5LQ Episode 470: Tim Challies

In this episode of the 5 Leadership Questions podcast, Todd Adkins and Ben Mandrell are joined by Tim Challies. Challies is a pastor, blogger, and book reviewer. He is also the author of Knowing and Enjoying God. They discuss learning how sorrow is a ministry and the decision to not pursue a large ministry. BEST QUOTES “God equips us for ministry in different ways and one of the ministries of the church is the ministry of sorrow.” “If we can understand the hand of providence in it – whether God does things or whether God permits things – somehow God is involved in all the circumstances of our lives.” “This is an assignment from God, I don’t need to get hung up on the why it happened. I can just say this is what did happen and now I am going to take it as a gift of His grace, an assignment from His hand.” “In the Christian world, there is intense pressure to grow.” “I really want to be encouraging to people, to be able to continue to bring truth that will shore people up to face another day in a difficult world and help them commit more and more to dutifully serving the Lord.” “Envy never does anybody any good, it primarily hurts the one who is envious, because it is a sin in which you are always comparing yourself to others. If you win the comparison you become prideful, if you lose the comparison you become despairing and you turn on God.” “Godliness doesn’t run in the family, but when you have three generations there is something that builds over time.” “We can become very full of ourselves and think far too highly of ourselves and lose that awareness of how sinful we are and what our family tolerates.” “As leaders, it is good to get a better assessment from time to time of our own leadership failures and then be willing to bear with our family as they put up with us.” “When you are at your best, prepare for your worst.” “Your most important leadership moments are probably going to come when you are in great difficulty.” RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network Challies.com Knowing and Enjoying God by Tim Challies This Episode’s Sponsor: Downline Ministries’ mission is to encourage a restoration of biblical discipleship in and through the local church by equipping men and women to know God’s Word and make disciples.  The primary way we partner with churches is through the Downline Institute, a 9 month biblical discipleship training program that walks students through the Bible (Genesis-Revelation), biblical manhood/womanhood, and key discipleship lessons. Listeners can receive $100 off tuition cost by using the code LIFEWAY when you apply at www.downlineministries.com.