XP Leadership

James Forrest
  • 5.0 (12)
  • Christianity

 XP Leadership is a podcast for executive pastors navigating the complex realities of church leadership today. Hosted by James Forrest, a trusted legal advisor to churches and faith‑based organizations around the country, each episode features candid conversations with XPs and covers a wide range of issues. Together, we explore real‑world challenges, emerging trends, and behind‑the‑scenes leadership decisions shaping ministry operations—from governance and risk to growth, staffing, and stewardship. If you’re responsible for translating vision into execution while safeguarding the mission, XP Leadership is designed to help you lead wisely, strategically, and with confidence.

Episodes

  1. 2d ago

    Balancing Excellence and Dependence: A Conversation with Dan Vander Wal (12Stone Church, Georgia)

    Dan Vander Wal, Executive Pastor at 12Stone Church in Atlanta, GA, joins host James Forrest to share his journey from a business management background into ministry, driven by a conviction that churches should operate with the same excellence and leadership rigor as top organizations — while staying rooted in prayer and dependence on God. The conversation covers the biggest challenges facing executive pastors today, from the staffing shortage created by economic pressures, a wave of retiring Boomer pastors, and competition from creative agencies, to the growing need for specialized roles like marketing, communications, and IT within churches. Dan also highlights encouraging trends — a renewed openness to faith among Gen Z and young adults, and the momentum behind church planting — alongside real concerns about integrity at the top of large, personality-driven ministries. Dan closes with a candid look at how he stays grounded: rejecting the myth of "balance" in favor of finding a sustainable rhythm, protecting non-negotiables like workouts, weekly time with his wife, a coach, and taking Fridays off, and his advice for pastors stepping into bigger leadership roles — relax, remember God is building the church (not you).

  2. Aug 17

    Information Flows Downhill (Not Uphill): Tim Stevens (Willow Creek) on Leading Through Crisis

    Tim Stevens brings a rare vantage point to this conversation: over 40 years across five ministry organizations, including executive pastor roles at Granger Community Church and Willow Creek, and now founder of Leading Smart, where he coaches, advises, and gathers executive pastors nationwide. James Forrest talks with him about how the XP role has grown more complex over the past 25 years — from the rise of multi-site churches to the speed at which crises, scandals, and social media pile-ons now unfold compared to a generation ago. Tim gets specific about how he led Willow Creek through a fragile post-scandal, mid-COVID season — including a striking story about extending grace to a staff member who anonymously trashed leadership on a Zoom call, and a generous, judgment-free "resignation window" that let over 100 people self-select out of an organization that needed a reset, without turning it into a purge. He also breaks down a blind spot common to leaders at every level: information flows downhill, not uphill, meaning executives are often the last to hear the full truth about their own culture — and why getting out of your office and building real feedback loops matters more than any survey. The conversation moves through practical territory that will resonate with any XP: how to distinguish performance problems from culture problems (and why high performers with poor culture fit are often the most dangerous to ignore), how to develop the next generation of leaders by deliberately handing off pieces of your role, and why succession planning shouldn't be reserved for the lead pastor alone. Tim closes with reflections on leaving organizations without burning bridges, the two years he stayed too long in one role, and his own non-negotiable habit for sustainability: fanatical calendar blocking — treating time with his wife, kids, and health with the same seriousness as any meeting.

  3. Aug 10

    Inbox Pause and Sending Your Best: Lessons from 20 Years at The Summit Church

    David Thompson, Executive Pastor at The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, joins for a conversation spanning 20+ years of ministry alongside pastor JD Greear. David's origin story as an XP is a great one — when JD first offered him the role, he had no idea what an executive pastor even was, so he found a job description online, swapped in his own name, and brought it back to JD saying, "I think this is what I should do." David speaks candidly about the two things he hears most from executive pastors nationally: tension with their senior pastor, and a pervasive sense of isolation that comes from not having anyone at their own church to process that tension with. He credits Summit's remarkable growth — from a vision of one 1,200-person campus to 13 campuses and over 100 church plants — to prayer, a willingness to set aside personal preferences for the sake of mission, and an unusual commitment to sending out their very best leaders rather than holding onto them. He also unpacks how Summit uses a simple framework (Essential, Priority, Optional, Discouraged) to keep campuses aligned with the church's DNA without micro-managing them. The conversation turns personal as David describes working through burnout with a counselor, choosing sustainable rhythms over a one-time sabbatical, and how a tool called Inbox Pause transformed his mornings, his workouts, and his presence at home — while still honoring his team's expectations around responsiveness. He closes with the reminder every XP needs to hear: your growth is your own responsibility, so seek it out deliberately, in your walk with God and in your leadership development.

  4. Aug 4

    Assimilation Over Attendance with Ryan Britt (The Church of Eleven22, Florida)

    Ryan Britt, Executive Ministries Pastor at The Church of Eleven22 in Jacksonville, joins James Forrest to unpack what it takes to sustain one of the fastest-growing churches in America — from launching with over 3,300 people on day one to 15+ campuses fourteen years later. Ryan traces the growth to a handful of unglamorous but essential factors: healthy governance set up from the start, Pastor Joby Martin's unique preaching gift, an obsession with assimilation over attendance, and an early, decisive investment in digital ministry that paid off when 2020 hit. Ryan is candid about what's changed as the church has scaled — the same problems just multiply, and culture becomes the only real lever for holding a growing staff together. He draws a sharp distinction between the "momentum" side of the XP role (discipleship, vision, culture) and the "business administrator" side (finance, facilities, legal), arguing churches are healthier when those are split between different people with different gifts. He also names a blind spot he sees often in second-chair leaders: using "helping" the lead pastor as a stand-in for personal significance, when the real work is loving and following someone God has placed in that seat — chemistry and all. The conversation moves through hard conversations (clear beats cute, and the longer you wait the worse it gets), how The Church of Eleven22 systematized decisions like campus launches and staffing formulas to stop re-litigating the same choices, and Ryan's practical, unpretentious habits for staying grounded: an obsessive hobby, actually having fun, sticking to whatever spiritual rhythms your own church prescribes, and prioritizing his marriage over the day-to-day of ministry.

  5. Jul 8

    XP Leadership | Series Trailer

    Welcome to XP Leadership. If you're an executive pastor, you already know this is one of the most demanding and least visible roles in the church. Each episode, we hear from XPs across the country about what's actually working, navigating growth, managing pressure, leading teams, and staying healthy in the process. No fluff, just real conversations about life and leadership. Executive pastors rarely get the microphone, so this is where they do, and their perspective is too valuable to miss. Thanks for listening.

    XP Leadership | Series Trailer
  • 5 Episodes

5
out of 5
12 Ratings

About

 XP Leadership is a podcast for executive pastors navigating the complex realities of church leadership today. Hosted by James Forrest, a trusted legal advisor to churches and faith‑based organizations around the country, each episode features candid conversations with XPs and covers a wide range of issues. Together, we explore real‑world challenges, emerging trends, and behind‑the‑scenes leadership decisions shaping ministry operations—from governance and risk to growth, staffing, and stewardship. If you’re responsible for translating vision into execution while safeguarding the mission, XP Leadership is designed to help you lead wisely, strategically, and with confidence.

Information

  • Creator
    James Forrest
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    5
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 James Forrest