Flourishing Culture Leadership Podcast
Why Healthy Culture is at the Heart of Meeting Your Fundraising Goals
May 1, 2023
Brad Layland
Intro: My holy discontent is sparked when I hear a leader say, “Why don't they just do what I tell them to?” Well, leaders who want to see their organizations grow, even flourish, have a very different attitude. Listen in to my conversation with a leader and author who has been very intentional about building a flourishing culture based on deep, long-lasting relationships.
Welcome: Welcome to the Flourishing Culture Leadership Podcast, your home for open, honest, and insightful conversations to help develop your leadership, your team, and build a flourishing workplace culture.
Al Lopus: Hello, I'm Al Lopus, the co-founder of the Best Christian Workplaces and author of the book Road to Flourishing: Eight Keys to Boost Employee Engagement and Well-Being. And I'm passionate about helping Christian leaders create engaged, flourishing workplaces. So thanks for joining us today.
Well, the question is, how does a flourishing workplace culture impact the effectiveness of your organization? Well, today on the Flourishing Culture Leadership Podcast we’ll learn from a leader of an organization who serves Christian ministries and churches. They have a strong employee-engagement culture and have been able to effectively attract and keep top talent. So listen in to hear how some of their practices can strengthen your own organization.
Well, I'm delighted to welcome Brad Layland to the Flourishing Culture Podcast today. Brad’s the CEO of The FOCUS Group, based in St. Augustine, Florida. Now, The FOCUS Group serves campus ministries, relief organizations, schools, institutions of higher education, and others across the U.S. and around the world, helping them raise money so that they can fund their world-changing missions. Brad started learning about raising money when he came on Young Life staff, and there he continued for 20 years. And then, he joined The FOCUS Group in 2009 as a senior consultant and became the owner just a year later. And I’ve also enjoyed working with Brad on governance topics with Citygate and also in other venues as well.
So Brad, welcome to the Flourishing Culture Leadership Podcast.
Brad Layland: Well, thank you for asking me, Al. It's an honor to be with you. I have so much respect for the incredible work you are doing. Culture matters and having a workplace that reflects an incredible culture is my goal at my own company, and I love it when the clients we serve have that same passion and commitment. And you're always there, trying to make it happen, so you do the magic, Al.
Al: Well, thanks, Brad. And I'm looking forward to our conversation because we're going to get exactly to that topic.
But before we dive in, let's talk about The FOCUS Group and the work that you're doing with Christian organizations and, particularly, what's behind your relational fundraising approach.
Brad: Yeah, thanks for asking. The FOCUS Group, we have a very specific mission is that we want to help all the people that God brings us; make all things new, right? Like, God is in the business of restoration and making all things new. And if you ask any leader of a nonprofit organization what's holding them back, they'll typically tell you it's money. Of course, I think it's usually money and people, money in the hands that do the work. But usually, it's the money is the stress point. And so at The FOCUS Group, we help organizations fund their dreams, and we primarily do it through the best vehicle for fundraising, which is not events; it's not foundations; it's major donors. And so The FOCUS Group, we help our clients focus on the few people who have the capacity to make the largest difference in their organizations.
And so we have this incredible team. FOCUS Group has about 35 people on staff all around the country. We serve 100 ministries. And we have a simple commitment, and that is to say yes. And so whether it's an organization that needs, like, a missionary, that needs to raise 30,000, like, we say yes to help them. And our largest client is raising 275 million for a campaign, and we help them. And so we have this incredible privilege of funding the great work that God is doing around the world.
And then, I, as the CEO, get to see it day after day and see what God is doing. And it is, I mean, don't tell my clients this, but I would do what I do for free because it is such a privilege to get to serve and the way we serve.
Al: Yeah. Well, you and I feel the same way about our work, there's no question, Brad. Yeah.
Well, I noticed on your leadership team, as we're looking through your website, that Amy Eldridge has the title of chief culture officer and senior consultant on your team, and you also have a staff member dedicated to pastoral care. So why did you decide to include culture and care in specific staff responsibilities? What does it mean in your organization to have this kind of focus on culture and care?
Brad: Well, it really should start with that I'm pretty self-aware of all of my deficits, and if you ask my wife or my coworkers, there's many of them. And so Martha, who's the woman that's on our team that does pastoral care, she's literally the wisest person I know, and she's been one of my mentors. And so once she retired from Flagler College, where she was the director of the youth-ministry program there, I asked her if she would consider joining our team. And she said, “To do what?” And I said, “Just join our team.” And I kind of got some flak from other team members that said, “Shouldn't we have a job description for her?” And I said, “Well, yes. We need a job description.” But really what I want her to do is to be in charge of devotionals, create community, invest in people, things that I really believe in. But I often know that I'm so excited about the next huge project that The FOCUS Group is working on that sometimes I forget. And so Martha has been the person that God’s used me in my life over the years, and so her joining our team was so important.
Now, she joined our team. Amy was already on our team. Amy, just the backstory is that when I got to The FOCUS Group, it was a group of white men, and that didn't fit with my belief about the Kingdom of God. And this is a long time ago, right? And so, 2009. And so it wasn't main stream in the news, but I didn't feel comfortable with our white-male team. And so I worked hard to recruit Amy to join our team, and she joined our team as a consultant and then became a senior consultant and then became a partner, and now she's the chief culture officer. And so she is just very gifted, and she does training, and she brings people on, and she helps teach them how to live out what we're trying to do in a way that is honoring to God and honoring to each other. Sometimes the goal isn’t just to raise more money; being healthy along the way is really important. And Amy’s always reminding us of that. So Amy's on our senior team, and she has a strong voice, and she has no problem confronting me, so that’s important.
Al: That's great for all of our listeners to hear that. Absolutely. I appreciate that, Brad. Yeah. And it sounds like it was a little bit when I realized in my previous firm that we needed to have more fun in our culture, that I knew I wasn't the one to head that up, so I found somebody else to head up the fun committee, much like you've picked somebody to help with care and also culture. Fantastic.
Brad: I can say, Al, like, a lot of Amy's position came about partially because we started taking the Best Christian Workplace Surveys. It's been multiple years, and we've gotten high scores every year, but, like, I'm enough of an—I'm an Enneagram Two—God made me a helper, but I'm a Wing Three, which means I'm an achiever. And so if you give me a test, I want to do better on it every year. And so, Amy, Amy's partially in response to, “Hey, this stuff is important.” And so that's part of the reason we have Amy in that role.
Al: Yeah, all right.
Brad: It’s your fault. It's your fault, Al.
Al: Well, I want to—that just leads us into, really, what I was thinking of as a next question. So as you've said, you've surveyed with the Best Christian Workplaces now for several years, and you've got a flourishing culture. I mean, it just comes out strong every time we go through the process. You've got strong employee engagement among your staff. And one of your strengths is outstanding talent. So what possesses you to have an organization where you find such a great team, and now, having been certified as a best Christian workplace, has it helped, actually helped, you to attract or retain a great team?
Brad: Thank you for asking that question. Our team is the greatest thing. I mean, when I got to FOCUS Group, there were three people on staff, and now there's 35, right? But culture, from three to 35, culture has improved year over year. Our culture is so much better. And so there's a lot of people that would say, “Oh, we can't add new team members because it would affect culture,” right? Well, I've been adding team members for over 10 years, and we're a lot bigger, and culture keeps getting better, but it's required folks like Martha and Amy to be added to the team because I can't do it on my own. We need team members to prioritize, and we need to sometimes do things different.
But the way that we recruit talent is I read a book by Dave Ramsey, and he talked about his 10-step process to bringing on a new employee, and it was such a great motivation. His steps aren't exactly my steps, but the fact that he had 10 steps was so great. And so we rewrote Dave Ramsay's 10-step process to hiring, and we bring people in, and the steps have lots of opportunities for people to interact with us and interact with parts, different team members that are different places.
And then, Dave Ramsey has a final step that I absolutely love, and we do his step, and this tenth step is a spouse interview. And for those folks that are married—I have non-married folks, and so, obviously, there's no spouse interview—but the spouse interview is not us interviewing the spouse; it's the spouse interviewing us. So we've already made the job offer. And before the person, we accept them, we let the spouse ask any questions they want. And time and time again, I get such incredible feedback from the spouses who say, “No one's ever asked my opinion, and this means so much to me.” And then, of course, we do retreats annually, and we invite spouses, and we pay for spouses to be there.
And so this isn't just a job. Like, I think of working with The FOCUS Group is mission community. Like, we have a mission, and we're in community with one another. And so we do that.
So I mean, other things we do, Al, that help in that is, you know, we have a weekly staff meeting, where we have a devotional and sharing. We break in small groups and pray for one another. And we do a lot of things that we invite our team members to be a part of. And, you know, Martha helps me coordinate that, and I lead things. I don't lead all of them, but I lead at least once a month. And so that's a lot of that. Talent recruitment is such a high priority, but our processes really allow us to continue to bring on great people.
Al: So that's your next book, Brad: The FOCUS Group’s Ten Steps to Interviewing and Hiring, including step ten is a spouse interview, huh?
Brad: Well, I just—you should just read Dave Ramsey. He's great. And so yeah.
Al: Yeah.
Brad: I don't need to write—I mean, I could write the book, but I'm not that good at it. I have a team. So I’d want to hire everybody because I think I look, I see the best in everybody. And so if I didn't have a team, I would make a big mess. I would hire people that are awesome, that aren't a good fit. The steps have allowed me to have other people. Like, as a leader, I always see the best in people, and sometimes people are the best, but maybe they're the best to work for a different organization. And so ever since we created this 10-step process, we haven't had failures, where we bring people in and they don't make it.
Al: Yeah. That’s important for all of our listeners. I mean, have your process and make sure that you're hiring people that fit your culture because they'll last longer.
Well, as you've built this engaged-staff team, how has the retention of your staff helped in your work with clients? I mean, that's the question that oftentimes comes up. Are there some specific ways that an engaged, flourishing workplace has created an environment for effective work with your clients?
Brad: Well, yeah. So our method of fundraising is really all the best practices that exist in major donor fundraising. And so there's probably 25 books I could tell you to read, and you'll be like, “Oh, wow. That's what you said.” Yeah. So there's nothing fundraising. Do you invite people to be a part of what you're doing, and ask them to be a partner? Right? That's the formula. It's not that complicated. It is hard work, and there's a lot of nuances. And so the way that our staff team is important and retention is important is that our method is to build relationships, deep relationships, with our clients. And through those trusting relationships, we then share with them what they need to do. And when they're a CEO of a large Christian ministry might have an idea that's not good, like, we have to be the ones to tell them to not do that. And the relational capital is what lets them do it, lets them believe us. So a staff turnover is a huge problem if our method is relationship, because I can't just pull out a consultant. Our projects last three years, right? So it's important that the person that starts it—
Now, one of the shifts I did at The FOCUS Group when I took over is The FOCUS Group had historically been that there would be, we were consultants and we would work with clients, but I would be assigned to work with Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, or I would be assigned to work with InterVarsity. And when I started here, it was kind of lonely, and, you know, I didn't ever work together. And so one of the shifts I've made is that on every project that we serve, we have two or three consultants serving in the community. So it does help if a consultant’s sick or unavailable, there is another person with a relationship. So that's been another thing that's really allowed us to become more effective.
Al: I trust you’re enjoying our podcast today. We’ll be right back after an important word for leaders.
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Welcome back to my conversation with Brad Layland, the CEO of The FOCUS Group.
Again, Brad, right into the next question because another strength that the Survey is showing that you've got is teamwork. And so you've really encouraged people to work together. So how have you and your staff built effective teamwork into the rhythm of your work? What are some examples that you see of great teamwork in your organization, and how does that impact effectiveness? Obviously, working together, if somebody is sick, you know, you've got somebody else to step in, but what are some of the other ways that this really helps?
Brad: Well, our organizational chart, like, I'm not prone to have an org chart. I'm not—like, God didn't create me to want to have a strategic plan. Like, I have a lot of strategic thoughts, and I have a plan, but the talent recruiting has been what has helped us. And so if you look at the growth of The FOCUS Group, we have grown—which growth means we have been allowed to serve more clients. That's why I love. It's the impact, it's the downstream impact of lives being changed. So growing, our firm growing, that's what I get excited about. But, like, bringing on our chief financial officer, Lori was so important because it allowed us to have better systems, right? And then, bringing on our chief operating officer, Steve Godfrey, like, he really is running the firm and looking at things. But then, bringing on our chief strategy officer, Scott Rodin, Dr. Scott Rodin, like, he is a strategic thinker, and that's how God allowed him to think. And so each of these leaders, just like you talked about Amy, our chief culture officer, each of them has their role that they play, and when they play it, it's a beautiful sound.
Now, I like doing all those things, kind of. I don't want to write down the strategic plan, but I have thoughts, right? But it's so much better now that Scott helped us develop one, right? And so our teams, like, having an org chart that supported growth was a strategic goal, like, developing that. That came out of the strategic plan that was identified. You say, “Well, didn't you have an org chart?” Well, sort of. We had sort of a work-flow chart but not structure with clear supervisors and clear teams. And now we have it.
So now, Ted Rodgers, who's our chief consulting officer, like, he has a team of people, and he gathers his team regularly, and they're a subgroup. Now, we still gather every week as a larger team. And then Evangeline, who's in charge of project management. Vangie gathers her team, and they have a community. And so this concept of shared mission and we obviously have shared values, but we have different roles to play. And so it sounds weird that, I mean, it's weird that I'm saying this, that the organizational chart is the thing that's allowed us to have better teams is because we have roles to play and then we know what we can own.
And, like, I do have my team, which is my direct reports, right? And so I gather those, that group, and I share things with them that I'm struggling with. There's a lot of people that would say that The FOCUS Group has gotten big enough and we should stop growing. And I would say, you know, I think there's a lot of ministries that still need our help, and our phone is still ringing like crazy with clients wanting us to help them. And so I go to the senior team and say, “How can we continue to modify our organizational chart so that we keep our culture—we can't mess up culture—but how can we grow?” And our culture and my vision is that the culture at The FOCUS Group continues to get better. Like, that is, I don't want it to stay the same. Same is not good for me. I want our culture to get better. So that's kind of a little bit how we do teamwork.
Al: And I just think of the saying, “Healthy things grow,” and you've got such a healthy core team working together that the logical outcome is that you're going to see growth.
Well, take us for a minute inside your senior leadership team. You've received the results from the Employee Engagement Survey. And so what are some of the conversations and decisions that you engage in as you learn from the results? Are there some specific initiatives that you've introduced based on what you've been hearing and as you've gotten feedback from your staff?
Brad: Absolutely. I would say that one of the things is after listening to the results two years in a row, I've come to the conclusion that I'm not the one—I shouldn't listen to them. I need to see the summary. So I take it too personally to actually get into the details. And you don't want me to get into the details, right? You want me to see the big picture. And so that was one of the takeaways is that Amy and Steve, remember our chief operating officer and our chief culture officer, they're the ones that receive the results. And then they tell me the big-picture things, because otherwise, if the score goes down just a little bit, I start getting freaked out about it, and that's not what you want me to do. I remember year two, when your consultant was giving us our results, she said, “Brad, you only went down from, like…” Oh, I don't remember if it was a 10-point scale. “You went from a 9.6 to a 9.5. You're still way-off-the-charts great.” I'm like, “But we went to a 9.5.” And so part of it is I just got to get myself out of the weeds. I know myself well enough. And then Amy and Steve look at the areas that we identify. We usually identify two or three areas, and then begin to come up with a strategy to enhance them.
One of the things we did is we do have a strategic goal relevant to our, basically, the diversity of our team. And even though we are not all white males, we are not as diverse as I would still like us to be. And so one of the things that we've done is we've hired Arrabon to work with our—and this was in response to our taking your Survey is that we hired this amazing ministry called Arrabon to help us to think about how we can be reconciling communities for Christ, even when maybe we don't look as diverse as we want to. And so I met Arrabon because I was hired to train them with fundraising, you know, help them with fundraising. And then I'm like, “Would you please help us?” And so that's been really great.
Al: Yeah, he's been on our podcast. You may have met him, as I did through Murdock, probably.
But Brad, you take the results too personally. I have to kind of come back to that for a minute because we run into a lot of people that actually get hurt by the results. But your strategy is, “Okay. Back up, get a summary, but let other people dive into it and take it.” Is that what you're suggesting?
Brad: Well, it's just me. It’s like, I was really offended that our score went down in the area of the benefit package we provide. Like, we used to not provide health benefits. I got to The FOCUS Group, and everybody was 1099 employees. Now everybody at The FOCUS Group gets a salary, and they have the health benefits, and they have 401(k). And our health-benefits package is so rich that the person that the insurance provider says, “Brad, why are you providing this much? No one does this.” And then I go and I get the score one year, and then the next year, after we’ve enhanced benefits and added new things, the score went down a little bit. And I'm like, I'm so frustrated, right? But, so, that's the type of example, like, my team knows me well enough that I just, I really need your help. What I love about your Survey is your team shows us the areas that we need to focus on, but you give us the whole report. I just saw that God created me that I shouldn't read the whole report, you know? Here you go.
Al: That’s good advice.
Brad: And I just should use your team's expertise that says, “Focus on these things,” and so I do.
I have other flaws, too, Al. I could start talking about those. Like, you know.
Al: No, no.
Well, let’s just, now, Brad, I want to ask you what may seem to be a loaded question, but I'm counting on you to give us a straight answer. And, you know, you work with many Christian organizations, with fundraising. And I know that some of them have unhealthy, even maybe toxic, workplace cultures, and others have healthy, even flourishing, workplace cultures. And you've even mentioned some as we've talked. But, so, what's your perspective on the relationship between the health of an organization's culture and their ability to raise support for their work?
Brad: Oh man, that is a loaded question. I really am aware of the fact that culture matters and culture motivates. And so I can think of some clients of ours that take your Survey that have, you know, the Survey suggests they have culture problems, significant culture problems. And I have others that have flourishing cultures. And here's something I noticed is the ones that have the culture problems are struggling. Their people are asking for more money. And the ones that have these really healthy cultures, I don't ever hear it. I don't have those discussions.
Now, I really believe that everybody is to be compensated fairly. And people that generally work for Christian ministries are, like, they're underpaid. Like, they're already making sacrifices. But when culture is strong, that's part of the compensation. What we can offer you is a smaller-than-good paycheck, but an amazing culture, right? That's what we should be offering to people. But when organizations are struggling with culture, then their employees say, “Well, I like the outcomes, but this place is killing me. You're going to have to pay me more because there's other places I can work and make more money where culture would be better.” Right?
And so here's the thing that I think about with employment and life, and I'm just quoting—oh, I can't remember, his first name, Brooks. Maybe you heard the same talk as me—he says—
Al: David Brooks.
Brad: David Brooks. He said at a Murdock leadership conference, he said, “Your joy will come by the people you work with and the work you do.” You know, that if you have a good team but you sell widgets, it's going to be okay. If you do something very meaningful and it's a toxic team, it's going to be okay. But when you have an awesome team and you do something amazing, you're going to love your life. And so the clients that have the thriving cultures and do great things, those are happy employees, and they don't leave.
So anyways, I hope that makes sense, my reflection on that.
Al: Totally. Yeah. But it's interesting that you point out in those cultures that struggle, when people are struggling, they think about compensation. And when those that are healthy, it never comes up. That’s an interesting bottom-line observation. Yeah. Appreciate that.
Brad: Well, I really want to say that both groups should be paid more.
Al: Yeah, right, yeah.
Brad: It's not that I don't want people to work for free.
Al: Yeah. But there’s a real importance and a role for what we call life-giving work, you know—
Brad: Yeah.
Al: —and how that is so much even more important than compensation.
So, Brad, you've recently written a book with InterVarsity Press, which happens to be the publisher of my book, Road to Flourishing. And I'm really excited about that, and I've got a copy of it. So tell us about your book, Turning Donors into Partners: Principles for Fundraising You'll Actually Enjoy. Well, that’s a great subtitle. And so many in ministry feel like, well, fundraising, it’s just another task you have to do to raise money for the ministry. Kind of like you said earlier, it's often the stress point. So, you know, what do you hope the reader to take away from your book?
Brad: I mean, hope. I hope people have hope. Like, I just basically shared that—I mean, the principles and practices of fundraising, The FOCUS Group, we call our process taking donors seriously. I shared those. I shared, like, this is how you raise money. I did that. But what I did is also tell about 60 stories of things I've experienced over the last—I've been fundraising for 30 years. And so I just shared a lot of stories. And my vision for writing the book was that there's only so much of me.
And I tell a story at the beginning of the book, and that is where I was going to come on the Young Life staff. I was a repo man for two companies while I was in college, putting myself through school, and I was also a volunteer Young Life leader. And my Young Life staff person said, “Hey, Brad, why don't you come on part-time staff, and then you don't have to repossess things from people, and you can repossess kids for the Kingdom?” You know, like, and I was like, “Sure. I’d love to. How much do I get paid?” And he's like, “Oh, you just have to raise money, and then you get paid.” And so I was like, “Great.” And so I said, “How do I do that?” And he said, “Oh, you just write letters to all of your friends.” And I was like, “My friends?” “Well, your friends’ parents.” And I was like, “Okay.”
So I wrote all these letters, and I waited by the mailbox, and I got one response. It was my prom date's dad. He sent me $50. And I came to the conclusion that God wasn't calling me into full-time ministry. That was my conclusion. And the reality is I just, that's a horrible strategy to raise money.
And so that's actually my first interaction with The FOCUS Group is that Young Life had just contracted with The FOCUS Group to have The FOCUS Group train people in how to do relational fundraising. And so I went to an early, early, early meeting, where the founder of The FOCUS Group was training people on how to raise money relationally. And basically, if I summarize this, it’s, like, how do you reach kids for Christ? You build relationships with them. How do you raise money from major donors? You build relationships with them. Like, it was that simple.
And so I did this new method that I learned, and I had three meetings. So I'd sent all these letters. Nothing happened. I had three meetings. And in those three face-to-face meetings, where I just shared my heart with three people who I had relationships with, I funded my entire work.
And so I tell that story at the beginning of the book, and then I tell story after story of the faithfulness of God through generous people and relationship matters. And I wrote the book so people would have hope. There's already been evidence that it's worked, not in the fact that I've sold a bunch of books, but in the fact that I've been contacted by people that I don't know. And they said, “I read your book, and I was about to do that. And I realized that was a really stupid idea. And I did this, and I raised so much money. Thank you.” Right? And so all they did is buy my book for whatever it costs, $15 or something. And so I’m thrilled. Like, what a gift to me that I can help somebody like that.
Al: Yeah, exactly. I understand exactly what you're saying.
Well, Brad, this has been such a great conversation. I go back to one of the first things you said that you really hope to make all things new as you work to raise money for worthy causes. And the way you've created teammates, putting them in charge of care and of culture in your organization, and what a great team you have and that you've really gone through an intentional process of creating your own 10-step process geared off of another book to interviewing, finally, making sure that you've got a spouse interview, which is something that I've encouraged and done for many years. What a great way to build that relationship with not only your potential employee but their spouse. And yeah, when it comes to fundraising, invite people to participate and how deep relationships really matter. And when you've got employees who are with you a long time and have deep relationships with you enables them to then have deep relationships with your clients. Well, this has just been a great conversation. Culture matters, another one of your points. And culture motivates. I love that as well. So, this has been a great conversation.
But Brad, is there anything you'd like to add that we've talked about that perhaps would put a point on our conversation?
Brad: Well, you know, I got my master's in theology from Fuller Seminary, which makes me a theologian, which I think is a scary concept. But I remember taking systematic theology, thinking it was going to be a boring course. And what I actually discovered was I discovered more in that course about fundraising than I ever thought I would. And here's what it is, is that the core and the essence of God is the Father, Son, the Holy Spirit, that God's essence is relationships. And so when our culture, when our work, when our lives, honor relationships, we’re honoring something that's at the core of who God is. And so that's why relationships are so important. And of course, generosity models so much of God sent His Son. Like, He gave His only Son for us. And so there's generosity; there's relationships; it's all so fun.
But, Al, thank you for your work and your ministry, and your statistics and faithfulness in a long direction is inspiring and very motivating for me. So thank you.
Al: Well, thanks, Brad. Well, it's really been a pleasure talking with you. It's been a pleasure working with you over time, and I look forward to more opportunities.
But I'd like to thank you for today for your contributions. Most of all, I really appreciate your commitment to serving God's Kingdom through equipping Christian ministries, to help those ministries with relationships, keys to really helping them grow. You're helping so many others have significant Kingdom impact through wise fundraising and stewardship practices outlined in your book. So thanks for taking your time out today and speaking into the lives of so many listeners.
Outro: The Flourishing Culture Leadership Podcast is sponsored by Best Christian Workplaces. If you need support building a flourishing workplace culture, please visit workplaces.org for more information.
We'll see you again next week for more valuable content to help you develop strong leaders and build a flourishing workplace culture.
Be sure to join us next week when I talk with a leader who has worked very hard to move his organization onto the road to flourishing. I'll talk with Kevin East of the Mentoring Alliance in Tyler, Texas, as they work to mobilize godly people into the lives of kids and families.