Grow as a Leader, Grow Your Church | Pastor Akil Thompson
- Ryan Franklin
- 12 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Learn more about Christian Leader® Community Coaching:
In this episode, Pastor Akil Thompson introduces The Leadership Sweet Spot—a model that brings self-leadership, spiritual leadership, and organizational leadership into balance. When leaders find this sweet spot, they grow stronger, lead healthier, and create churches that thrive. If you’ve ever felt stretched too thin or out of rhythm, this conversation will show you how to grow yourself so you can grow the church.
Purchase The Christian Leader Blueprint book today:
Download The Christian Leader Blueprint – Short Guide (Free): https://www.ryanfranklin.org/blueprint
Take the Christian Leader® Self-Assessment (Free):
YouTube and Audio Podcast:
Connect with Ryan:
Email: info@ryanfranklin.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rnfranklin/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rnfranklin/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rnfranklin/
Audio mastering by Apostolic Audio:
#leadership, #thoughtleadership, #ministry, #pastor, #pastors, #churches, #leadershiptraining, #churchleader, #churchleaders, #influence, #leadershipdevelopment, #coaching, #executivecoach, #leadershipcoaching, #productivitycoach, #productivity, #growthmindset, #theproductiveleader, #ChristianLeader, #ChristianLeadership, #LeadershipPodcast, #FaithAndBusiness, #PodcastInterview, #ChristianEntrepreneurship, #KingdomImpact, #PodcastInspiration, #LeadershipJourney, #PurposeDriven, #ChristianPodcast, #LeadershipEssentials, #LeadershipFundamentals
Transcript
Preparation plus opportunity equals success. A lot of times we wonder why are we going through what we're going through. And when we ponder that and we take a victim mentality and we're not led of the Spirit, we're neglecting the lessons that the Lord wants to teach us so that we can be prepared for what he has for us.
Welcome to the Christian Leader Made Simple podcast. I really hope this episode helps you learn and master the skills you need to grow your leadership, effectiveness and enjoyment. Be sure to hit the subscribe button to get notified as soon as I post a new session so you don't miss a single episode. I'd also greatly appreciate any reviews, likes and shares that you can give me. It just helps me extend my reach to more people.
So leaders, I know just how frustrating it can feel when you're in the weeds of work or ministry and life is chaotic. You're struggling to feel effective and you're just not enjoying leadership as much as you could be. And so to help you, after many years of leadership and executive coaching, I've developed a framework called the Christian Leader Blueprint that'll guide you to find clarity in your life and leadership. It'll help you gain a better rhythm of life, it'll help you see yourself more clearly to leverage your strengths and you'll produce more productive relationships. It's a step by step guide to leadership transformation and I have that in two formats now. I have a free short guide that you can find on ryanfranklin.org and I have a book, the Christian Leader Blueprint and you can find that in any format, including an audiobook wherever you buy your books.
I have a few more things on my website that you may be interested in, so just head on over to ryanfranklinklin.org and check it all out. And now let's get to our session.
Welcome to the Christian Leader Made Simple Show. I'm your host, Ryan Franklin and today we're diving into a model called the Leadership Sweet Spot with Pastor Akil Thompson. This is his framework that highlights three dimensions of leadership. It's self leadership, spiritual leadership and organizational leadership and how they come together to sort of create the kind of balance that leaders need if they truly want to be effective in the Kingdom of God for themselves and in growing their church.
Akil Thompson is the lead pastor of Extraordinary Church in Ontario, Canada. He and his wife planted this church in 2018. He brings a unique background in both corporate finance and ministry, which gives him a strong blend of leadership strategy and pastoral care. He's passionate about equipping leaders and building systems that empower people instead of controlling them. I love that.
So with that said, Akhil Thompson, welcome to the show.
Thank you, my friend. It's good to be here. I appreciate the opportunity.
Yeah, I appreciate you being willing to jump on. Tell me the name of the city that you're in. I didn't even try to pronounce it.
I noticed that I said he wasn't feeling too bold or daring at that particular moment. It's Mississauga.
Mississauga.
It sounded similar to Mississippi, so I didn't... I wasn't sure.
You've got it. You've got it. It's adjacent to Toronto and matter of fact, the Toronto airport is in Mississauga. And it's a nice sized city. We've got almost a million people in Mississauga alone, so that is a nice size city.
Huge city.
Yeah.
Well, let's jump in if you don't mind. To start us out, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself and maybe some key moments in your journey that has sort of shaped how you think about leadership today.
Absolutely. My wife and I just celebrated 25 years of marriage.
Congratulations.
We started when...
Yeah, thank you. We started when we were 15. But yeah, you know, we had a great time. It was our first time to get away without the kids...
[The text continues with long-form dialogue between Ryan Franklin (host) and Akil Thompson (guest), discussing their backgrounds, experiences in ministry, development as leaders, stories from banking careers transitioning into ministry roles, principles for self-leadership such as humility and awareness/rhythm, spiritual leadership focusing on God's agenda over personal ambition/plans (including remarkable anecdotes about hearing from God), organizational leadership covering systems/processes/delegation/care for staff/team members (with practical tools like Google Docs/Slack/five questions for staff), emphasis on authenticity/simplicity/scalability within church culture/ministry.]
[There are multiple transitions between topics — each section covers one dimension of Thompson's "Leadership Sweet Spot" model: Self Leadership (soul), Spiritual Leadership (spirit), Organizational Leadership (body), with each explored thoroughly via stories/examples.]
[The conversation wraps up with advice for leaders who feel lopsided or out-of-balance: using an acronym REST — Return to Abiding; Eliminate Unnecessary; Simplify Systems; Train & Empower Others — followed by final thoughts on alignment vs balance.]
Well, you have some tremendous stuff here, and I can't wait for this book to come out. It's going to be good.
Wow, man. I'm encouraged, and thank you for allowing me to share some of it with you. This is near and dear to my heart.
I appreciate you so much for being willing to...
Amen. By the grace of God it'll be out next year — next summer.
Awesome! Well Pastor Akil, thank you again for doing this. I greatly appreciate your time today.
Likewise! Thank you — it's a pleasure.
And so this concludes our show today! My name is Ryan Franklin — thank you so much for joining us on the Christian Leader Made Simple podcast.
Copyright © 2025 Ryan Franklin. All rights reserved.
Comments