The Jim Bradford Podcast

In this week's episode, Pastor Jim wraps up our series on developing a philosophy of ministry by looking at a leader's responsibility for cultivating excellence and offering appreciation. Pastor Jim explains that we are always called to the integration of anointing and excellence and that it is totally unacceptable for anyone under your leadership to feel unappreciated. 

We continue in our series looking at the elements of Pastor Jim's philosophy of ministry. In today's episode, we explore the topic of people and authority.  Jim points out that too many leaders spend their time showcasing their own gifts instead of developing the gifts of others. We discuss how to help others grow and why sharing authority can be difficult but necessary for doing ministr...

We continue our series looking at Pastor Jim's philosophy of ministry. This week we discuss the pastor's responsibilities in setting attitudes and sharing vision.  Pastor Jim explores how our attitudes are often indicators of our anxieties and insecurities. A pastor is responsible for setting proper attitudes and offering people a sense of security and stability. That includes hopefulnes...

A few months ago, we looked at a series of personal commitments Pastor Jim created for his life and ministry. Similarly, we begin another series looking at the ministry commitments that guide pastor Jim's public work in the church.  He refers to it as a ministry grid or a philosophy of ministry. Over the next few weeks, we hope these conversations help clarify your own commitments and help yo...

Over the past few weeks, we've been exploring four areas of pastoral oversight: Spiritual, Missional, Organizational, and Relational.  In this week's episode, Pastor Jim describes how these oversights fit together and how they help you recognize inevitable signs of decline. We also discuss how a leadership team can use the four oversights to discuss and monitor the health of the church....

A pastor bears responsibility for important organizational questions and that oversight is about much more than your administrative to do list.  In this week's episode, Pastor Jim explores the topic of organizational responsibility and how Jesus demonstrated organizational oversight. 

Each week we are considering one of the unique oversights pastors must steward. This week, we discuss the topic of mission.  Slowly, and sometimes undetected, the mission of a church can drain. We can lose the missional reason for our existence. Pastor Jim explores that danger and how churches, pastors, and individual believers can maintain a vibrant sense of mission.

Over the next few weeks, Jim discusses the four oversight roles a pastor plays: Spiritual, Missional, Organizational, and relational. In this week's episode, Jim talks about how to pay attention to relationships and why managing relationships is an important task for spiritual leaders. 

Humility is an often used word in Christian ministry. It is used so often it has a tendency to be taken for granted. But humility is central to following Jesus and serving in ministry.  In this week's episode, Pastor Jim explores the topics of humility and meekness and how they lead to greater freedom and a deeper experience of Christ.

Self-pity is pleasurable pain, a self-loathing that leaves us wallowing in the world's unfairness. Jim explains how self-pity is really unbelief and why it can trap us in life and ministry.  Jim calls listeners to make an up-front commitment to put more into life than we ever expect to take out.

It's easy to get frustrated at the people you lead. It's easy to stop believing in their potential and to instead slip into a kind of manipulation that uses them for your own purposes.  Jim believes that one of the central axioms of leadership is that people tend to rise to what we expect of them. That means a pastors job is always to believe in who out people can be. In our conversation...

When it comes to Christian leadership, one of the most common phrases is servant leadership, but for all our talk about serving, we haven't talked a lot about power. What is it? How should Christians handle it?  In this week's episode, Pastor Jim discusses the three types of power and how Jesus taught his disciples to think about it.

It's easy for us to neglect the work of the Holy Spirit or to understand the Spirit's work as relegated to a handful of powerful moments. But in this week's episode, Pastor Jim explores how maturing in faith involves learning to live in a constant fellowship with the person of the Spirit. Jim describes that fellowship in his own life, why it's critical for life and ministry, an...

Christians pray. As Pastor Jim explains, it is the breath of a believer. To be alive to God is to be in prayer.  In this week's episode, Pastor Jim discusses his own prayer life, how Christians can abide in prayer, and what to do when you feel inadequate or uninterested in praying. It's an encouragement for those who have been discouraged by pryer and those searching for ways to deepen t...

A spiritual center begins with brokenness that leads to the disciplines of abiding in scripture and embracing a life of prayer. In today's episode, Pastor Jim discusses his commitment to scripture.  The conversation is both inspirational and practical. How does scripture shape your life and interior and how can you find ways to abide more deeply in those words. We also explore the challenge r...

Brokenness is not a best-selling topic but it is universal, and for Pastor Jim, it is at the center of who we are in Christ and the work Christ wants to do in and through us.  In this week's episode, Jim explores how brokenness can deepen our dependence on God and why that dependence is at the center of spiritual leadership.

In today's episode, we explore the ways that Christian faith and ministry can become externalized and reduced in authenticity. Jim explores the danger by looking at the tendencies of several First-Century religious groups: the Pharisees, Scribes, Sadducees, and Zealots.

For several weeks we have been looking at the seven personal commitments Pastor Jim crafted for his life. In today's episode, we finish up that discussion by looking at the topic of joy. What is joy? Why is it so hard to hold on to it? And how do you get it back once lost? Jim also gives advice for crafting your own personal commitments and why the practice is so important not just for leader...

It's easy to think about learning as something we do in our youth. Once we've graduated, we spend our time applying what we've learned. But coasting on previous thinking is not only risky but misses out on one of the great gifts of God—curiosity and the joy of discovery. In this week's episode, Pastor Jim discusses his commitment to love learning and how he continues to learn f...

Leaders talk a lot about change, but sometimes we can be the one most resistant to it. Over time, nostalgia can rob us of our faith for the future. Attempts at leading change can leave us frustrated and discouraged. In this week's episode, Pastor Jim explores why change is important and how the Holy Spirit helps lead us into it. 

After years of pastoral and leadership responsibilities, Jim writes that he has come to the conclusion that his greatest leadership challenges and problem are his own heart.  In this week's episode, we look at the impact of unresolved anger and the risks of blaming others. Jim describes his personal commitment to owning responsibility.  If you are finding yourself frequently frustrated and an...

Questions about identity can drive us crazy. Fueled by endless opportunities for comparison, its easy to live and lead out of insecurity and anxiety about who you are or who you wish you could be.  In this week's episode, Pastor Jim discusses how he came to terms with who he was and overcame the dangers of comparison by learning to think theological and not just emotionally.

We're discussing the seven personal commitments Jim has sought to live in life and in ministry. The second of those commitments is to pursue integrity.  Integrity is a word that gets used by a lot of leaders, but what does it really mean? How do you live a life of integrity and why are secrets so destructive to ministry and life? Jim offers advice on pursuing integrity and on taking steps to...

For several weeks we've been looking at the public commitments Jim made when coming to Central Assembly. Alongside those public commitments, Jim also made seven personal commitments.  In this week's episode, we discuss the first of those commitments, but also why it's important to take the time to make your own commitments. Jim's are a guide, but he recommends you sit down and...

Spend any time reading or learning about leadership and you will run across the definition that leadership is influence. For some, influence becomes an obsession, for others, it's intentionally neglected. Pastor Jim takes some time to talk about influence and how spiritual leaders should think about it.