CEP SEASON TWO EP: 29 - WITH GUEST CHAD HAMPTON

Nov 24

By Dave Mckeown and Nathan Benger

The Church Explained podcast is a conversation to help grow your leadership, develop your team and build your church. Your hosts will be Dave Mckeown and Nathan Benger. We talk about all things leadership with key team players from IKON Church and other guests during each show.

Welcome to Season 2, Episode: 29 of the Church Explained Podcast with guest Chad Hampton

A short bio about Chad

Chad has been married to his wife, Jill, for 19 years, and they have four children, Makenna, Ashton, Adalyn and Jude.

Chad grew up a preacher's kid. He attended Bible college in 2002. At the age of 19 stepped into full-time ministry as a youth pastor. He was on staff at Faith Center Church in Rockford, IL, for 12 years before transitioning to the team at Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC. Chad was the campus pastor at the Providence campus for a little over two years and then moved to be the campus pastor at the Lake Norman location for over four years. Chad recently stepped away from full-time vocational ministry and now works as a sales rep for a company in Utah. His focus during this time is to ensure he takes every moment possible to be with his kids, as they are still young and at home.

In part two of our conversation, Chad shares some clear principles we can use when making key decisions in our ministry and lives.

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FULL TRANSCRIPT

CREATED BY AI - SO NOT 100% accurate.

David Mckeown 0:00

Hey, welcome everyone to the church explained podcast, a conversation to grow your leadership and build your Church.

Mark Kresge 0:15

I think that's great. And just what you were saying there, Chad around the whole courage thing that word encourage means to put courage in your story, there is a great example of someone come in being the cheerleader, and all of a sudden, there's a courage put in you because they encouraged you, they cheered you on, and I guess around this whole area of calling and Church and people's calling, that's something that we could take away to be people's cheerleader to encourage them in what what what God has got for them. And wherever they find themselves, whatever it looks like, you know, we mentioned a few professions earlier, but just to encourage people in that, I think would be a massive shift in the Church as well. Yeah,

Chad Hampton 0:58

absolutely.

David Mckeown 0:59

Definitely. Definitely. Man, I just agree with that so much, Nathan, what you're saying there just to cheer people on as much as they can. Because so often people don't realise they, they think we're always coming to inspect or correct. But there's something more powerful by cheering people on in their professions, what they're doing, and almost a say, hey, you know, what you're doing is as important as what anyone else is doing. It all adds value to the kingdom of God. And it's about this idea of knowing that we're called in our own sector, wherever that is, and living that I think there's something about living that living that ICT and being courageous in our setting, is the thing that makes all the difference. You know what I mean? So, yeah, some great ideas there. So what sort of advice Chad, would you give to somebody? When as you've changed, you went from being in ministry to not being in the traditional sense of ministry, but you're still doing ministry? Of course, that's what we're saying. But what advice would you give to people who are maybe thinking, you know, I feel a little bit trapped, I need to make a change.

Chad Hampton 2:07

Yeah, I think, you know, number one, you got to pray about it. I think a lot of times, maybe something happens. There's a, there's a meeting that takes place, there's a conversation, and, and it's emotional, and you react, and you go, I don't think I'm called to this anymore. I don't think I can do this anymore. You know, on either side, if it's, if it's Church, if it's corporate, and I think you got to slow down a little bit, you have to take a step back. And you have to have some people in your life that you can go to, and be honest with that can just tell you what you need to hear. Because you get so emotionally involved and close to the situation, take a step back. I learned that a long time ago, because I wouldn't involve people and big decisions in my life, that was a pride issue. I wouldn't involve people. So having those one or two voices in your life that you know, you can trust that they're unbiased voices, they're gonna tell you the truth. I think that's important. So don't react, I've always kind of gone by this axiom in my life, don't react to the current, but respond to the calling. And so what's currently going on, it might be troublesome, it might be messy, but it doesn't really define the calling, you know, I'm going to take a step back, and who is God called me to be? So there were many times, you know, when I was on staff at the Church in Illinois, and then, you know, being at the Church, in North Carolina, many times things would happen, that I would react to, and they made me want to step away. I don't think that's justification at all, for stepping away. It was more it was more this progression, that, you know, through the lockdown, and through a lot of prayer and conversations with my wife and conversations with people that I was very close with and could trust because my circle was the campus, my circle was the Church. So I'm going to a couple people who I can find into say, I'm thinking about stepping away. And I can't even believe I'm saying this not because something's happened. Not because I got an A in an argument or not, because there was a difficult meeting, you know, where I was made the example. And now my ego is squashed. No, I just, I feel like God is leading us to step out of this to just spend more time focusing on just home. And that took a while. I mean, that was, I want to say it was proud probably August of 2020. And then we didn't step away until April of 2021. So it was a good it was a good period of time where we were just considering and praying a lot. So yeah, what advice number one, just pray about it. Talk to people, if this is just a reaction. I wouldn't say that that is ultimately, you know, God's leading. I think it's just you're being emotional. and you're being even a little proud right now. I think second thing, just to encourage somebody is your calling can exist, you know, outside of a Church context, it really can. Now for us, we still go to Church, you know. So I think, I think that's another thing you've got to go back to, you know, are you stepping away, because there's some Church hurt, as we all like to say going on. Because if that's the case, then you just need to address that you need to have the right conversations, and maybe through settling some some conflict, then maybe that's the answer. And you can jump right back in and serve what God has called you to be in whatever Church you're in. So I think you've, you've really got to, you've got to look at the the content, you know, of why you're wanting to make this decision for us. There wasn't Church hurt, there wasn't any of that it was just a legitimate, we just feel called to a different focus. Right now, our focus is changing. And so your calling can exist, you know, in a corporate context, it really can. And I think that's really what I want, maybe someone to hear, you know, through this conversation, who just maybe feels a little stuck. Like, I'm not, I'm not wanting to step away, because I'm bitter or upset, or I didn't get the, I didn't get the position that I wanted. I just, I feel like my focus is shifting, and I still want to build God's Church, I still believe in it. We believe in the Church, you know, it's God's plan, it's the Bride of Christ. It's not going anywhere. So even when I read articles that are put out, you know, the Church is in trouble, like, it's the Church, the Church is going to be fine. So I just think that I just think that, yeah, you have to someone needs to be given the permission today, to say, like, you're you're calling can exist, you know, outside the context of Church. Now, for me, you've got to, you've got to be wise. So I wasn't just going to step away. Because that was, you know, it wasn't just a calling, it wasn't just, you know, where we serve. I mean, this was my job as well, being a Pastor at elevation. So I needed to make sure that I had something lined up before I stepped away. And so I think you got to be wise in that as well. Some people might want to be extreme in their faith and just step away, and okay, God, you're gonna have to open the door, me having a wife and four kids and a mortgage. And you know, I got to put food on the table. I didn't think that was why. So I went to, again, a couple people I could trust and just say, I'm thinking about stepping away. If you if you know of anything, you know, where I can just provide an income for my family? Let me know. And yeah, thankfully, God opened the door there. Because I was willing to knock, you know, we want the open doors, but we got a knock as well. And so, you know, I think there's yeah, there's just some, some practical wise choices you got to make there if you are considering stepping away, but there is life on the other side, I just want someone to hear that. There really is. And, you know, I would just make sure that you don't if you're stepping away from you know, working at a Church that that you don't stay up rooted for too long, you have to stay planted somewhere. If maybe, maybe it's in the Church, you're walking away from as far as a staff position. If you're going to continue to go there, get planted there, you know, if you're gonna go somewhere else, we attend a different Church now. But it's a priority to be planted there. Because I believe in being planted not only because you know what, what Scripture promises that those who are planted in the house of the Lord will flourish. But I think when you're planted, when you're deeply rooted, it becomes much more difficult for anything else in your life to take root. You know, from a negative perspective, right outside the window of my office here at home, there's a big tree. And recently I was trying to plant different plants around that tree. My goodness, have you ever tried to dig holes around a tree? It's impossible, because the roots have gone out the roots have have taken over. And so not only can I not uproot that tree, it's hard for me to plant anything around that tree, because the roots are so strong. And I think that's what a lot of people you know, they don't realise that when I'm planted. It's much more difficult for for bitterness or resentment, those type of things to take root in my life, because I'm planted in the house of God. And so we still have that priority for our kids. We go to Church every Sunday. You know, we're there. We just got home from vacation. On Saturday night. We were tired. We had been driving, but guess what, we're going to Church on Sunday, because we want our kids to grow up, you know, under that. Just that prioritisation and that rhythm and so, I know I said a lot in that in that answer. And I hope I answered your question there, Dave. But yeah, I hope that's helpful for someone that's just contemplating maybe stepping away.

Mark Kresge 9:51

Yeah. I think it really, really great, really great and I hope people are catching the heart behind it in terms Have you know that motive behind it was not, you know, as you're saying bitterness or ego, but actually there was a purity of heart behind it. And I think, I think that's a big thing for people to take away. I know you've chatted to Dave before and the podcast and kind of changing tact a little bit. But you mentioned this phrase, there are not many fathers in the Church. So what does that mean for yourself, for younger leaders coming through, but also thinking of Church leaders? What should their focus be on in terms of around that statement that you made?

Chad Hampton 10:34

True? Man, I would just say, Stop putting so much pressure on your kids. You know, I'm speaking a lot more from like, the father of a home context. Now. Let me talk about my son real quick. So my son, Ashton, he's 15, he loves football, loves football, and he's very good at it. Obviously, I'm biassed because I'm his dad. But he's very good at it. And he goes to a high school where it's very common for these players to get recruited by division one colleges get scholarships for football. So my son going into, you know, high school football just knew that that was kind of normal for this particular school. So my son, he's a hard worker, there's, there's a few lessons that he's learned in playing football that I'm so grateful for, because he's just he's developing this, this quality, you know, of, and this, this virtue of just working hard, and I love that. But at the same time, there's a lot of pressure put on him. And he talks about it all the time, you know, so and so just got recruited so and so just got picked up by this college, my son's 15. And so I remember there was a day where he was feeling pretty overwhelmed and pressured. Because he's just thinking, like, I got to get recruited, you know, I got to do well enough. So I get noticed, and some college picks me up. And so I just, I remember talking with him one day, and just saying, Listen, buddy, I love that you're playing football, I love the things that you're learning through it. And if if it works out, where you end up getting picked up by school and go into play, you know, at a collegiate level, great. I'm going to be I'm going to be right there supporting you, I'll be your biggest fan. I'm not against that. I just, I want you to honour God in it. Whatever you do, I want you to honour God with it, okay? But I also said, Listen, if the football thing doesn't work out, I'm okay with that, too. I don't have this high aspiration, that you're just going to be this. This, you know, this professional football superstar. I'm not going to put that pressure on you. Whatever you want to do, buddy. I just want you to honour God in it. That's it. So if it's football, great. If it's business, great if you decide to go into ministry, great. Just honour God with it. And you could see like the, you know, the kind of the burden lift, and the pressure goes away that okay, I still want to pursue this because I'm passionate about it. But I don't have all the pressure that like this is it? And I think I think from that statement, we need more fathers in the Church. I listen, there's a lot of pastors right now, there's a lot of people working in the Church context, they're under a lot of pressure. Because the Church has shifted so much to become more of this, this platform, this brand, something that people look at and go ooh, ah, and we sensationalised it. We love the sensational, you know, as people, and so to a detriment, the next time we see something that is sensational, what do we do? We talk about it, we post about it, we tell our friends about it. And now that's the new thing. And so now the people that are keeping that thing going, they feel the pressure to continue to grow and increase and expand it. There's a lot of pressure that comes with that. I've I've been in meetings that have been called grow or die. Like that was the name of the meeting. Because the focus and the priority was we have to grow, we have to grow. Otherwise, we're dying. And I get it. Like I want to grow. I want to multiply whatever God has given me, but sometimes that takes time, as well. It takes time. And sometimes we're just not willing to give it the time. We're not willing to let the process kind of play out. I love we talked about shoes. I grew up in Illinois, close to Chicago, watched Michael Jordan in the bowls, you know, in the 90s. And I love the documentary, The Last Dance. I love the part where Phil Jackson comes in. And he says Listen, we're going to bring about this new type of offence. We're going to learn this new offence is the triangle offence. And he went to Jordan he's like this means you're not going to be scoring champion anymore, but you're going to win the last game of the season if you'll be willing to adapt to this new way of playing. It took them a year. It took them a year to develop this new offence. That means for a year they had to be okay with not winning With not going to the championship, knowing what was on the other side of allowing this process to play out, you're talking about elite athletes at the highest level, this is all they do is play basketball. And it took them a year to establish this new offence. But thankfully, they had a coach who was willing enough to say I'm okay, if we don't win it all in this year, because I know, I know what it can be, if we'll be willing to embrace this process and be patient in the process will be unstoppable. If we're okay right now, maybe not being the ones who win that last game of the season. And I think getting back to you know, fathers in the Church, man, you just, you gotta you gotta stop putting so much pressure on the people that God has called you to lead to, like, you know, every, every day, every week, and every month, it has to be a win or nothing. It has to be a grow or die mentality. Because at the same time you do, you've got, you've got moms, and you've got dads that they're trying to win at home at the same time. And when they feel like they're failing at home, and they feel like they're failing in ministry, there's just a lot of, there's a lot of weight to be carried there. And so there, there's, there's a need for fathers, there's a need for pastors right now in the Church to just come along and know the condition of their flock, as Proverbs says, know the condition of your flock, because the condition is that is going to determine the type of care you give to the flock that God has called you, to steward and to shepherd. And I think there's, there's a lot of people in leadership, they don't know the condition of their flock, because they're not having real conversations, because trust has not been developed in that relationship. So the people they lead, they don't feel like they can actually go to their leader with real issues, because they're worried. They're worried about their job. They're worried, oh, if I look like a liability, or if I look a little unstable right now, maybe I won't be given the opportunity. I've been in meetings where it's been said, if we hear you utter the phrase, I don't know if I can do this anymore. That's an immediate, okay, you're done. Because we need people that are all in we need people that are devoted to this. I mean, I want to be devoted to this. But right now, I don't know how to raise teenagers. So I'm just a little frustrated. And I just need someone I can come alongside of and talk to, and be real with, to say, I don't know if I can keep doing this. You know what, I felt that way last week. But you know what, we're going to pray, we're going to go to God, we're going to realise that it is his Church, and he will build it upon this rock, I will build my Church and the gates of hell will not prevail. And so we need to stop taking ourselves so seriously. Like, it's all revolving around us. And understand that the Gospel is the power of God. It's not based on my perfect presentation of it. It's the power of God, that brings salvation. And so, yeah, I feel like I'm starting to preach now, I'm sorry. But it's just one of those things where I think as as leaders, you know, in the Church, especially, we just, we need to take the pressure off of the people that will lead. So going back to that story of my son, I feel like he's excelling more, because he knows that I want to go after this. But it's not it's not, you know, football or nothing. It's, hey, this works out great. But there's a lot more to that, that God has in store for me than just football. And so, yeah, just take the pressure off, the ones that you're leading and let them know, kind of like we were saying earlier, hey, I'm for you. I believe in you. I remember having a conversation with a guy that very big, well known Church here in the States. It took him seven years to grow his campus, seven years. And now he has one of the largest campuses at that Church. And if I said the name of the Church, you would know who they are. But seven years, he was doubting himself, am I the one for this job? Have they selected the right one. And through those seven years, guess what his leadership was doing? We believe in you, we know that you're the one for the job, just keep going, this is going to work out they were willing to give it the time. And now. I mean, the proof is there. Sometimes it just takes time. And we don't want to give it the time. We live in a you know, a day where information is readily available. We don't have to wait for anything anymore. But there's something to that waiting where I think we can appreciate, you know, a little bit more what what God has has built through us.

David Mckeown 19:16

Definitely, yeah, so So some great stuff there. Chad and especially around this idea of having fathers in the Church and, or even for the leaders, I think leaders sometimes just need to take the pressure off themselves, and just be at ease a little bit as well. And enjoy the journey. Hey, I think we want to move into some quickfire questions. This afternoon. We've got some great questions here, but they've got to be quick fire. Okay, so we're going to ask them quickly, and we're going to answer them quickly. If it's too long, then they'll cut me off Dave. Yeah, there'll be no bonus. That's the thing. They kicked them off.

Mark Kresge 19:57

Yeah. So Chad, what would you feel Because on first, if you could live the last decade again,

Chad Hampton 20:05

speaking more about the things I'm convicted about, rather than staying silent.

David Mckeown 20:09

Grant answer, okay. What are you most excited and challenged about at the moment?

Chad Hampton 20:15

I'm actually starting to ease back into preaching. And I haven't made that public yet. But I saw I'm actually preaching at Church this weekend. So just seeing where that goes. No plans, just seeing where it goes.

Mark Kresge 20:29

Awesome. Awesome. What would be your top two book recommendations and why?

Chad Hampton 20:37

One of my favourite books is Shoe Dog. By Phil Knight. It's the Nike story. I love that book. And then I love the book irresistible by Andy Stanley. There's some controversy around that book. I'm okay with a little bit of controversy. But I think it really challenges our thinking on Old Covenant versus New Covenant. And so anyone that reads the Bible and says, the Bible contradicts itself. You should go read irresistible.

David Mckeown 21:05

Wonderful. And what is your favourite way to stay healthy? You mentioned that earlier, but tell us a wee bit more.

Chad Hampton 21:13

Yeah, I put a put a gym in my garage recently. So when you make that type of investment, even on the days, you don't feel like it's like, hey, it's, it's 20 steps away. So I try to work out every day. And then obviously, I think eating is even more you can't you can't outwork a bad diet. So I tried to stick to intermittent fasting low carb low sugar. I just want to feel good. I'm 38 I'm not trying to win any competitions, but I just want to feel good.

Mark Kresge 21:42

Awesome. And what would be your favourite meal of choice?

Chad Hampton 21:46

favourite meal? Man, I'm a State guy. So you put a good New York strip in front of me. seasoned well, that's, that's all I need. I don't even like the sides. Just give me the New York Strip. Cook it medium. I'm good to go.

David Mckeown 22:02

Yeah, I like that. I like that they some pink in the middle and finger dream destination to visit

Chad Hampton 22:10

for Dubai. I want to go to Dubai. So that my wife knows that. I've watched a lot of documentaries on Dubai. I'm just I'm fascinated by. They don't have limits there. I don't know if you've seen anything on them how, you know they've run out of space in the desert. So now they're expanding out into the sea. There's literally building islands, you know, in the sea. They've got the world's tallest building there. Their engineering is brilliant. The elevator system at the Burj Khalifa actually works as an electric conductor because those elevators are running constantly. So the building runs off the power from the elevators, because it's so I know these are quick fire, but I gotta say this, because it's so it's so hot, you know, in Dubai, and then they've got the air conditioning, a lot of condensation builds up on the windows at the Burj Khalifa. So they actually have a system to catch the condensation, which then goes into the irrigation for the for the grounds. So it's like It's smart. It's efficient engineering there, too. It's not just ooh, you know, glitz and glamour. It's very smart. So I would love to go to Dubai. So the

David Mckeown 23:19

well, wonderful day. Well, listen, it's been amazing to have you with us as a guest today a little bit different for our listeners. But we believe there's be something really good in there that people can take away. And even if they grabbed this idea that actually our calling works inside full time ministry and outside full time ministry. I think there's a lot of our listeners here, maybe not even in full time Church, but they're listening, their leaders are involved at some level. And even if they can grab that idea to think actually, yeah, it's okay. The key thing is to follow God and to be obedient to what He wants us to do. So it's been brilliant to have you on the show with us. Thanks for having a wrap up for us today. Thanks.

Mark Kresge 23:58

Yeah. Chad, what is the best way for people to connect with you?

Chad Hampton 24:04

You can go I'm on Instagram. So I am Chad Hampton, is my handle, you can go on there. That's probably the best way.

Mark Kresge 24:12

Awesome. Well, it's been great to have Chad with us and great to have everyone listening and if you're watching this as well, great to have you with us, wherever you're consuming the content. And please like subscribe, share it with someone you know, it would encourage and really believing that this has been a super helpful conversation with you. Don't forget we've got IKON dot Church forward slash open where you can get exclusive access to loads of free content around Church leadership and free content for your Church as well. And I know we've recently put some new resources on kids ministry so head over there to check those out. But we will we look forward to having everyone with us next time on the church explained podcast we will see you soon.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai