John Nuzzo Leadership Podcast | A Pastor's Insights On Leadership For The Whole Church

In this episode, Pastor Nuzzo interviews Pastors Walker and Haley Schurz who followed a God-sized vision of raising up a church in the developing city of Lusaka, Zambia, using funds raised from within that nation. They have been successfully following that vision and pastoring a church there for 16 years, creating a model which is influencing their community and government leaders, but not without facing many obstacles and challenges.  In this discussion, Haley realized that through enormous challenges we face, some of our character flaws are often revealed, thus providing opportunities for growth in our leadership capacity. When our internal deficits are revealed under pressure, we would be wise to seek counsel through God and safe mentors. When we can be honest and transparent with ourselves and others, not hiding our flaws, God’s grace can raise us to become healthier individuals with a greater capacity for leadership. Walker goes on to tell of their standing amid enormous pressures and trials while buildi

In this month’s podcast, Pastor John discusses the call of God today to a multi-generational church. We see how Abraham was called to go to a place he didn’t know but was to dwell together in an unknown place with Isaac and Jacob, who were also heirs with him of the same promise.  We are called in like manner to join together—The Abrahams, The Isaacs, and The Jacobs of our time—to pursue God’s promise for this present generation. Pastor John encourages The Abrahams to believe in and pour into the emerging leaders, sharing from your wealth of experience and wisdom gained and investing in their lives. He goes on to charge The Isaacs and The Jacobs to honor those who have labored before them, to stand on the shoulders of their successes and glean from their mistakes.   Pastor John lays out a plan of how pastors can be a part of this present move of God to revitalize churches and see God’s Kingdom expand. Consider carefully at which stage you find yourself and catch a new vision for how to work together to fulfil

Pastor John continues his summary of Hero Maker: The Five Essential Practices for Leaders to Multiply Leaders by Dave Ferguson and Warren Bird.   In this episode, the final three principles are covered. God takes all of us on a journey, but sometimes, that journey gets stuck. We are so busy developing ourselves that we fail to realize that there’s an ongoing commitment that we must make to multiplying disciples—multiplying high capacity people that can lead others.  There is a difference between impact and exponential impact. Kingdom building is not about what you are; it’s who you are. Discover practices that will shift your thinking to my fruit grows on other people’s trees! Study the Hero Maker and implement it in your ministry, your church, your organization. You will be glad you did!  

In this month’s podcast, Pastor John Nuzzo reviews the book Hero Maker by Dave Ferguson and Warren Bird. Using real-life ministry stories and examples from Jesus’ ministry, the book contains five essential practices for leaders to multiply leaders. Pastor John recaps two of those five practices in this podcast. If you want to revolutionize your church and community, this book is a must read—a book that you will wish you had read many years ago. It will help you grow and shift your thinking to where you desire to move past wanting to be a hero to making a hero. You will find a greater gratification in the development and releasing of a leader. You will learn how to develop the practical skills to help others reach their leadership potential. Challenge yourself to commit to be a hero maker. Believe in people; see the potential in them; and release them. Next month, tune in to our podcast for Part 2 of Hero Maker.  

As you listen to this discussion between Pastor John and two emerging leaders:  Sean Moore and Doug Smith, you will be amazed at the wisdom and character represented in the next generation of leaders. Two very different journeys are shared: one, the journey of a pastor’s kid who was raised in a Christian home; and the other, the journey of a young man who lost his mother at an early age and had a difficult upbringing, assuming that he would amount to nothing. Yet, God had another plan, and they were faithful to follow it.  Whether you are a seasoned leader or an emerging leader, you will be encouraged, inspired, and motivated to discover next steps for your life and leadership journey. Learn simple and profound truths that will challenge you to be the best you can be.  

In this podcast Pastor Nuzzo and Dave and Ashley Willis, authors of The Naked Marriage, discuss their passion for seeing God raise dead marriages back to life.  As leaders, we encounter people who need help in their relationships, but they resist the help they need.  As leaders, we may have marriages that are surviving but not thriving.  We may have bought into the lie that we are successful based on what we “do” outside our homes and put our families on the back burner.  Ashley and Dave share stories from their own marriage and principles from Scripture to teach us how to enjoy the completely intimate marriage that God wants us to have—complete   and total intimacy with God and with each other.  If marriages get strong, everything else gets strong as a result.  Impact people by being honest about your journey and start today.      

God made man with relational needs. You can respond to having needs in a healthy way: you can get before God, become accountable to one another; allow what the Word of God says to govern your life.  In the absence of God doing that work inside of you, you will bring an unsustainable weight to your marriage, your relationships, your leadership, and you will set yourself up for failure.  In this podcast, learn the three unhealthy responses individuals can have to being needy.  Learn characteristics of those responses and how they affect your leadership.  Be honest with yourself and be willing to ask questions that delve into the reasons you respond the way you do.  Go on that journey and let God deal with your heart and make you whole.  It will change the way you lead; it will change the way you treat people; it will cause things around you to lurch forward.  Dive into these things and truly live in freedom!  

This podcast is designed to help you lead your organization more effectively.  Pastor John Nuzzo imparts wisdom from experience to help you identify lids in leadership that you may not be able to see, as well as to help you on a personal level to live out the life you are called to live in your everyday life.  God made us to be “needy.”  All of us were designed by God for our intimacy needs to be met in our homes, but when they are not met there, deficits occur.  We place unrealistic expectations on people to meet our needs when only God can meet them.  We carry these deficits into leadership with us, but there is a cure!   By listening to this message, you will discover how to live in freedom in your everyday life so you can lead your team in a healthy way as God called you to lead. 

“In America today, you don’t have to run the race to win; you just have to stay on the track because everyone else will quit!” - John Maxwell. Do you feel like quitting? Do you feel like you are alone in ministry?   In this conversation between Pastor John and Pastor Chris Marshall, Pastor Chris discusses principles that he implemented to grow his church “overnight in twelve years.” Step-by-step, even with imperfect decision making, poor vision casting, and normal challenges of ministry, Pastor Chris persevered, and God remained faithful and today, Pastor Chris pastors a thriving church of more than 1,000 in a small town of only 1,500. The principles laid out in this podcast provide a framework for multiplication, regardless of the current size of your church. Be encouraged. The time to expand the size of your church is now, and the steps you need to do that are simple and effective.  Get ready to explode and advance the Kingdom of God.  

What could make you better as a pastor? What could make your church more effective? What can you do to “move the needle” in your church?When Pastor Nuzzo had the opportunity to meet with Chris Hodges to glean wisdom from him, he learned steps that were profoundly practical and easy for any pastor to implement. Pastors often try to do so much that they are not clear about why they do what they do. Listening to this podcast will help you to narrow your focus, prioritize what is most important, and create a culture of language where everybody is saying the same thing (1 Cor. 1:10). Discover how Pastor Nuzzo integrated these concepts from Pastor Hodges into Victory Family Church and dramatically increased the attendance of weekend services. Any pastor who applies these concepts can receive amazing results—and it will be the easiest thing you have ever done to increase your church’s effectiveness. 

Have you experienced hurt or pain that is paralyzing you? Are you stuck in a cycle of hopelessness? Have you isolated yourself from others due to fear of what others will think? If these questions arouse your curiosity, you must listen to this podcast. Pastor John shares, both from personal experience and biblical examples, stories of leaders who isolated themselves needlessly because of personal pain and hurt. Have you allowed yourself to be caught in this trap as a leader? As a leader, it is not optional to find others that you can trust. Even Jesus needed people, as He so passionately states in the Garden when he asked His disciples to stay with Him. He was honest!Open your heart. Receive God’s grace from others, and the shadows of yesterday will no longer forecast your future! Find true freedom from whatever your pain or hurt may be beginning today.

Is there a place for women in leadership in the church? How can I lead as a woman and honor the men in leadership? How do I open our church to become multicultural?If you have ever asked yourself these questions or thought about these things, this podcast is for you.  This inspiring conversation between Colleen Rouse and Pastor John Nuzzo will enlighten you and encourage you as a leader whether you are male or female.  Colleen shares how she had to reconcile biblically that she had a calling and a right to lead as a woman alongside her husband when there were few women in leadership.  She discusses with Pastor John why she and her husband were compelled to bring in all nations to their church and how they have become perhaps the largest multicultural church in the history of our nation.  Colleen’s insight is practical and will raise your level of leadership, regardless of your years of experience.

We have entered in to a season in our nation where culture is becoming very important to people—especially the next generation.  Our nation is changing demographically, but the church is not changing with it and adapting to it.  In this conversation between Pastor John Nuzzo and Dennis Rouse, Pastor Rouse discusses how his church has become one of the largest multi-cultural churches in the nation.  Birthed out of a “holy discontent” to love like Christ loved and have a Kingdom mindset rather than an earthly mindset, Dennis and his wife Colleen decided to passionately pursue what God placed in their hearts and then took steps to minister to people of all races and cultures. What is God stirring in your heart that you want to see changed in society?  As you listen to this podcast, you will discover your next steps to making that become a reality.   Want even more great teaching from Dennis Rouse? Check out his book “10 Qualities That Move You from a Believer to a Disciple,” view his special teaching for the sta

If you are a pastor who has children, listen in! During this podcast, Pastor John Nuzzo and his daughter, Cianna, hold a candid discussion about Cianna’s experience as a pastor’s kid. She openly and honestly shares from her heart the benefits and struggles of being a “PK” and gives wise counsel to both pastors and their children. It is time to become aware of what your child may be going through and set boundaries that will define who your child will become and how they will feel about God and church. Learn from someone who has experienced the struggles and the great benefits of being a PK and be intentional about making the necessary changes today! As Cianna says, “People are flawed, but God is not.” Open a conversation with your child, no matter what age, and follow the advice of this wise 23-year-old and her father before it’s too late.

In part two of Pastor Diego Mesa’s amazing story of God’s healing power after a literal death sentence of cancer, Pastor Diego shares points of wisdom that all of us can glean from. We all have lids in our lives, but how do we push through those lids, whether they are physical, emotional, or relational? What do we need to change in our lives to be the best we can be for our God, for ourselves, for our families, for our church? No matter what our struggle, through God’s grace and strength we can do all things.  God will not waste what we are going through.  He will use it for a purpose, for a story, for a dream, and for a future to reach more people for Christ.  Let’s dream again.  

What does the phrase “trusting and believing God” really mean? If you received a death sentence today, do you have what it takes to receive your healing? In this powerful conversation between Pastors John Nuzzo and Diego Mesa, Diego shares his testimony of the healing power of God in his life.  During the most prosperous and successful time in his life, Diego received a report of stage 4 kidney cancer with a death sentence.  Ten years later, Diego explains the practical steps he took to receive the manifestation of his complete healing.  Glory to God!  Learn how to align yourself to the provisions God has already provided for you to be victorious in every area of life. 

Are you dominated by the grace of God upon your life or by circumstances and the culture? Are you haunted by mistakes from your past that scream to you that “you are not enough” or that you are not qualified to do what God has called you to do? 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NKJV) says, “And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’  Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” This message on how to be dominated by God’s grace inspired Pastor John and profoundly impacted his ministry and life.  Understanding this aspect of grace gave Pastor John the strength to step into the things that God called him to do—even when it all seemed impossible.  Pastor John gives examples from his own life and ministry of 35 years that prove that “God’s grace is sufficient,” and nothing is impossible when we depend upon God.    Discover how the walls of impossibility can be torn down in your life!  Learn how to overcome the te

Do you feel like you are struggling with growing your church? Do you desire to be an influence in your community? David Swann pastors a church in a small town in New Mexico, yet his church has been influencing his community and culture for many years after struggling for the first ten years.  His profound discovery and implementation of principles in God’s Word will work for all pastors, regardless of the size of your church or community.  In this enlightening discussion between Pastor David and Pastor John Nuzzo, you will learn how to adjust what you are doing, no matter how long you have been pastoring, to gain traction in reaching people and changing your community.  Learn the importance of breaking through the cultural barriers of your own belief system and make a difference in your community beginning today!

Are you working for God or with God?1 Cor 3:9:  We are laborers together with Him; you are God’s garden; you are God’s building.   When I received the revelation of this scripture, it was a game changer.  So many times, when we move away from a grace-based righteousness, we try to do things to earn the favor of God. We try to present ourselves acceptable outside of His love, mercy, grace, blood sacrifice, and redemption.    If you do not get this issue of working for God or with God settled in your heart, you will forfeit a measure of the power of God in your ministry, in your vocation, and in anything you do that otherwise you could truly enjoy!   In this podcast, you will realize the difference between laboring for God and with God.  You will realize the limits we place on ourselves by reducing God to our size instead of seeing things from God’s perspective.   Colossians 3:1 states that we are seated together with Christ and seated at the right hand of God.  God wants to use us to change the world!  Instead

Are you driven or are you a drifter? Do you find yourself increasingly stressed doing the work of God? Do you have a strategy for life in place to keep focused and balanced in your life? Do you have friendships in your life so you don’t have to bear burdens alone? Laboring with God to build His church can become overwhelming at times if we, as pastors, don’t have balance and boundaries in our lives.  Stress can creep in and choke out the joy of what God has called us to do.  This month’s discussion between Pastor John Nuzzo and Pastor Jim Graff unveils proven and practical methods of relieving stress—God’s way.  Discover the tools necessary to see fulfillment and fruitfulness in your life while you stay focused on what God has put you on the planet to accomplish.  Do not bear your burdens alone.  God has placed people in your midst to encourage you and stand beside you.  Begin living a stress-free life today!