Texas Leadership Summit Podcast
Empowering leaders with the courage, tools, and hope to ignite a revival of Christian leadership. In each episode of the Texas Leadership Summit Podcast, leaders bring you empowering insights and easy-to-understand takeaways you can use to lead yourself and others. You’ll learn practical ways to grow as a leader, get involved in your community, lead your family, and grow your faith.
Texas Leadership Summit Podcast
Unity Under Christ: Strategies for Effective Leadership and Balancing Faith With Outreach To Non-Believers
What does true unity among Christians look like in today's chaotic world? Our founder, Tim Webb, tackles this question with insights drawn from Apostle Paul's teachings in Ephesians chapter 4. We discuss the pivotal roles apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers, and pastors play in fortifying the body of Christ. Tim underscores the necessity of submitting to Christ's lordship as the cornerstone for genuine unity, binding believers together through the Spirit.
This episode also confronts the alarming reality of child sex trafficking, emphasizing that 79,000 children were trafficked in Texas alone. We highlight the crucial need for church and community collaboration to protect vulnerable children and bolster recovery resources. Tim shares practical solutions and leadership strategies, stressing the importance of teamwork and tenacity in executing plans. Learn how we can unite as a community to combat this critical issue effectively.
Lastly, we address the challenge of maintaining unity among Christians while engaging with non-believers. Referencing Peter’s and Paul’s teachings, we discuss the importance of love, openness, and leading by example to attract others to Christ. We also announce our upcoming Summit, designed to guide attendees in becoming the Christian leaders they are called to be. Don’t miss this inspiring conversation with Tim Webb on unity under Christ and effective Christian leadership.
Hi, thank you for joining us for the Texas Leadership Summit podcast. We're happy to have you. I'm super excited today about the topic that we have with our founder, tim Webb.
Speaker 2:Thank you, for joining us.
Speaker 1:I know every time we do one of these, you're like, oh, now it's a topic I'm on fire about, and this seems to be one that not just me but so many are, because of the chaos and everything that's happening in our world right now, and we keep hearing this word we need to unite. I mean, everywhere you turn, everybody's like, oh, we're just not united. And so I think I love that you brought it up, that we need to address it as Christian leaders, how we're always going to have people that might not be Christians, or obviously, even with Christians, we can't see eye to eye. It's like the enemy. They can, you know, they unite, no problem, but as Christians, we can't get it together and unite. So how? Give us a roadmap, give us some directions?
Speaker 1:I'm really looking forward to today of learning how we can best unite with one another, and then also, too, how we can keep our arms open to non-believers and welcome them at our table with a good attitude, and how we bring them in so that we can share the gospel with them. So I'm really looking forward to today. Great, deanna, thank you.
Speaker 2:I'm excited to be here and talking about unity and how we unite today. I think it's vitally important. One of the first things we need to do is define unity, and where do we find that definition? Where do we have any kind of concept of what it means to be united as Christians? And so unity is many becoming one. It is even diversified, combining all the parts and then bring them together to become one.
Speaker 2:I think the Apostle Paul does a great job of this. Not that he cares about what I think or God does, but in Ephes, chapter 4, in talking about the church, what Paul says about unity is that we're to be diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. There's one body and you hear this over and over, this one word, and it's one, one body, one spirit, one body, one spirit, just as you all were called in one hope, one hope if you're calling one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who's over all and through, all and in all. And so what Paul is saying is that, for every believer, you need to understand that, regardless of what you think, regardless of what you feel, regardless of what you believe, if you have taken the name of Christ as your Savior for the forgiveness of your sins, what he did on the cross. You have been baptized into one body and so it doesn't matter what I think, I am going to be held accountable to the Lord one day for how I work at preserving and being diligent about preserving the unity of the body, because I'm in the body. You can't say, well, I don't want to be a part of that group or this group or whatever. So we've got to start at the same place, and what the scriptures say is that, as a believer, you and I, brothers and sisters in the faith, others, and so we're one body and Christ is the head and so the purpose behind that.
Speaker 2:When you look at the body in chapter four he says he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, teachers, pastors. And why? Why did he do that? Because they were to equip the saints. They're to equip the saints for the work of the services. So you've got those who are busy about teaching and equipping believers to do the work. It's so. You've got those who are busy about teaching and equipping believers to do the work. It's not the pastors and teachers that are actually engaging in accomplishing certain goals, but they are equipping the people to be a part of doing that work.
Speaker 2:And so why? What work are we talking about? Building up the body of Christ, and how long do we do that? Well, he says, until we all attain the stature of Christ. There's one man, we're talking about one man here, one body, and that is Christ, and so he. So how long do I keep doing this? Until we all obtain the unity of this mature man, the measure of the stature which belongs to Christ.
Speaker 2:And so the result is that we're no longer being tossed about by every wind of doctrine. We know who we are, we know what we're supposed to do, we know how long we're to do this, and we're to be busy about following this leader. His name is Jesus, and so I think, for some of us, we have a problem with that, because we say that we want Christ's forgiveness, we take him as Savior, but we often don't submit to his lordship, we often don't submit to the fact that we're his body and he's the one that determines the direction. And so I think it's a great place to start with this unity. I need to understand this is based on what God's revelation through the Apostle Paul, what it says about unity, who I am, my purpose for being and how long do I keep doing this, serving Christ as a part of his body? Well, until it's perfection, until we're the perfect image, and we know that's not going to take place, until the resurrection.
Speaker 1:Well, and what I'm hearing from that too? The takeaway is we're trying to unite with one another, and there is no unity with all of us together without us making sure we're united with Christ. That is what we have to unite under, and we're all trying to do it. Without Him, we're all like, oh, we're Christians, but we're reuniting with one another, but not with Him, and that's where the true unity comes from.
Speaker 2:Well, it's interesting you say that and pointing that out, because right now I'm hearing a lot of pastors, a lot of movements across the country where they're calling pastors to unite, come together for the sake of the country, for the sake of the nation, for the sake of the community.
Speaker 2:And the reality is this I'm not going to submit to someone else who's a fallen man if I don't understand that that person, that man or woman, is coming under the lordship of Christ, the leadership of Christ. Woman is coming under the lordship of Christ, the leadership of Christ. So I think a great question to ask is who are we trying to unite under? Who are we trying to unite under? And so we've got a lot of great leaders and they have great intentions and they're doing a lot of work of bringing God's people together, but I think we continue to miss the main point of all of this is that our allegiance is to Christ first and foremost, and so it is. When I come under his lordship and I understand that he's the head of the church, then all of a sudden, I'm going to have to ask myself some hard questions why I'm doing what I'm doing. What's my motivation?
Speaker 2:Okay, so if it's just about creating an America again. That once was. You know, I'm just. I'm just contributing to the same cycle. What's going to be different this time?
Speaker 2:And so I think it's great to understand, in any organization, any organization, whether it's a movement of God at the national level, state level, local level, some churches, pastors coming together, who are you uniting under? There's always a person that represents the leadership of Christ. There's always someone. In order to be a great leader, you first have to be a great follower, and so your immediate leader of any organization or group. Who are they following? Are they following Christ? So who are you trying to unite as well?
Speaker 2:I think it's important to understand that when I'm working on uniting pastors in a local community, I'm not going to get bogged down in the weeds. I'm not going to get bogged down in the different denominational differences, because typically, when we bring pastors together, we're standing under an orthodox Christian doctrine. What I mean by that? There are many variances on things that aren't you know, the minors don't major on the minors when we're coming together as different congregations whose head is Christ with the basic Orthodox Christian doctrine. Most of the time when we do this, it's to advance a solution within a community. So a community has a crisis, local pastors come together, bring local congregations together, and so we bring forth a biblical solution that can bring about right responses. So, right thinking, right response. And so I'm not going to get bogged down in the differences of the congregations, I'm simply going okay, are we all submitting to Christ? Are we all going to be held accountable by Christ one day? Absolutely Okay. So at least we ought to be able to demonstrate the love of Christ in this local body of believers, multiple congregations. So I'm not going to be worried about what one pastor teaches in his congregation as long as we have this common doctrine, if you will, teaches in his congregation, as long as we have this common doctrine, if you will. And so my church, that I pastor, it's going to look different on Sunday morning I may teach differently. But so the goal what are we trying to do here as we come together? So what groups are uniting? If it's uniting a local congregation, that's different, because then we can focus on our immediate goals within the congregation. So I think we all have to ask that question who are you trying to unite? Who are you trying to unite under? Who's your leader?
Speaker 2:Some of the things that we need to look at with the leader is this leader connecting with the people? In other words, is he making the transfer from head to heart? It's one thing to have a lot of knowledge, but you yourself know this. If you don't think their leader cares about you, how far are you going to follow that person? You're not. That's exactly right.
Speaker 2:I think John Maxwell has said that this way, an effective leader connects with the heart of their people, and so it's not enough just to espouse knowledge. It has to transfer from head to heart. And then the other thing you need to ask yourself with the leader that you're uniting under does the talk match the walk? Because I've had multiple families in crisis, and one of the things that would keep coming back over and over is dad says one thing at home and he says something different in the community or a church, and so your leader needs to be able to be transparent. What you see out in public is the same behind closed doors, and so we need that demonstration, that witness that the walk matches the talk.
Speaker 2:Can the leader relate to people, their life experiences and the solutions that they bring forward as the group comes together working on possible solutions to a crisis or an issue in community or whatever the group is trying to accomplish. Does this leader have life experiences and bring forth solutions that are practical, real? Now, it doesn't have to be something that everyone understands right away, but can that leader coach up the people and give an understanding to that? So I think many times we allow our emotions and I don't want to get distracted right now. I just want to talk about that a little bit. I think our emotions, but one of the things we often don't do is stop and look at who is the leader of the group who's trying to unite the people and move the people forward the people and move the people forward. And so I think any leader who is hesitant to be an open book and allow people to ask questions. I think you should be concerned about that.
Speaker 1:So, with all of this, you know everybody's saying unify, unity, unity. I mean, what is it that we're truly uniting for, Like what is the purpose?
Speaker 2:of it. And again, I think this comes back to once you understand who your leader is, who is the group that's trying to unite, what is your common goal, what are you trying to accomplish? And so let me give you an example, I think, which everyone should know. This example, everyone should know this President Trump is running again for the office of president of the United States. I've heard multiple believers say things like well, I just don't. I don't like him as a man, I don't care for his character, I don't like his personality. He talks too much, he can't keep his mouth quiet, he just attacks people on and on and on. But you have to ask yourself what are we uniting for? What does this man represent? What are his goals, what is his ambition for that office and what he's trying to accomplish as the president, versus the other one who's running against him?
Speaker 2:And it should be obvious I like what Salt and Light Council does the biblical voters. You know they talk about, okay, what is this side for? How many times on their platform or in their materials, how many times do they use the Lord, the reference God? How many times do we reference those things that are of our faith, as opposed to the other side. How many times does one side reference maybe, lgbtq, other things that we know? We are not about abortion, those kinds of things.
Speaker 2:So you need to be able to identify okay, this group, this leader, is about this and this other group, other leader, is advancing this, and so I don't have to like President Trump, I don't have to like him as a person, but I do need to be able to be wise enough to say, okay, is this going to give us a position as a country to become strong, to be about the values that we want to promote and at least, as believers, give us the opportunity to advance the kingdom. Now, the church is going to advance, regardless of who's in office. Okay, I just think we get too hung up on that. The church is often thriving under persecution, so we're going to do what we need to do, regardless of who's in office. However, it is wise, if we're going to be about protecting people, to identify those things that this leader is about versus the other, and so I think sometimes we take it too far on the person. I may get some criticism over that, but I'm not asking Donald J Trump to be the pastor of our church.
Speaker 2:I just think we take some things too far. We really do, and our hope is not in the president. Our hope is not in elected officials. Our hope is in Jesus Christ and the resurrection to come. Okay, so our hope is in heaven, because Christ is in heaven, but one day, according to the word of God, he's going to return. So, in the meantime, what is a leader that's going to give us the best opportunity to advance the kingdom? And again, the church is going to advance the kingdom regardless. However, I could go another step further with this and I think everyone could get on board with this and be united in this.
Speaker 2:There are thousands of children that are being trafficked for sex. Four years ago, ut did a study, a survey 79,000 kids were trafficked in the state of Texas alone and we typically have less than 100 beds available for those kids who have been recovered from sex trafficking. Now, if I'm looking at how can I best protect children and I know the existing government agencies and officials and leadership are facilitating the trafficking of these children it seems like to me that we could have some pastors and churches of different denominations come together and if the president of the United States is willing to work with us and allow us more opportunities to protect children. I think we could get behind that.
Speaker 2:As opposed to the other side, that's promoting the trafficking from the standpoint of open borders, and we know, in the state of Texas specifically, situations of repeat offenders in the trafficking of children. So, you know, I think many times we get too heady, we overthink things and we need to step back and go wait a minute. Hey, overthink things and we need to step back and go wait a minute. Hey, who are we trying to unite? Who are we trying to unite under and what are we uniting for? Okay, and those are some key things that we need to think about. So I want to encourage you I know you're a passionate person and so but sometimes we got to step back and just ask ourselves those questions we talk about uniting.
Speaker 1:Yes, so how are we trying to unite, like, what are some of those ways that we can do that?
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:So that we can you know how do we move forward. How do we do that I?
Speaker 2:think you know. It goes back to the leader, you know, and the group. What are their methods of bringing people together? Methods of bringing people together? They're, you know, methods communication how are we focusing our people on the right direction and communicating that? I think it's vitally important. We have a lot of people that are great with identifying the problem we do.
Speaker 2:I love a quote that I don't know the author, but this one quote talks about the wind. The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects the wind to change, but a leader adjusts the sails. I love that quote because we've got plenty of people complaining about the problem, identifying the problem, but very few people are willing to have the courage to bring forth solutions, because what if it's a bad idea? Okay, we have plenty of ideas that we think are great and we actually try to implement them. They don't work out the best and so, yes, we're going to have to tweak. But again, I love that quote because we got plenty of people that are complaining about the problems. They're identifying the problems, they can hit it from all different angles and we've got some optimists that will come in and say, hey, you know, I agree with you on that. That is the problem. Thank you for narrowing it down, but hey, we can do something different, we can make change and we can do this.
Speaker 1:It's going to get better. It's going to get better. Let's just pray about it. It'll get better, let's just pray about it.
Speaker 2:Prayer is important, but sometimes we pray about things that we don't have to pray about, and so that great leader, he or she, sees the problem. They have optimistic people around them ready to work, but they know how to adjust the sale. They know how to adjust the situation, their practices, their methods, their approach, and sometimes they have to be willing to think outside the box to come to a solution.
Speaker 1:Well, and that's where the work comes from too right, I mean to come to a solution.
Speaker 1:Well, and that's where the work comes from. Too right, I mean it takes no work whatsoever to sit there and complain and identify all the problems. I mean you can be a bump on a log and see what all the problems are. You know what I mean. And then even the optimist just cheering somebody on, the optimist is almost, you know, the person that sees the silver lining and the bright side of everything but still has not applied that work to it, whereas the leader comes up with a plan and also isn't afraid of the failure. Like you said, like sometimes getting to the success is trying things and seeing what doesn't work and then adjusting it, and then you find what that success is right.
Speaker 1:So you have to work at it. It's not something that just is automatically going to happen. You don't just wake up one day and go okay, we're all going to unite, this is all. We're all going to be great. It's a daily walk that you have to do and there has to be a plan and you have to have a leader that's willing to help you.
Speaker 2:I really love what our team here at our church does. I love presenting ideas. I do, and this is where I think teamwork comes in, and I think, as a senior pastor of our church, I have people who can execute. I have people who are able to come up with all right, pastor, here's the idea you're presenting and here's a way that we might be able to accomplish that. And so we have some great people who are good at strategy and we have some awesome people who are good at execution, and we need to be able to identify that. So who are your idea people, who are your strategists and who are those that are great at executing and they are tenacious about that execution? And so there are some who are easily distracted and they're not going to be able to carry it across the finish line, but those who are tenacious, those who are get it done kind of people we want all these people. This is where unity is important. This is where we want to bring everyone together and mobilize, but then allow people, in their giftedness, to bring forth the solution and execute it and bring it into play. Again, I'm referencing Salt and Light Council, but they are really great at identifying in the local community, who's voting, who's not. How to train up biblical voters, how to biblical citizenship. They're great about training candidates and so once you identify which is important, who would be a great candidate to run for office or school board, city council but then they help you as a church, mobilize and advance those people across the finish line to get them into office. And so it takes all of us. And again, that's the beauty of unity, that's why we're talking about it today, because the end goal how do we get there? And that's vitally important.
Speaker 2:So one of the things I want to mention as well, because you and I often talk about barriers, we talk about the local leadership, and one of the things that I think is important. It's so tough and it's our feelings, our feelings and emotions, and I think there are and this is something about you know, apostle Paul dealt with this a lot about people's attitudes and you're not the boss of me, kind of thing, and I think sometimes, when we have conflict in the church or in a group, people's feelings get hurt and they lose sight of the goal and their feelings or emotions. I'll have some people say you know, I just don't feel right about that. Okay, are we still in line with God's Word? Are we still trying to move forward? We are going to hurt each other's feelings, but your feelings are not to dictate your direction, your involvement.
Speaker 2:Again, the Apostle Paul said be diligent about preserving the unity of peace in the body, and so, when those moments come, I want to encourage everyone in leadership. Again, everyday leaders, it takes courage to do this, to be able to say you know what? I'm sorry, maybe I had the right idea, but my approach was off. Maybe in our zeal I've been guilty of this in the past I get kind of excited, I get kind of passionate, and in my zeal, sometimes, you know, I can say things rather strongly and I can offend some people, and so I've had a dear sister in the faith. She said it's not always about the content, but how you present the content. And so I just want to encourage our leaders.
Speaker 2:Everyday leaders Again. These are moms and dads, these are brothers and sisters in the faith, these are people that are holding positions. If you have anyone following you, you're a leader. If you have influence, you're a leader. And so I just want to remind us to be able to come back to a place where we're willing to ask for forgiveness. That's a character trait, I think, for many leaders who are successful that are transparent, again, coming under the headship of Christ. He's the head of the church. It's not my church. I'm following him and so I need to be quick.
Speaker 1:Well, he's the head of our household. Right, that's right I mean yeah, as parents, he's blessed us with these children, but there he is.
Speaker 2:But I need to be quick to ask for forgiveness, to seek forgiveness and to forgive others. And that helps with that unity, preserving the bond of peace, being able to say I'm sorry, being able to stop and say help me understand why we're having a disagreement. Again, this is a part of unity. Discussion today, when we have disagreements, how do we approach those disagreements? How do we do confrontation and maybe this is a topic for another day how to do confrontation in order to keep the unity. We do not sacrifice truth for the sake of unity. We do not sacrifice the Lord Jesus Christ for the sake of unity. So I think it's-.
Speaker 1:Which was that kind of takes us in. I know we need to kind of wrap it up, but was the next thing that I was going to ask you just kind of to leave it at is. We're talking about unity with other Christians because that is so important and seems to be such a challenge these days, but also when we hear it in the news or you know, out talking with people, out socializing, you know they're really wanting us, the left and the right, to like unite right, just to use the terms that we all know, and we don't want to be judgmental as Christians. We don't want to. You know that's not our place. But how do we keep our arms open and welcome those that aren't believers for the sake of wanting to unite and wanting them to understand the freedom that comes in following Christ, without dropping our own morals?
Speaker 1:and beliefs to unite with them. Right, that's a real slippery slope there.
Speaker 2:Right, right and again, this is just, this is just my opinion. Ok, but I go back to Scripture first and I ask you know what does what does scripture? I think that's the first place to start, right thinking right response.
Speaker 2:You need courage to get to that response, though, and so the word of God is going to help facilitate that courage. So I know Peter addresses that in first Peter. It's all about suffering and the courage to endure suffering for doing what is right, and so Peter would give this encouragement that in the middle of suffering, in the middle of being persecuted for doing what is right, there is opposition, there's the antagonist who's coming at you right, and you're suffering. Peter says that in the middle of that suffering, there is an opportunity to share why you're doing what you're doing and who you're ultimately doing it for. He goes in chapter two, I think, specifically verse 21,. You have been called to follow the example of Christ, who was without sin when he was reviled. He did not revile in return, and so when people see you being willing to suffer for Christ, the cause of Christ, and living for Christ, this is where we get our term apologia, apologetics, okay, and so many people have separated apologetics from suffering and made it a category about you know, being able to, you know share why you believe, what you believe, and knowing all of that, but Peter puts it in a different context. Paul does the same thing he wanted to go to Rome to preach the gospel. He ended up not going as a preacher, but as a prisoner, in chains. However, he still was able to preach the gospel and so suffering doing what is right.
Speaker 2:How we respond to people who are persecuting is very important. So, getting to your question, this is about how we love each other when people see us continuing to demonstrate the love of Christ that has been shown towards us who are sinners. We're all sinners who need to be saved by grace through faith alone in Christ, and so what I want to encourage people is that when we present our ideas, our solutions and we live out our faith and we have the courage to stand for our faith in our faith, how we do that is very important. The love of Christ should be evident, and so we welcome all people to the table. Everyone's welcome to worship with us. Everyone's welcome to have the discussion. However, if someone is focused more on becoming like the world, joining with the world's philosophy, I'm not going to allow them to stand in a leadership position to represent Christ because they have a different philosophy.
Speaker 2:The philosophy of Satan is your best life now without God. We know that for believers, our best life is to come. Therefore, we endure with one another as best we can, reaching people for the cause of Christ advancing his kingdom. His kingdom is coming. It's not here and now and I think some people's faith believe that we're supposed to establish that kingdom here on earth. We know that. Scripture is very clear. The nations are being run by Satan himself. There is an evil, there's an evil one, and I think we all know that when Christ establishes his throne here on earth and brings about a new heaven on earth, and he shall reign forever and ever, it is going to be a dictatorship. It is not going to be up to your vote or your opinion.
Speaker 2:So in the meantime, you know, in the meantime, I want as many people as possible to hear the gospel. I want these opportunities as we present these solutions right thinking, right response have the courage to stand up for our faith and present that faith and live it out. I want it to be exciting, I want it to be enticing, I want it to be lovely and beautiful. I want it to be lovely and beautiful. And so, you know, Jesus had no problem whatsoever with sinners fellowshipping with him asking questions they wanted to be. Why? Well, because we're all sinners and we need to come to faith, and so it would be great if we could just follow his example more and more.
Speaker 1:I agree. I mean, we're all messing up every day. We're not perfect either. So well, thank you. This is.
Speaker 1:I love this topic. I feel like we'll probably be seeing it a lot and coming back to it very frequently, with everything that's going on the next couple months, that sort of thing. Everything that's going on the next couple months, that sort of thing. And speaking of, we have our Leadership Summit coming up in Burnham, Texas, on October 5th, with a worship night kicking it off the night before at the Barnhill Center, and we would love for everybody to come and join us. We have some very courageous, I feel, speakers and very knowledgeable people that are walking the walk and can help us know how to do that in the four pillars of the education business, church and government.
Speaker 1:It's going to be a day. We're going to have praise and worship throughout it q and a's so you can get your tickets on our website at texasleadershiporg, and they're on sale. You can buy tickets for the night before together, all at the same time. So come and join us and have a good day of praising the Lord and learning how to be the Christian leaders that he's called us to be. Well, thank you, until next month. We look forward to hearing feedback and everybody submit your questions and that good stuff and we'll respond as quickly as possible. Everybody submit your questions and that good stuff and we'll respond as quickly as possible. But thank you, tim, for joining us today and thank you all very much for joining us.