DoorWays® Ministry Podcast

In this podcast episode, Pastor Mike Goldsmith, the founder of The Ridge church in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, shares his top five leadership lessons learned from his 40 years of serving in pastoral ministry. He emphasizes the importance of self-awareness, perseverance, humility, and focusing on the next generation. He also encourages leaders to internalize lessons and beliefs, think outside the box,...

Joy Thorp, the First Assistant District Attorney in Rogers County, Oklahoma, discusses her experiences as a woman in the legal profession and the pressures and expectations she faces. Thorp also shares some of her most satisfying professional accomplishments, including winning a difficult murder case and prosecuting a 24-year-old cold case. She emphasizes the importance of trusting in God and rely...

It's common for an evangelistic endeavor to be a primary factor in starting a new church in Africa. But what happens when the program comes to an end? Stephen & Bailey Kuert started the ministry of Involved International with the intention to train church planters in Africa for long-term, effective ministry. Teaching the importance of "followership" has brought phenomenal result...

Courtney Jones and Maresha Walker are elemtary school principals in the Berryhill Public School District in west Tulsa, OK. In this episode, they discuss the reasons why Berryhill is a desirable school district for parents, emphasizing the strong sense of community and support from parents. Courtney and Maresha also talk about their own leadership journeys and the importance of building relationsh...

In this podcast episode, Ric Shields and John McVay discuss the importance of having an accountability partner. They share their personal experiences and reasons why having an accountability partner can be helpful, such as challenging each other, strategizing goals, providing support during difficult times, and acting as an independent observer. They also emphasize the importance of shared interes...

Matt Dinkel wears a lot of hats...literally and figuratively. In addition to being a husband and father, he is a senior manager with Oracle Health and often spends his days in one meeting followed by another. He begins most mornings by choosing hats from his closet and putting them on his desk. A different hat reminds him of the role he needs to play in an upcoming meeting. As a manager, a leader,...

Jadon Cook is a Metaverse Engineer at Oral Roberts University. He believes we should make every effort to better understand how to leverage tools like AI, ChatGPT, GPT4, Google Bard and others for the sake of advancing the Kingdom of God. Are you afraid of what you don’t understand? Then take the time to listen to this podcast and grow your knowledge as we discuss, “ CONNECTING ” on the DoorWays®...

On our previous episode, Mike Atkinson and Ric Shields discussed some of the Expectations of a Leader. Not what a leader should expect from their associates or staff members, but what their associates or staff and others should have every reason to expect of them. Think about it: Communication, Attitude, Development, and Empathy help others to know the importance of their role in the success of an...

Are there things we should expect from a leader? Absolutely! Whether a boss, supervisor, pastor, or politician, we have every reason to expect them to lead by example and to be exemplary leaders. Join us as we discuss "Expectations of a Leader" on your favorite podcast app.

One thing. Larry & Sharon Smith have served the nation and people of Bangladesh for 44 years. What keeps them there is not the simplicity of living, nor the hope for accolades because of their many accomplishments. The passion that drives them is “Rasing Up a Generation to Serve God.”  On this episode with Sharon Smith, we learn some of the background to their vision and how God has helped the...

Jim Smith and his wife lived and worked in Northern Asia for over 30 years where he taught university-level classes in architecture. When he looks back now, he doesn't look for what we typically consider success or failure. What he does see is how he has influenced others along their personal and professional journeys. Sometimes, it keeps him up at night but he also finds joy in seeing his id...

Our guest on this episode is my long-time friend, Steve Glenn. Fifteen years ago, Steve owned and managed four companies that specialized in real estate acquisition, development, and finance that had generated nearly $1 billion in transactions in the previous ten years. In 2008 the largest financial crash in the history of the USA (apart from the Great Depression) began and Steve made a series of...

Elizabeth Farina says, “If you've ever had a puppy you know you have to train them. You have to be consistent. You have to be patient. Someday they may be your best friend, but today they may be chewing on either your slippers or your sofa.” Along that same vein, working with emerging leaders also requires an incredible amount of consistency and training. But before you know it, little by lit...

We've dropped fresh content each week for the past nine months, and rather than go silent while taking a break, we decided to edit a previous episode that we thought was really good. So we hope you'll enjoy this remix of "Contentment, Complacency, and Change."

Self-confident leaders know an important secret and today's guest, Pastor Bryan Darnell from Lacombe, Alberta, Canada, is using that secret to grow the church where he grew up as a child and as an adolescent. Bryan Darnell was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. His family moved to Oklahoma for three years when he was just a small boy. They moved back to Canada and then later served for nearly...

Robert Benson, an executive and corporate coach, says there are only three things you need to motivate employees. These three things are competence , autonomy , and relatedness . Those three will help to keep and attract employees. Add to those some well-communicated core values and your organization will interact effectively with your clients, customers, and with each other. They may seem like si...

If you’re really into leadership but not so much into the mission of your organization, you will probably need to listen to a different episode. Rob Benson, an executive coach and corporate consultant, has played in the world of leadership for more than 20 years. He shares with us some important tips for what effective and inspiring leaders do to make their organizations great. Thanks for joining...

A study from Columbia University found that we make up to 70 decisions per day. Most of them are routine, but some decisions may stump us. What to buy, where to go, and when to act may require a higher set of skills. Our guest, Rob Benson, is an executive and corporate coach. In this episode Rob shares with us that while it may be easier to make bad decisions, there are some simple steps we can ta...

How do you use a God-given gift when you don't know you even have it? Sometimes, those giftings may be "called out" by others who see them more clearly than you can. Christa Hoch was happy for her kids to attend the Christian Karate Academy and learn about self-defense. What she didn't know is that an unforeseen turn of events would put her into a position of leadership. Ten ye...

What's the best way to share your vision? The same way you eat an elephant; one bite at a time. But can those you lead really make your vision their own? In this episode, Mike Atkinson and Ric Shields talk about how to best share vision so that others can identify with it, too.

Vision. How do you get it and what do you do with it once you have it? It can seem mystical and vague to some, but leaders need to have it. In this episode, Mike Atkinson and Ric Shields talk about what vision looks like and give some examples of how to find it, develop it, implement it, and see it to the end.

The people of Ireland have been victims of oppression and brutality that stretches on for hundreds of years. They were dominated by the Vikings, the Normans, the English and decimated by the Black Death and the Great Famine. It all translates to cynicism and suspicion with little room for optimism and makes it difficult for a ministry like Zoe Community to gain recognition. But Katy Edgmon and her...

What might have happened  had we celebrated the unilateral Call of God to ministry in the marketplace? Would people rise the opportunity to be ambassadors of the Gospel in their context? Zak Dyer believes it may have played an important role in his life and the lives of others. Meanwhile, he has found his path to marketplace ministry as an Edward Jones® Financial Advisor and encourages us to live...

Corporal Justin Green is a member of the Tulsa County Sherriff's Office. He says, "A lot of people view law enforcement officers as people who like to drive fast and shoot guns and are always there to arrest the bad guy. But I think there's so much more that you can do as a believer and as a law enforcement officer to make an impact on people's lives." We hope you will enj...

Jerry Gibson believes the college campus is the most strategic mission field in all of the world. It's a center of culture and change, regardless of the nation or language spoken. He also believes that asking questions for which we don't know the answers is the entry point for discovery, and that healthy leadership produces healthy organizations. His multi-faceted opportunities in life a...