Welcome And Show Purpose

Announcer 0:06

Welcome to the Leading Conversations Podcast, sponsored by the Excel Leadership Network. On each episode, JD Pering will have conversations with church planting pastors and leaders from around the country. You can learn more about how to connect with Excel at the end of this podcast. Let's join JD now and listen in on this leading conversation.

J.D. Pearring 0:29

Welcome

How JD Met His Wife

J.D. Pearring 0:30

to another edition of Leading Conversations with Excel Leadership Network. And today I am thrilled to have with us the great Rob Acker from SoCal. And uh Rob, thanks for being here. Oh thanks, JD.

Robert Acker 0:46

I'm glad to be with you today.

J.D. Pearring 0:48

I owe Rob so much because I met my wife at your house in Bel Air. Took the tram down to the pool. Yes, yes. Met her by the side of the pool, uh, really hit it off, took the tram back up. Thought I saw her again. She gave me a dirty look. Turned out it was Lori's twin sister. But it all started in our family at your house.

Robert Acker 1:14

Well, to clarify, that was my parents' house. Okay. As a college kid, I knew no different, except we had a nice backyard to entertain and have parties. So did

Growing Up In Bel Air

Robert Acker 1:22

you grow up in Bel Air then? Well, my parents moved there when I was in fourth grade. My dad had worked starting a little business in the cable TV industry. And uh so we were just an average family of five kids in a three-bedroom house uh in Westwood, though, back in the day. It was just a kind of a new suburb. This is, of course, you know, late 50s, early 60s. And then um uh my dad, I guess, had enough success that way, and they bought a house that looked like the Brady House on steroids and a backyard that could be developed. And so they had some damage from rains one season, and that sort of motivated my parents to like, oh, let's build the backyard and make a lovely entertainment area, which it was for church groups and my high school track team and various things.

J.D. Pearring 2:08

Wow. Cool. Yeah. So um before I ask you how you came to cross, well, where did you go to school?

Robert Acker 2:15

Uh well, I I am a product of Los Angeles City Unified School District, which means I've struggled. Uh, but again, they didn't know anything different back in the day. Um and uh but I I went to UCLA for my econ degree, which is you know a boring degree, but you know, I couldn't. Only brilliant people have econ degrees in CLA. I don't know. I rode my bike, I could ride my bike to school. Uh I could ride my bike to West LA Baptist, where you and I met. Uh, I also had an old hand-me-down Oldsmobile I could drive around town. So so I was really a product of West LA. And in all honesty, these days I'm almost embarrassed to talk about it. Uh, you know, almost embarrassed to talk about some of my family's um life lifestyle and all that. And yet, in the midst of all that, God was working, and that's sort of how he found me and and the foundations through the through the family's faith journey. So,

Faith Roots And Youth Discipleship

Robert Acker 3:11

how did you come to Christ? So my family was were active attenders at a little Presbyterian church. Uh, and it was actually the church my mom had grown up at. And so when they my mom and I got married, my dad was from the Midwest, had Lutheran roots, but he didn't, I don't think he cared. So they went to a little Presbyterian church. And uh, and sure enough, I mean, I just recall some of the impact of Sunday school as a fourth grader and fifth grader, uh, simple as it was, uh, just that, and that chance to to to feel like I knew God and could pray to him and talk to him. We didn't have the language of uh in some church settings, but it really was my spiritual roots. And that was like fourth and fifth grade. And then junior high started, and the church did what often they do. They hired a youth intern. He was a part-time seminary student. His name was Scott, and uh, and he'd had experience in young life while in high school and college. So he brought that energy and that vision and that vibe to our little, our little youth group of like eight kids. And um, and he said, Hey, you know, let's all sit around and be a small group and let's read the Bible. You guys are teenagers now, you know, and we'd never read the Bible, you know, and we had modern translations then now, and like this is again late 60s, early, early 70s. So now, if we wanted to call it discipleship, it was starting in earnest as a teenager. And then in high school, it was like, hey, why not start a young life group at your high school? And uh, and that was pretty easy to do. And Young Life, of course, wanted to see a new, another school touched.

J.D. Pearring 4:38

So now what high school were we at? University high.

Robert Acker 4:42

Uni High.

J.D. Pearring 4:43

Well, this for Lori Way. Yeah, okay.

Robert Acker 4:44

Yeah, yeah, uni high. Uh, they're in West LA. I don't know if the if the young life group was still going when she was there, but it attracted dozens of kids, including some from the same church. So I not my church, I mean from this Baptist church. So I chased this girl to the Baptist church, and that's how I started going to the place where you and I knew each other, First Baptist Church in West LA. Stayed there through college. Um, and now, of course, so much of the the a church that has the gift of a college ministry, it's a great chance for deepening and discipleship and leadership development. And so that's a big part of what happened in those next four years.

J.D. Pearring 5:20

Wow. So you were at the the college group there. When I when I got there, you were, you know, one of the pillars. And about that, but uh and when we just had a reunion like a month ago, hearing the stories from like 40 years ago, just kind of amazing. Uh talk a little bit about that experience. How was that for you?

Robert Acker 5:45

Yeah, just inspiring. And and was it 40 or was it it was 50 years ago, dude? Oh man. So mind-boggling that even our college pastor, who's now like mid to late mid 80s or whatever, would come back and still have connection with with men and women he invested in back in the what late 70s and 1980-ish, thereabouts. Yeah. I guess it was 45. But for some it was 50 because they they came in the yeah, like the mid-70s. But all that say uh so very inspiring. Some of the people you and I saw I kept in touch with over the years, others I had not seen in 40 or 50 years. Um, but the the you know, the heritage that none of us are here by accident, besides the sovereign plan of God, the heritage of men and women going before us, praying for us. We don't even know who they were praying for us, investing in us, all that just blows my mind. Makes me so thankful.

Sensing A Call To Ministry

Robert Acker 6:39

Now, was there a call to ministry in there for you? Uh slow and subtle. Um, so being in a family that had a business, uh, that's where I worked every summer. I mean, I was driving a forklift before I could drive a car. I worked in factories. I uh I'm even at age 16, I'm doing some short little business trips in the summer for filling in for people around the country. So it's kind of weird. Um, but I loved my chance to grow spiritually. I loved my church environment. And by the way, so I look back and I realized the local church, as as weird as it is at times, as struggle, as much as it struggles, was so formative for me, both as a kid and I was a teenager and as a young adult. So by the time I'm finishing college, I'm thinking, well, you know, I wonder what seminary is like. I wonder what it would look like if I could use my skills maybe as a Christian businessman or maybe I could be an administrator somewhere. I didn't know what it all meant. So, bottom line, I I was finishing uh college and I um I decided, let me see if if I get accepted, I'll go to seminary and just see what it's like. And I walked into my parents' den where they both had big chairs and they both read. There's no TV in it, they just read. And I said, Hey, um, you know, college is ending soon. Uh instead of getting a job right away, I think I'd like to go to seminary and just see. And my dad dropped his glasses to his nose and said, you know, there's no money in ministry. And so he was like totally against it. My mother jumped up and said, Oh, my son, the pastor, that'd be so exciting. And I just said, Well, you know, timeout. I don't know exactly where this will go. But it was the beginning of a call. So I followed some other guys from West LA Baptists up to Western Seminary in Portland. Uh, we also checked out Denver Seminary. Some guys have gone to Talbot, of course, some have gone to Fuller. But I thought it'd probably be good to leave LA for a bit. So there I am at Western Seminary. So the call was emerging, and then literally as soon as I got to Western, I had an invitation to come back to Southern California in the summer to be an intern at a church plant, which then develops the next part of the story and the and the call to ministry.

J.D. Pearring 8:46

So how

First Steps In Church Planting

J.D. Pearring 8:47

did that happen? Did you you uh go up to Portland? Next thing you know, you're an intern. How did that the church planting thing work?

Robert Acker 8:56

Right, right. Well, and and actually there was a church in Portland that I was going to to serve at, but but the Southern California church plant was because again at West LA Baptists, in this, you know, very vibrant ministry, there was a classman four years older than I named Bob Logan. And Bob had finished seminary and he couldn't find a job because who wants to hire a someone who's green and unexperienced? So, what do you do? Well, let's put him on the front line and make him a church planter. And of course, this is uh like the mid-70s. And so uh Bob and his dear wife Janet, they just they moved to this eastern suburb, which is Rancho Cucamonga now, uh, almost halfway to Palm Springs when you're leaving the west side of LA. And uh, and so I was very intrigued of that. I went out to visit. I thought I had never thought like every church has to have a start, every church has to have some entrepreneurial energy and development and and and catalyst. So I was really intrigued. And I had visited a few times in my senior year of college. I go to seminary, the church is getting some legs, it's starting, it's still very simple and fragile. So I went back to SoCal and interned the next summer, um, did that again the next summer. Meanwhile, because I'm single, I'm fast tracking seminary, trying to get it done as fast as I can. And then um, because by the time I was like finishing my second year of seminary, the three-year typical program, uh, the church said, you know, we're gonna be ready to hire a full-time associate next year. Do you want to apply? And I thought, yeah, I love this place. I love seeing people come to faith, seeing discipleship happening, you know, that old sort of saying in church planting, it's a fresh expression of God's love, you know, at least as best as we understood that in the early 80s, you know, this is like this is great stuff. So I finished seminary uh in 81, early 81, and moved back to SoCal and started as associate pastor. And never left.

J.D. Pearring 11:00

Yes. You know, your church planting journey, I was thinking earlier today, knowing I was gonna have you on, that um that had a uh just a subtle effect on me. That was my first experience of just hearing something about church planting. Because uh in the college group, uh, you know, uh a couple times a year, Bob Logan or you would come over and talk about it. And uh when later when people started to come up to me and say you should plant a church, you should plant a church. I was just wondering why that was not foreign to me. It was probably because I just by osmosis knew that you guys were doing it, never went, never visited, but heard the stories and uh saw that you were doing that. So you you went there, your associate there. I remember when I started the first church in Colorado Springs, I didn't have any help, so I called Bob and he was kind of a you know, de facto coach, and I met with you guys a few times. You guys were going and blowing, and whatever you were doing in Southern California would not was not working for me in Colorado. But I just uh I remember those early days. So you were the associate for and how long did that last?

Robert Acker 12:19

Uh seven years essentially. Uh, and in that time the church is, I think, probably tripled in size at least. So, you know, that old saying organizationally, every time something doubles, you have to reorganize and reshift. So I had probably about four or five different job descriptions in those seven years, finishing with senior went from executive pastor up to executive pastor, then senior associate. And then uh, as it was, uh, the founding pastor, Bob Logan, really felt a release from being at one church to being a developer, a coach to church planters worldwide. So, to everyone's shock and sadness, he left the church after he'd been there 11 years totally. I'd been there seven. Um, and then the church was thrown into that place of success, success, successorship. Uh, what's next? Succession. Uh, and the board uh interviewed me and another person and had the possibility they could have gone outside, of course, but they nominated me to be senior pastor, and I perfectly sought counsel. Is this why should I do this? Um, you know, traditionally you don't you don't follow the footstep, you don't stay in the same church to become senior pastor. That's becoming more common now, but I did. So I became senior pastor in '88, uh, and uh and then retired from that position uh back in 2023 after 35 years as senior pastor.

J.D. Pearring 13:44

35

Thirty-Five Years In One Church

J.D. Pearring 13:45

years uh as senior pastor. How did you um I want to use survive, but how how did you do 35 years as a senior pastor in the same church?

Robert Acker 13:57

Um, well, obviously, by the grace of God, right? Um I I've had in my my wiring, I think somewhat in my DNA, this commitment to long-term ministry. So and here were the two, here were the couple data points. Um, our pastor before, just who was the retiring, just probably as you came to our church, West LA Baptist, Dr. Thomas, yeah, had been there 35 years, I think. And he was like 74, I think, when he left West LA or somewhere in his early 70s. And so I had that in my mind. Look at this man who's making who's having great impact all the way into early 70s. My my dad, who was about the same age as Dr. Thomas, um, had worked in a family business. I mean, he built the business, spent his whole career there. That's what you do. You make a life work out of it. And then about the same time in the 80s, as some of the understanding of church growth dynamics was coming about, what helps churches be healthy, effective, et cetera, was this theory that longer-term leadership can help versus moving people around, like which some churches would do, you know. So, so staying longer might be beneficial. Now, I'm not sure 35 years is the ideal by any means, uh, but to your point is I had some of that vision for it. And then I also had learned, and this some of this was learning on the fly, of course, which is what we do as leaders, um, that there is a cycle to ministry. There's a cycle to leadership, whether it be in business, in government, in sports, leadership uh management, and pastoring, like every eight or 10 years, there's sort of a renewal or a or a re-up. Um, and that's why a lot of leaders serve about seven to ten years and they're then they move on. So for me, what I realized is from uh 88 to about 2000 was 12 years. That was a that was a major growth cycle. Then we planted some churches in 2001, major church planting for us as a mother church to uh give away lots of people. Uh so now the next 10 years is sort of a rebuilding and a and a and a new season because we no longer were a baby church. We were now a we're now at that point, we were 20 some years old, 25 years old, giving away. And so there was another like 10-year package in there. And then I get to the late teens and into the 20s, I can pay. There's another, there's another season. So, so some of it probably followed my own life and you know, development. Um, and I, you know, to to quote the famous um English missionary who spent his years in India with very little fruit, and they asked him, How did you survive all those years with so little fruit? And his answer was, I can plod. I can plod. I just keep going. Just, you know, you know, one foot in front of the other, keep on going. So that's a little bit of my of my journey. And I loved local church. I did I'd been uh sort of conditioned for this. Like I see miracles happening in the local church, and by God's grace, let's try to keep it going. Kids, youth, young adults, middle-aged, seniors, the whole deal.

Multiplying As A Sending Church

J.D. Pearring 17:03

Good, good. Talk a little bit about uh what was it like being a parenting church and sending people off?

Robert Acker 17:10

Uh exciting and scary. And um and obviously before Bob left in the late 80s, we'd already had some of this in our DNA. Uh so in the late 80s, we had birthed a few churches. And they were always at that point mostly hive offs where we'd literally have a group living in a different area. Let's send a pastor, and and it was it was pretty sustainable when the church, when our the mother church was growing. When we got to when we got to the late, so we got to around 2000, so 20, you know, five, six years ago, we had we had hit capacity, so we knew if there's gonna be more growth, we have to multiply. But then as we but then what happened was we also were a generation older, and the next church plant was going to be a Gen X church. And it was kind of like the old commercial about that car brand that's no longer with us, Oldsmobile. Yeah, they tried to revive it like saying, This is not your father's Oldsmobile, like we're cool. Well, they still died, but but we had some of our younger leaders saying, you know, hey, we're we're we're not our parents. We we want a fresh expression, and we know that we know that dynamic. So uh we helped uh birth a essentially a Gen X church, which is now 25 years old and is doing amazingly well. They're just five miles down the road. Uh, but it took about a third of our church, we gave away about a third of our church in our budget, and we knew it was coming. We had about an 18-month gestation to get them ready. Um, and um, and we just assumed we'd, you know, bounce back and and and grow. We had another church plant at the same time, which is more of a a schism where a staff member just didn't want to stay. And so he said, Can I just start a church? I said, and I and some some faltered me for this. I said, Of course. Because he I knew he was a good brother. He didn't want to, he was he was done at our church, so we had a church of about 400 start, and another church of about a hundred all in one year. It was crazy. Um, and so the bottom line is it took us years. I mean, it took us about five years to sort of feel like we were back on all cylinders, and it took us another uh five years probably to feel like we had momentum again. We never reached the same size. We were we were you know 2,000 back then, we went back to a thousand. But given that where we were as a church, that was plenty. I mean, yeah, you know, and and um so um but I still think obviously churches need to multiply because otherwise they're just gonna get old and and not contribute to the so yeah, yeah.

J.D. Pearring 19:50

What caused

Choosing Retirement And Succession

J.D. Pearring 19:51

you to uh retire? What was the thinking there?

Robert Acker 19:55

Oh, that's a good question. Um I was 67 or so at the time, and um I always had said, again, given some of this heritage of and and models of ministry, I'm thinking, you know, I've got many years. If God gives me energy and vision, I'll keep going. And I had both. But then I started to realize I'm not sure that's all there is in the equation. And and our struggle point was back to next generation. No matter how much we staffed for millennials or Gen Z at that point, or uh I was still you know in the lead role, and I'm the old guy now. I'm their dad. And and I'm some of their granddad's, you know, grandfathers. So so to me, it started becoming clear like I think the church really needs a younger leader. Uh, and especially, you know, that old analysis of of churches that the the age of the senior pastor has like a 10-year gap on either side of where that sweet spot is. So that's great when you're 25 or 35 or 45 or 55. It's a little bit harder at 65 because the 55-year-olds are past their childbearing years, they're not they're not growing the church, they're thinking retirement, people are traveling. So it's a different vibe. And so I just thought it's probably time I sought counsel, prayed, and realized I don't know exactly what God has for me, but uh, and I and there was uh one of my lovely colleagues at our church. I thought, this guy could easily become, he knows this place, he's very gifted. Um, so anyway, we started my farewell uh journey of a few months. Uh, and then the church had to go through their own season of sort of waiting and interim. They did not lay hands on this brother. He he wasn't wanting it. He wanted to, he didn't think that was what God had for him. It took a it took a year and a half of them being in the interim period, which is a whole nother subset of church specialty these days. How do we have how do we help churches in that interim? Uh, but during that interim period, then this this this brother that I had hired as a wonderful pastor really felt God's tug and and and Stepped into the the leadership role. So the church is off to a new season. I'm happy for them. And that led me to connect with pastors this way.

J.D. Pearring 22:08

Now

Pastoral Support After Stepping Down

J.D. Pearring 22:09

you did not move to uh Idaho or you know Nashville and just golf or pursue a music career. I mean, you're what are you doing now? You're not well, yeah.

Robert Acker 22:22

My wife and I never felt like we were going to be RVers or or kicking back retired. Um, so I don't know. I don't I don't judge other men and women for what they do in these ages in their different seasons. Um, but I just felt like again, if God gives energy and vision, then I want to keep going. And in fact, I I just read a quote today. Let me share it with you. Um, today, May 27th, is the anniversary when John Calvin passed away, the great reformer in Geneva. And um, he kept writing and ministering to the Christians in Geneva, nearly, nearly up to his death, telling his worried friends, quote, what would you have me, would you have the Lord find me idle when he comes? So of course not. I'm gonna keep working. So I have a little bit of that sense. Like if I can serve, I can help, I can do funerals, I can preach at churches, but my core is I joined a um a ministry called Standing Stone Ministries, which is all about pastoral support, helping pastors stay healthy, move into better emotional, spiritual health for the sake of their churches. So it's all about connecting with men and women around the country. There's there's almost 300 of us on this ministry nationwide. So we each carry, we each connect with 10 or 20 to 30 different pastors in different ways through either face-to-face or Zoom meetings.

J.D. Pearring 23:49

And how's that been for you?

Robert Acker 23:51

Oh, really uh rewarding and and and uh uh more than I expected. I had no idea like what this would be like, except except for the fact that when I pastored, a big part of what I did was develop leaders, of course, was overseas staff. And many staff members were homegrown. So I knew in my bones, like, here's what we have to do. We have to come alongside younger men and women and help always offering help and coaching and support. So uh a lot of the pastors are, you know, 25 to 45, but then we got some that are 45 to 55, and they're at a different season, and then we got a few that are 55 to 65, and they're trying to figure out what off-ramp might look like for them. Um there's a women's division, so whether they be women pastors or wives of male pastors, um uh some are my guys, some of my guys are and it crosses denominations. So that for me, that's very enriching. I mean, to see the the bigger body of Christ. Oh, and you're doing an interim as well. Yeah, yeah. And that's really been fun too. Um, more than I expected. So my work with pastors is part-time. So I figured I'd have a little bit of boundary, a little bit of flexibility, but I also had some people in my life say you should consider being an interim pastor. You've got the local church stuff in your heart. Yeah. And so uh, so now there's some wonderful organizations that provide high-level training on how to be an interim pastor. What do churches need during this season of transition? Uh, so they can pursue health, they can get their vision nailed down, they can get ready to follow a new pastor. So I did some training. Um, and then sure enough, one of these guys said, Hey, there's a small church up in the mountains. I can drive there on Sundays, I can work remote during the week with other meetings with these guys. And um, and I realized what's been fun about it is uh I get to, I'll say it this way, I get to play in the sandbox. I get to be in a local church again, uh, but not as the called installed senior pastor, right? With with everything under your, you know, everything you're responsible for, but but with a with a church where you're connecting with a few staff members, the elder board, and you get to preach. And so that's been really fun. It it'll it'll end they're starting their search process in earnest. So, you know, depending on when that when God calls that person to this church, three months, six months. I hope we'll see. Wow, wow.

J.D. Pearring 26:19

Well, it's been amazing just uh to watch you over the years and it kind of run into you a couple times. And um you've been faithful so far. So far. So try, gonna keep in our network. We have a little uh a little goal saying uh serving Jesus for 50 years, scandal free, uh finishing with joy. And uh you're getting close.

unknown 26:48

Yeah.

J.D. Pearring 26:49

After 50 years, you can do whatever you want, but uh go crazy.

Robert Acker 26:52

Go crazy. Well, I I do remember, and and you've heard these things too from the um the former leadership professor at Fuller Seminary, Dr. Bobby Clinton. So in my late 30s, early 40s, it was learning about how to finish well. So you start with the end in mind, and and and knowing knowing how the trail is littered with with guys that have fallen off the wagon or injured themselves or been sabotaged. And and we don't want that to happen today with men and women. We want them to finish well, um, still in love with Jesus, still orthodox to the core of our faith, and uh and uh their life intact. So so that so I have that for me, of course. I have it for the men and women I connect with. And that's for all disciples that we keep pressing into Christ.

Leadership Frameworks That Last

J.D. Pearring 27:38

Well, hey, you've uh dripped a few in, but give us a leadership tip or two as somebody who's walked the journey for a bit.

Robert Acker 27:46

Um well, a couple things. I think it's good to note remember that leadership is a spiritual gift listed by the Apostle Paul. Uh, in older translations it was called rulings, but uh I do think leadership is distinctly different from administration. Both are needed. We might today say leadership versus management. And so however you slice and dice it, we know that some people are given gifts in this area, uh, which, you know, for any gift, we need to steward those gifts. Um at the same time, I think leadership can be learned. So even if it's not the top of someone's gift list, if God puts them in a, you know, whatever role they're in, it it does require us leaning in to figure out how do I lead better. Just like teaching is a spiritual gift, but we have to learn how to teach. And we are in some ways are never done learning how to be good at our craft. So I thought it was a kind of a gift in our generation, um, and you know, good or bad, and some of the mega church movement stuff of our generation, but the fact that leadership is a gift to help the church. Uh Christ is the ultimate leader, of course, but he appoints people in those roles. So so for me, um to sort of understand knowing who we are, how we're wired. And like I have a friend who is a fabulous teacher. He's so good and not a gifted leader. So he knows that's going to shape some of his ministry and who he needs around him to help fill in those pieces. Um, so there's always that piece. And then the other thing about um leadership, and this is this is sort of related, how to be a to be a good leader or even to be a good disciple is sort of the intersection of character, knowledge, and skills, those three things. Character, knowledge, and skills. So for any part of our journey as leaders, what do we need to know? So there's a knowing thing. Uh, what do we need, what skills do we need to develop? And at the core, what's our character need to be to sustain those things? And and so part of our journey as pastors and part of I'm I'm kind of always looking at that with with people I meet with and then this church is um, you know, what do they need to grow in terms of knowledge as a leader or individuals? What skills does it need to be in terms of how to lead a group, how to preach, how to pick a topic? And then ultimately, how's their character? How are they, how's the integrity and the development of their soul? Um, and we know today in our culture, we have a whole lot of people that that that go on personality. I'm thinking not of Christian leaders, though this happens too, but just our culture, our political world, a lot of personality, a lot of ego. There ain't there's some skills perhaps, but there ain't a lot of character. And of course, uh there's collapse. So um, so that's a little bit of my my leadership uh framework of character knowledge and skills.

J.D. Pearring 30:45

What do you do to work on the character piece?

Robert Acker 30:49

Um well um make it a priority. Like, like, okay, I gotta, like I said, or I was telling you earlier, like like I I kept today pretty free. And and I and and related to this, I have a spiritual director. So we meet once a month. And I've known this brother for about 10 years. And um, and as it often works, I mean, I give him some financial compensation under his investment in me. But just having this place to come back to what's it mean to just feel like we're we're as as humans, like uh what's flourishing look like for us under Christ? What do we need? Um, and so I put today down like I need a quiet day. I need a day where I'm not out running about, I'm not and I'm not writing a sermon this week. I'm I really can breathe a bit. Um just having places of connection, of still being vital, of reading. I like to read and learn. So there's no there's no silver bullet, there's no magic, you know, silver bullet. So just the variety, taking care of our bodies, you know, uh uh getting outside and enjoying creation. So I I just think it's a it's finding out what a leader needs in his or her dynamic, you know, world to help their soul feel more alive.

J.D. Pearring 32:10

Good, good, good, good stuff. Well, thank you for uh going ahead. You're a couple years older than me. You you've gone ahead. I've always had uh a little bit of an eye on you, not on purpose, but just uh you're somebody that brought into our life, and I would not have the wife I I have without you. So I know it was your parents' house, but I think you're the one who invited all of us over.

Robert Acker 32:35

Yeah, yeah. I uh was grateful for those chances to kind of just be connected to our college group and before that the high school group and just leverage relationships, uh, bring people to faith and into the body. So I'm so glad you were part of that, JD, and and the gift of the years of ministry God's given you in so many ways to expand the kingdom. You guys are inspiring.

Announcer 32:58

Oh

Closing And Ways To Connect

Announcer 32:59

well, thank you so much. Thanks for your time today. Thanks for joining the Leading Conversations Podcast. We hope that you found it both helpful and encouraging. At Excel Leadership Network, our focus is on the church planter rather than the church. If you'd like to find out more about us, visit our webpage at excelnetwork.org. Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss any future episodes. See you next time with another leading conversation.