What a week. Katie’s birthday was yesterday and mine is next week. Always fun that our birthdays are this close, but unfortunately this year we were traveling so we weren’t together yesterday. Life on the run!

I was able to lead a cohort of church planters for Acts 29 through some training, and she was at a conference in Atlanta.

But big plans next week!

Now, onto my Friday Five:

Favorite book:

Last week I read Managing Leadership Anxiety: Yours and Theirs by Steve Cuss. I loved this book. If you’re a leader, you need to read this book. I got so much out of it as it relates to the interaction leaders have with people, what runs through their heads and what happens between people. So helpful. 

Favorite podcast:

This interview with Tyler Reagin on leading a large organization when you’re not a detail person was gold. He got into important (but rarely talked about) leadership topics like self-acceptance and self-confidence. Been thinking about this a lot.

I love Marcus Buckingham’s stuff and how he thinks so differently about leadership, so this podcast interview was incredible. I took a ton of notes and immediately bought the book.

Favorite blog posts:

Leaders are culture makers, and every church has a culture. Too many though are toxic and leaders often feel powerless to change it. I know I have. But this post shares four keys to creating a healthy culture that fights against toxic people and toxic culture.

This blog post: The only metric of success that matters is the one we ignore was powerful, convicting and insightful — lots of wisdom here on the importance of friendships in our culture.