Podcast appearances and mentions of alvin sanders

In this powerful episode of Bleeding Daylight, Reverend Dr. Alvin Sanders shares his transformative approach to urban ministry as President of World Impact. Drawing from personal experience with poverty and three decades in ministry, Sanders challenges traditional church models by advocating for a "neighbourhood-as-parish" approach where churches become institutional assets to their communities. He reveals how World Impact's "glocally urban" strategy equips untrained pastors in 19 countries through innovative programs like their "seminary in a backpack."   Sanders unpacks the true nature of poverty beyond finances and outlines practical strategies for churches to engage their communities authentically. From creating "third spaces" that combat loneliness to implementing Asset-Based Community Development models, he demonstrates how churches can move beyond paternalistic charity to foster genuine community flourishing. His stories of transformation—from Cincinnati neighbourhoods to closed countries experiencing revival—illustrate how trained urban leaders can catalyse lasting change when churches approach ministry with humility, genuine care, and a commitment to meeting people at their point of need.   WEBLINKS World Impact World Impact Facebook Alvin's LinkedIn

In today's #podcast episode, I interview Alvin Sanders. I ask Alvin about his work with World Impact and the Urban Church. I also ask Alvin about his new book Uncommon Church. Alvin also shares how we have a call as Christians to do more than just be aware of poverty and justice issues.   Show Notes and Resources.

"95% of the world's pastors have no formal ministry training. And the best thing that we had done in all those years was training pastors and communities of poverty. So we said, “If it's not training urban ministers, it goes.” We got down to the nitty-gritty of one focus, which is training urban pastors and church leaders, because we believe that that will lead to healthier churches, which will then lead to the influencing of their neighborhoods to flourish." - Rev. Dr. Alvin SandersCourageous leadership isn't just about making decisions. It's about making the right ones, even when it's difficult. Rev. Dr. Alvin Sanders has a singular passion: to develop leaders, strengthen churches, and create redemptive communities that thrive in urban contexts. But getting there requires bold leadership, courageous decision making, and a willingness to narrow your focus to stay true to your mission.In this episode, Alvin shares his journey as President and CEO of World Impact, an organization that has launched over 750 church-planting teams since 2016. He reveals the highs and lows of guiding the organization through a six-year mission overhaul—and how eliminating distractions is key to scaling nonprofit impact.Alvin's leadership at World Impact is driven by his deep commitment to social justice and community empowerment. He discusses how his upbringing and personal experiences instilled in him the belief that all people have gifts and abilities, inspiring him to equip church leaders to help people flourish in urban contexts. Throughout the conversation, Alvin dives into the challenges of confronting injustice and broken systems, emphasizing the importance of civic engagement in making the world a better place. He also shares what he's learned as he's leaned into tough decisions, restructured management, and led with clarity and purpose.Tune in for Alvin's insights on collaboration, resilience, and courageous leadership—and discover a powerful blueprint for any nonprofit leader aiming to create lasting change.Contents1 - Growing up and early influences that shaped Alvin's path (03:00)2 - Alvin's early experiences and calling to ministry (08:50)3 - World Impact and their mission (12:50)4 - Strategic leadership, collaboration & World Impact restructure (20:00)5 - Implementing continuous improvement (28:30)6 - Alvin's biggest challenge and advice for leaders (30:15)LinksHistoric AgencyAlvin Sanders on LinkedInWorld ImpactBernard's Story on YTCulture Built My BrandMentioned in this episode:Presented by ClassyAre you a nonprofit feeling the pressure of constant change and evolving supporter expectations? Are you searching for new ways to engage your community in this new era of fundraising? At Future Nonprofit we seek out the top technology helping propel our sector forward, which is why Classy by GoFundMe is a trusted partner of ours. Classy's online fundraising platform empowers organizations to connect, engage, and grow. With Classy's latest innovation, Classy Studio, you can create personalized fundraising experiences that truly resonate. Build connections, unleash creativity, and raise more... faster! And now, with new features like Intelligent Ask Amounts, which provide personalized donation amounts for each supporter who lands on your page, and

Alvin Sanders, a church leader, planted a church in a violent neighborhood after a police shooting. He served with the EFCA (Evangelical Free Church of America) and is now President of World Impact. Alvin has authored books on diversity and poverty and believes every church needs an urban ministry. To learn more about the podcast or access the show notes, visit www.redletterpodcast.com. Today's episode is brought to you by Red Letter Living. Pastors and church leaders, jump into a 40-day discipleship challenge this Fall. In a politically divisive time, the wisest decision you can make is to focus on what brings unity. No one and nothing brings unity like Jesus. Our 40-Day Jesus-Centered Challenges will ensure you not only stay united on what's most important, but they will grow your small groups like crazy, provide much-needed done-for-you materials, and create greater disciples. Literally, this Fall may be the most strategic time in our nation's history to get a 40-day challenge going at your church.To get your custom quote with an extra coupon take 2 minutes to fill out the form here: www.redletterchallenge.com/quote. Resources mentioned in the episode: World Impact: Transforming Communities TogetherAlvin Sanders BooksCustom Quote for 40-Day ChallengeKey insights from the episode: If you read the New Testament, you are talking about urban ministry. – Alvin Sanders Whether you like it or not, the things that come out of the urban space will affect you. – Alvin Sanders If you want to know what suburban churches will be dealing with ten years from now, look at what urban churches are dealing with now. – Alvin Sanders There are suburban churches today that still don't think that gender identity, political divisiveness, poverty, and homelessness are a problem in their community. – Alvin Sanders You can kinda pretend there is nothing wrong in the suburbs. – Alvin Sanders There's a giant search for authenticity. The term ‘micro church' is cropping up more and more. – Alvin Sanders The urban church can help the suburban church with its struggle with identity. – Alvin Sanders If suburban churches try to do evangelism in their neighborhood, it will automatically set them on a journey of diversity. – Alvin Sanders 75% of folks at our church had never been to church before, and it was simply due to relationships. – Alvin Sanders The lowest hanging fruit in church is responding to cards filled out by guests. – Zach Zehnder Do you want to be counter-cultural? I've got two kids with one woman. What's more counter-cultural than that? – Alvin Sanders Do you have enough evidence in your life that if you went to court, you'd be convicted of being a Christian? - Pastor Percy Carter The church is still providing a necessary moral compass for culture. – Alvin Sanders The community is waiting for the church to take a seat at your table. – Alvin Sanders There's no political ideology that can contain Matthew 5-7. – Alvin Sanders Alvin Sanders' Challenge: Commit to improving the lives of those living in poverty through your time, treasure, and talents.Are you following Jesus? Many want to be greater followers of Jesus but don't know how. We extensively studied everything Jesus commanded of us and located five key targets to which Jesus invited His followers. The five targets are Being, Forgiving, Serving, Giving, and Going.In partnership with LifeWay Research, we created a Red Letter Challenge Assessment that will measure you according to these five targets. And the best news of all: it's free! You will receive your results immediately and be presented with the next steps to help you become an even greater follower of Jesus.This is another Hurrdat Media Production. Hurrdat Media is a podcast network and digital media production company based in Omaha, NE. Find more podcasts on the Hurrdat Media Network by going to HurrdatMedia.com or the Hurrdat Media YouTube channel!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Thank you for joining us at the unSeminary podcast. We're excited to have Rev. Dr. Alvin Sanders from World Impact with us. This organization comes alongside church leaders and offers training and support designed for the urban context. The American Church has devalued the urban space, either fearing it or viewing it as something to […]

In this special series of Place Matters, we have been exploring the relationship of congregations to their local context. We have made the case that, for churches, place should matter too. Any understanding of a thriving congregation is incomplete if it does not include caring well for our neighbors and neighborhood. We partnered with the Barna Group to put some data behind this. For this conversation to have any credibility, of course, we must engage a more inclusive and representative audience of leaders. So, we have been talking to our friend, the Rev Dr. Alvin Sanders, President and CEO of World Impact, about some similar research he and his team have done with Barna to engage Black and brown pastors who are serving in lower-income, majority-minority neighborhoods. World Impact is an organization that exists specifically to offer training and equipping for church leaders working in lower-income, urban communities. So what did Alvin and his team discover when they asked about the role of congregations in the neighborhood? Are there signs of hope here? And if so, what can majority culture churches learn to close the church-to-neighborhood gap?

“We're in a time where people need healing, and the Church is the answer for that. Jesus is the answer, but [knowing] Jesus through the Church is critical. [If pastors only] knew how much people needed the Church—not the politics of the Church, not all of the theology of the Church, but just the Church in action.” Thoughts on Mission & Ministry FROM LEADERS IN URBAN CHURCHES & COMMUNITIES, Page 12 Pastors have a God-given opportunity to lead their church to impact communities for the common good. Listen as Angela welcomes Dr. Alvin Sanders, President and CEO of World Impact, an organization that trains and equips church leaders and workers to serve in urban areas. World Impact and the Barna Group released a study this month: Inside the Urban Church – How local congregations engage with and impact their communities (October 2023). With a representative sample across eight major US metros, this quantitative and qualitative study heard from a cross-section of pastors, community, civic leaders, and churched and unchurched participants. One of the many key findings of the study was that churched and unchurched respondents saw the church as a safe space to wrestle with and help figure out the moral issues of the day; thus, urban churches have a huge opportunity to convene discussions that bring understanding and healing through God's truth. “The study also revealed that metro residents inside and outside the Church think Christian churches are well-positioned to address the problem of loneliness. This finding is notable for highlighting the top issue locals entrust to churches and as a sign of common ground in perceptions among the churched and unchurched.” (Page 22) Both these insights offer encouragement on how we can have new conversations on abortion in our churches and be perceived as safe to approach for help. In this episode, Angela and Dr. Sanders discuss their hope and mutual love for the Church to be as Christ designed, a place of grace and belonging to reflect the kingdom in a secularized world. How can the Church be ready to receive people with the love God intended? Links: World Impact: https://www.worldimpact.org/ DePaul University's website on Asset Based Community Developmenthttps://resources.depaul.edu/abcd-institute/Pages/default.aspx The study can be purchased here: https://shop.barna.com/collections/frontpage/products/inside-the-urban-church Also, here is a study we didn't mention but is very relevant:https://www.churchandculture.org/blog/2023/9/14/the-late-great-planet-church Books Mentioned: Uncommon Church – By Alvin Sanders (uncommonchurches.com) (https://uncommonchurches.com/) Bridging the Diversity Gap - buy on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Bridging-Diversity-Gap-Leading-Multi-Ethnic/dp/0898276780)

[00:00:00] Tommy Thomas: Today, we're continuing the conversation that we began in episode 95, with Dr. Alvin Sanders, the CEO of World Impact. One thing from that episode that stood out to me was Alvin's description of how he and his senior staff use the idea of a Circle of Voices and making major decisions. If you didn't hear that episode, just that idea alone is probably worth the time you'll spend listening to it. In today's episode, Alvin will be sharing his experience and spreading of board governance.  Let's pick up that conversation. [00:00:38] Tommy Thomas: Let's go over to the board relationship. I just think that's so critical in the life of a nonprofit. And we could start in a number of places, but let's start with the board chair. When you think of the best board chair you've ever served under or observed, give me some words and phrases that describe that person.  [00:00:55] Alvin Sanders: I'm happy to report that it's my present board chair, Carl LaBarbara. He is someone who's very committed to the ministry with his time, talent, and treasure in a deep way, in a deep sense. And he's also committed to me and my personal well-being. So, I think those are the things that you look for in a board chair.  [00:01:17] Tommy Thomas: I had the privilege of meeting Carl probably, I don't know, 10 or maybe 15 years ago. And I remember the afternoon in his home, he talked a lot about board governance. As I remember, he was a big fan of the Carver model. Are y'all a 10 on the Carver model, or have you operated an eight or nine? [00:01:32] Alvin Sanders:   We're a 12 and a half. We are off the scale because of Carl's training.  And I am a dyed-in-the-wool Carver policy governance Kool-Aid drinker.  [00:01:45] Tommy Thomas: Did you have knowledge of the Carver Model before you came into the CEO role?  [00:01:49] Alvin Sanders: I knew of it at Evangelical Free Church because we used it. But, to me, that was the one-on-one level. And working with Carl and World Impact, I feel like I'm a grad student in it now. [00:02:02] Tommy Thomas:  Take me into your and Carl's relationship. How often do y'all get together or meet or talk and what does that look like? [00:02:12] Alvin Sanders: We have a standing phone call, at 1 p.m. Eastern, 10 a.m. Pacific, every Monday. And, we don't necessarily do it every time, but it's there. And then if we need it, we talk to each other. If not, then we move forward. But usually, we talk anywhere from one to four times a month. And we just check in and see how each other is doing personally. I give him updates on relevant things that he needs to know about from the organization's perspective, and then he gives insights and contributions to what he feels we need to be considering as an organization as well. But I think the most critical relationship in the organization is between the CEO and the board chair.  [00:03:02] Tommy Thomas: So how close of a friend can the CEO be to the board chair? Where's that balance?  [00:03:09] Alvin Sanders: You at least need to like each other. And that sounds silly, but I've known some CEOs and board chairs that don't like each other. You don't have to be best friends. Like I wouldn't say Carl and I are best friends by any means but  Carl and I enjoy each other's company. And if I wasn't CEO and if he wasn't board chair, we would still be two people who would get together and hang out with one another. You know what I mean? Yeah. So, you have to have a strong relationship at least to the point where you like each other to the extent that you enjoy each other's company.  [00:03:44] Tommy Thomas: Take me into your agenda for your board meetings. Do you set those, or do you and Carl collaborate?  [00:03:52] Alvin Sanders: Yes, me and Carl collaborate. [00:03:55] Tommy Thomas:   Do you have term limits for your members, and do you have term limits for your board chair?  [00:04:07] Alvin Sanders: No, we're contrarian that we have an annual signup every year. So if you're asked to be a board member, a river of life, I'm not there anymore at World Impact. We asked you to serve for one year. And then if everything went well, we asked you to serve for another year. And the result has been, Carl's probably been a board member for 25 years. And then there are other people who were board members for only a year because things didn't work out well. So we like that because it gives you the flexibility to keep on strong board members for as long as you need to. Because to me, it never made sense. You've been a great board member. Oh, it's been three years. You got to rotate off. Why? If it works for their life and it works for the life of the organization, there's no reason to rotate people off. And then there have been people who've served for a couple of years and then they said, Alvin, I got to take this year off, and then they come back. So that's been our philosophy.  [00:05:10] Tommy Thomas:  How do y'all identify new board members?  [00:05:15] Alvin Sanders: It's mainly me asking, first working the networks that the board has, some other people that they may know that may want to be a part of World Impact. It's me working the networks of those I know and my colleagues. It's really just working networks of folk looking for the types of people that may be interested in serving on the World Impact Board.  [00:05:41] Tommy Thomas:  What kind of advice are you giving somebody that calls you next week and says they've been asked to join a board of XYZ nonprofit?  What questions are you telling them they need to get answered?  [00:05:53] Alvin Sanders: They need to ask the board chair and the CEO, first, I would never talk to either one of them. I would talk to both of them at the same time. And the first question I would ask them is, what's your philosophy? Because 90% of boards don't have a clue what their philosophy is on board leadership. So what's your philosophy on board leadership? What's my expected contribution of time, talent, and treasure to the board? So those would be the two major things that I would ask. [00:06:33] Tommy Thomas: I'm asking people these days about bringing younger people onto boards. And philosophically, do you have a position on that? And then I'll ask a follow-up.  [00:06:46] Alvin Sanders: Yes, we try to, our board, we try to hold it at nine, because we think a smaller board is better for getting things done. And I think in terms of thirds a third of our board, we want gender diversity, a third of our board, we want age diversity, a third of our board, we want racial diversity. And then we want half and half, what I would say, marketplace people. These are business folk, and then the other half ministry people. Because if you have all marketplace people, the ministry gets lost. It's been my experience. And if you have all ministry people, the business of running the organization gets lost and it loses knowledge and expertise. So that's my philosophy of how you have you bring a board together. But you definitely need people especially since I just read the other day that millennials now are the most dominant generation numbers-wise. It's no longer Baby Boomers. It's never been my generation, Gen X. We're the forgotten generation, I think. Nobody gives a rip about Gen X, but Millennials now are it and you're just being silly if you don't have Millennials on your board  [00:07:58] Tommy Thomas:   How do y'all onboard at World Impact, new board members? [00:08:05] Alvin Sanders:  Usually if somebody is passed along to me or to Carl or whoever, Carl and I do an informal vetting of that person and check what their interest level is. Then Carl by himself takes them through a formal board vetting. Then if they pass that test, we bring them in to do a preview. Before they make a commitment, Hey, won't you just come in and sit in on a board meeting and see what you think, then after the preview, Carl and I sit down with them and field any questions, concerns, or comments they may have. And then if they're wanting to be part of the board, then the next board meeting that they come in we'll vote on them. ++++++++++++++++ [00:08:56] Tommy Thomas:  You've probably got a small enough board that you don't need executive committees. Do y'all ever have a use for an executive committee?  [00:09:04] Alvin Sanders: Carver policy frowns against subcommittees, so we don't form them unless we absolutely positively have to. [00:09:15] Tommy Thomas: And what about executive session? Does your staff join you for part and then y'all dismiss the staff for more sensitive matters? What's y'all's take on that? [00:09:25] Alvin Sanders: If there's an executive session, I'm not in there. In our philosophy, it's board only. Only the board calls executive session and that means no staff in the room. [00:09:35] Tommy Thomas:   What about the board meeting? Do you bring your cabinet to the meeting? Do they present or what does that look like?  [00:09:46] Alvin Sanders: The person who usually makes an appearance either by video or in person at some point is my chief operating officer. When we talk about the financial portion. Other than that, the executive team only comes in as needed. [00:09:59] Tommy Thomas:  How do you or Carl draw a quiet quiet board member into the conversation?  [00:10:11] Alvin Sanders: I don't know if I have any. I'm trying to think. We have great dialogue and discussion and everybody seems to contribute. Yeah, I'm trying to think. I don't think anybody sits on the sidelines because of the understood expectation of Carver. Like when you go through the screening process and we talk to people, we've let people know this is not you know a sit-back board. There are monitoring reports you have to read. We want you to contribute. We want you to express yourself. And so we built a culture of collaboration and contribution that we don't really have any quiet board members.  [00:10:51] Tommy Thomas: What about strategic planning? Is your board involved in that under the Carver Model? [00:10:56] Alvin Sanders:  No. My team and I lead the staff and the organization in the strategic planning process.  [00:11:05] Tommy Thomas:   What did that look like last time around?  [00:11:09] Alvin Sanders: We are big into the objectives and key results system. Where you set which, it started with Peter Drucker and management by objectives. And then there have been several sort of offshoots of that, but that's the foundation. We utilize the offshoot that was started in the tech sector. Where you listen, you list organizational-wide objectives and organizational annual objectives, and then each team then quarterly writes an objective for their team and the key results from that objective, which is connected to the larger overarching organizational objective. [00:11:54] Tommy Thomas: How does a CEO evaluation work under y'all's system?  [00:11:59] Alvin Sanders: They have an executive session. They have an annual objective section, but every quarter I have to submit what's called a monitoring report, which is based on the executive limitations, which are found in our handbook which are policies in which the board has said, Alvin, these are the policies. And then you need to report on several of these at each meeting. In fact, today, because our board meeting is coming up next week, the big lion's share of my day today is working on our monitoring reports which I will submit to them so then they can read through them. And then next week we can have any discussions of whether they think I'm in compliance or out of compliance. [00:12:52] Tommy Thomas: Okay, so that happens quarterly then? [00:12:54] Alvin Sanders: It does.  [00:12:57] Tommy Thomas: How have y'all handled financial accountability? A lot of boards are a little hesitant to ask hard questions sometimes. What does that look like at World Impact?  [00:13:08] Alvin Sanders: Every quarter, one of my monitoring reports is called EL 4. For financial condition and activities where every quarter I report on our financial condition. It's three, four pages of things that I need to report on concerning our finances, and then the board members look over it and then if they have any questions, we discuss and analyze them.  [00:13:32] Tommy Thomas: Under your model, how does the board get involved in either risk management or risk mitigation or do they? [00:13:40] Alvin Sanders:   That's a policy that I have to report on. Basically, they have questions about the policies around risk management and mitigation. And I report on them, and then they have a chance to read and respond. And they tell me whether I'm in compliance or not compliance with their expectation of me. [00:13:59] Tommy Thomas: How do you and your senior team look at risk management or risk mitigation? Is that something that y'all discuss on an annual basis or a quarterly basis?  [00:14:09] Alvin Sanders: It depends on how you define risk management and mitigation, but we would like to think that we're trying to be on top of those things and ahead of those things before they become major hassles or issues. +++++++++++++++++++++ [00:14:20] Tommy Thomas: And you mentioned early on your board member time, talent, and treasure. So you have the fundraising question with a prospective board member adequately before they join? [00:14:31] Alvin Sanders: Yes, we ask all our board members to contribute something. We don't put a number on it, but we want to say that all of our board members give to our organization. We believe that's a big deal. And we let the board member decide how much they want to contribute.  [00:14:48] Tommy Thomas: What does fundraising look like for you? Do you leverage your board for fundraising, or is that kind of, once they give, do they? [00:15:01] Alvin Sanders: No, we ask our board members to be actively involved in connecting us with people who may vibe with the mission of the organization and be willing to contribute revenue towards us being a success. We definitely involve our boards. [00:15:17] Tommy Thomas: Let's maybe close out a little bit with succession planning.  At what point should a board and a CEO begin to think about succession planning?  [00:15:27] Alvin Sanders: All the time, from day one. One of the things that I've tried to instill, and since being President of World Impact since 2017, is to build a leadership pipeline. In every one of our major areas, I call it who's your bus person. If the bus comes by and hits you, it kills you in your dying breath, who are you going to say, such and such to take my place. Ideally, we'd like to see there be at least two to three internal candidates who could take the place of the person who's leading that particular area. And in my case, I would like to think that, anyone on my executive team could have the ability to step into being a CEO if at the very least for an interim time until the board could find someone else to be my replacement. So my bus people, if you're on my team, you're a bus person for me.  [00:16:31] Tommy Thomas: And this may be hypothetical for you or you've probably seen it in other organizations, but when the CEO decides it's time to retire or move on, what kind of time should there be between that announcement and the actual end date? [00:16:48] Alvin Sanders: For me, I think ideally, whoever the CEO is, has identified someone who they want to follow them. And you announce it like a year before it happens. You say, hey, I'm riding off into the sunset. We've identified such and such to be my replacement. And then you have a quarterly phase-out. That's how I'd like to go out. I think I have a lot more years left than me, Tommy, but when it's time to go, that's the way I'd like to do it.  [00:17:27] Tommy Thomas: What about the outgoing person sticking around as an advisor or an emeritus president? What's been your experience or observation there?  [00:17:36] Alvin Sanders: That's exactly the setup I have at the old church that I planted. I haven't been Pastor at Riverside Church since 2007, but my wife and I still go there, and my family still goes there, and I'm Pastor Emeritus, and it works marvelously. If the pastor who follows you or the leader who follows you wants you there. That's a huge if. And then you all have a great relationship where boundaries are set. And I know when to stick my nose into things and when not to stick my nose into things. And I see myself as a reference book, when you need to use me, pull me off the shelf and use me. When you need to seek advice, it's all driven by the present leader. I stay in my lane. So as the emeritus person, you have to stay in your lane in order for this to work. And the leader who succeeds you, they have to be confident enough in their own skin. That they're not threatened by you being there and they're comfortable in bringing you into the leadership situations to speak into it. ++++++++++++++++++++++ [00:18:52] Tommy Thomas: Occasionally I get to speak to boards about succession planning and I often talk about the departing leader. And I guess one of my observations is that generally, the departing leader has probably more of his or her identity tied up in the CEO role than they would like to admit. How do you help a man or woman in that case? [00:19:15] Alvin Sanders:   I don't know if you can to be quite honest. It took me probably three years to remove pastor as an identity marker from me when I moved from the River of Life Church to the EFCA. And really, it's a journey of spiritual maturity. At least it was for me. To say my identity is in Christ and then Christ sends me on different assignments, but it's all His church. It's all His organization. It's not mine. It's His. And that's the lesson that took me three years to learn. So that when I transitioned from the EFCA to World Impact, it was a much easier transition because I saw it more as my identity is in Christ, and I feel like God's changing my assignment, so I'm okay. [00:20:07] Tommy Thomas: Did Bill or anybody at your national office, did they come alongside you, or was there any help offered to you during that three years of rough water or were you on your own? [00:20:18] Alvin Sanders:  They didn't know it. Oh, okay. I didn't tell them. I didn't tell them. It was just a personal struggle of my own. But I'm sure they would have if I would have let them know.  [00:20:35] Tommy Thomas: What haven't I asked you about board service and CEO relationships that you think my listeners need to hear? [00:20:43] Alvin Sanders: I don't know. You've been pretty thorough, man. You should have given me some pre-interview questions.  [00:20:51] Tommy Thomas: You don't need any pre-interview questions. [00:20:52] Alvin Sanders: You made my brain do it out my ear. You've asked some pretty thorough things. I think we've covered the gamut of it, really.  [00:21:00] Tommy Thomas: Okay, let me close with one then and here again, this goes back to the board chair, somebody calls you and they've been asked to, as they usually do move up to the chair role, they've probably been in line for a while. What are you telling them that whatever you do, be sure you… [00:21:21] Alvin Sanders: You won't rise to the occasion. You will sink to the level of your preparedness. So we need to make sure that you're prepared for the chair seat in order for you to be a success. Because a lot of people want the title of board chair, but they don't want to do the role of board chair, if because that requires a different type of commitment and leadership contribution. So we want to prepare that person as best we possibly can for that leveling up that they'll have to do. +++++++++++++++++++++ In case you're counting, this was Episode 98. And we're getting closer to that milestone of 100 episodes. As I said last week, we have a very special guest for that episode. Someone who inadvertently had a major impact on my career. I'll give you a hint at this person's identity. She or he took their undergraduate degree from Cornell University.  But before we get to episode 100, we have Episode 99. Our guest next week is Dr. Barry Corey, the President of Biola University.  [00:22:37] Barry Corey: My father was a Pentecostal preacher in a hardscrabble town outside of Boston, Massachusetts. My parents did an unorthodox thing and allowed me to go to an all-boys Catholic preparatory school called St. John's in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. Had a great education there. The great contributions that Catholics have made to education and virtues and morals and the values that needed to be embedded in education.   Links and Resources JobfitMatters Website Next Gen Nonprofit Leadership with Tommy Thomas Alvin Sanders - World Impact Uncommon Church: Community Transformation for the Common Good by Alvin Sanders Redemptive Poverty Work by Alvin Sanders Bridging the Diversity Gap: Leading Toward God's Multi-Ethnic Kingdom by Alvin Sanders   Connect Tommy Thomas - tthomas@jobfitmatters.com Tommy's LinkedIn Profile Alvin's LinkedIn Profile  

[00:00:00] Alvin Sanders: The hardest decision I had to make concerning my own personal level of leadership was the decision that I made in 2007 to leave the pastorate and to work for the denomination. And the thing that got me was the President who unfortunately has passed away, Bill Hamill, he asked me the question, he said, Alvin, do you want to influence one church or do you want to influence 1500 churches? And honestly, I had to ask to myself, and I said I want to influence 1500 churches. ​+++++++++++++++++++++++ [00:00:34] Tommy Thomas: Our guest today is Dr. Alvin Sanders. On his LinkedIn Profile it says, President and CEO of World Impact, Adjunct Seminary Professor, Advocate for Redemptive Poverty Work, Husband, Father, Author, Mentor, and Loves Sports. I imagine we could do a podcast episode on all those titles, particularly the one about sports. But today I want to focus on Alvin's role as the President and CEO of World Impact, and in particular their work as an advocate for redemptive poverty. Alvin, give us your elevator speech on World Impact.  [00:01:17] Alvin Sanders: World Impact started about 52 years ago and we're trying to solve the problem that 95% of the world's pastors have no formal ministry training. We believe that we provide effective ministry training that's affordable and accessible as part of the solution to that problem. And our theory of change is that trained urban pastors lead to healthier churches, which leads to them impacting their community toward flourishing.  [00:01:45] Tommy Thomas: Good. You got that one down. [00:01:46] Alvin Sanders: That's good. I don't know if that was 30 seconds or not. I got it.  [00:01:50] Tommy Thomas: To our listeners, Alvin and I met, at least for me, in an unusual way. I was conducting the CEO search for the City Gospel Mission in Cincinnati, and I did my LinkedIn research and I liked Alvin's background. I thought he might be a good candidate. So, I called him, and he said, no, he was pretty committed to World Impact, but then he turned the tables on me. He says we need a couple of additional cabinet members. Would you be interested in helping us? And next thing I knew Alvin had recruited me to help him with two searches. I didn't have to submit a proposal or anything.  So, Alvin, I guess I owe you a big thank you for trusting us with that work. [00:02:26] Alvin Sanders:  You did an excellent job. I have two awesome team members, and we're a better organization because of your work.  [00:02:34] Tommy Thomas: Thank you. Take me into a little bit of your background. I'm always curious how people got their start.  What do you remember about your childhood that maybe has contributed to the man you are today? [00:02:44] Alvin Sanders: Yeah, so I'm a military brat. My father was in the Air Force for 30 years and we lived globally. For instance, I spent four years in Okinawa, Japan during my formative language years, and I don't remember this, but I've been told that I used to be able to speak fluent Japanese, so I wish that I could conjure that up again, but I can't. But that had a big effect on me. Because I grew up what's called a third culture kid. And you can look that term up, but it's essentially a person who could see into different cultures while not being in them, I would say you grow up organically, culturally flexible. That's probably the easiest way to describe it. And so that led me to ministry. I've been in ministry for 32 years. I started in ministry at 21. Worked at a variety of places but they always had a connection to the urban context of making disciples there. And I worked with the Evangelical Free Church of America planting an inner-city church in the city of Cincinnati. I worked for the aforementioned City Gospel Mission before that under their president who's no longer with them, Roger Howell. And then I also worked for the Evangelical Free Church of America denomination, running their All-People initiative. And then I came the World Impact as a Senior Vice President in 2015 and then became president in 2017.  And this is where I hang my hat.  [00:04:06] Tommy Thomas: So, growing up all over the world, what was high school like for you?  [00:04:10] Alvin Sanders: My dad ended up retiring in Columbus, Ohio, so that's where I spent most of my time. And that's where I went to high school. [00:04:17] Tommy Thomas: And when you got to college, how'd you pick a major? [00:04:21] Alvin Sanders: The first major that I picked was Physical Therapy, and the first college that I went to was Bowling Green State University near Toledo, Ohio. And while on campus I got very involved with a campus ministry. None of the major ones, but just a small one that was started by a fellow student. And it was during that time I said, man, I think God's calling me to do this full time. So, I ended up transferring to Cincinnati Christian University and as they say, the rest is history. [00:04:52] Tommy Thomas: What's something that people might be surprised to know about you that maybe is not on your LinkedIn profile or not in any writing anywhere? [00:05:01] Alvin Sanders: Oh, let's see. That I'm a homebody. Much to my wife's chagrin. A perfect day for me is doing nothing. It is sitting in my recliner downstairs with food and drink and watching good sports or good news stories or whatever, but I love to do nothing.  [00:05:27] Tommy Thomas: Now that would come as a surprise just from my working with you because in our relationship, you've been out and about and upfront and returning from a speaking engagement or headed to one.  [00:05:38] Alvin Sanders: Yes, and I'm sure that's probably what plays into those times when I don't have anything to do. I cherish them.  [00:05:43] Tommy Thomas: Take me back to your first management job when you actually had somebody that you were responsible for. What do you remember about that? [00:05:51] Alvin Sanders: The crazy thing, it was both a blessing and a curse, was the first ministry position I've ever held. I had pretty significant responsibilities. And I learned I can be an intense person.  God bless the first people that I had to supervise and the first volunteers I had to direct because with a military and athletic background and an intense personality – I'm sure those people got fried. I was probably a marine minister; I would say so to speak. And what I remember is God's providence and blessing the success of the things that I did. And I also had a lot of learning lessons about what it means to really invest and treat people with respect and dignity.  [00:06:44] Tommy Thomas:  You've had a long career in ministry and I'm sure you've had times that have “tested your mettle”. Maybe can you take us into one of those and what you learned or maybe didn't learn from it?  [00:06:55] Alvin Sanders:  The biggest, one of those things, Tommy, that tested my mettle was when me and my wife planted at a church in inner-city Cincinnati. About six months into the church planting experience, there was a police shooting of a young black teenager by a white police officer. This was spring of 2001 and the neighborhood in which we planted a church where the shooting took place exploded in civil disobedience. And you want to talk about the crucible of ministry and trying to figure out what to do. We were young church planters. Six months in just trying to get a church together and draw people, and then all of a sudden, this thing happens. And we learned to depend upon God and that Proverbs, I think it's Proverbs 3:5-6, trust in Lord and all that you do and lean not on your own understanding. In all thy ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths because there's no strategic plan for planting a church in the middle of a race riot. There just isn't. So, we really learned what it means to trust the Lord and invest in people deeply, invest in a neighborhood deeply so that we can both improve the lives and hearts of the people as well as the neighborhood and pursue the common good.  And so, that changed the trajectory of my life.  [00:08:15] Tommy Thomas: So yeah, pursuing the common good. What did that look like, could you take us into how you executed that?  [00:08:22] Alvin Sanders: Yes. It starts with the philosophical bent of you have to be deeply committed to the people of the neighborhood and the place that it's in. There are no walls to the church.  The people who are typically in communities of poverty, folk come in there and they don't have a deep commitment to them. They come and go as they please. They don't have a long-term commitment to them. And so, in terms of the people, it's just a biblical process of, evangelism, discipleship, helping them become better people in Christ. But in terms of commitment to place we utilized very heavily a concept called asset-based community development, or ABCD, where you map out the assets of a community. Because when it comes to communities of poverty, in a lot of places, people always look at what's wrong with the community. Asset-based community development says every community has things that are wrong. What's right with the community? And look at what's right with the community and see how you can be. How you can fill the glass up, so to speak. If the glass is half full or half empty is the negative stuff half full? Is the water in the glass? So how do you raise the level of water, so to speak? And so, when we did our asset-based mapping, we saw that what the community did not have was many services for the working poor. Yeah, because most of the people who are in poverty are working. They're not the folks standing on the corner saying, please, brother, can you spare a dime? They're not those people. Not that those people aren't in poverty, but that's not what the face of poverty looks like. The face of poverty in the United States looks like a single mother with kids who's working a service industry job. And so, we really began a ministry towards that group. Working with my wife to establish a food pantry and health check center in the back part of the church. So, we established a food pantry that people could utilize once a month because that's really all they needed once we did our surveying. And that helped them stretch their check. They could come in, they could get the groceries, and they maybe had money for three weeks, but then this would be the fourth week. And then also while they were there, we partnered with Xavier University with their nursing student program, and nursing students would be in the back and they could get they can get diabetes check and things of that nature. And then if they had any health issues, we would refer them down the street to a local health clinic. And then we also had a person, one of our staff members who would sit in the back and say, hey - anybody have any spiritual concerns or any spiritual or anything, you want us to pray for this, that or the other, or just see general life advice from the Word then they could go stop there.  So, we had a three-stop shop where people could come get their food, they could get their health checked, and then they can be ministered to spiritually as well. [00:11:28] Tommy Thomas: Obviously most of my experience with you has been in the hiring mode. And I probably know a little bit of the answer to this next question. But for people who wonder what a CEO looks for in senior leadership, take us into some of the qualities that you're looking for in leaders. [00:11:43] Alvin Sanders: Yes. Basically, and I don't remember which guru I got this from, or what book I read it from, so it's not original to me. But there are two main characteristics that I always look for in my team. Can they do the job right and can they do the job well? Can they do the job right has to do with their moral character and whether or not they fit into our core values at World Impact. So we screened for that, and then we hired you all to screen for can they do the job well. That has to do with skillsets and the abilities that people may have in order to do the job description that we have designed for that particular job.  Can they do the job right? Can they do the job well? Those are the two big things that I look for in my team to contribute to the leading of World Impact. [00:12:35] Tommy Thomas: I remember, and yours was the first, and I guess so far the only client I've had that used this thing, I think you called it a circle of voices. And I thought that was cool. And every listener may use it in their work. I don't know. But take us into that. [00:12:49] Alvin Sanders: When we're making major decisions, we don't do it for every decision. We do it only for major decisions. We do a circle of voices and again, I don't remember where I picked this up from, but what we do is whatever the decision that we have to make, we give to everybody around the table, you have to speak for at least two minutes, but no more than five minutes and give your perspective on what decision we need to make and why, and it's like you're in court, you're a lawyer, make your case for why, what do we, what do you think we need to do and why? And nobody else can speak while that person is speaking. And then I'm literally the timekeeper. So you only get five minutes. You must speak for at least two minutes, but you only get five. And then after each person has spoken, then we open the floor up for dialogue and debate and come to a collaborative decision.  [00:13:52] Tommy Thomas: On the flip side of that, and I hadn't been with you on this, but what goes into how you finally decide somebody's got to go and what have you seen the best way to do it?  [00:14:02] Alvin Sanders: We try to err on the side of grace. And we believe in weekly feedback. So, our supervisors theoretically are coaches. So theoretically, if we say you're to supervise someone, it's because we believe that you can coach that person to be a better person who contributes to the mission of our organization. So, if someone is constantly not living up to what we desire for them to do within our organization, then we utilize the tool that everybody else utilizes a Performance Improvement Plan or PIP. And some people think, once I've been PIPPED that's just the time period that you have for me to work until I have to find another job. But that's not what we utilize it for. Hopefully, we really want to say, hey, we want you to improve. And there have been people that we have put on Performance Improvement Plans that they actually emerged out of that, and they kept going. And then after a PIP, if you still aren't doing what you need to do, then we just have a brutally honest conversation with the person. Just say, hey, it's not working out here for you. It's time for you to transition out. We always work hard to get people to self-select out. And 90 - 95% of the time, that's what happens. We are long-suffering. We practice the spiritual discipline of patience. It's no surprises. The only people who get fired from our organization are people who do egregious violations of our core values. If you do an egregious violation of our core values, then you must go, because we've communicated our core values to you. Core values to us are not just some booklet that sits on a shelf. We actually live them. We do things to catalyze them. So, most people that get fired, they've egregiously violated, but the overwhelming majority of people who are World Impact transition out. If they're not, we help them figure out how to transition out and self-select. [00:16:15] Tommy Thomas:  You mentioned you were in senior leadership fairly early on. Who were some of the mentors in your life and how did that play out? [00:16:23] Alvin Sanders: Yeah, I've had several mentors the aforementioned City Gospel Mission and Roger Howell. He was my first boss who really helped shape and mold me into the person I am today. When I worked in Chicago for two years and I worked at a place called Circle Urban Ministry, Glen Kayron was someone who invested in me deeply. When I did my PhD studies Dr. Michael Dantley, who's a prominent African American pastor in the city of Cincinnati, as well as he was a professor at Miami University, and I studied under him. He played a key role in my development as well.  [00:16:59] Tommy Thomas:   Did these people see something in you, and of course I guess your bosses, they can understand that. But did mentors see something in you and seek you out, or did you see something in them and figured you'd be better if you could sit under their tutelage? [00:17:16] Alvin Sanders: Well, it's a combination of both. And I actually left one out that he's probably the person who saw the most in me at the beginning, and that's a gentleman ny name of Dr. Jonathan Burnham, who his church, Hope Evangelical Free Church, was the parent church of my church, River of Life church. And he saw me as a tremendous leader. Way more than I did. I had leadership characteristics, but I was extremely raw and rough around the edges, and Jonathan Burnham really invested in me and my family and helped us when we planted River of Life Church. And those seven, eight years I spent under his tutelage were tremendous. [00:17:56] Tommy Thomas: I never phrased this question exactly right, but I guess I'm looking for when you recognized, and maybe you acknowledged that you did have leadership potential and some of those rough edges began to smooth and you felt more comfortable moving.  Do you remember that?  [00:18:11] Alvin Sanders:  I'm arrogant enough to have never thought I wasn't a leader.  It was never about that for me. What it was about for me was getting more polished. If I was in the room, I was going to lead, that's just the way it was going to go because that's the way my personality type I'm told, so the old Myers Briggs, I am an ENTJ, and I'm told that's a characteristic of that personality type that we either lead or we influence. The head leaders, we take our ball, and we go home. That's basically our personality type. Okay. So, for me, it was a matter of how to be a good godly leader. How to get polished to be able to do that instead of just leading rough shot and wild.  [00:18:56] Tommy Thomas: Thinking about your team do y'all have any team-building exercises that you use that you found effective as you try to bring this group together? [00:19:05] Alvin Sanders: We have a meeting rhythm as a team. We get together for 90 minutes every four or five weeks, and then once a quarter we do a two-and-a-half day offsite. And the offsite is a combination of relationship building as well as business items. During our 90-minute time together, we always start our meetings off by sharing one good thing. What's one good thing professionally or personally that's happened to us since our last time together? We also always have prayer time together. And during our offsites, we have extended sharing, and extended prayer because I have a saying that I care much more about who you are as a person than what you do. And we live that. And we live that out. And that's the biggest thing that we do as an executive team in order to, for us to be glued to one another.  [00:20:03] Tommy Thomas: So y'all have operated as a virtual organization from a long time ago. And obviously, it's worked, or you wouldn't be doing it.  Tell us a little bit about that.  [00:20:13] Alvin Sanders: Yes. We were virtual before it was cool to be virtual. And the prior president to me, Efrem Smith, he's the one who implemented that. And then when I came in being virtual can be done, but you have to be very intentional about relationship building, like the things that I just talked about. Operating a virtual ministry can be done but you must be VERY intentional about relationship building. We have monthly prayer times where we have all staff get on Zoom for an hour, and half that hour we spend in prayer, both large group and small group. And in the other half, we highlight two staff members where we just do some lighthearted questions and answers and let everybody get to know one another. Once a year we gather all staff together for one day of team meetings, and then two and a half days of really just fun. And investing in one another and encouraging one another around one of our core values. Because we have five core values. So, we do a theme each year.  So, we do a lot of intentional relationship-building. And we just experimented with something that we're probably going to keep and that it's in the spring. We've had regional gatherings, so we have staff spread off all across the country and we gather staff for a day in Cincinnati, a day in Wichita, Kansas, and a day in Long Beach. And based on where you lived, you went to one of those locations and we had some training and team-building time. So really to sum it all up, it's intentional relationship building.  [00:21:45] Tommy Thomas: What was the biggest lesson on the positive front that your team took out of Covid relative to management and leadership? [00:21:54] Alvin Sanders: Wow. The biggest lesson. [00:22:00] Tommy Thomas: Something that you might take forward. You might think COVID is gone, but we're still going to probably do that.  [00:22:04] Alvin Sanders: Actually, you know what? It's what we just talked about because we weren't doing all that before covid. We were virtual, but we weren't gathering, we were not utilizing the tool of technology like we do now, and we were not gathering like we do now. [00:22:21] Tommy Thomas: I thought early on that Covid was bound to have some kind of silver lining and usually everybody that I talked to, there's some kind of silver lining for it. [00:22:32] Alvin Sanders: And that's what it was because we weren't we started praying online together because this is a serious time. We want to pray for our country and pray for each other. Let's get online once a month and all pray together. And it was like, you know what? This is pretty awesome. Let's keep doing it.  [00:22:47] Tommy Thomas: What's the most dangerous behavior or trait that you've seen derail a leader's career? [00:22:53] Alvin Sanders: The number one thing I think that either makes or derails a leader's career is emotional intelligence. Having self-awareness of your strengths and your weaknesses and adjusting accordingly. Being able to look at others and not see them as an object in your way or just, not as human beings and people actually caring about them and their work and their contribution. The number one thing I think that either makes or derails a leader's career is emotional intelligence. Having self-awareness of your strengths and your weaknesses and adjusting accordingly. As well as them as people, individually, people who do not have good emotional intelligence. Eventually, the house burns down. That's what I've seen.  [00:23:39] Tommy Thomas:   It's been said that we learn the most from our failures or our mistakes. If that's true, why is it that most of us are so afraid to fail? [00:23:48] Alvin Sanders: I don't think you can learn, Tommy, unless you do fail. I have a weird goal and that's to fail every day. Because if I'm not making mistakes, that means I'm not pushing myself to be the best person I could be.  Because no one knows everything. The way you get to learn things is you have to fail at it first. It's impossible to know something until you have some failures. It's impossible to know something until you have some failures, and then in those failures, you say, okay, what can I pick up and learn from this? And then you move forward.  [00:24:19] Tommy Thomas:  I was talking to Alec Hill, the President Emeritus of InterVarsity, or maybe it was Rich Stearns.  I forget which one. But anyway, they said, “Never trust a leader who doesn't have a limp”.  [00:24:31] Alvin Sanders: Yeah - Amen on that.  [00:24:33] Tommy Thomas:  I know you're a busy man and yet you've talked about how you like to rest and enjoy. How do you and your wife handle work-life balance in your leadership role?  You know what, I'm contrarian on that. I think it's impossible to have work-life balance. [00:24:45] Alvin Sanders: You know what, I'm contrarian on that. I think it's impossible to have work-life balance. I don't like to look at it that way. I like to look at it as seasons. There are seasons of busyness and then there are seasons of Sabbath and rest. And that's how I view my life and that's how my wife and I do that now. We're empty nesters now. Yeah, we're much less busy than we used to be. We're still busy. But I think like I said I'm a contrarian and I believe that it's impossible to have a work-life balance or I just never figured out how to do it. It's just,  look, I live my life in 90 days sprints, right? And I go, okay, honey, this is what my 90 days is going to look like. The month of July, not going to see you much. But look here, in mid-August, I'm taking 10 days off. We'll be together. So it's quarter-like to me, it's seasons. And it's seasons of super busyness and then seasons where you're not so busy and when you're not so busy, you make sure to take time to connect relationally with the people who are most important to you. [00:25:52] Tommy Thomas: What's the hardest decision you've had to make in leadership?  [00:26:03] Alvin Sanders: There's been a ton. The hardest decision I had to make concerning my own personal level of leadership was the decision that I made in 2007 to leave the pastorate and work for the denomination. And the thing that got me was the President who unfortunately has passed away, Bill Hamill, he asked me the question, he said, Alvin, do you want to influence one church or do you want to influence 1500 churches? And honestly, I had to ask myself and I said, “I want to influence 1500 churches”. And that was a super tough decision because our church, the Church River of Life. We still go there, by the way, even though we don't pastor there. Me and my wife says that's our third child. We have two wonderful daughters and River of Life. We basically feel like that's our third child. So, it was literally like leaving your child to someone else's care when we left that.  [00:27:03] Tommy Thomas: You worked for a great guy in Bill Hamill. I had the privilege of knowing him over the years and it was always good. I always loved my time with Bill. [00:27:11] Alvin Sanders: Great man. A great man of God. [00:27:14] Tommy Thomas:  Changing up maybe on a little bit lighter note, if you were a judge on a nonprofit version of Shark Tank and you had deep pockets, what questions would you have to have solid answers for before you would back one of these startups?  [00:27:33] Alvin Sanders: I don't know about specific questions, but I know the things that I would screen for. I would screen for the person - do they know who they are and what they want to do? Essentially, that's where my big questions would be about. Do they know who are they solidly? Can they solidly define who they are as a person and as an individual? And can they solidly describe where they think they want to go?  And take then, therefore, take the organization that they're leading.  [00:28:06] Tommy Thomas:  On the same line of thought, if you were developing a dashboard for a nonprofit to get a look at their health, what are some of your dials going to be?  [00:28:19] Alvin Sanders: I would want to look at how they do with staff development and stability. What kind of people are they hiring? What kind of things are these people doing? Are they organized correctly? The org chart, things of that nature. I would also want to look at their systems and how they do things and what are their processes and how do they get things done. What are the tools that they use? Are they correctly dialed into technology and things of that nature to help them achieve their mission? And as well as the obvious one is financially, how are they doing financially? What's their revenue generation look like? Are they built? Really, if you take those things together, then you can make a determination.  Are they built for sustainability for the long haul?  [00:29:07] Tommy Thomas: If you could go back to a time and tell your younger self one thing, what would that be? [00:29:12] Alvin Sanders: Relax. Relax. Not that serious. Slow down. Why are you running so hard? Where are you trying to go? Stop and smell the roses. [00:29:26] Tommy Thomas: If you had a do-over in your career, what would it be? [00:29:30] Alvin Sanders: I would say in the generality, there were probably opportunities. Here let me give a little bit of context. Okay. God is very merciful to me in that there are opportunities that I turned down, which for whatever reason, circle back to me. And then the second or third time, I recognized it for the opportunity that it was, and I took it. So, the one do over, I would say just speaking in generalities, is being able to recognize opportunities for what they are right off the bat. And not having God have to circle back for me.  [00:30:24] Tommy Thomas: I'm thankful to Alvin for taking time from his schedule to join us today. After we stopped recording. I told him that we could have talked for another hour. I really enjoyed the time with him. I'll post links to Alvin's work with world impact in the show notes. As well as links to some of the books that he has written.  [00:30:24] Tommy Thomas: Thank you for joining us today. If you are a first-time listener, I hope you will subscribe and become a regular. You can find links to all the episodes at our website –https://jobfitmatters.com/podcast/. If there are topics you'd like for me to explore my email address is tthomas@jobfitmatters.com.   Word of mouth has been identified as the most valuable form of marketing.   Surveys tell us that consumers believe recommendations from friends and family over all other forms of advertising.  If you've heard something today that's worth passing on, please share it with others. You're already helping me make something special for the next generation of nonprofit leaders. I'll be back next week with a new episode until then stay the course on our journey to help make the nonprofit sector more effective and sustainable.    Links and Resources JobfitMatters Website Next Gen Nonprofit Leadership with Tommy Thomas Alvin Sanders - World Impact Uncommon Church: Community Transformation for the Common Good by Alvin Sanders Redemptive Poverty Work by Alvin Sanders Bridging the Diversity Gap: Leading Toward God's Multi-Ethnic Kingdom by Alvin Sanders   Connect Tommy Thomas - tthomas@jobfitmatters.com Tommy's LinkedIn Profile Alvin's LinkedIn Profile

In our era, we are facing a tremendous problem. The essential ingredient for community transformation is leadership. Yet most ministries do not have an intentional process to grow leaders. Solid leadership within an urban ministry organization is critical for sustainability. In this course, Alvin Sanders will address the challenges of developing indigenous urban leaders. He shares a model of how an urban ministry can create and maintain a leadership “pipeline” filled and flowing to guarantee a stable supply of skilled leaders.Dr. Alvin Sanders has a personal mission to be with God, love his family, and invest in those who invest in the poor. In 25 years of ministry, he has served as an urban church planter, denominational leader, and university professor. Educationally he is a graduate of Cincinnati Christian University, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and Miami (OH) University. Presently he serves as a senior vice president with World Impact, a Christian mission organization committed to resourcing urban disciple-makers. He and his wife Caroline have been married since 1994 and are the proud parents of two children.Creating a Leadership Pipeline PowerpointCreating a Leadership Pipeline Online Course

Join us as we speak with Rev. Dr. Alvin Sanders, the President, and CEO of World Impact. He explains the changes World Impact has gone through, why informal theological training is needed, and how the organization is filling this need and impacting leaders.

24 Teams In 24 Days - Morristown West - Alvin SandersSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest Speaker, Rev. Dr. Alvin Sanders, delivers a powerful encouragement spurring us on towards unity in the body of Christ. If we are to have significance in this world (instead of just settling for "success"), we must learn to embrace the whole of the Christian love ethic which shows concern and care for every part of the body of Christ.

If you thought Riverdale's seven-year time jump meant the end of high school drama, you were dead wrong. But, as this week's episode “Homecoming” proves, that's not such a bad thing. The CW series dives into—with gleeful abandon—the messy world of small-town politics and private schooling, while still making time for what Riverdale does best: Street gang shake-em-ups, steamy shower sex, and plenty of harebrained schemes. As ever, our podcast Dial M For Maple is on hand to break it all down, with hosts Marah and Cameron asking the important questions, like, “Just how old are Dagwood and Juniper supposed to be at this point?” and “If Riverdale High is low on funds, why does Toni have the most glamorous counselor's office we've ever seen?” And then, in the latest edition of The Blue & Gold, we pay tribute to Alvin Sanders—best known as the show's Pop Tate—by digging deep into his delightfully bird-heavy Instagram feed.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dr. Alvin Sanders is President of World Impact and author of Uncommon Church as well as a pastor and urban leader. Dr Sanders talked systemic racism, the distraction of CRT and why a healthy, holistic local church is the best asset for an urban neighborhood. Of course, Dr Sanders gleefully submitted to the gauntlet of anxiety questions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dr. Alvin Sanders is President of World Impact and author of Uncommon Church as well as a pastor and urban leader. Dr Sanders talked systemic racism, the distraction of CRT and why a healthy, holistic local church is the best asset for an urban neighborhood. Of course, Dr Sanders gleefully submitted to the gauntlet of anxiety questions.

In episode 21, Sarah talks with Dr. Alvin Sanders—president and CEO of World Impact—about our relationships to poverty, justice, and Jesus within the local church. Dr. Sanders shares about his start in urban ministry and how his experiences have reshaped his understanding of poverty and of God’s desire for all communities to flourish. They discuss what it looks like on the practical level for individuals and local churches to engage in redemptive poverty work, right where they are. For full show notes and links from today’s episode, visit NotMyStoryPod.com.Join Sarah’s email community at SarahEWestfall.com/subscribe and receive your copy of Interrupted: Prayers & Meditations in the Unexpected.

Peter Kapsner responds to the news of Methodist churches that ignore the Bible's teachings on human sexuality forming a new denomination.  Global Impact's Alvin Sanders, author of "Uncommon Church," talks about churches addressing poverty and community issues as a way of proclaiming the Gospel.

Peter Kapsner responds to the news of Methodist churches that ignore the Bible's teachings on human sexuality forming a new denomination.  Global Impact's Alvin Sanders, author of "Uncommon Church," talks about churches addressing poverty and community issues as a way of proclaiming the Gospel.

In this age of cancel culture, individuals, institutions, and groups are publicly shamed for demonstrating or even just affirming an unpopular opinion or cultural value. When mass disapproval of the behavior occurs, they are “cancelled.” If you participate in social media, you’ve seen this in action. At the very least, this leads to bad short-term publicity for the “offender”; long-term, it means a loss of influence. However, most of the time there’s just aimless outrage that’s over soon. Few of the people or groups that have been targeted experience long-term consequences. Adapted from Uncommon Church by Alvin Sanders. Copyright (c) 2020 by Alvin Edward Sanders Jr. Published by InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL. www.ivpress.com Alvin Sanders (PhD, Miami) is the president and CEO of World Impact. He previously served as a pastor, church planter, and denominational leader for the Evangelical Free Church of America, leading its All People Initiative. He is the author of Uncommon Church and Bridging the Diversity Gap.

Empowered: For the Urban Leader. For the Local Church.Join us as host David Estrada interviews Rev. Dr. Alvin Sanders and Rev. Dr. Don Davis about World Impact's urban church relief grant!To donate or apply: worldimpact.org/grantThe Conversation doesn't end here, Share your Questions and topic suggestions below.Comment on this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/QkwJzGGPpag  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/worldimpactinc  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/worldimpact/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/World.Impact.Inc Connect with us over at www.worldimpact.org/empowered for all the different ways to watch or listen, and learn more about World Impact.Sign up for our Empowered Email at https://eepurl.com/dJ1XH2 

Empowered: For the Urban Leader. For the Local Church.Dr Alvin Sanders, President and CEO of World Impact, shares about developing new leaders, leaving a legacy, and investing in people for the future of your ministry.  Link to a PDF of the slideshow: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/j3zmbh/Leading_Towards_a_Legacy.pdf  The Conversation doesn't end here, Share your Questions and topic suggestions on social media.Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/worldimpactinc Comment on this episode on Youtube: https://youtu.be/SmPj5y5sla0  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/worldimpact/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/World.Impact.IncConnect with us over at www.worldimpact.org/empowered for all the different ways to watch or listen, and learn more about World Impact.Sign up for our Empowered Email at https://eepurl.com/dJ1XH2 

Alvin's faith began to grow during college when he was a part of a campus ministry. Today he leads World Impact which empowers urban leaders and partners with local churches to reach their cities with the Gospel. Learn more about his career journey on Learn From Others!

Rob Rienow encourages parents in the are of "visionary parenting." Alvin Sanders provides personal stories to help guide parents on launching their teens off to college. 

Guest speaker, Dr Alvin Sanders, preaches on "How's Your Love Life" from 1 Corinthians 13.

Alvin Sanders spreads his wisdom in the area of serving cross-culturally by emphasizing the importance of not allowing ourselves to be colorblind and matching our church to the demographics of our community. Chap Clark describes how to have an "Adoptive Youth Ministry" that expounds upon the concept of being adopted into God's household as His sons and daughters. 

Ryan and Sam had the pleasure of speaking with Riverdale actor, Alvin Sanders about his experience working on the show as Pop Tate.