The RISE Leadership Podcast

What do you do when you can see a problem your organization doesn't know it has? 
That's exactly where Ryan Blackwell found himself as Executive Pastor of Cross Church — watching a healthy, growing church with campuses, baptisms, and momentum, and seeing something most people at the table weren't seeing: the leadership bench wasn't deep enough for where the church was headed. 
In this episode, Ryan walks us through how that conviction took shape and what Cross Church actually did to build a leadership pipeline from the ground up.  
And then there's the turn: Ryan recently stepped down as Executive Pastor of Cross Church to become the 11th President and CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources — one of the most significant leadership roles in Christian ministry today.  
This is Part 1 of a 4-part series called The Pipeline — built for every leader in the local church who wants to grow, develop others, and understand how leadership development actually works.  
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In this episode Pastor Ralph Johnson discusses lessons of leadership and personal growth that the Lord has taught him through an early career in the Navy and his transition into the ministry. From insight on organizational structures, to discipleship, to personal growth and transformation, Pastor Ralph dives into wisdom that will strengthen any lay leader, minister, or man or woman in the military or work force. 
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What happens when God blesses your career more than you deserve — and you start believing you earned it? In this episode, Dr. Jeremy Dixon and Phil McMichael sit down with James Young, who spent 29 years at Tyson Foods climbing from a night shift plant manager to Group Vice President of International, overseeing operations across five continents. James gets brutally honest about the demotion that became his greatest stepping stone, the pride that nearly cost him everything, and what God had to strip away before he found real peace. This isn't a theory or a framework. It's a life. And it might be exactly what you need to hear today. 
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You're praying for clarity. You're waiting for God to tell you what to do. But what if that's not actually what He's after? 
Dr. Jeremy Dixon and Izzy Hoffarth sit down with Dr. Nick Floyd — Senior Pastor of Cross Church and author of When You Don't Know What to Do — for an honest conversation about the seasons where you feel stuck and God seems silent. 
Nick opens up about why desperation can be the healthiest place you've ever been, the difference between health and perfection, and why the measure of spiritual maturity might not be what you think. 
The answer might not be what you're looking for. But what you find might be better. 
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You're not trying to build a platform. You're trying to steward one. In this episode, Dr. Jeremy Dixon and Phil McMichael sit down with Hollywood producer and media consultant Phil Cooke and executive producer Dan Wathen — two men who've spent decades helping the world's largest churches and ministries communicate the gospel more effectively. In this conversation, they get honest about what a media-driven world actually demands from the church, why your story is your most powerful tool, where AI fits and where it doesn't, and why the goal was never performance — it was always stewardship. Whether you lead a media team, run your church's Instagram, or just have a phone with social media on it — this one's for you. 
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