Leading Simple with Rusty George

This season has seen a lot of job transitions. With tech layoffs and the great resignation, people have been seeking the perfect fit for them professionally. So what happens once you find that job and transition over? Adam Bishop knows a little about that and is on the podcast to talk about his experience with a job transition. I ask him about stepping into his new role at NewHope Church, and abou...

Two of my favorite people are on the podcast today: Pastors Mike Breaux and Gene Appel. If you’ve ever looked at your teaching calendar and been overwhelmed or unsure of where to start, then this is the episode for you. We dug into what building out a teaching calendar is like for a pastor, what to consider when building it out, and how use your teaching calendar as a tool to better care for your...

All of us wanna pray and be better at prayer. We just don't always know what to say. We panic when someone calls on us to pray in our small groups or at family gatherings. Maybe we even pull out one of the early prayers we memorized in Sunday School. But what if we could ask for something so much more? What if prayer could be so much more than praying for a good day or safe travels, but a real, op...

Today, I wanted to share a few of my favorite books with you. These are books that really impacted the way I looked at my faith. I hope each recommendation could be helpful to your mind and soul this summer no matter where you are in your faith journey. Now, all the books mentioned in this episode are available as audiobooks as well. So if you're on the go all the time or if the idea of reading br...

Hey listeners! We are doing something new, let's call it simplifying! Moving forward, we are renaming this podcast, Simple Faith. Why, because that's the goal! To help make faith simple. Simple Faith is a chance for us to give more focus to making faith simple. And there was no better episode to start this off with than this one. Kyle Idleman is here to help us figure out how to follow God when ou...

There were some incredible guests this month on the podcast. I got to sit with not one but two executive pastors who had some great insight on what it's like to lead from the second chair. Mark Mears walked us through his marketing tips and how to grow from a leader to a legacy builder. May was also Mental Health Awareness month, and just in time I got the chance to talk with two incredible indivi...

It’s the last day of Mental Health Awareness Month and I’m so glad to have Chad Veach on the podcast this week. Chad is an author, speaker, and lead pastor of ZOE Church in Los Angeles. Chad shared some of his stories as a founding pastor and a father. We also got to talk about his new book, Worried about Everything Because I Pray About Nothing . But what he had to say about authenticity and overc...

 If you’ve ever supersized a Pepsi, ordered a piece of cheesecake from the Cheesecake factory, or enjoyed a Schlotsky’s sandwich, then you have my good friend Mark Mears to thank for that. Mark has been a chief marketing officer for companies like Pepsi, Cheesecake Factory and Schlotzky's Deli. And he’s on the podcast this week to talk about how he got there as well as his new book The Purposeful...

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, so it seemed fitting to have a brain expert join me on Leading Simple. Bryan Hixson leads an incredible research organization focused on understanding how the brain works. How our brain functions can dramatically affect the way we lead and the way we live. It influences how quickly we can bounce back from difficulties and how easily we can let things go. I sat...

Lane Jones is one of the co-founders of North Point Ministries, an incredible church with multiple campuses across the Atlanta area. I’ve gotten to know and learn from him over the past five years and it’s great to have him on the podcast to share his insights with you. He led along Andy Stanley as they started and grew North Point to what it is today. Lane shares his experiences from the early da...

People hear the title Executive Pastor and wonder what that title actually means? Well, my guest Jim Sheldon sheds some light on what that role has meant for him as he helps lead Mission Church, a church plant in Ventura, California. He also gives some background about what it was like for him moving from a corporate setting to into ministry (including a role as a police chaplain). Maybe you've co...

April was an exciting month as we sat down with with Jim Wallace as he reflected on a new chapter in his life and Debbie Robert came from behind the scenes to share her experience as an executive assistant. Roy Ratcliffe helped us look at grace through his eyes as he detailed his time with the infamous Jefferey Dahmer, and Bjorn Bjornsson helped to make therapy a little more accessible. If you hea...

My guest for the week is Bjorn Bjornsson from Saga Center based in California. He was previously in ministry back in Iceland before becoming a licensed marriage and family therapist. Bjorn sits down with me and talks about his early experiences as a pastor, the need for mental health support in the church, and how you can find a counselor who is the right fit for you. Therapy can feel like a taboo...

You might be familiar with the name Jeffery Dahmer. In the nineties, the world was horrified to learn about his crimes. He was even the subject of a recent Netflix series. His name has become synonymous with the most extreme, the worst of the worst, and maybe somebody beyond the grace of God. So how does one forgive what seems to be the unforgivable? And what is it like to be in the position of a...

Well, today, you’re in for something special. You get to hear first hand what it’s like to be an executive assistant from my good friend, Debbie Robert. Debbie is the Executive Director of Administration at Real Life Church and has a wealth of wisdom to share from her time here. Debbie gives her perspective on how she navigated rapid growth, difficult situations, and working alongside me.  She als...

It's great to have one of our favorite guests, cold case detective and author J. Warner Wallace back on the podcast. He's joined us before to make the case for Easter and the case for the resurrection. This time around, we talk about his upcoming book, Jesus' impact on the world at large and how being in a different season of life has called Jim to different things. Jim offers some incredible wisd...

From figuring out how to deal with content overload to better understanding the future of church to figuring out why God cares about who we sleep with and rounding it out with the excitement of a new Dodger baseball season. I've gotta say, March was an incredible month for Leading Simple. It was great having each guest on the show this month. If you hear something that stood out to you and want to...

It's springtime, so you know what that means: It's time for Dodger baseball! It's an honor to have Marty Lamb back on the podcast. We spend some time talking shop about what to look out for this upcoming Baseball season. With new players, new rules, and new prospects, there is a lot to talk about. We also look back on the legacy of the late Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda. And if you've never heard...

There are no more controversial issues in our culture right now than the issue of sex and identity. We’re having those conversations at Real Life Church in our series Sex&Theology . And last month on the podcast, we got to hear Becket Cook’s experience (you can take a listen to his episode here ) This month, you’re in for another insightful episode. Sam Allberry is a pastor, speaker, and autho...

When you think of organizational research, the names that most readily come to mind are Gallup, Pew, and Barna Group. We've gotten to hear from Savannah Kimberlin as we talked through what a post-COVID world would look like (you can listen to the episode here ). And it’s an honor to have David Kinnaman, CEO of Barna Group on the podcast this week. David helps shed light on what the data says about...

Information overload in this day and age is a real thing. And there is no silver bullet to make all the information make sense for how we lead. So how do we sort through it all? Who better to join me for this episode than leadership consultant and content curator Brad Lomenick? Brad shares his tips for getting the most out of the wealth of content available and shares some of his favorite podcast...

Leading Simple has had some incredible guests this February. If you've got 15 minutes and want to hear some of the highlights from each episode, this is for you. If as you're listening something jumps out at you and you want to dig a little deeper, you can find the full episodes from this month here: Episode 239: Becket Cook makes identity simple. Episode 240: Ben Connelly tells us to stop asking...

If there’s one thing I’m passionate about, it’s supporting leaders. And Brian Carpenter shares that same passion. That’s why he started the Refuge Foundation and why we love sending groups to the incredible experiences that they create. The Refuge Foundation sets up experiences where leaders can not only grow but recover from the pains of leadership. Burnout is more prevalent in ministry and the s...

Being a solo pastor is no walk in the park. Gary Mcintosh knows that firsthand and wants to help you manage the burdens of solo pastoring. That’s why he wrote, The Solo Pastor: Understanding and Overcoming the Challenges of Leading a Church Alone . It was great getting to trade stories with Gary about our time as solo pastors, but it was even better to hear his heart behind the book and how he’s w...

“Should we keep asking for forgiveness? Rusty, what are you talking about? Isn’t that a commandment?” Well, to answer that question, I sat down with Ben Connelly and it was incredible getting his perspective on it. We talked about his new book Reading the Bible, Missing the Gospel and dug into some of the ways that we may make scripture a lot more about us than we do about the God we’re reading ab...