PODCAST | Integrating Christian Faith In The Business World (feat. Steve French)

Resources:

Learn more about Lx Partners: https://lxpartners.org/

Follow Steve on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steve.french/

Transcript:

Christa Neidig:
Welcome to the Vanderbloemen Leadership Podcast. I'm your host, Christa Neidig, manager of Marketing and Business Development here at Vanderbloemen. In today's podcast, our account manager, Carey Sumner talks with Steve French. Steve is the founder of LX Partners and the Global Ambassador for lifework leadership. After serving as its president for 20 years, lifework is known by marketplace executives and church leaders for its leadership development, excellence, and renowned communicators network. In this conversation, Steve discusses how Christian business leaders can incorporate their faith into their everyday work and find like-minded individuals who share their vision. He advocates for leaders of all industries to come together, share ideas, and learn from each other. We hope you enjoy this conversation.

Carey Sumner:
Welcome everybody to the Vanderbloemen Leadership Podcast. I'm Carey, your host on this episode here at Vanderbloemen. We exist to make your team whole, and one of the ways that we do that is by helping you with leadership. And so I'm excited today to welcome on one of our strategic partners, Steve French. Steve is the intern president at King's College. He's the founder of LX Partners and the Global Ambassador for Lifework Leadership. We're proud to have Steve as one of our strategic partners here at Vanderbloemen. Steve, welcome to the podcast.

Steve French:
Thank you, Carey. It's great to be here, and I certainly love your audience because I've lived in that world for a long period of time and certainly I'm familiar with those that work there at Vanderbloemen and kind of the privilege to be a strategic partner.

Carey Sumner:
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Let's kick off, let's share a little bit about yourself, kind of your journey maybe a little bit, and what you're doing currently to get some of our newer audience members who may not have crossed paths with you yet familiar with who you are and what you do.

Steve French:
Yeah. Well, I was born in a foreign country called New Jersey. I don't know if many are familiar with that, but was there for the first 22 years of my life for the most part. Spent 10 years in the Chicago land area where I was on staff at a church, a youth pastor there, and then went on staff at a church, I'm sure everyone's heard of, called Willow Creek, and really enjoyed the relationships I developed there over the years there. Then went and planted a church in North Jersey where I grew up for 10 years, but now for the last 25 years I've been living in Orlando.
And the opportunity to help Christian business leaders integrate their faith with work through an organization that we call Lifework Leadership has been just a joy of mine. So that's the big picture of what I've done in my career. And I'm a husband of one, a father of two, and a grandfather of five, and I made a big mistake. I thought I was being wise with having two kids, but I didn't take into the equation the impact of grandparents, and I just wish I had those years back and maybe thought about a third and a fourth kid to give me more a chance for more grandchildren, but it is what it is.

Carey Sumner:
Yeah, that's great. That's great. Well, I love the Sunshine State. I'm from the Sunshine State as well, so definitely near and dear to my heart. So you've had a great run here both from the pastoral side and the Christian leadership side, and you're stepping into kind of a new world here with King's College, I think just yesterday named Interim President. Talk just a little bit about King's College and what you're excited about in helping them in this next season.

Steve French:
Yeah. Well, King's College is an 85-year-old school that has had numerous different campuses, of which the last 24 years has been in New York City, and certainly, like most independent Christian schools, has their struggles just to be able to live on range of regular small margins. And you get to the point where you get slammed with COVID in New York City, you don't have much of a chance. And so that along with I think were some strategically bad decisions to try to recover from that has led to them really struggling right now.
So they reconstituted the board four weeks ago, and I was invited to come onto that board, and then just about three weeks ago, realized we really need to find someone else to be the interim president. And they looked at me and asked me to step in. And frankly, I felt like I don't have any background in education, but I know a little bit about relational leadership and I think they're leveraging the white hair for their good, and I'm happy to use it because when you're my age, you're just happy to have hair. And so if it's white and it can be leveraged for good to give a sense of stability, a chance for relational capital to be built, that's what I'm able to do. And so right now, it's a real privilege to be serving them in what is really a transition period for them.

Carey Sumner:
Sure. It's one of those interesting things being right in the center of a place like New York City with a Christian liberal arts college and really trying to raise up future business leaders, maybe not necessarily pastors, but future leaders who are going to end up in the business world, but also then sitting in churches. We have so many pastors who listen to the podcast here. Talk a little bit about just your perspectives going in. I think your work with Lifework Leadership probably really applies here because so many of these young leaders, eventually they're going to sit in these leadership positions on boards and committees in churches. What is that responsibility like? And as you said, in a transitional time, really taking serious the call of the gospel for that?

Steve French:
Yeah, yeah. And you're right. I mean, I really looked at this opportunity to double down on people more than half my age. So I just really wanted to do whatever I can to invest in this next new generation. I was looking for opportunities, frankly, to do that and never did I think that you're really coming on board and just leading an organization that really invest their mission in these young, very bright students that are going into these strategic places in society. And particularly in New York, they have, I think something like 83% of the students end up staying in New York. And so it's a big deal to be  there, and they're getting great opportunities to get internships at these key places of influence. So my heart is really trying to figure out how we can really leverage that for kingdom good.

Carey Sumner:
Yeah, that's great. That's great. Let's use that as kind of maybe a transition point to talk about your work with Lifework Leadership because that really has been a journey of helping business leaders in various different communities be [inaudible 00:07:55], not in a church building, but actually in the entirety of their lives that I've got some familiarity with it, but maybe share with our listeners just a little bit about Lifework Leadership.

Steve French:
Yeah. Well, it's based on the idea that Jesus was really biased toward business people. So I tend to be a little bit biased toward them. And the reason why I say that is because here is a guy that comes down to model not just how to do life, but how to do leadership. He just doesn't do the weekend thing where I die on Friday and raised from the dead on Sunday, and then I'm God, I've done the gospel thing. No, he intentionally obviously comes and lives and prepares for 30 years. Now he's going to choose not 12 synagogue guys, but 12 business guys. So what's that all about? And so the whole idea that Plan A to get the gospel worldwide is to get it with some business guys. They can't help themselves. They have this bias toward action. They got to be doing things with this gospel.
And so the idea of taking people, particularly Christian business leaders through a chronological approach of how Jesus is developing leaders over those, particularly those three and a half years after we take a look at this preparation period, it's just an amazing thing. So we set up, Lifework does, this nine month experience where in their own cities, they get a chance to go through this curriculum. And instead of having pastors, which I've been one, college professors come in and speak to them, we have their peers speaking to them. So I've now been able to train and develop over a hundred different business leaders to really come in and share the insights, the practical part of how to live out the Christ-Like life in business.

Christa Neidig:
Compensation is a critical component of building a great team and retaining your staff members. Talk to our team today about our customized compensation solutions or visit Vanderbloemen.com/compensation to learn more.

Carey Sumner:
Yeah, that's great. How many cities is Lifework in at this point?

Steve French:
Yeah. So we're only in just a few in the US in comparison to the globe. So as you well can imagine, there is a plethora of different leadership opportunities that are, frankly, it gets to be a blur after a while, but globally, there's such a hunger for the leadership development. So we've really decided to put our main focus globally, a number of different cities in South Africa, a number of different cities in Europe. We are now moving into Australia, New Zealand, and Lord willing, Singapore soon as well.
And so I'm just really excited about the idea of when he turns to his original 12 guys and say, "Listen, we've only done the Galilean thing for the last three and a half years. I know we've only been 70 miles away from where home is, but I need you to be thinking and going globally." And so as you know, you open up a book of acts and they go wild with the growth there. The momentum is building, but by chapter eight, they just haven't taken the global thing seriously. So it creates persecution, gets them intentionally scattered to set up Paul coming in chapter nine to start following up on that. So I have just been pushing the organization and my leaders that I'm personally developing and mentoring to be thinking strategically and globally.

Carey Sumner:
Yeah, that's great. I feel like we're in such a great time in history for that. My wife and I actually got to go to Israel this past January for the first time, and so we got to go to Galilee, see those places, and it's very small. That's something that shocked me how close together everything was. And if you think about those original 12, that was their life. They'd probably never ventured out of there, and suddenly Jesus is pushing them way out of their comfort zone. Maybe talk a little bit about that sense of being pushed out of the comfort zone, especially as Christian business leaders, what they're experiencing and trying to be active in their faith, but also living in a culture that's, right now, not always accepting of their faith walk, being engaged maybe where their business practice is.

Steve French:
I think this is one of the reasons why Jesus, after 30 years of preparation and gets baptized, goes through the final phase of preparation, that wilderness experience, that he now turns to the next three years of developing business leaders and he decides not to play the Miracle Card at all. I mean, you think he'd be smart enough to say, "Hey, listen, let's get the momentum going. The stakeholders are really clamoring for this. Let's get some miracles going and get this whole big deal." No, for a year and a half, 18 months, he only does two miracles. Both of them are in Cana, so they're not even in Jerusalem where he can get the Twitter and all the publicity going. He gets it over in Cana, this remote area. He [inaudible 00:13:50] changing the water into wine. And even then he said, "Don't you tell anyone about this." Okay.

Carey Sumner:
That's bad marketing. Right?

Steve French:
Exactly.

Carey Sumner:
[inaudible 00:14:02] going to tell you, "Hey, do something big and then tell people don't talk about it."

Steve French:
So my point is that he's really focused in on, "Hey, come follow me. Come follow me." It's relationally driven. And Jim Collins, of course, 2000 years later will say, "Just get the right people on the bus first of all." So don't even worry about the seat that they're sitting on, get the right people on the bus. So he is basically watching, he doesn't even choose the 12 until month 18, and he spends the night praying, comes down off the mountain, and he chooses those whom he wants to be with. So he's been focusing on a competency and character for 18 months. Now he chooses chemistry.
And does Peter and Judas and these other, do they get along? No, they are really dysfunctional, really dysfunctional team, but they get along with him and he chooses those whom he wants to be with. The chemistry factor is huge to Jesus. I say all this because as we move into places that may feel a little bit uncomfortable, are you willing to invest the time in relationships? Don't worry about getting the momentum going, make sure you get the right people on the bus. Of course, Vanderbloemen is really kind of committed to getting the right people on the bus, right?

Carey Sumner:
Sure.

Steve French:
So this is a big deal to Jesus and it should be a big deal to all of us.

Carey Sumner:
Yeah, no, I love that. That's one of the things I love about what I get to do day in and day out from a kingdom building perspective is getting into the nitty-gritty of the theology, the culture of a church or organization, and then setting our team out to really go find, "Hey, not just a warm body, not just pull a resume off of the internet, but really get to know people in their core to understand, "Hey, is this going to be that good fit?"
As you were sharing there, that made me think of a question really from your journey. So you did pastoring and you're still doing pastoring, right? Then your work is still that, but you did pastoring in local churches and now you've spent this last season with Christian business leaders. Is there anything that you would speak to pastors, if you could take some of what you've learned in this past season back to church planting or back to being young in ministry that you would give advice to yourself, those people who are our listeners right now, and you'd say, "Hey, man, I wish I would've known this 25 years ago when I was leading a local church, how to engage a Christian business leader, how to bring those right people around me."

Steve French:
Well, so Richard Blackaby, he and his dad wrote this book and called Experiencing God that I'm sure most pastors would know about. He and I wrestle with this quite often, this kind of question. And I would say the number one thing, please don't be intimidated by them.

Carey Sumner:
Yes.

Steve French:
Don't be intimidated by them and allow who God's wired you up to be and move towards them. I think another thing that I would say is not only not be intimidated by them, but be sure that you understand that they are in Jesus' mind and his strategy, they're really priority A.

Carey Sumner:
Yeah.

Steve French:
So do whatever you can to envision them that they are to be salting light where they are. And so instead of trying to figure out how do I keep them coming towards me and my programs and what I'm doing, try to do whatever you can to equip them to be sent out and making sure that you are essentially that filling station, that equipping place and making sure that whatever you can do as a pastor, get them out there, cheer them on, or have them stand and pray over them as they move into a new season, whatever it may be. But let's be sure that they do not feel like a second class citizen compared to the missionary, the pastors, whoever else it may be. But let's just align ourselves with how Jesus viewed them.

Carey Sumner:
Yeah, I love that. One of the things in my former work as an executive pastor, I realized at one point was we had these great business leaders and we were asking them to teach Sunday school with five-year-olds, which is great. I had a president of a bank one time on the floor with these kids, and he was so loving and pour into them. And that's so valuable to the life of the church to see those strong leaders outside of the church pouring into the church.
But at the same time, they have these gifts that the Lord has given them that can be so helpful to the local church. I did my seminary degree, but I eventually went back and got a business degree as well because principles were so helpful in running an organization of that size. How would you encourage, as you talked about that move towards them, how would you encourage some of those pastors to really leverage some of those business leaders, not just in what we think of, like you said, as the missionary work, but actually the work to expand the kingdom through the local church?

Steve French:
Well, so I would certainly encourage them to actually show up where they work. So they come to your gig every Sunday and your pad, your crib, what would it be like for you to spend one time a week just going to one of the key business people and going into their place and not just meeting them for lunch somewhere, but actually go and sit in their office, get to know who they are. You'd be amazed at how you get to know someone by stepping into their home or into their office. I mean, the stuff that's on the walls, the stuff that's on their desk. I mean, these are softballs just being thrown. Yeah. I don't know this guy. Walk into their office, say, "Tell me about this picture. Tell me about that plaque."
And now you got the guy talking. You got the gal just kind of ranting and raving about what she's particularly passionate about. So moving towards them and being with them in their environment, I'm amazed Jesus spends 87% of his time with his [inaudible 00:20:57] are focused in on the marketplace. 93% of his miracles are done where? At church? No, in the marketplace. And of course a hundred percent of his team is from the marketplace. So I just see Jesus being doing his greatest work where they are rather than expecting them to come to the synagogue.

Carey Sumner:
I love Luke Five. Jesus shows up on the seashore and he's not sitting in the synagogue waiting on Peter and James and John to come in, but he goes to where they are, just like you're talking about and not even just staying on the shore. He says, "Hey, let's get in your boat." Let's go take this thing out and do it. So great wisdom just for our pastors move towards, have that passion and intentionality to be interested in who those leaders are in your church.

Steve French:
And I just pick up a little bit on Luke Five, because to me that's one of the key passages actually for pastors to really get a handle on. It's just 11, 12 verses there in the beginning of that chapter that you can focus in on. But one of the last things where it says, "And they left everything to follow him," and pastors, I, being one have easily interpret that to mean, see, they dropped everything in the marketplace and they started doing the real work. They started becoming apostles. And you know what? If you follow that type of thinking, then what happens when in fact they are fishing again later on in the gospels and Jesus says, "After the resurrection, go back to fishing. Don't give up what you have." And also that whole thing about leaving everything, literally, when I took a look at that Josephus, the historian, uses that term and frankly, I think it's one of the best use of it.
And that is it's really used for legally giving over ownership of, so I think what Jesus is basically saying at that point, "Hey, listen, I got you a whole bunch of fish today. So I really care about profit. Profit is a big deal to me. And I understand it's a big deal to you, business guy. So I gave you the fish because you obeyed me and you took a risk by going out into the deep when you hadn't caught anything. You just followed my instructions, you listened to my whisper. Now you got a whole bunch of profit, but people matter even more. Go be fishers of men."
And so my gut on this passage is that God cares about profit. He cares even more about people, but it's not saying no to profit, but as far as making sure that you legally, or whether or not it's legally or whether or not it's symbolically, but there's got to be some way in which you say, in so many words, "My business, what I'm doing, it's yours, God. It's yours. It's not mine any longer. I'm not going to hold on to ... You've already proven to me that you care about profit and I'll care about people as well. It's yours." So I just thought that that chapter is a key chapter.

Carey Sumner:
Absolutely. And that's where, even as you're talking about it, understanding they leave the biggest catch they've ever had, how much money that was, but what does it do? It seeds their business to keep going while they're following Jesus. And so that surrender of, "Hey, Jesus, I'm going to trust you with everything, but that doesn't mean I'm going to close up shop." That fishing business keeps going even though those key players go out. And so, man, what a great passage for business leaders, but for pastors really for us to embrace going into the marketplace and where those leaders are. Well, Steve, we got just a few more minutes left. Let's talk about LX Partners a little and the work that you do with LX Partners and how that's helping businesses, churches, all of the like.

Steve French:
Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. So over the last 20 some odd years in developing Lifework Leadership, we started with about 153 leaders here in Orlando. Now it's over 5,000 worldwide. And my phone is nuts right now. Over 15,000 contacts in there, of which about 10,000 are just genuine relationships I have with Christian business leaders overall worldwide. So as you can probably gather, I'm far more of a relationship guy, vision guy than I am a management guy. And the idea of leading a growing global organization called Lifework Leadership was not in my wheelhouse. So the opportunity to stay involved with the organization, represent them at different times as a global ambassador around the world, and start LX Partners, which just stands for Leadership Multiplication and trying to do what I do. And I got two things that is content resources that really help Christian business leaders integrate faith with work, particularly the Jesus journey that I call it.
But then not just the resources, but also the relationships. So Christian business leaders all around the world now, they inquire different times, "Hey, can I have you for three, six months. Let's sit down with those contacts, those relationships you have. Could you possibly introduce me to someone that could leverage my business for greater kingdom good?" So right now, for instance, there's a Chinese man who owns the contract for socks for Nike and the NFL. You've probably heard of those two organizations. And he wants to really move his business and spread it out, not just be totally focused in China.
So he wants to figure out, so what are we doing right now? Going around the different places and introducing him to Christian business leaders that may be interested in manufacturing. So LX Partners is helping Christian business leaders and really organizational church leaders as well, being retained right now by a mission in North Jersey and really mentoring the leader of that organization. And I think it's going to be greater kingdom good as a result. So LX Partners is helping leaders with resources and relationships.

Carey Sumner:
That's great. That's great. Where can they get ahold of you? Where can they find out more about LX Partners if they want to check that out?

Steve French:
Well, certainly can take down my mobile number. It's pretty simple. It's 407-881-5000. And then LXPartners.org is where you'll find some of the information.

Carey Sumner:
Great. Great. And we'll make sure to put that in the show notes as well, so you guys can go check those out. Steve, thank you so much for your time today for being a great partner here with Vanderbloemen, helping our pastors, but helping our business leaders as well. We are all the churches. It's not just the clergy running things here. And so we appreciate your kingdom investment, seeing the big sea church get bigger. We are all about that here at Vanderbloemen. And consider it a privilege to have you partner with us in that.

Steve French:
Thank you.

Christa Neidig:
Thanks for listening to the Vanderbloemen Leadership Podcast. At Vanderbloemen, we help Christian organizations build their best teams through hiring, succession, compensation, and diversity consulting services. Visit our websites Vanderbloemen.com to learn more and subscribe to our Vanderbloemen Leadership podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, to keep up with our newest episodes. Thanks for listening.