#168: Jenni Waldron You Were Never Meant to Lead Alone

This week on Pastors Unfiltered, Tony and Pastor Brandon sit down with Jenny Waldron from New Life Kitsap, where she serves as the church’s Multiplication Lead and Teaching Lead and is helping prepare the church to launch new campuses. Jenny shares her journey from graphic design and creative ministry into pastoral leadership, how she wrestled with feeling disqualified, and what it looked like to eventually say yes to the calling God had placed on her life. She also opens up about growing up as a pastor’s kid, becoming a female pastor, and the support her husband has given her throughout that journey. The conversation goes deep into healthy leadership, burnout, developing teams, vulnerability, weakness, and resilience. Jenny shares how watching her dad burn out in ministry shaped her conviction that ministry was never meant to be done alone, and why great leaders have to learn how to give things away and raise up other people. They also talk about the pressure pastors feel to prove themselves, the temptation to build influence, and why intimacy with Jesus and who we are becoming matters more than public success. And of course, it wouldn’t be Pastors Unfiltered without Mariners frustration, generational stereotypes, questionable childhood stories, fantasy books, ADHD, and plenty of chaos along the way. Timestamps 0:00 Welcome to Pastors Unfiltered0:31 Recording On Location0:59 Venture Staff Retreat Chaos1:41 Brandon and David’s Disagreement2:00 Working Through Conflict2:48 Seahawks Hard Knocks4:00 Brandon’s Failed Predictions5:31 The Mariners Need a Miracle6:35 Tony’s Seabrook Vacation7:16 Brandon’s Staff Retreat Moped Story8:33 Introducing Jenny Waldron9:12 Jenny’s Journey to New Life9:59 Dating as an Evangelism Strategy11:28 Jenny’s Role at New Life Kitsap12:02 A Vision to Launch Five New Campuses12:29 Church Job Titles Are Weird13:02 Jenny Has Done Almost Every Church Job14:10 From Graphic Designer to Leader15:06 When Someone Else Is Better Than You15:19 Jenny’s Call Into Pastoral Ministry16:00 “I’ve Called You to Bring Fresh Water With Your Words”16:37 Leadership Was Always in Her17:20 Feeling Disqualified18:02 Growing Up as a Baptist Pastor’s Kid18:29 Wrestling With Women in Ministry19:07 Saying Yes to the Call19:46 Her Husband’s Support20:21 Watching Her Dad Burn Out in Ministry21:07 “We Were Not Made to Do It by Ourselves”21:22 Why Jenny Develops Leaders22:21 The Old Model of Doing Everything Yourself23:09 Why So Many Pastors Burn Out23:30 Knowing What You’re Actually Good At24:11 Brandon’s Early Ministry Learning Curve25:03 Brandon Tries to Become a Worship Leader25:33 “Lay Down the Guitar”26:12 What’s the Guitar in Your Leadership?26:34 Giving Things Away to Better Leaders27:04 Vulnerability and Weakness in Ministry27:29 Jenny’s Shame, Grace & Resilience Class28:06 Facing Weakness to Become a Better Leader28:35 The Pressure to Be Everything29:09 Why Resilience Matters in Ministry29:51 Trying to Prove Yourself30:10 Learning to Lead a Quiet Life30:55 Jesus Cares About Who We Are in Him31:24 Calling vs. Intimacy With Jesus31:40 Staying Connected to People Outside the Church32:37 The Doors God Opens When You Slow Down33:00 Ministry, Marriage & Raising Kids34:04 What Jenny Would Change About Her Early Leadership34:42 Pastor Culture and “Show Off Time”36:02 Gen Z Pastors and Vulnerability37:17 The Millennial Debate37:49 Jenny’s Montana Story38:25 Cow Tipping and Questionable Childhood Decisions39:17 The Three Questions39:39 What Jenny Is Reading40:31 ADHD and “Now It All Makes Sense”41:14 Body Doubling41:53 The ADHD Tax42:24 What Jenny Is Watching42:42 More Mariners Frustration43:29 Ted Lasso44:05 What Jenny Does for Fun44:24 15 Years of Mariners Season Tickets44:59 The Dream MLB Stadium Road Trip46:06 Baseball, Books & the Good Life46:23 Closing Thoughts46:36 Wrap Up46:59 Jesus Is the Hope of the World47:30 Raiders Roll