Hero Maker + The Trellis and the Vine | Summer Reads | Part 3 of 7

Welcome back to the Impact Leadership Podcast. In today's episode, we'll be continuing our series, “Summer Reads.” Chip Parker will be discussing two more books: Hero Maker by Dave Ferguson and Warren Bird, and The Trellis and the Vine by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne. We become better leaders when we stop being heros, start creating heros, and give our teams a solid framework on which to grow. Let’s dive in!

Thanks for listening to the Impact Leadership podcast! We are so glad that you're here. If you're looking to connect with Chip Parker, send him a message at chip@theorchardcc.org. New episodes are released weekly on Wednesdays. We'll catch you in the next episode!

Transcript

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Hey everybody, welcome in to the Impact Leadership Podcast. My name is Chip Parker, and I'm the lead pastor at the Orchard Community Church, a multi-site church in North Central Florida working to impact lostness and impact the next generation. This podcast is all about helping you as a church leader grow your leadership to grow your impact. Let's hop into this week's conversation. All right. Well, welcome back in. We are in the middle of a series we started a couple of weeks ago called Summer Reads, where I'm just kind of catching you up on some books that have been very influential for me as a leader. We've looked at a couple of books by Pat Lincioni. We've looked at books about why we do what we do, books about how teams function. I'd encourage you to go back and catch the first couple episodes, pick up those books. It's going to be really helpful to you as a leader. Today we're shifting gears just a little bit because up to this point, the books that we've looked at have been just general leadership books that are written for just a general audience, not church specific. The books I'm going to reference today are church leadership books. However, the principles in these books are something that can apply for you as a leader, no matter where you're at, where you're leading, the context you're in. They just happen to be written in a ministry context. And the first book that I want to mention today is probably the newest book that I'm going to talk about, if I remember right. It's a book called Hero Maker by Dave Ferguson. This was a book that popped up on our radar as a staff a few years ago and is one of those books that we just keep coming back to stuff that we learned in it and keep referencing over and over again. Hero Maker is all about challenging leaders to move beyond being the hero of their organization to being hero makers in their organizations. It's all about investing in multiplication. Dave Ferguson argues that leadership is most effective when leaders intentionally develop other leaders. And I love that. I love that whole concept about leadership and what it means not to be the hero, but for us to be hero makers. The idea that we take out of that is that if you're a Star Wars nerd like myself, you'll get this. We as leaders are not called to be Luke Skywalker. We're not called to be the hero that the show is about. We are called to be the Yoda or the Obi-Wan, just kind of that side character that helps the hero along. We are there to help our team. We are there to mobilize them as leaders, to develop them as leaders, because ultimately our organizations are going to be healthier and are going to grow more when we are not the hero, but we're the hero maker. The second book is a book that I was introduced to a long time ago by the founding pastor of the orchard, my mentor Eddie Blaylock. And it was a book entitled The Trellis and the Vine. The idea of Trellis and the Vine really pairs well with Hero Maker because it reinforces the idea that the focus of leadership, and more specifically, the focus of ministry is people, not programs. And if you've been in leadership, if you've been in ministry, it's very easy to understand what that means and why it's important. It is too, too easy and so, so dangerous for us as leaders to focus on the programs and use people to grow our programs, but that's not what it's supposed to be. We are supposed to use programs to grow our people. And that is the, you know, kind of contrast of the trellis and the vine. You need structure, you need trellis to support the vine so that it can grow healthy. However, the trellis is never the point. It's always the vine. Structures matter, but they exist to support the people, to support disciple making, to support leadership development. And I think together, these two books of Hero Maker and Trellis and the Vine really remind us that our lasting impact as leaders have to come through multiplication. And so let me just share with you a couple of specific principles that I've taken out of these books and why they are so important. I think the first is a very specific principle that is something that wherever you're at, you can lean into as a leader. And that is the idea that leadership is measured by multiplication. We do not measure our leadership by addition. One win here, one win there. We measure our leadership by multiplication. How are we exponentially growing our leadership through the people that we are leading? If you are a leader and you are stuck in an addition mindset, you're going to be limiting your leadership. We need to be focused on that multiplication, exponential leadership to really drive growth in our organizations. And if it seems weird to be talking about growth in our organizations inside of a church context, just remember that growth in a church context is not about putting more butts in seats, but it's about seeing dead souls raised to life in Christ. It's about seeing hell lose and heaven gain. It's about seeing people meet Jesus. And I want that to grow as much as possible. I think the second thing that I take away from both of these books is just the reminder that in leadership, people are our mission. It is all about people. It is not about program. As leaders, we cannot be focused on the bottom line. We cannot be focused solely on the numbers. We cannot be focused solely on the programs that we lead. We have to be focused on the people that we lead. Are you designed to grow programs at the expense of people? Or are you designed to grow people through your programs? Maybe we should say it like this our programs should support our people, not replace them. They are the tool, not the means. I think another thought that has been really helpful to me from these two books is when we think about legacy and we think about our legacy as leaders, legacy is built through developing others. Legacy is built through developing others. When you are done as a leader, what is going to carry on your legacy is not the kingdom that you've built, not the organization that you've designed. It's going to be the people that you have poured into and that you leave behind. And so if we want to have a lasting impact as leaders, it has to come through developing others around us. And then I think finally, maybe the biggest takeaway that we have used here at the Orchard specifically from these books, but more specifically the languages from Hero Maker, it's this reminder that if we are the hero, Jesus isn't. And I know that this is more specific for the church context, but I would argue that it's more specific for the life of the believer. And chances are, if you're listening to this, you probably fall into that category. It is a great reminder that as leaders, we are never called to be the hero because Jesus is always the hero. And if you're the hero of the story, if you're the hero that people are pointing to, if you're the hero that people are celebrating, then Jesus isn't the hero. And I want to make sure that Jesus is always the hero. So what is some application that we can take away from this? Let me challenge you. Maybe this week, spend your time and energy focused on developing people, not developing your programs. Who are a few people that you can develop this week? Who are a few people that you can take to coffee? Who are a few people that you can take to lunch? Who are a few people that you can pour into rather than fine-tuning the programs and structures that your organization's built on? Who can you develop? Develop people more than programs. And maybe the best way to do that, and this comes specifically from Hero Maker, is to start having some I see in you conversations. I think those are a great tool that Dave Ferguson mentions in the book, Hero Maker. I see in you conversations, where you go shoulder tap somebody in your organization and say, I see in you the potential for more. I see in you the potential to lead. I see in you the potential to take the next step. And I think those conversations are great door openers for you to develop leaders, to multiply leadership, and to leave a legacy behind. So if you haven't yet, pick you up a copy of Hero Maker and Trellis in the Vine. And I believe that you will be happy you did. Join us next week as we keep plowing through these summer reads. One last thing before we end this conversation is just let me say if you are a leader, specifically in the local church context or even outside of it, I would love to be able to connect with you if I can help. If you would like, I'm gonna have my email in the show notes. Reach out to me. We can set up a time to connect because here's what I know leadership is bigger than any one of us. If we are truly going to have an impact in our communities, we need to lean on each other and we need to learn from each other. So I would be more than happy to do what I can to connect with you and help you lead right where you are. So reach out, let us know how we can connect. But until then, we'll see you right back here next week on the Impact Leadership Podcast.