
Right, and how are they goingto know?
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Right, and how is God going to step in and do
something in their lives?
The way that he did it in oursyes, Like we're not, like you
know number one, or like in thefavorites of you know of God's
list, is like he loves us allunconditionally and he's got a
plan for all of us.
And so now I get it.
I'm like, oh, you want to useme so that I could see the plans
(25:26):
that you have for other people,but that requires a dying to
self.
That is very difficult.
That means that selfish desiresthat we have, we got to lay
them down and see the biggerpicture.
And I've let dreams go morethan I wish I did at points.
But in the end the result is sogratifying because we have a
(25:50):
good God and then it builds usso much as people that if that
wouldn't have happened, I justwonder where would I be or how
would I have limited God to workin other people.
I'm sure he would have foundsomeone else, but the fact that
he saw me to be part of thatplan, that's incredible and you
know it's an honor.
(26:10):
We have to understand that itis an honor.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
You know.
That reminds me.
I think it's also important forpeople to understand that just
because you let go of a dream, Imean it may be yours, but if it
is part of God's plan for yourlife, he will find a way to
bring that back around, becauseI've seen that firsthand with me
.
And so he is a good God.
(26:35):
And if it is, if it's for him,if it's really a desire of your
heart and it's of God's heart,then there will be a way.
And it may not be today,tomorrow, next year, maybe 10
years from now, but he does havea way of making good on his
promises to us, right?
Speaker 2 (26:54):
That is.
That's such a good point,because I don't want to pick or
kind of like point.
I got as in he's a dream killerright.
Because I want to make surethat there are dreams that I
needed to give up on.
They were disaster streams,they would have led me to this,
to this lifestyle of basicallyof the world, of being able, you
(27:15):
know, of our culture, of justlooking at what can I gain out
of this situation, you know, andI could go into that, but let's
just leave it there.
Everybody could use theirimagination to think about how
selfish we could be, but whenGod right invites us into this
story, into this vision, intothis dream and I often think I
(27:37):
don't know if you've seen thatmovie Inception- oh no, you were
telling me about the action I'mgoing to have to see we can get
it.
I did after Leon, leonardo deCaprio.
I say it very Spanish, butLeonardo de Caprio is actually
the main character in the movie,and there is.
(28:00):
It's just about getting intosome dreams.
But I'm not going to be a dream, you know.
I mean a movie spoiler here, soI'm just going to leave it at
that.
They go from a dream to anotherdream to a dream.
It's a great movie, but we arenormally like that in life we
have a dream within a biggerdream, and sometimes we think
(28:22):
that our dream is just biggerthan everybody's.
But in reality, if we're ableto listen to God's voice, he is
the dream giver.
He is the one that's givingeveryone dreams, but they're
under his dreams, yes, and it'samazing.
And we're like over herethinking that we're going to
make it happen without him.
No, he's the one that placed itin your heart, so he's going to
(28:45):
partner us as a church.
That's what I found at mychurch.
I found that my dream fitwithin the dream and I was able
to really come to terms of wow,these people have everything,
everything that I am looking for, rather than, oh, my dream is
(29:06):
different than their set apart.
It looks the same, but itdoesn't fit.
I, you know, I submitted and Isaid, lord, what if it looks, if
it sounds the same, what aboutit?
Once I submitted to that and Iwas able to see that God really
had a purpose in that, I startedleading second, like, let's say
like in the leading second role.
(29:27):
Very well, it's almost like Iunderstood that they were for me
and not against me, rather thanyou know, because that's what I
saw from other churches, I said, well, like, I'll do my own
thing while I'm going to thischurch, but they're really not
pouring into whatever God istrying to do through me.
They don't see it.
Yeah, my ministry is so bigover here and you know I don't
(29:50):
need anyone to interrupt it.
No, no lies, it was all lies ofthe enemy so that I wouldn't
have a beautiful covering.
People to do life with, family,people to that would keep me
accountable.
You know people that would say,hey, you know what you're doing
, that wrong, but also celebratewith me and say, hey, you're
(30:11):
doing that right and push me andsay, hey, you know, not like a
push, but you know, like, pushme to do things that I thought
do I have the knowledge, thewisdom to do this?
Of course you do.
They're like you know, and ifnot, we're going to teach you,
we're going to guide you there.
And the beautiful thing is thatthey're so transparent that
sometimes it was like, hey, wedon't know either, but we're
(30:33):
going to trust in God.
And sometimes I'm like is thata cop out?
But in reality, no, we're allleading from a place of the
unknown.
At points, we just have to leadwith confidence that we know
that we've led before or we'vedone something.
It's made a difference inpeople and we're just making
ourselves available so that thatcontinues.
If not, we'll be stopped byfear.
(30:54):
Men.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Yeah, and I also think that more people are
looking for organizations whoalign with their values.
You know where the values arealigning, so they can feel good
going to work and having thatexperience like you have,
Because I think that's important.
We don't want to be getting upand going to work somewhere
(31:17):
where it's just so far to theleft from what we believe in.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Right Right, that environment is so, it's so good.
I mean, I have friendships withpeople at work, but I also know
that there's a challengebetween having friendships and
also leading with people, sothat has to be really clear.
That's a whole other podcast,by the way.
Just leading with your friends,that's fair to be the bad guy,
(31:48):
right.
But you know, what really helpsis first of all the culture.
It really helps.
We could call each other out bythe culture, not by our own
preferences.
No, the culture is.
I just told someone in ameeting the other day and I said
hey, I just saw what you didand it's not our culture, that's
(32:11):
not honorable and call them out, but in a loving way.
Not my opinion as a friend, Iwould have let that go.
But we have to keep each otheraccountable and it is difficult.
But if not, we put at risk Notus as friendships.
(32:33):
At the end of the day, thefriendship is probably going to
still be there.
What are we putting at risk?
The vision, because now thevision is not moving forward
because we're over here having aspats about what they call it.
Right Spits back.
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
I've never used that You've never used that, but I
understand it.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
I should have repeated that.
So yeah, and it's very clear tous that vision and mission
aligns us to be able to make thehard decisions when it comes to
friendships in the work fieldor in leadership Right.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
I would love, before we close, for you to talk a
little bit about your nonprofit.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Oh nice, I want to hear about it.
This movie that just came out,called Sound of Freedom, has
really tugged the hearts ofAmerica.
There was one of the I wouldsay the statistics.
One of the statistics they saidwas that right now there's more
(33:48):
slaves than when it was legaland the majority of those are
children.
That's difficult to hear.
That's tough.
What I've been doing throughoutmost of my life has been working
with children.
I just had a heart for childrenbecause of things that I went
(34:13):
through in my childhood.
It was a very difficultexperience, from bullying to
being rejected, being even at ayoung age already suicidal as a
thought.
It was often there.
The enemy just really wanted tocome against me and those were
things that I was fighting.
Although I was raised in thechurch, you know, and my parents
(34:36):
being Christian parents andvery loving, there was no child
abuse in the home.
There was nothing that in thehome that would say that my life
would be that.
And yet it was because of theenvironment I was brought in and
because of the environment thatthey were fighting to get me
out of Some children.
(34:56):
They just end up in differentenvironments, because of poverty
, because of culture, because ofthe situation, broken homes, so
many scenarios, right Unbeliefand all of that.
And so I started working withchildren and, just really
knowing that it was my purpose,at eight years old, I ended up
(35:18):
getting a vision that I wouldkind of work out orphanages and
own one and lead one.
I was such a little kid to beable to start getting visions
about that.
I carried that dream throughoutand when I got to the country
of Guatemala for the first timeafter I had accepted Jesus in my
heart and made a commitment tolive for him, I literally asked.
(35:39):
The first thing I saw thechildren in the streets working,
being exploited, and I startedunderstanding a little bit more
beyond what the eye sees.
And I just couldn't.
I couldn't stop and think aboutmy day anymore.
My day was like what am I doing?
(35:59):
I'm so selfish.
I, you know, I got everythingaround me and it became about
how can I get back to Guatemalaand from?
I've been there ever since.
2003 was my first time.
I even moved there for sevenyears in a row.
I served about 14 years, andout of those 14 years then,
seven of them were full time,just dedicated, and I didn't
(36:23):
know anything about nonprofits.
I had no idea what that meantat the time I didn't know what I
was getting myself into.
I was just going after what Godtold me to do, which was to
help children, get them off thestreets, sponsor and promote
those organizations that didsupport them in whichever way.
And so I started my own,because I just it was starting
(36:46):
to become a little bit weirdthat people were just dropping
money and giving me money and Iwas like, okay, I need to do
something about it.
And so that's how that startedand again it just it came from a
product of just hearing whatGod was saying and just
following that, being obedientand not worrying about how scary
(37:06):
all of that felt, and goinginto orphanages.
I did feel that I was likerepresenting men I was the only
man in that place and sometimeseven Dr Kelly, honestly being
looked at by women like who areyou, what are you doing here?
Almost with, like I would say,being judged, a judgmental
(37:28):
approach and very unfortunateand, of course, well, that's
what society has labeled men as.
And I was just like I got tomake a difference, not just for
myself, not just for thechildren, but for the people
around me, bring some awareness.
And that's how my home projectkind of began from a you know,
from a heart, from pain, fromall the things that I did not
(37:51):
want to see but I wanted to seechanged.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
That's amazing, and so how can people find out more
about your nonprofit?
Where can they go for that?
Speaker 2 (38:04):
We have a website called myhomeprojectorg and
there we are now revampingcertain things from the country,
because the country has changedsome laws with children for
reasons of trying to implementmore of the foster system, and
so we're revamping our, even our, strategies.
(38:27):
We're, we have a land and we'rehoping that in the future, are
praying about guiding thattowards being a facility where
we can just help families incrisis, because, at the end of
the day, is the family unitthat's going to be able to help
children and bring a safe place,and also partnering with the,
(38:48):
with the actual country, becauseit's not my country, right,
it's the one that God has calledme to work with, but I can't go
in there and try to set my ownrules and my own ways.
I have to also be obedient to,you know, to the laws of the
country, but also then reallysee what yes, yes, very
important and what does God wantto do through this, and so
(39:10):
leading and listening, and sowe're we're right there, just
trying to partner with God withall those things.
But myhomeprojectorg is theplace to go and you'll be able
to see some of the things we'redoing.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
Thank you for sharing that.
It's important we're doing onboth ends with with grow, as
well as your ministry and yournonprofit, so I appreciate that.
Thank you, dr Cunning.
Oh well, you are welcome.
I want to thank you for comingon today.
It's been a pleasure to haveyou and learn about your
leadership and how you run teamsand about culture.
(39:43):
We talked about a lot ofdifferent things, which was
amazing, and I know thelisteners are going to have some
big takeaways from this,especially that Gapmo yes,
nothing else, gapmo For sure.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
For sure.
Thank you so much.
I just if I if I wanted to saysomething to the people out
there is give yourselfpermission to fail.
Just give yourself permissionto fail, because that's not
going to hold you back.
We are going to fail no matterwhat.
So if we come to terms withthat, then we'll just go full
(40:16):
force and and just really allowourselves to grow in the process
.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
That's right.
It's all about growth and it'sa journey.
It's a growth journey.
Yeah yeah, happen overnight,all right.
Well, I look forward toco-MCing with you and us next
month, so that's right.
So I will meet you there, butI'm sure we'll be talking in
(40:43):
between there and please comeback on to conversations.
I would love to have you as aguest.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
Thank you so much.
I'm honored and I can't waitfor GLS.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
I know it's going to be awesome.
All right, you take care youtoo.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Bye, thanks for making all that space out there.
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