Transformation Through Transitions

In this episode Pastor Ralph Johnson discusses lessons of leadership and personal growth that the Lord has taught him through an early career in the Navy and his transition into the ministry. From insight on organizational structures, to discipleship, to personal growth and transformation, Pastor Ralph dives into wisdom that will strengthen any lay leader, minister, or man or woman in the military or work force. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

Transition can be troubling, but transition can also be transformational. Every time you transition, there's this stripping away and there's an embracing of the new.

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Welcome to the Rise Leader Podcast, where we're equipping and inspiring the Crossford leader. Whether you're a dream team volunteer, a seminary resident, or a staff member at Crossford, this podcast is designed to help you grow spiritually, lead with confidence, and make a Christ-centered impact in every area of your life. Each episode aims to guide you to rise in your calling and empower those around you. And now, here's today's episode.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

What is up, Crosschurch Family and Rise listening audience? We are so pumped that you're joining us today for this episode. I'm Phil McMichael. I'm one of our pastors here at CrossChurch. And today I'm joined by my co-host. He is one of the two most prolific former college wide receivers on our staff here at Crosstchurch. He is our teaching pastor, Mark Hutchinson. What is up, Pastor Mark?

SPEAKER_02 1:03

High compliment. Let me just tell you, that was the best intro I've ever received, and 99% untrue. But I'm grateful for it, Phil. You can be my hype man, and I'll take you around with me any day.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Listen, that's great, man. I'll I'll throw balls to you on any flag football field in Milka. You and our man Rafe down at the fake. Rafe Vinson, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:23

He's got me beat any day. But man, I'm honored to be on this podcast with you, Phil. I think today's gonna be a great day as we're talking about leadership shaped by discipline, humility, and service, and how those lessons learned in the military and the man of Ralph Johnson translated to transformational leadership principles in the local church. So today we have our guest, the one and only Pastor Ralph Johnson with us today, and we're so honored to have him. Pastor Ralph, uh he's actually retired from the Navy as a senior chief after 23 years of service. And for the last 15 years, Ralph has served as a pastor at Grace Family Church in various roles. And Grace is actually one of the fastest growing churches in the nation. Grace has eight locations. Eight locations. Eight locations all across Tampa Bay. I actually got the privilege of serving for five years underneath Pastor Ralph's leadership. And uh not only is he a veteran, not only is he a pastor, he's an incredible leader and a coach and a spiritual father to me. So, Ralph, we're grateful to have you.

SPEAKER_04 2:18

Oh, so excited to be here with the what is one of two prolific wide receivers. That's right. I'm honored to sit here and be on the podcast. No, thank you so much. It's been such a welcoming environment. I'm grateful to be here. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Love it. Pastor Ralph, we're gonna dive into leadership in just a few moments. But we love to start this show with a hot seat question. And because you're ready, um, you are Pastor Mark's former mentor, maybe current mentor as well. You're pouring into him, you've known him for over a decade. Um, I want to know this. Do you have any stories that you could tell us from the early days of you, your and Mark's relationship? Anything that comes to mind when you think back to your early encounters with Pastor Mark?

SPEAKER_04 3:03

No, man, Pastor Mark was young Mark. Young Mark, young Mark Hutcheson, one of the top receivers in the county, athlete being recruited. And um, I remember recruiting him to come and serve down at the Dream Center of Tampa. That was my current assignment at that time. And um, I knew that athletes and high schoolers in general needed community service hours.

SPEAKER_03 3:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:31

So I'm like, I, you know, I had something they need, and and they they had what I needed, which was some young uh mentors who can help these kids and so on and so forth. So one Saturday, uh one time during the summer, Mark shows up with a carload of guys, okay, and um they sign in and we get their name tags, we put them on, and I gave them assignments, right? And so Mark was a little distracted. I don't know if he had a little ADHD or probably what was going on there, but man, he had an eye for the young ladies that were serving alongside them. Now, this is pre-Michelle. There's no Michelle here. We're sorry, Michelle.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Send this episode to Michelle if you know Michelle.

SPEAKER_04 4:14

But I'm like, hey man, I need you to focus on these kids and lead this group. But man, you know, once we got him focused on what he was there to do, uh, it was great. Now it's been an honor to walk with Mark. Uh, when I see that word mentoring, yeah, uh, I break that word down that you know, you're walking along with someone, but you're touring with them. You're showing them something. It's great. And uh, Mark's an easy one, man. I I've had the opportunity to mentor many young men, but Mark is one of the best because he's always leaning in and asking for directions, he's asking for understanding, he's asking for clarity, he's asking to be corrected on the path that he's on. And so it makes it really easy. And I'm grateful to be in his life. And he's taught me a lot. You know, he's taught me a lot, he showed me a lot of things. And so uh I consider him a son. I have two sons and a daughter, but I have three sons, right? Mark Mark's the other one, and um yeah, Tracy and I are grateful for him in our lives. He's not only a friend, brother in Christ, but he's a son, and I enjoy hanging out with him at Walker War.

SPEAKER_02 5:17

Well, that's a high compliment, man. You mean the world to me, you mean the world to my wife and our kids as well. So we love you. We're grateful for you. Amen. Um, so Ralph, as we jump in today, let's talk about seasons of transition. Now, you're a man that's walked through or have walked through many seasons of transition. Let's talk about maybe some of the life lessons that you learned in a season of transition prior to the military, and then from the military into ministry. What were some of those great life lessons that you kind of learned and marked your life and leadership and even your marriage and maybe even how you parent and raise your kids?

SPEAKER_04 5:45

You know, there's a there's a scripture. I mean, just going back to uh leaving high school, leaving Savannah, Georgia. At that time, we had one of the highest rates of homicide in the nation. Wow. Yeah, it was during uh the crack epidemic. And I was like, you know, and I was a street guy. I mean, like, I hung out, but I was just like, man, God, there has to be more. I grew up in church, didn't know Christ, right? But I'm like, if I stay on this path, something bad's gonna happen. And so I think about Abraham, man, go to a land that I'll show you. And so I was recruited uh as I shared our my recruiter lied to me, right? He told me I was going to a party, you know. But uh that drill sergeant got in my face when I got to San Diego, and I realized I was not going to a party, but that my life was gonna be flipped upside down uh for the next eight weeks. And so uh one of those things were I and when I was growing up, I knew I wanted more. There was an army commercial, and I don't know if you guys remember it. It says we do more before 9 a.m. Yeah than most people do all day. Wow, and man, that spoke to me because I think in men, in general, there's something about doing and getting things done that just kind of speaks to us, right? We're men of action, and it called me up. So I left all that I knew, went to San Diego, came back, married my wife. That was one transition, and uh, we went to the USSL rod in Charleston, South Carolina. Um, and and then I started to discover these transitions. I went to Puerto Rico, and my life was transformed in that transition because many times transitions can be troubling, like there's that unknown, right? And um, my father passed away uh as I went to Puerto Rico and I found myself in a deep depression. Um, I found myself uh really, you know, drinking on my breaks and doing things that I knew from a character standpoint wasn't cool, right? But I didn't know Jesus. But and my one of my best friends back home invited me to church while I was on leave. And that night on a Wednesday night, I surrendered my life and gave my life to Christ. Wow, and everything changed, right? But that was another transition. I had to leave the world. Wow, I had to strip some things off, right? That was difficult, and it wasn't just about being better, it was just about knowing Jesus and and and embracing holiness and character and understanding of who he wanted me to be. And that was a long process, right? But during that process, talking about transition, I'm still in the military. I get to Tampa, Florida, right? And there's a man by the name of Jeff Williams. He's at the chapel at McDill Airfrost Base, he's a military guy, and he starts to mentor me and he starts to point things out in me, and he starts to call things out in me. And I believe that in transition, transition can be troubling, but transition can also be transformational. Yeah, that's great. It can be transformational because every time you transition, there's this stripping away and there's an embracing of the new. That's really good. And what Jeff uh spoke into my life was hey man, there's a calling on your life. Uh God wants to do something very special in you, but I didn't know what to do. With I'm in the military, right? But man, I feel in this call to ministry. And I'm like, well, I I had one thing, I can't do both, right? At least in my mind, I couldn't do both. But what ended up happening was I I transitioned out of the military. And I tell a lot of people this, it's funny. Uh, when you're in the military, people promise you jobs. And I had one job when I got out, and uh, it was the job that I had found, you know, and so it was a tough transition. I got three kids, I got a wife, and uh transitioned to that job, and I left the military and went into reserves. And for a few years, I was a network engineer, but that that mission and calling never left me. And so I got when 9-11 happened, I got called up, another transition, into the military on active duty as a reservist. That makes sense.

SPEAKER_03 9:45

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 9:45

So there I was serving, and I ended up retiring. I was I did seven years of active duty at McDailFrows base, just going from one command to the other one, ended up at joint communications support element, uh, which is a communications command. But in that transition, I still felt the calling. Yeah, all those years, right? God's like saying something to me, and he's he's calling me for more. And I found myself, and and this is the last transition. Um, I'm serving at Grace Family Church. I'm, you know, I'm serving in the parking lot, I'm doing different things. And um, you know, they have a uh leadership program at that time. They had never, they were not licensing and ordaining ministers. That wasn't something they would do. And um I asked about being licensed and ordained. And a program was started with four of us, and I'll spare you the details of that. But what ended up happening was I was offered a role to come on staff. And when I was offered that role, it was one of the hardest decisions I've ever made in my life. Because everything that I knew, I knew the military, I could do the Navy up man all day long. I knew what to wear, I knew how to show up, I knew what to say, I knew all the slogans. There was nothing that I learned. I mean, like for years I had done it, but all of a sudden, it's like this church wants me to work there. And for about a year, man, I I I held on to some things back here, and I was also being pushed forward into what God had for me in ministry. And I was sitting on my back porch, I never I never forget it, and I'm reading the story about Jesus walking on the water, and and Peter saying, Hey, if that's you, tell me to come to you.

SPEAKER_01 11:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:27

And I'm reading the story, and Peter gets out, and we know the story, he gets out, he walks on water, but when the winds and the waves come, he starts to sing. Jesus reached out his hand and grabs him. And in that moment, through that story, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, If you keep your eyes on me, you will not drown.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

Yeah, that's great.

SPEAKER_04 11:45

This next transition will not overwhelm you.

SPEAKER_02 11:48

That's great. That's a good word.

SPEAKER_04 11:49

And I held on to that. And and from that day forward, it's been, you know, it there was times where I look back, it's like, man, what am I doing? But also there's it, it's been more on the front end that's been greater than me looking back saying, Why did I make that decision? So transition can be troubling, but it also could be transforming.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Yeah, as I listen to that, I hear a few elements because I know a lot of our listeners and a lot of our people at our church ask us, you know, frequently, how do I know it's the voice of God talking to me? How do I know that he's calling me? What I hear from you that I think are important, number one, sounds like there was some element of feeling and emotions that you knew there was something more, but there were other elements. One was Jeff was investing in you. Yeah, yeah. Um, and so you had a mentor that was speaking wisdom into you. You had wise counsel. Um, another was you were in church regularly. Um, and so you were able to sit under the teaching of pastors where you were you were hearing from the word. But I think the other one was um you were in the word uh on your own, in your own private, private personal life. You're on the in the word, and God was speaking to you even even to that point where He where it was the passage about Peter. Um, and I think for me, you know, the the time I know God can move however he wants to with anyone, but I I get the most confirmation about next steps he wants me to take when I am in the word daily. Um, and for our people, our men and women who are listening today, uh many of you, I I just believe God's calling you to something new. And my biggest encouragement is let's follow this model that Pastor Ralph is explaining that he walks through. Let's just make sure we're we have people pouring into us. Let's make sure we're in church so we can send under the teaching uh uh of God's word. But even as important, let's make sure we're really setting a time aside time daily where we can hear from the Lord through his word.

SPEAKER_02 13:47

That's great. Yeah, I do really think the word of God's central to your story. But as you shared, I do want to back up, like thinking about Ralph in Puerto Rico and God sending a Jeff into your life. Yeah. And I just think the assignment for each and every one of us that are ministry leaders, aspire to be pastors, or just faithful lay people in the churches, we need to be the Jeff. Like we need to have eyes to see the Ralphs of the world, the people that are maybe like in an emotional decline, an emotional transition. They don't appear on the surface to have it all figured out, but understand oftentimes that's a fertile ground for a move of God. And that's where the Lord met you. And I think that we as pastors, leaders, lay people, let's have eyes to see the Ralphs, the people that find themselves in a place of transition, emotional decline, and believe in faith that that's good ground for a move of God.

SPEAKER_04 14:34

And you know what? As you as you say that, I think also never always invite. Like I look back at my best friend Lee back home. He he didn't give up the invite. His life was being changed, and he was like, Man, I got something I need to share with my friend. I'm not pressuring him, but every time I get an opportunity, I'm gonna ask him to join me. Yeah, and it was in that environment where I bowed my knees to Jesus. You know what I'm saying? And so um also let's add one more thing before we move on. Yeah, a praying wife.

SPEAKER_02 15:03

Yeah, amen to that.

SPEAKER_04 15:04

So Tracy was my mirror. She was like, Hey, Ralph, I see this in you as well. Like she was she was a part of the guy who used her voice as confirming, hey, this is this is the transition. So yeah, trusting that.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

That's so good. Pastor Ralph, I can already tell this is one of those episodes where we're gonna be like, man, we we wish we had an hour and a half. That's right. Yeah, um, but I want to move on to a next segment, and it's on leadership structures and culture. Um, because military units have clear chains of command and standard operating procedures. Um, often churches are messier. We we don't have it together the way the military does. Um, how do you balance, now that you're a pastor and you've been doing this for a while, how do you balance necessary structure with the understanding that ministry is messy?

SPEAKER_04 15:53

And you're forgiving. Yeah, that's good. You're forgiving and extending grace along the way, right? So I I also often say this about the Navy's 400,000 sailors and Marines. Wow. I I never I mean, I was always informed about a mission. I always understood what the mystery was. I always it the communication lines were clear, right? Nothing took us by surprise, but you get into church, you're like you're you're you're at an event or you're at a service, and you're like, wait a minute, should I have known that they were gonna change that song? Wait a minute, should I have known that the serve the sermon was gonna do this or there was gonna be this aspect to a service? Yeah and so it it's really the communication, you know, challenging the most important one is communication and leadership. It's like, you know, who needs to know about this decision we just made and leadership within the church, pausing long enough. And that was one of the things that I learned when I I used to think that if I got on the lead team at our church, I was like, man, we're we're gonna make this thing, this thing's gonna be so special. But then I got on there and I realized that we're all flawed, right? We're not perfect. And so one of the things that I brought was, hey, let's make sure that we're communicating. And the other part of church life is interesting to me, are dotted lines.

SPEAKER_02 17:14

That's true.

SPEAKER_04 17:14

It's like I report directly to Mark, but I got a dotted line to fill. Yeah. Right. You know, like, all right, so what does that really mean? Like who should I who should I communicate with about what I'm going through? And I think, you know, so I go back to grace, I go back to forgiveness, I go back to um maybe they're not a lot of standard operating procedures, but we can create them.

SPEAKER_02 17:36

Yeah, that's great.

unknown 17:37

Right?

SPEAKER_04 17:38

It's one of the things our churches are going through right now. We're just creating procedures. Yeah. You know, there's templates, there's procedures, and we're trying our best to bring all of this data and information into one repository so people can go and read it and say, Oh, this is what I'm supposed to do next. That's a good word.

SPEAKER_02 17:55

Yeah. I think oftentimes we despise the messiness, but to your point, those are great growth opportunities. Right. I think oftentimes the Lord wants to use those messy moments as catalysts for growth, not only in the church, but also in our own leadership. Uh I think about this verse in Proverbs 14:4. It says, uh, where there are no oxen, the manger is empty. Yeah. But where there are an abundance of ox, there is a harvest. Yeah. Yeah. And what the Bible is showing us, it's giving us this picture of an empty manger not having any mess. So if there are no oxen, there is no mess to manage. But if there are or is a manger full of ox, there's a mess, but that leads to a harvest. And that stool, you know, to make it messy uh in the manger, uh, that's what leads to the abundance. And I think oftentimes as ministry leaders, we need to see the messy moments of ministry as an opportunity for growth, whether that's with processes or whether that's in our own leadership. Maybe the the assignment for you, if you're walking through mess right now, be the person that brings about the change. Be the person that implements the SOP or the new process or uh ups the bar in communication in the organization. So I think messes are opportunities for momentum. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

And uh we see better in our own church. Yeah, for sure. And we're working through that. We're Mark, you've you've you've helped us begin to build some of those plans here. Yeah. Um often the messiness also comes in discipleship and it comes in developing leaders. Right. Um, Pastor Ralph, do you have an apprenticeship method that you use? How do you walk through the messiness of leader development?

SPEAKER_04 19:28

Leader development, recruiting and developing leaders. I think that the first thing, um, my process is I'm always looking out and scanning. Right. I'm always looking for, and I shared this with the team, uh, those who are showing up. Who desires more? Like who's hungry for more? Who's asking that question? Hey, where do you need me? You know, where can I sign up? What can I do? Right. And so bringing those people in. So we we're recruiting them, and we also are looking at what needs do we have? Like what gaps in ministry am I trying to fill? Uh, I want to be very strategic about those that I'm recruiting, and there should always be a pipeline. So you're recruiting, you're talking to them, you're seeing more in them. Maybe they're doing a spiritual gifts test, maybe they're doing some kind of personality traits, something, yeah, and you're showing them their identity. Yeah, that's great. Right. And that takes me to Jeremiah 1.5, right? What did God say to Jeremiah? I knew you before you were in your mother's womb, before you were born. I, you know, you I'm calling you towards something. There's an appointment in your life. And I believe personally, as we're recruiting folks, we need to help them understand that we're setting them up to walk in what God has seen in them eternally before they were even born.

SPEAKER_02 20:47

It's a very good word.

SPEAKER_04 20:48

And that's what we call purpose, yeah, right? So it's recruiting and now development. Like and painting the picture of where we're going. So if you have a discipleship track at your church, if you have, you know, this at our church is, you know, it's following Jesus, it's, you know, foundations, it's all these freedom, it's financial freedom. As we walk through this together, let's just talk about how this is affecting your life and where we're going. Yeah. Right. Because many times the destination is not even within your ministry.

SPEAKER_02 21:17

Yeah. Yeah, that's good.

SPEAKER_04 21:19

It's not even within the context of your church. We want to build kingdom leaders, yeah. Right. That can be sent out to where God desires for them to be. So my methodology is simple. I'm recruiting, I'm developing, and I'm sending. That's good. At our Windsor Night Bible study, we say it this way I want you to know, I want you to grow, I want you to go. Yeah. Yeah. Know, grow, go. That's great. So we're we're always sending and we're launching.

SPEAKER_02 21:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:43

One of the things that I think of first when I think about leadership development within the military is um the intentionality that exists to develop leaders who are resilient in life. Death moments in the most stressful situations. Can you talk a little bit about uh your experience with that? How were you developed uh specifically within the military? Um, for how do they help you to grow in your resilience? And then after you've talked about that for a minute, I want to come back and ask you to help us to apply that outside of the military.

SPEAKER_04 22:24

Okay, so resilience, I mean, we're in an uh uh age or a time where we're really paying attention to mental health. Right. Right? Mental health is a really big deal. Um, not so much in the military, right? At the time when I was in the military. And so it was important, one of the people that uh Captain Trinidad is his name, uh, we found ourselves in the steer environments, and we would call it uh in the high stress environment, we we was like, and and this is this is probably not good for the podcast. So I won't say what we would call it, but we would call it our third day.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

Okay, right?

SPEAKER_04 23:03

So we would be able to see, I mean, we were in Haiti, and you know, as I shared with you, after the earthquake, 300,000 people were died in Haiti. It was very tough, hard environment. And we would look out for each other and we would say, Hey man, today I'm just having a hard day. I'm on my third day. And I need some rest. And we would have each other's back and we would send each other off and say, man, go get you some rest because you're not balancing this well, you're not doing this well, right? Go get a shower. Like, go like the little things, like it go grab a pizza. Like we would take our team and go grab pizzas at Domino's in Haiti.

SPEAKER_02 23:42

Can't go wrong with that.

SPEAKER_04 23:43

Yeah, but but you know what? If you hadn't had a pizza in three months, right? If you hadn't had a good shower in two weeks, then those things start to mean a lot to you in those environments. So as you develop resilience, you got to take care of your team's mental health. You have to be aware of what they're walking through and see if you can provide that. Also, resilience. It was the ability. I'm I remember my wife, she stepped into this so well because I didn't understand what women were walking through. Right? So once a month, women are reminded that they're women, right? And I'm like, okay, how can I help these ladies who are soldiers and marines and airmen, you know, have some sense of comfort? Yeah, have some sense of cleanliness in this austere environment. And my wife would send them things. Wow. She would send care packages to make sure that they were taken care of. So I think resilience is developed when we care for our people. Yeah. Because we help them become resilient and go through the things that they're walking through.

SPEAKER_01 24:48

Can you talk, talk to our listeners uh about self-leadership? How can so as we lead others, we need to know our people, we need to be in their lives, we need to be aware. Um, and leading ourselves, uh, what are some things we can do to to grow personally in that in those areas in regards to our own resilience?

SPEAKER_04 25:08

Well, I mean, I think the biggest thing is we talked about the scriptures earlier. Yeah. I think the Bible is the mirror, right? As I as I read the scriptures many times, I find myself there, right? In the stories or in the narrative or or what God is saying in someone else's life. And being honest with myself, like I recently learned that when I'm weak, he's actually strong.

SPEAKER_02 25:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:31

Now we say that that's tongue in cheek in in the in the Christian from Christian worldview. Yeah. But most of us are still trying to be strong.

SPEAKER_02 25:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:39

Like we're still trying to show up and be Superman, right? We're still trying to show. But what I've learned recently is like, you know what? I don't have to have it all together to show up.

SPEAKER_02 25:49

That's great.

SPEAKER_04 25:50

You know what I mean? Like I don't have to, it doesn't have to be perfect for me to show up because I have the Holy Spirit living in me. And so that gives me confidence in those moments when I have to be resilient. Yeah. You know, it gives me confidence in those moments when times are tough, and I'm like, God, I can look at them and say, God, I don't have it today.

SPEAKER_02 26:07

Yeah. So good.

SPEAKER_04 26:08

I'm struggling.

SPEAKER_01 26:09

Can I ask one more question on that? Um, in regards to, I know when you were in Haiti or you're in the field, you're away from your family, it's a different situation. But when you're at home and you're going through that, and you you know that at 6 30 you're you're pulling up to the driveway, and there's there's a wife or there's a husband or their kids that they they don't care what you just went through. They just know they need you. Yeah. How do you step out of your car into that house having been through deep stressful moments during your day?

SPEAKER_04 26:50

It's a great question. And I haven't always done that well. I will be honest with you, I haven't always done that well. Um, I think it's important for us to have camaraderie in the struggle. Uh for me, there have been men in my life that I can unload some things on who won't take it anywhere. They'll take it to the Lord in prayer, it won't affect their life. So many times I'm having conversations about what I'm going through with those who can handle it and understand it so that I don't have to go in my house and throw up all over my wife and kids and bleed all over them, right? The other part of that is really walking in and saying, you know what, I need a moment. Like, can I have a moment for myself before I go into husband and dad mode? Yeah, right. That's great. And so just kind of, you know, taking off the uniform, taking a shower, like resetting mentally, right? I believe that we're three-dimensional beings. Um, and I'm I'm hoping I'm not, I want our listeners to hear this. We're all a spirit that has a soul that lives in a body. And I think that our our words, thoughts, and actions have to be filtered through all three. Obviously, the spirit is the relationship that we have with God through the Holy Spirit, but our soul is our mind-willing emotions, right? Our mind-willing emotions. And that's a part many times in our life where we have to manage, right? There's times where my wife and I, we got into it, and I'm like, You don't understand what I went through today. And she's like, You don't understand what I went through today, right? Like, and so it's like, it's it's kind of like, all right, so let's be able to connect at the soulless level. Like, can I is this a safe place to bring my emotions, right? Or is this time where I need to back up and be quiet, right? And also our bodies, like we're we're within this shell and taking care of that shell and showing up well. So I think for the man or the woman, as they go through different things, they need people who can hold them accountable, and they also have to be wise about managing themselves so they don't throw up over those in their household when they show up.

SPEAKER_02 29:01

That's great. That's great. Well, hey, as we get ready to land the plane, I think you just gave us a litany of things or a wide variety of things to chew on. And here's what I know about you um you are kind of a subject matter expert in some of these things because of experiences. And this is what you do also as a consultant and a coach for many people. And uh, I would just say, hey, if this kind of inclined your ear or caught your attention, tag along with Ralph. Follow him on the journey. How could people stay and connect with what you're doing, Pastor Ralph?

SPEAKER_04 29:30

Yeah, at I I am Ralph Johnson on um Instagram or Facebook. Uh, I'm also a part of a movement of men who live an altered life. So if you're on YouTube or any of your your Spotify uh at altered manhood, yeah, right. Just kind of play on words there. Uh but that's where you can find me. Also, uh, our website is J-Beconsulting.com. The J stands for Jesus, the B E stands for B. Like, so our desire is for Jesus to show up in every environment that we're in, whether we're mentoring, whether we're coaching, whether we're consulting a church or a business, we know that God has a calling on that business or that person's life. And our desire is to walk along with God as those people reach the the goals and the mission and the vision that God has for their life.

SPEAKER_02 30:21

So good. So, in summary, we covered a variety of things, but let me just give it to you in cliff notes. Be you, be who God's called you to be. Um, Ralph spoke about self-awareness. I think that's the key uh to any productive or successful leader, uh, living by the power of the Holy Spirit of God and having an intimacy with Him through His Word, and also be a Jeff, be somebody that has to eyes to see others and meet them where they are.

SPEAKER_01 30:47

So that's great. Yeah. Pastor Ralph, we're so grateful for you. You know, Romans 13 uh says that we are to pay respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. And we just want you and all of our active and and retired military to know that we are so grateful for you. We honor you today. We're grateful for um all you sacrifice and all you risked, and even today, um, how much you love your country. Um and we thank you for being here and investing into the two of us and into our audience today. We're very, very grateful for you.

SPEAKER_04 31:22

Grateful to be here. Thank you for inviting me. And I am excited about what God is doing in and through Cross Church as you reach Northwest Arkansas, yeah, America, and the world for Jesus Christ. Come on, man.

SPEAKER_01 31:35

Amen. Cross Church family and listening audience, we love you. Let's be praying this week those prayers that we just walked through. That God would help us to be present, to be us, and to be looking for people that we can invest in. We will connect with you next time on the Rise Leadership Podcast. Peace.

SPEAKER_00 31:53

Thanks for listening to the Rise Leadership Podcast. If you found today's episode helpful, be sure to subscribe, leave your video, and share it with others for your community. Let's equip and inspire more leaders together. We'll see you next time on the Rise Leadership Podcast.