Ricky is the senior pastor of Southwest Church in Indian Wells, Calif., where he leads a fast-growing community of believers compelled by its vision to be a gospel-centered, multiethnic, intergenerational church that loves discipleship. Ricky focused his time with our members on the leadership “R.I.D.E.,” an acronym inspired by Paul’s remarkable model of leadership presented to us in 2 Timothy.

R.I.D.E. - LEADERSHIP SHOULD BE RELATIONAL. INSPIRATIONAL. DOCTRINAL. AND EXPERIENTIAL.

1. Relational: “Don’t forget about the dinner table. Don’t forget about tag-alongs. Don’t forget about trips and retreats.”

2. Inspirational: “Bring vision to your relationships at every point.”

3. Doctrinal: “Everything that I say to my people should have clear, undeniable connection to the Word of God.”

4. Experiential: “Giving people what they are not even ready for so that they will use that experience to be ready for it someday.”

These four features represent the fundamentals of essential gospel leadership. Ricky shared that these features are key to receiving the fruits that Jesus celebrates in John 15. Good gospel leadership is not only about leading your people to believe something. Ricky says, “Good leadership is not about whether your people can see [what the future holds], but about whether they believe that you can.”

Ricky continued, reminding our Network, “Bad leaders think staff works for them. Good leaders think staff works with them. Great leaders know that they work for their staff.”