Thrive Leadership Podcast

In this week's episode, Andrew McCourt sits down with speaker and comedian, Michael Jr. They talk about Michael's first joke and also go into the theology of humor. You don't want to miss out on this episode! You can find out more about Michael Jr., his podcast, and book, here: https://michaeljr.com/

In today's episode, we get to sit in on a conversation with N.T. Wright. He is the former Bishop of Durham in the Church of England and one of the world's leading Bible scholars. He is now serving as the Chair of New Testament and Early Christianity at the School of Divinity at the University of St. Andrews. For twenty years he taught New Testament studies at Cambridge, McGill and Oxford Universities. As being both one of the world's leading Bible scholars and a popular author, he has been featured on ABC News, Dateline, The Colbert Report, and Fresh Air. His award-winning books include The Case for the Psalms, How God Became King, Simply Jesus, After You Believe, Surprised by Hope, Simply Christian, Scripture and the Authority of God, The Meaning of Jesus (co-authored with Marcus Borg), as well as being the translator for The Kingdom New Testament. He also wrote the impressive Christian Origins and the Question of God series, including The New Testament and the People of God, Jesus and the Victory of God, The Resurrection of the Son of God and most recently, Paul and the Faithfulness of God. You can find out more about N.T. Wright here: http://ntwrightonline.org/

Today we have a special episode for you featuring Thrive Worship! They have a new single out, "There is a Hope" and we got to sit down with members of the band and writers of the song to hear about their new single, just in time for Easter! ▶ Listen: https://slinky.to/Thrive-ThereIsAHope

In this week's episode we sit down with Elizabeth Maring. She is an experienced Lawyer and Founder with a demonstrated history of working in the legal and nonprofit sectors. Currently, she is passionate about applying all aspects of her hands on experience to help nonprofits achieve sustainable success. You can find out more about Elizabeth at her website: https://www.elizabethmaring.com/

This week we got to sit down with Miles McPherson and chat about staff health. Miles is the pastor of the Rock Church in San Diego, former defensive back for the San Diego Chargers, author, actor, motivational speaker, and founder of DoSomethingChurch.org. Miles is a unifier who makes the hope of the gospel real, relevant, and accessible, to empower people to make a difference in the world. Check out his latest book, The Third Option.

At the end of January Thrive hosted a virtual Business Leader Summit for anyone who has been impacted by the pandemic this year (hint: it's all of us). It was an incredible time of hearing from some of the biggest names in the business world, along with local entrepreneurs and business owners who are making an incredible impact in the community. Tune in today to hear some of our favorite highlights and gain some incredible knowledge along the way!

Join us for a great conversation with the founder of Agape International Missions, Don Brewster! We'll be talking about the mission of AIM and what incredible impact they've been able to have all over the globe. AIM is hosting a day of prayer on January 31 called Amplify and they are inviting you to join in. They have some amazing leaders, speakers, and artists that are joining Amplify so you are not going to want to miss this. Head to aimfree.org to sign up to pray and join the movement to end one of the greatest evils of our lifetime.

In today's episode, we interview Rusty George, Pastor of Real Life Church in Valencia, CA. We chat with him about life, ministry and his new book, "After Amen: What to Do When You're Waiting on God."

Join us on today's episode for an interview with Rick Warren, Lead Pastor of Saddleback Church in Southern CA.

Kick off the New Year with CJ Alvarado and Brad Lomenick as they chat about leading the next generation with some great insights and tips along the way!

This week's episode features an interview with David Kinnaman, the President of Barna Group. Barna has some brand new research on the New Sunday morning. We'll be discussing what people are saying about how they are attending church in this season, plus we'll be going over four tips for a digital church for smaller congregations and more!

In this week's episode, we listen in as Andrew McCourt chats with speaker, author, pastor Clay Scroggins.

In today's podcast, we featured an interview with special guest Sam Collier, Pastor, Speaker, Author and Host of A Greater Story Podcast! Find out more about Sam here: https://agreaterstory.org/

Today's interview is with Joshua Gagnon and we chat about how to create fresh vision In your life and learning to dream again! He is the founding and lead pastor of Next Level Church, regularly recognized as one of the fastest-growing churches in America. He is known for his uniquely authentic communication style that makes the hope found in Jesus relevant to people of every background. His latest book, It's Not Over, released in February 2020. He and his wife, Jennifer, raise their two sons in New Hampshire.

Listen in on a conversation with Sadie Roberston Huff about how to fight fear in the latest episode of the Thrive Leadership Podcast.

Join us for a special interview with Chad Veach, pastor at Zoe Church and author of a new book, "Help! I Work with People."

Join us for a great conversation with Annie F. Downs. She is a best-selling author, nationally known speaker, and podcast host based in Nashville, Tennessee. Flawed but funny, she uses her writing to highlight the everyday goodness of a real and present God.

Brad Lomenick hops on a call from "across the pond" with world-renowned author, speaker, financial expert, and leadership mentor, Ken Costa. They chat about how the CoVid-19 season is opening up creative opportunities to share God's good news. Ken also explains how his new book examines how Joseph of Arimathea is a wonderful Biblical example of the value and importance of EVERY member of God's Family.

We live in an unprecedented age where creative storytelling is vital to shoot through all the white noise. So why does it seem like the Church is resistant to this "new normal"? Nat'l speaker, mentor, and creative trailblazer Joseph Sojourner chats with CJ Alvarado about this very important dynamic of the Church's connective tissue happening between Sunday services. (Web: JosephSojourner.com Social: @iamsojourner)

Think Media's Sean Cannell graces the TLP studio with some of the most inspiring, usable, and scalable insight & ideas on not only the "how", but the "why" of utilizing the power of online video to recycle, recreate, and reinforce your content.

In this episode, Brad flies solo to interview Terry Smith, pastor of The Life Christian Church in West Orange, New Jersey, and author of a really interesting new book, "The Hospitable Leader". Listen how Terry breaks down The Last Supper into 5 distinct leadership dynamics that we all can incorporate into our own circles of influence. And right now - for Thrive Leadership Podcast listeners only - go to his website, www.TerryASmith.com/Thrive, to receive 50% OFF the audio version of the book!

Listen in on a fascinating conversation that Brad Lomenick has with the honorable Aja Brown, mayor of Compton, CA. This second-term "transparent politician" is Exhibit A when it comes to relying on the faith, focus, and fortitude that it takes to stand firm when God selects you for a task, accomplishing it for His purpose and glory.

This Ep's guest is Manchester-born, Australia-raised, Glyn Barrett, founding pastor of one of the fastest growing church families in England, !Audacious Church. Ever the "football" enthusiast, the chat begins with some soccer talk (priorities, after all!). Then the guys move the conversation on to how !Audacious is becoming a contagious and infectious church that "stops traffic", staying focused on their vision to proclaim that God's alive, and He's up to something! Listen for Glyn's and his campus pastor Mark Foster's strategy to help stop Englanders from being "over-churched".

Millennials... it seems that everyone has an opinion about this very unique demographic, even (especially!) the Church. But what if we have it all wrong? What if Church leaders pulled a "Paul & Timothy" approach; so rather than mining for what's wrong with Millennials, and instead started focusing on how to understand them, resulting in embracing, encouraging, and equipping this emerging generation of leaders? CJ and Brad welcome in a "typical" Millennial (if that's such a thing!), Bayside Church's Production Pastor Lee Fields, for a stimulating and enlightening conversation about America's most populace age group. (((We apologize for the weird audio during the interview, pesky gear issues...)))

In this episode, CJ and Brad chat with Charity Water founder Scott Harrison, who's leading the charge in many ways to promote cutting edge and creative technology, to provide clean water for the almost 600 million people around the world with no access. As a leader, you'll appreciate Scott's gifts, insight, and ability to scale his own daunting water provision task, as it's similar to the "no end in sight" dynamic of ongoing ministry. His latest book, "Thirst", available with bonus participation incentives at www.CharityWater.org.

This episode's a fascinating conversation with former Salvation Army Pastor and social justice director Danielle Strickland. Hear why she describes the Salvation Army as the "platypus of the Church"! She also unpacks the vision and initiative of the Brave Campaign. Danielle's latest book: "The Ultimate Exodus" is available everywhere.

Author and world-stage-strategist Johnnie Moore opens up about something that he's passionate about, and feels the American Church should be more passionate about as well. As a champion for the persecuted Church around the world - especially in the Middle East - Johnnie reminds us that "If one part of the Body is suffering, the entire Body suffers with it." (1 Cor 12:26)

Chris Hodges goes to the book of Joshua, as he talks about battles - like inferiority, forgiveness, and temptation. It's an honest and grace-filled Thrive Conference episode with Chris Hodges! Chris is the founding pastor of Alabama's Church of the Highlands, founder of ARC (church-planting association), founder of GROW (pastor training and growth), and president of Highlands College.

John Ortberg is focused these days - through his writing, speaking, and teaching - in helping the Church discover a way in Jesus through which genuine transformation can happen. Much like the process of Alcoholics Anonymous, John saw this transformation firsthand (supporting a family member), sparking him to ask, "What can church discipleship learn from A.A.?" It's a riveting conversation about a hopeful return to, or recapturing of, the early Church with a way of life filled with intense fellowship, self examination, transparency, service, accountability, and the sharing of hope.

On this episode of the Thrive Leadership Podcast, we chat with the one and only Michael Jr! Now, on the surface, we might presume that he's just a super funny dude (which he is) who's made his mark in both the mainstream and Christian circuit. But as we discover, he's also a songwriter, a prison ministry founder, a Ted Talker, and a "rebuker"! Find out more about the guy: www.MichaelJr.com

"Time keeps on ticking, ticking, ticking..." When it comes to church, corporate, or personal leadership, how we manage our time can lay a foundation of effectiveness and health - or the opposite! Pastor & speaker Chris Brown, co-teacher at San Diego's North Coast Church, uses how Jesus managed His time to model his own leadership approach (calling vs. potential), then challenges us to do likewise. More resources at PastorChrisBrown.com

Author and speaker Carlos Whittaker joins us to chat about "living life on purpose." Today's leader is almost expected to be a master multi-tasker, burning the candle at both ends. So how can we be mindful about taking back the reigns of craziness, and still be a successful leader? Carlos also talks about his brand new book, "Kill The Spider."

This is a special podcast with best-selling author, internationally-in-demand speaker, and consummate glass-half-full-motivator, Bob Goff! He shares insight on marriage, ministry, boundaries, how he leads his team, and the schematics behind his strategies to help the Thrive community apply them to our own life.

This episode’s guest is Bishop Kenneth Ulmer, founding Pastor of Faithful Central Bible Church in Los Angeles, CA. In this episode he discusses when a leader shares their vision, is their heart being shared as well? Bishop Ulmer unpacks this important leadership dynamic, as well as other insightful and wise observations and applications from his 40+ years in ministry. More from Bishop Ulmer: www.FaithfulCentral.com

In this episode, we listen in on an interview that Thrive founder Ray Johnston had with Willie and Korie Robertson, stars of A & E's Duck Dynasty, during the Thrive 2017 conference.

In this episode of the Thrive Leadership Podcast, we're live from the Thrive Conference with comedian John Crist, owner of over a quarter BILLION youtube views! Learn a little about his upbringing, his family, his career, and get ready to laugh a ton!

In this episode, we welcome Margaret Feinberg to the Thrive Conference general session stage, to share how we're wired to hear from God, just like sheep are wired to hear their shepherd!

This is our second episode, so I guess this train is out of the station and cruising down the tracks! This cast features a Thrive Conference talk by Francis Chan on Dependence on God.

This first "guest-included" Thrive Leadership Podcast is a conversation between a couple incredible people who, if there was a "Leadership Mt. Rushmore", would be carved up there for sure! Enjoy a side of Willow Creek founding pastor Bill Hybels that few have seen, as he sits down with Thrive founder Ray Johnston.

Meet your hosts, CJ Alvarado and Brad Lomenick, and hear why we're even doing this podcast, and what's in it for you!