Interview | Trip Kimball

In this episode, Pastor Daniel talks about training leaders with Trip Kimball, Jacksonville, Florida, who is currently on staff with Poimen Ministries, a community of pastors serving pastors. Trip draws from a lifetime of ministry experience which he shares in mentoring and developing leaders. Why is leadership important? “Just looking at what Jesus did…Jesus invested about three years of His life in the lives of men who became the foundation for the church.” The need for leadership in the church was apparent from the very beginning; you can read it in the epistles. Acts 6 describes a situation where more leaders were needed and how they resolved it: Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. (Acts 6:3) A pastor can’t do it all himself. He needs the help of those gifted and called by God. How do you do it? It starts very simply, working with a group of guys on how to study the Bible, how to put a message together, leadership basics. Then give them opportunities to do the work. Observe those already doing ministry. Who does what well? Pour into them what you know. You have to create opportunities for people to serve, to learn what works and what doesn’t. People learn by doing. What if someone lacks the talent/skills to do the job? It takes an honest conversation about that. Then ask the question: What are they skilled at? What could they do? You always want to learn and serve with those who are skilled at ministry. Training others teaches you to do ministry better yourself. “I had people in my life who spoke into my life that were mentors. I looked back later at what did they do and then adapted to the situation at hand.” It’s the 2 Timothy 2:2 model, a pattern: …what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. Trip is currently involved in coaching other leaders. What are the elements involved in that? There are times of formal training, but the most valuable times are informal settings where people are free to ask questions. You need to be available. This is the intentional part of discipleship. You have to step up and do it. You need to learn to listen to the person and really hear what they’re saying, so you can respond to them. But you alone can’t possibly know everything. A person needs more than one mentor. And if you want to be mentored, you need to seek it out. Gather from others. Rely on the Holy Spirit to give discernment about what you need to learn and who you can learn it from. You can find Trip Kimball at poimenministries.com.

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“You’re not going to learn all this stuff from a book on leadership. You have to be observant.” -Trip Kimball

“In the process of learning, you also have to be discerning enough to know that’s not something I want to keep doing. But what would work? What would be a better thing to do?” -Trip Kimball

On having more than one mentor: “If they’re only looking at me, they’re only going to get my viewpoint. They’re only going to see things from my life experience. I don’t know everything there is to know." -Trip Kimball