Episode 1640: Interview with Greg Woodard About his book Leadership From Within

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Scott Maderer: [00:00:00] Thanks for joining us on episode 1,640 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

Greg Woodard: I'm Greg Woodard. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent, and your treasures to live out your calling. God wants you to grow into your best self, and one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to the Inspired Stewardship Podcast with my friend Scott Maderer.

Flourishing for me, required me to take care of my relationships. So I had to make sure I was maintaining relational connection that was not just me relating to somebody as a child when I needed to talk to peers. So I had to have meaningful connections. Um, I was listening to God's voice. That's the spiritual rhythm.

Scott Maderer: Welcome and thank you [00:01:00] for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling. In the Inspired Stewardship Podcast, you will learn to invest in your.

Invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

In today's podcast episode, I interview Greg Woodard. I talk with Greg about his book and why leadership is key for Christian leaders. Greg also shares with you how you can align vocation and leadership, and I also ask Greg about how to allow our spiritual life into our daily life. I have a great book that's been out for a while now called Inspired Living Assemble the Puzzle of Your Calling by Mastering Your Time, your Talent, and your Treasures.

You can [00:02:00] find out more about that book over an inspired living book. Dot com. It'll take you to a page where there's information and you can sign up to get some mailings about it, as well as purchase a copy there. I'd love to see you. Get a copy and share with me how it impacted your world. Greg Woodard has been active in Christian leadership for many years.

He's the author of Leadership from Within Navigating the Path towards Soul Driven Success. He's a spiritual director, a life and leadership coach, and an active lay member in his local church. He's retired from 22 years of active duty military service, 15 years as a Navy chaplain, and seven years as a Marine and Army national Guardsman.

He is also pastored in a Christian drug and alcohol recovery program and local church settings. Over his years as a military chaplain in deployed environments, Greg learned to live a holistically healthy life and take care of himself and difficult spiritual leadership [00:03:00] experiences. His journey has helped him understand the complexities of the human person.

Greg holds a doctor of ministry and leadership renewal and coaching from Regent University, and most importantly, he is a devoted Christian husband of 28 years to Vicki father to two grown children and the proud papa of a grandson. During his doctoral work, Greg was privileged to write his dissertation on developing a curriculum that connects deployed chaplain's, soul care with their emotional health.

The genesis of the very book that we talked about earlier. Greg has continuing passion for the soul care of faith-driven leaders, and Greg enjoys walking with Vicki and their dog Bentley, having dinners out, watching an occasional television show, watching movies and football and traveling. Welcome.

Scott, thank you for inviting me.

It's great to be here.

Absolutely. So I talked a little bit about the intro, about some of the work you've done your new book, [00:04:00] leadership from within, other things as well, but. I always think of intros and and bios as sort of like Instagram photos of our life. You know, they just show a snapshot. They never show the whole picture.

So take us back in time a little bit and share a little bit about your journey and what's brought you to the point where this is what you're calling is. This is the message that you're called to put out in the world.

Greg Woodard: So my journey. Well, I'll give you, yeah, I know. I, I remember what I, some of what I wrote in the bio and yeah.

It's all the good stuff. Because I think that's what we do in bios, right? Our promo bios are, are, are all the good stuff? Yeah, like you said, Instagram. So I would like to define my life in three major parts. I have a before marriage part in that season of my life. I had a, you know, the normal, normal upbringing.

Tried college, [00:05:00] let's say college didn't like me and I ended up spending six years enlisted in the Marine Corps in my early twenties. Um, got out. Finished a college degree, so packed a four year college degree into 10 years of my life. So that's my before marriage. Right after college, I served on staff at a large local church, and again.

Probably more me. Well, in that case, I think it was more me than them. I it wasn't a good fit, but it wasn't a good fit. And so we left, but towards the end of that, I met my wife, uh, who would become my wife, and we've been married for 27 years now.

Scott Maderer: Awesome.

Greg Woodard: So that's the, that's the transition between before and after got married.

We were in our thirties when we got married. So we had children fairly soon after we got married again. Just normal family life. Tried to raise our kids [00:06:00] in the things of the faith and tried to, you know, we made a lot of mistakes. Probably more me than her, but we made, we, we raised our, our kids are flourishing in their adult lives now.

Um, and that season at transition point was, I reentered after a lot, a lot of contemplation and, and thinking through what we should do. I, I downsized outside out of an organization that I was ministering in. And through a lot of discernment, my wife and I decided that I should reenter the military.

So this time it's me along with my two kids and my wife. We jump back into military service this time as a Navy chaplain. And then the third major phase is the phase I'm in now. I'm after military retirement. I retired from the military 22 total years in 2023.

And now I'm living, uh, we have a, a uh, little guys, about 10 [00:07:00] months, almost 11 months old, uh, grandson.

So we're in. I'm, I am, I am, I guess I like to call myself semi-retired. I'm still active doing, I wrote a book and, and coaching and doing spiritual direction, that kind of thing. But I'm, I'm, I'm out. I'm outside of the, what has been the main part of my career. And we're learning how to be grandparents.

My wife soon will be going into that same phase, semi-retired, so we're looking forward to, somebody asked me the other day what we're gonna do. And I said, well we got some trips coming up, but I'm not really sure what we're gonna do when we get fully we both get on board with this whole retirement idea.

So, so three, those are the three major, uh, phases of my life and happy for any questions about any of them but that's my life in a nutshell.

Scott Maderer: So given again, kind of what you're, what you're doing now and, and the book. What was it about the journey that you've been on that kind of [00:08:00] led you to go in this direction to, to work on you know, spiritual rhythms and leadership and, and those sorts of components?

Greg Woodard: I spent. 15. My, my last, my second stint was 15 years in, in the chaplaincy. And the chaplaincy is a unique position in the military. We're not line officers, we're officers, but we're not line officers, so we're not looking for command and we're able to observe a little bit, be a little bit more detached than those who are in the throes of trying to build a career that's going to lead towards a command position.

We're advisors to the commander. We spent a lot of time with the younger troops. So most of my, a lot of my counseling was with the younger 18 to 25, uh, crowd. And I was also able to observe [00:09:00] the leadership from my vantage point as an advisor, as a spiritual, uh, advisor to the commander. So that gave me a different perspective on, on leadership.

Then I also watched leadership within my structure of the chaplaincy, and I've been in other organizations of a spiritual nature that where I've, I've observed leadership during my, the latter. I didn't realize it at the time, but during the latter part of my career I did a, I did a doctoral degree. I looked at I was most interested in looking at the soul care rhythms, the soul care practices of chaplains who were in deployed environments, might call it arduous duty assignments.

Uh, you're the, you're the commonly the only person providing spiritual care for. A multitude of personnel. In my case, I, my particular [00:10:00] uh, place where a lot of what I was thinking about that became the book that I wrote and the work that I'm doing now was in that on a deployed ship environment. So I had 800 personnel and I was, I was the chaplain, so there's a lot of pull from me, which I gladly gave, but there is a lot of pull from somebody who's providing care.

And chaplains also offer a hundred percent confidentiality. We're not mandated reporters, so people could come and talk to me and I was bound by clergy, penant confidentiality, and I couldn't say anything to anybody, so I had to hold a lot of things. Bottom line is we're taking a lot of stuff in.

So I realized, and I sat down and thought about how I had, generally, I won't say I was fully uh, that I was fully successful and always being resilient. I there were definitely, uh, days that I was I was very tired. Deployment is a, is a [00:11:00] tiring arduous experience and you have to be on all the time.

At least from a, the standpoint of being, being on a mission. So I I thought a lot about how I, what I did in my own life during that season to stay resilient. And when I decided to retire. I told my wife I was, uh, going to give myself the gift, which I'm not sure, I know you've wrote, written a book.

I'm not sure I would at this point call it a gift to myself, but I just decided I was gonna give myself the gift of writing because I knew I had something that you,

Scott Maderer: you think it's a gift until you've done it. It's like,

Greg Woodard: yeah, trust me, if, if your listeners haven't written a book. Don't go into it thinking you're giving yourself a gift because it's it's just a lot of hard,

Scott Maderer: it's worth

Greg Woodard: it.

It's also very rewarding.

Scott Maderer: It's

worth

Greg Woodard: it. Yeah. I was

Scott Maderer: gonna say, it's

Greg Woodard: worth it, Ian. It's worth it. I'm looking back on it and my proof copy is sitting behind me. [00:12:00] I'm looking back on it now and, and like, okay, I, I, I endured all that pain to do this and it's pretty cool to hold a book in your hands, but I also knew that I had some wisdom to offer the younger crowd I, when I was writing.

I mean, you can probably tell I'm not 35 years old. We're, this is an audio podcast, but we're visual with each other so Scott can see me and knows that I'm not 35. And I have a 30 5-year-old pastor, and he just took over as, as the, as the lead guy in, in a large local church. And I was thinking about him when I was, and he, at some point might listened to this podcast.

So, yes, I am talking about you. I'm not gonna say your name, but you know who I'm talking about. And I was thinking about him when I was writing this wanting him to have all of the success in the world and and to be able to stay in ministry for as long as he wa as he felt called. To minister, I saw too many leaders have to leave.

There's a difference between having to leave. And getting to leave. And we just [00:13:00] experienced, I'm not a Michigan football fan, but you know, Michigan just had a difficult journey with, with their coach and, you know, he had to leave for reasons that are still to be revealed. And I, and unfortunately that happens a lot in the Christian space too.

Mm-hmm. Leaders. End up having to leave and I've, for my own, maybe it's to my detriment. I've just become too I've become, I'm very attuned to those who are having to leave and I've had some in my own world that have had to leave chaplaincy or church life or whatever kind of mystery life because of whatever the issue was.

So that's all of that. That was a, not a very concise answer, but all of that has contributed to what I've been working on the last couple of years and the continuing work I'm doing now. I'm, I'm training as a spiritual director and I just desire to be involved in people's lives in a way that can help them to find sustainability in their leadership and in their life.[00:14:00]

Scott Maderer: So I, I definitely want to dive into some more of that and talk about some of those things. But before I do go there, one of the things I like to highlight on the show for folks is the intersection between what I call our, our faith journey. Our life journey and how those two, you know, one leads to the other and connects to the other, and how they kind of bounce back and forth that feedback loop between faith and life.

So how has, how has that kind of played out over those phases of your life that you're talking about? You know, how has your, your faith affected those phases and how have those phases affected your faith?

Greg Woodard: Well, I would say that my faith, I, I was saved in, in, um. In a wonderful tradition, and I could, I could walk you to the space in the little primary, uh, church room that we had.

Our, had our church services in as kids, and I was saved in that environment and baptized in that environment. [00:15:00] So I've been, I've been saved. I was dedicated as an infant all that. So I've been I've, I've walked the Christian journey my entire life. I would say that when I, uh, so it's always been part of who I was.

It's always been a part of my associations with people. Most of my friends when I was growing up were people that were of faith. Obviously I had school friends too, but it's always been part of my journey. When I joined the Marine Corps, I spent my first tour I spent a year in Okinawa. It was really the first time I'd ever been away from home other than maybe camp experiences and some retreats here and there, but it was the first time that I had been away from my, my parents and my brother and my sister and I.

I was, I also, I knew when I joined, I knew when I got to that first duty station, I knew [00:16:00] that I needed to build a faith that was my own. I didn't want my faith to be. Uh, I am very grateful for my parents' upbringing, and I, I'm very grateful for the example they, they set as, as, as Christian parents for for myself and my, and my siblings.

However, I also knew that I did not want my faith to be to, to be, only because my mom and my dad were Christians. I had to find it for myself, and I took six months of that time, not really. Just exploring and I wasn't going to church. Finally, a friend who, interesting story, I won't go into all of it, but he took me to a Christian Serviceman's Center, which is a, a missionary organization that sends usually retired military to overseas environments to serve local military.

And he then left the faith. And that was [00:17:00] an interesting, so I ended up in this, I ended up in this Christian service center home with this, with this, uh, man, single man that was in Okinawa serving Marines. And, uh, by this taken there, by this friend who was also exploring, but he didn't come to faith.

And I, I went, I'm not sure I left my faith, but I came back and began to practice my faith again and began to go back to the, to church in the chapel setting. And that was an important part of my journey, really establishing my faith for myself, rooting it, that I believed it and that it was mine. And then in my in my after marriage life, it.

It influenced the way we raised our kids. We tried to do our best to raise them as believers in a believing home. And they have done their, they've done their own, they've had their own journey, and I think both of them did. What, what I tried to do is really find their faith on their [00:18:00] own. And both of them have and then it I, I'm not sure that, well, obviously, if I wasn't.

If I wasn't a Christ follower I wouldn't have joined the chaplaincy. When I did. That was a definitely a sense of calling. And when we, when we're in this Christian, I'm talking with, uh, to Christian leaders, typically we understand this idea of calling what that looks like in her life. I know that's part of the title of your book.

So it was that, that's been a definite part of this journey. And then now as I've retired, um, military, I'm still saying military retired. I am continuing to fall, follow my calling by doing the things that I'm doing now, which are related in some fashion to my Christian faith.

So it's had an influence on all, on all aspects of my life.

I

Scott Maderer: wanna, I wanna talk a little bit more about the chaplaincy and [00:19:00] because I've been blessed to, to know a lot of military folks and, and a lot of military chaplains actually over the years, and that's something that I don't think everybody necessarily is familiar with, you know, in terms of you know they think of going to church and, and their, their experience at church and chaplaincy is a little.

Different animal than that. You know, a lot of military guys when they, or gals when they go off, you know, to their first duty station, it's kind of like it's the first time they've been turned free and, and let to, you know, it is kinda like going to college, right? You get to, you, you, you're out from under mom and dad's thumb and you get to do your own thing and, and all of that.

Mm-hmm. Talk a little bit about that experience of, of being a. You kind of sounds like you went through some of it on your own and then also some of it then as a, a chaplain experiencing it, you know, seeing it in others. How is that, talk a little bit about that, you know, how the chaplain sees different than just your typical military [00:20:00] position or pastor position.

You know, either one.

Greg Woodard: Well, it's different than both. I can only speak from my experience and and I'm sure you have pastors who listen. So pastors, I'm not, I haven't spent much time in the pa in the traditional pastorate, so I don't know it real well other than being a part of it as a, as a lay person.

So I will say. I'll just say the things that I've, that I experienced, and this may not reflect, will not reflect every pastor's experience and will not reflect every chaplain's experience. Sure. I think the, when I spent, when I was retiring, I spent where we're still attending this church, this is the church I referred to earlier.

We, I spent five months. Just being, I, I, I was able to leave my active assignment a little bit early before I officially retired. And I, I sat as I was contemplating if maybe church [00:21:00] ministry was, was my place. And ultimately we decided that it wasn't. But I spent, I spent some time with this pastoral team at this church observing them.

And one thing that I know is that, chaplaincy. One of the things that we talked about when we were talking about, like I brought up a little bit earlier about the genesis behind my book is that we pastors go home every night and chaplains often don't. So that's different. Not better or worse.

It's different. Typically a pastor's not facing a deployment in six months or gonna move and, and do a 24 30 month tour in the location, then move, they're gonna stay rooted. As I said, I, I trust the pastor we have now will stay rooted in our, in our congregation for for decades because he is young enough for it to be decades.

And I mean, young in a good way. He's a very, he's a he's a [00:22:00] super guy. So I, I really enjoy him as a pastor. At chaplains we deal with, we take in so. Commonly, again, just my own experience. We take in, we're working as a pastor in the chaplaincy. We're working as a pastor inside of a secular organization.

And you made allusions to, it's sort of like when you go up to college the first time and you are suddenly free from your parents' influence. And let's just say that there are some military members that. Take extreme advantage of that. And they do things that are not not commonly called wise. And sometimes the chaplain scratches his or her head and says, what were you thinking?

And then we remember, oh, they probably weren't thinking.

Scott Maderer: Yeah, exactly.

Greg Woodard: And ultimately, usually the individual figures that out. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. We also deal with a lot of, we're dealing with a lot of [00:23:00] trauma.

Scott Maderer: Sure.

Greg Woodard: Military members are I did 1520, I think it was, I averaged about two per year.

Probably 20, close to 20 Memorial services suicides. Deaths by just tragic accidents, training deaths. I never, I didn't deal with any combat deaths, but I will say this too, in my first two second tour, I was with second Marine Division. Outta Campbell, June, North Carolina. And that, and my, the battalion that I went to had just come back from a kinetic combat employ deployment.

And they were, they were there during the latter half-ish time of the second Gulf War. And they, uh, back into this would've about, been about 2013, somewhere in there. And they lost 13 members. They, 13 members of the battalion were killed. I remember walking, so normally I would go in the building in [00:24:00] one direction.

This time I decided to walk in the other direction and there was the wall of honor. And I looked at all the pictures of the 14, 13, or 14 Marines and, and a sailor that had been killed. And I realized in that moment how significant the role that I had was because it was, I was there as a spiritual guide.

And everybody has a different, in that culture, has a somewhat different idea of spirituality. They're not always coming to you because they're Christians, they're there, they're, you're there. They, they are coming to you because they need some kind of support. But that was, and that's a, that's a different, that's different than in many church settings because they're just not, you're not, you commonly, I trust if you're dealing with the, with that volume of death, you're probably in a, in a, in a more challenging environment then maybe some pastors have experienced over the course of their journey.

So those are some of the differences. And the confidentiality, I mean, I know there's some, [00:25:00] there's clergy, penant, confidentiality in church settings. I just think some of it's different. We take in, we take in a greater, uh. In my case, it felt like a greater level of pain than we were taking in. And my wife wasn't always available to provide care and comfort when I needed her to be present, uh, other than maybe over the phone when I was dealing with that kind of thing in a deployed environment.

Scott Maderer: Yeah. When you think about the book who, who's the book written for? What did, what did you, why did you set out to write it and who did you write it for?

Greg Woodard: I wrote, I wrote it for I want to help Christian leaders who are seeking to help others to live intentional, flourishing lives while maintaining their personal wellbeing.

So I wrote it for Christian leaders. I have a I have a clergy background, so the influence of the book is my own background.

But I, I have, I have, uh, [00:26:00] I have a, a senior chaplain who endorsed the book, and I have a, an executive, a business coach who endorsed the book. So I have I've tried to write it in a way that was in, that was, but both are Christians.

Both are both are influenced by the Christian faith. So I wrote it for Christian leaders. Uh, and I tried to be mostly, I would say it's mostly geared towards clergy, but it's, it's definitely for anybody who's a Christian leader who's trying to, to live a flourishing life.

Scott Maderer: So let's talk to that Christian leader that's out there, that's soliciting when you say, you know, help them live a flourishing life what does that mean?

Greg Woodard: Going back to that experience I talked about on the ship. Flourishing for me, required me to take care of my relationships. So I had to make sure I was maintaining relational connection that was not just me relating to somebody as a child when I needed to talk to [00:27:00] peers. So I had to have meaningful connections.

I was listening to God's voice. That's the spiritual rhythm. I had to maintain, and again as a person, a, a member of the clergy, we, our profession is to talk to God and we're ex, we're maybe interpreting the scriptures for other people. We're reading the scripture so that we can give it to somebody else.

Well, I had to learn how to do that from myself. Uh, listening to God's voice, emotional. I had to check in on my emotions we're taking in. I, I shared, as I was talking a little bit about what it was like to be a chaplain. We take in a lot of stuff, a a a lot of stuff a lot over over a long period.

Over, over. We're, we're taking in stuff all day long that's challenging and difficult and we're helping people navigate their own pains. So we have to engage with our own feelings and discern if, if we might need to talk to somebody that can provide some care and comfort to us. [00:28:00] And then physical, I made, made sure that I maintained my physical health.

I was ex, I exercised consistently. I was trying to, I wouldn't say I, I always ate well, but the word room was a pretty good place to eat. So sometimes I would get a little careless on my food, but I was sleeping well and, and doing the things that, that, that we would consider to be, that we, that would be considered wellness as.

Our foundation and I mixed those all together and tried to develop, and the book develops the practices around those practices within each of those different rhythms. So that's what I mean when I and those, that's the kind when, when you can find a holistic way to take care of yourself. This is called self-leadership.

When we steward our lives well. In a holistic way, then we are going to flourish as people. We're gonna do better and the people that we serve and more, most importantly, our families are gonna be served well because we're taking care of ourself.

Scott Maderer: You talked [00:29:00] earlier about calling and, and feeling that, that, uh, how you've lived out your own calling.

Talk a little bit to that leader that maybe is struggling a little bit right now, feeling like. I'm not a hundred percent sure that I'm fully living in alignment. My, my calling is being played out. Fully in my life, whether it's through their vocation, through, you know, other areas, but they're starting to get a little bit of that challenge.

And they wanna know, are things really, you know, is this really what God wants for me? You know, is this really, am I going the right direction? When they have those moments of doubt and, and concerned, what are, what are some of the things they can do to begin to, to figure that out? Um.

Greg Woodard: I would, I would say a few things about that when we I'll speak personally. When I've been [00:30:00] out of alignment in my vocation, which I've had multiple seasons of over the course of my life I did not have a settled spirit. When I was doing the work that I felt like God had called me to when I was living the vocation that I felt like was the right thing for me, I had a settled spirit when I was not living according to my calling.

I was not energized by what I was doing. It was tiring. So there, there's such a thing as a good tired when you come home from a busy day, for example, I, I, I saw this last couple years when I was writing this book. It was a vocation. I was very tired, but I was not burned out, tired during my chaplain life.

There were a little bit of both, but mostly I was a good, tired, not, not burned out, tired. We have a sense of our true north. What is it? How are we wired as people? So part of, part of knowing, part of sensing, [00:31:00] or at least potentially sensing your calling towards whatever vocation it is that you're called to, is knowing who you are.

So taking a, a good deal of time to, to become self-aware, good self-knowledge, you know, your personality, not all. Vocations are, are, are for everybody with every personality. So we have to do, we have to work towards working in an, in an, in a way that's in alignment with our true north, with our, with our sense of calling when we have a strong sense of vocation, when we have, when we were beginning to discern.

The our calling. I think it, it's easier, we'll, we'll have an easier time saying no to the things that aren't aligned with what we are. So when somebody asks you, it's a great opportunity, but you're, but you have a, a, a confidence, this is when I need to say no to. That might [00:32:00] be a sign that you, that you're beginning to understand your calling.

Strong conviction. And, and that, that, that's where you have this idea of you just somehow in your spirit, you know, you just, you know that, that you should say yes to this. You should say no to that, that there's some boldness that comes when, when I have had a better sense of, of what I was wired to do.

I, I had I had a gr a greater deal of boldness to say no to some things. I had more ability to take a risk towards what it was that that was gonna be required of me to move into the vocation that I felt called to. So those are all things, and I, I don't know that there's not a form I wish, I wish, like a lot of things, there's, there was some kind of a, of a magic formula that we could, we could offer.

To people, but I I think those are the things. Alignment. You have a you have a good sense of boldness and you have some, some strong conviction of [00:33:00] a direction. And I can tell you also that if you're married, your wife better, your wife or your husband better be on board with what you're doing. If they have a difference of opinion about the the direction.

If my wife would've said no to my crazy idea to join the chaplaincy, well then we wouldn't have done it. And so I think, and I think too, you know, at a certain level, we bring our kids into that conversation too.

So the people that are important to you and a and a good council of elders, a good counselor, uh, the, the scriptures talk about a, a wise council of people that can speak into our life.

They're helping us to discern a sense of calling. Those are all things that I would suggest to people.

Scott Maderer: So I've got a few questions that I like to ask all of my guests, but before I go there, is there anything else about your journey, your, your life or your book leadership from within that you'd like to share with the listener?

Greg Woodard: Well, I think when I think about, I, I referenced a little [00:34:00] bit about the book earlier. I, I would say to people that if I I would want people to find an opportunity. To slow down. Think about as we're I think this podcast is gonna come out later on, er, in, in, in, after we get through the holiday season, but

Scott Maderer: Look at this. I

Greg Woodard: think it'll be early enough to be be contemplative over what things need to change in your life. What areas of discipline do we need to pick up on? What practices are gonna help us flourish and grow as people? What's gonna align us more with our calling? Um, and if we're doing this holistic, uh, conversation with ourselves if we're really taking care of ourselves in, in, in, in effective, productive ways, we're gonna be more aligned with who God has called us to be and where we're we're and, and the direction that we should move in our life.

Scott Maderer: So my brand has inspired stewardship and I kind of run things [00:35:00] through that lens of stewardship, and yet I've discovered over the years that stewardship can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. So when you hear the word stewardship, what does that word mean to you?

Greg Woodard: Well, it means to me, I, my short, very short answer would be it's self-leadership. If we're talking about self stewardship, we're talking about self leadership. If you're stewarding something, well, you're taking care of it. If you're stewarding your body, your finances, your spiritual life, your marriage your children, if you're stewarding your home, well then, then you are, you're leading yourself well.

So when I think of stewardship. And I like your definition. I, when I think of stewardship, I'm thinking of self-leadership. I liked your definition of time, talent, and treasure. You're taking care of those things so that you can live out your calling. And I'm [00:36:00] thinking, obviously, I wrote the book, I'm thinking about those four pillars that I mentioned.

Taking care of your physical self, your relational self, your, your spiritual self, and your emotional self. Stewarding those, well, you're gonna be more effective for your family, for your profession for your God, for yourself. For your children all areas of your life are gonna, are gonna be better off if you take good stewardship and good self leadership of, of your being.

Scott Maderer: Well, the beauty is the way I ask the question. There's never a wrong answer, so. You, you, you're right. No matter what you say. So imagine for a moment, this is my favorite question that I actually really like to ask everybody. Uh, uh, imagine for a moment that I invented this magic machine, and with this machine I was able to take you from where you are today and transport you to the future.

Maybe 150, maybe 250 years. Through the power of this machine, you were able to look back and see your entire life. [00:37:00] See all of the connections, see all of the ripples. See all of the impacts you've left behind. What impact do you hope you've left in the world?

Greg Woodard: I hope that most importantly, that my wife, my children, my grandchildren would. Say now they're gonna be with me 150 years. So I, I'm gonna, I'm gonna make that as a caveat that they would say that I was present in their lives and they made, I made a positive of DA positive difference in their life. I would want the 15 years that I spent in my chaplaincy life to have met something to the people that came through my office.

I, I had a professor ask me, ask once he asked all of us to think about what was our favorite chair. And I responded that my favorite chair was when I was sitting in my counseling office across from somebody that was in a chair across the room. And we [00:38:00] were having a a conversation that was, that they needed to have.

I hope that I made a, a positive impact, and I said earlier that was a younger crowd usually. So I, I wanted to I, I trust I made a positive impact on that younger crowd. I want to, I want to be known as somebody who shared his hard earned wisdom with with younger the rising generation of leaders.

I want I think when you get to a certain point in life you have a lot, a lot more life behind you than you have probably ahead of you. Unless we are in that time machine and we're all actually still alive in 150 to 200 years I want to have offered the wisdom that, that God has given me to somebody and and that's my family, my children, but younger leaders that maybe [00:39:00] can avoid some of the mistakes that I.

And hopefully 150 years from now, my book will still be relevant and, uh, we're making a difference in those who need to read it. So what's on the roadmap? What's coming next as you continue on your journey?

I'm interested to see and see what God does with the book when you write and you spend lots of hours thinking and praying.

Putting words on paper in a lot of ways, the books, putting your life in front of other people. I want to see, I'm anxious to see what God's gonna do with that. So that's, that's part of it. Coaching, I like to coach. I like to spend time with people. I'm training as a spiritual director.

So I, I, I want to continue to speak into people's lives in a more profound way, directly related, related to how God is speaking into their life.

I wanna help people live holistically through the con, the concepts and the structure that [00:40:00] I offer in the book. Um, perhaps another book, you know, you gotta get through the first one, but I'd like to put something else on paper. There's some other things that are stirring around in my mind. And I want to, I trust that God will allow me to cross paths with those people who, who I can directly impact, um, and help them to live their best life personally and professionally.

Scott Maderer: So you can find out more about Greg over@gregwoodard.com or about his book at book@gregwoodard.com. Of course, I'll have a link to both of those over in the show notes as well. Greg, is there anything else you'd like to share with the listener?

Greg Woodard: My, my, my biggest thing for listeners is to, as Christian leaders, remember that you need to lead yourself first. Leadership from of others comes second. [00:41:00] And I guess something I've also been saying and thinking about recently is don't ever let your giftedness outpace your character.

Scott Maderer: Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen. But act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode please do us a favor. Go over to inspired stewardship.com/itunes.

Rate all one word. iTunes rate. It'll take you through how to leave a rating and review, and how to make sure you're subscribed to the podcast so that you can get every episode as it comes out in your feed. Until next time, invest your time, your [00:42:00] talent, and your treasures. Develop your influence and impact the world.