5LQ Episode 458: John Mark Comer

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Chandler Vannoy are joined by John Mark Comer, pastor for teaching and vision at Bridgetown Church and author of Garden City and The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. They discuss the following questions: How is your church handling COVID restrictions? What will you take with you and what will you leave behind from this COVID experience? Who or what has been the greatest leadership influence in your life? What is your favorite leadership failure? What advice would you give to someone about leaning into the body of the church? What book would you gift yourself as a young leader and how would you read that book? BEST QUOTES “For us, live stream is a concession, not a conviction.” “A year of live stream, online church has deepened our conviction that the future of the church is embodied people around tables not cameras of people on stages.” “Pastoral work is bottomless, there is no end to it, so if you don’t self-select limits it will literally take you into the black hole because you are never done.” “The church is not a lump of clay that you as the pastor get to write your theory of church and your value system and your idealism on. It is a living breathing body and family and you have to honor their heritage.” “Learning to accept the reality of who the church was and who I was, was the greatest failure/my invitation.” “You can be a success as a pastor and a failure as a disciple of Jesus and even as a human being.” “A lot of people aren’t idealistic, but a lot of leaders are.” “It’s important to realize that no church is as close to as awesome as it looks on the outside.” “Recognize that idealism is dangerous and it can actually result in a kind of violence in leadership where you don’t honor people’s integrity.” “Leadership is a form of suffering in love.” RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Lifeway.com/CoronaVirus The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer Garden City by John Mark Comer The Emotionally Healthy Church by Pete Scazzero The Emotionally Healthy Leader by Pete Scazzero The Way of the Heart by Henri Nouwen