Greg and Joey McKernan dive into a discussion about empowering leaders, building communities, and the transformative power of servant leadership. As a lighthouse leader in an inner-city neighborhood, Joey, along with his wife, used block parties to foster connections, celebrate diversity, and significantly reduce crime. They talk about Joey's current work at the Equip Network, a global nexus for nonprofit leaders, churches, and resources that utilize Joey's skills as a successful leader.
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Greg and Joey McKernan dive into a discussion about empowering leaders, building communities, and the transformative power of servant leadership. As a lighthouse leader in an inner-city neighborhood, Joey, along with his wife, used block parties to foster connections, celebrate diversity, and significantly reduce crime. They talk about Joey's current work at the Equip Network, a global nexus for nonprofit leaders, churches, and resources that utilize Joey's skills as a successful leader.
Stay up to date by following us on your favorite social networks.
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube
Have questions or comments? Email us at contact@kingofkings.org.
Thanks for listening!
Welcome to this month's Greg Griffith Leadership Podcast. Join Greg Griffith as we, together, learn what it means to be leaders of our world as we faithfully love and faithfully lead. Like, share, rate and review this podcast with your friends and others of influence, for they too are looking for people like you to help them lead and love day to day. Now further ado. Here is your host, greg Griffith.
Speaker 2:Hey everybody, I am so excited for this day, I'm excited for this interview, but once again I want to invite you to rate, like, review this podcast. It is something that really helps leaders leverage how they're loved, and so you're out there faithfully leading, faithfully living and faithfully loving, and so let those who you know who are doing the same thing know that they can get just empowering and encouraging interviews and listen and learn from leaders doing the same thing right here on this podcast. I'm excited for my good friend to be introduced to all of you today. Great guy, just new now kind of business owner venturing out into his own business. But what I love about it is he's actually helping ministries, churches, nonprofits go farther in a way that they're not always positioned to do, and so we're going to learn a lot about that. But you're going to learn and love his story. So my good friend here, joey McKiernan right, did I get it, mckiernan?
Speaker 3:McKiernan, I didn't get it. We were so close. I'm saying you're my good friend.
Speaker 1:I can't even say your last name.
Speaker 2:the right way it's okay, I've always called him Joey Joey is fun, yeah, yeah. So excited about that. But hey, thanks so much for being here.
Speaker 3:It's great to be here, man. I love it I appreciate you guys and love King of Kings and love you, yeah, yeah man, love your family, love what you're doing.
Speaker 2:Hey, tell me a little bit first. Let's just just kind of lay some really quickly the ground of knowing you. Tell me just quickly about your grown up, just kind of yeah.
Speaker 3:So growing up Race here in Omaha, bellevue. So my dad was from Dubuque, iowa, he had three kids there and then he brought his family to Omaha and him and my mom got married, had me and my sister, so we are Bellevue natives. And when I was in middle school he ended up taking a job at Open Door Mission, which was kind of what originally got me into kind of the nonprofit work. I started as a 14 year old just working in the whatever they threw me into, like working in camps and helping kids and jumping in dumpsters and all that type of work and it was great, I mean. But that was kind of where I got my first experience in kind of this community based organizational work. You know I got into that.
Speaker 3:Open Door Mission was growing tremendously Candice see you over there, she's an incredible leader Started growing. It, learned a ton, so kind of got into that, attended Nebraska Christian College for a missions degree, leadership degree. I don't know exactly what that means, but I got the degree, so that's what matters. And then I just I always wanted to be a part of work that changed lives, especially for the kingdom, and so I went back to the Open Door Mission, loved that. That's like a home to me. I'm going to love that place. And then I joined the abide team from there. Was that a bide for about eight years? And joined their team, loved helping build partnerships and growing a bide, and they do incredible work in North Omaha and now we're onto new things.
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah, let's help just all of our listeners outside of Omaha and outside of our state here. So Open Door Mission is an organization for homeless men and women and families to come and get just settled and then begin to get into a road towards home.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and they have rehabilitation programs, they do all that type of stuff Large on profit.
Speaker 2:Large on profit. How many do you know off the top of your head or when you were there? How many homeless men, women and families were they housing?
Speaker 3:I think it's close to a thousand, a thousand.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's close to a thousand yeah.
Speaker 3:I don't know what it is today, but Right, yeah, it's big.
Speaker 2:Just eye-opening, as well as kind of awe-inspiring, of how they work so well for rehabilitation and then also for just helping people get back out into society and into community in a healthy, healthy way. So what did you do at Open Door Mission?
Speaker 3:I mean I grew up working there, so like whatever they needed me to, do yeah.
Speaker 3:So like I started driving trucks and I'd work in the maintenance area and I work in the warehouse and then I'd work, I'd do some chapels. So that's where I learned how to like communicate and speak and stuff like that, pretty much wherever they wanted me. Honestly, I wasn't, you know I wasn't but I learned a ton and I think when you're in a place like that, you learn a lot. You learn a lot about, so the realities of people's lives. I think you learned a lot about leadership. I think you learned a lot about people and diversity. So it was an incredible experience. It formed me tremendously.
Speaker 2:You know. So, Joey, as just this entrepreneur who's now leading, I would say, at one of the highest levels that I see, let me ask you a question Just how important was this open door mission for you? Learning and even learning in at the like driving the trucks and jumping in dumpsters as a young kid right Like doing those, but learning there, I mean how important was that in your formation? And and what from learning in that experience, what do you still carry with you today and say that really has brought me to where I'm leading today with nonprofits and helping them?
Speaker 3:Well, I'll share a story in that, because God really moved me. You know, I went to Bible college. I was a sophomore and in Bible college, if you know anything about them, everybody just wants residencies, and like everybody that's like a competition, everybody just like who has the coolest residency.
Speaker 3:My sophomore summer, my sophomore year, I had a guy from California reach out and he said hey, I want you to intern with us and like, come into the team. They led a huge organization, one of the biggest I've ever seen. Kind of similar to a Biden, had a very similar We'll talk more about a Biden, I'm sure Kind of like open door mission. He said I want you to come. I was very overwhelmed at the time and I was very, I could feel, and again, in leaders I think you start to build kind of this ego, you think you're all that, all that type of stuff. God really spoke to me and said I don't want you to go to that. It was a great door, it was a great opportunity. But I met with my dad. Actually, my dad said, joe, you shouldn't do that. Like it's not a good season, you need to stay here in Omaha. Like I don't want to stay here in Omaha, I want to go. I want to go up the mountain. Whatever, I end up staying there.
Speaker 3:Open door always had jobs available. And so I went to drive a forklift and I'm driving a forklift in a warehouse and I'm alone and I can't help but think like I don't want to be here. I want to go out, I want to go lead. And God spoke to me on that forklift in the warehouse and he said this is right where I want you to be, because this is what leadership is and it's just serving and it's serving people and it's serving the people.
Speaker 3:You will never get an applause for doing these chapels. You will never get applause for being on this forklift you will never. But that's not why you do it and I think I wanted the applause. You're a young leader. You want people to notice you. And God just spoke to me. He said this is what it is. And ever since that summer, I think that was a huge shaping moment for me, where I was like I don't want the applause. I think we all struggle, but God really is like I've called you to serve and change lives, and so whatever we got to do to do that, let's do it.
Speaker 2:That's so rich. I wow. I just have goosebumps as I think about that because I think what's so important, I know, I know one of the things I really try to press in on my children is I will say to them often you're a leader today, and a lot of times my kids will say to me no, I'm not. And I think the world sees leaders as those who are getting applause, those who are on big stages, those who have a crowd following them. And you're absolutely right. In the economy of God, true leadership is servant leadership, and it's not about an applause, it's about being in a position where God has placed you, and then the reminder, too, that God has a long view of where he's going to put you. I remember someone saying to me and I think I want to sum up what you just said with this never despise small beginnings.
Speaker 2:And I just thought wow, that's really, really rich. So so, open door mission, learning, learning to lead, learning to serve. And then that leads you to another tremendous organization here in Omaha, but one that is unique to Omaha. But, boy, I would really love to see this head out into our, all of our cities. I think, our world would be a different place. Abide Can you tell us a little bit about Abide? And then, what did you learn and do there?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So the story of how I joined about it was kind of funny. I just kind of showed up. So I knew open door mission wasn't my forever, even though it was really what shaped me. Abide was a place where we wanted to really invest. I knew Josh Stotzler, ceo of Abide, incredible leader in the city, and we knew what they were doing. They're an inner city nonprofit. They're developing neighborhoods, they're raising up leaders in inner cities.
Speaker 3:I mean, I knew that work in the inner city was really powerful and I just kind of showed up one day and we knocked on the door and I just said, hey, you guys are pretty awesome. Like I want to be a part. And Josh looked at me and he said you know, we would love to have you. We can't pay you anything. And I said that's fine, I'll just show up. So I just kept showing up, I just interned. I was like a fan. I was like I wasn't even intern, I just I was like a glorified volunteer. But I just kept pushing.
Speaker 3:And we laugh because there was one time I jumped in the van to go to some event with the team and like people are like who is this guy?
Speaker 3:Like he's not supposed to be one of our staff members thought I was homeless because I was like they used to take homeless guys and like bring them to stuff and I'm just like jumping in the car. So they assumed I was one of those guys and abide became a family and still to the stays of family and even with the transition into this new season, considered them some of my closest friends. And, yeah, getting to work with the Dotsler family and their vision for inner cities, not just in Omaha, it was incredible but that shaped me in a lot of ways. To actually get into position. Leadership and whether that looked like to run an organization and run departments and run staffs and managing budgets and so open door I would say, really shift, shape my character and shaped the character of the leadership. I think a by taught me how to really cast a vision and to run with the vision and to take bold steps, because the Dotsers are bold people and bold visionaries and I love that about them.
Speaker 2:So yeah, that's really awesome. And then and then did you? Did you have a lighthouse set of by? I was yeah, you were a lighthouse leader.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so what that is? Yeah?
Speaker 2:I really think that's a crux of that, that ministry.
Speaker 3:It's pretty incredible. So a lighthouse again. This was a bides kind of bread and butter program. They were refurbishing houses and our refurbishing houses, and then in those homes they're putting leaders, not just people who need homes, but really advocates for the community. We call them lighthouse leaders, and so these are people that didn't have to live in the inner city, but they decided to live in the inner city and they decided to be a visionary leader for that neighborhood. So it's a pretty incredible program.
Speaker 3:Me and my wife became lighthouse leaders in 20, I think, 2016. And so there wasn't much of a process at the time, but it was just jump in and be there. And so I'm from Bellevue, which in the Omaha Metro kind of a suburban area. My wife is from West Omaha, so moving from there into an inner city neighborhood was definitely a jump and definitely a culture shift in the sense of just a lot getting thrown at you Diversity there was some crime, just a lot going on, but God spoke to us to in that and how to lead and how to connect. We, through block parties, we connected with neighbors. I mean it was an incredible time and it's another definitely mile marker.
Speaker 2:And if I recall, if my statistic is correct on this right, a neighborhood that has a lighthouse leader and at the crime drops 75% 75% 75. And I mean, this is inner city, this is where the crime rate is high, and and and I think this what this really shows is the power of community, the power of neighborhood, and I would even say to the power of passion, right.
Speaker 2:I mean no lighthouse leader again is is there by like force or by will or by that they have to its volunteer to say I have a passion for people in a city to see something that's better than what they're currently seeing.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. I mean, it's the power of a leader and when leaders stand up and I think that's what Ron saw and Josh, I think you know in inner cities most leaders would leave. You know they get educated, then they take off. That's kind of the narrative. A byde was really this place where people chose to stay and said you know what we could leave, but we won't because we believe in in North Omaha or North Omaha types.
Speaker 2:So and so you and I love how you phrase this right so open door mission really formed character God used that to form a character and you have this servant leader and then and then a byde really formed. God used that to form how you really identify your calling and then a vision to bring others through that calling back there. And then and then that leads you to now your next step, after eight years, and tell us what you're doing now because I love this.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so it's called the equip network and what we are is a global network for nonprofit leaders and churches and this network we're equipping and empowering and coaching and doing all those things. But we're really building this network out across all of America and so it's a lot of fun. I think what we saw and working in nonprofit literally my whole entire life, it feels like is nonprofits tend to not have a lot of resources. They tend to be people that have a lot of passion for people, but not so much, maybe, in the business aspect or the financial how to resource the mission. And so we created this network where we're launching chapters, online chapters. We've got some in like the UK and things like that. It's really cool, but in those chapters they get access to coaches and mentors and resources, books, podcasts, all that type of stuff and so, yeah, we're launching it and it's been going really well.
Speaker 2:So what I love about this is the identifying gap that is truly there. As a leader who has a pretty good network of people, one thing I see over and over again for anyone launching a non-profit on their own or a lot of, especially church workers or church planters is they have this great passion. They see a need, they want to fulfill that need and then two things happen they don't know how to bring and equip others around them to join the journey, and so they're doing all the work and usually what I've seen usually for those it's about three, maybe up to five years, and then there's burnout and it just got to where it's too much and they can't keep doing it. But then the other piece that oftentimes their passion is they don't know how to fundraise. And so they have this they want to help and they want other people to get in.
Speaker 2:I was just talking, actually, with a church planter the other day right here in the city and he looked at me and just said I'm not good at talking to people about giving, talking to people about doing this, and I thought but like, your, ministry is not going to go because people want to give to it, but they need to know what they're giving to, and they need to hear that from you, and so I love this. Talk a little bit more about just why is this a passion for you? And then, two how are you seeing God leverage that to help others?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, one of the big coaching services we provide is fundraising, like you said. So, again, the network is great for support. The coaching is critical, I think. So when I started at Open Door that was a big thing. So Candice is she's a no joke type of leader. She is a visionary, she gets out there. I saw the value of someone who is able to understand the organizational side, to see the impact scale. So when we started at Open Door, there was two buildings there was the Lydia House and the Men's Building and they both were run down very old bed bugs, you name it From there. Because she understood the organizational aspect, the fundraising, the bringing people along, the inspiring into action to join the mission. That's what changed it. I mean, who knows where it would be if she didn't know how to do that at that level of her ability? And so Open Door was able to impact thousands, tens of thousands, every Whatever month or whatever, because she understood she comes from a business background, she understood how to run an organization, she understood how to manage a budget, allocate finances, resources, understand how to get people on board to give, and so, like you said, it's so critical.
Speaker 3:I think what's challenging is people who have a passion for this type of work think that they don't know how to do it, but a lot of times they weren't raised in that type of background and that's where we come in. It's like you can do this, you just haven't been trained. And so that's where we come in and train and coach and show, and I think there's a lot of stereotypes and fundraising that are negative. I think there's a oh gosh, like I gotta go fundraise. It's like that's a if that's your perspective, going into it, you're not gonna be able to fundraise. Let's say that. But I think, if you can look at it differently and I was the director of partnerships at a buy I always love that term because for me that's really what fundraising was it was a partnership and building great connections and partnerships to accomplish a vision.
Speaker 2:That's good, that's good. What, um? One thing I am curious to with with you is as how are you because starting nonprofits, leading a church, or a church nonprofit or a Church plant it? It's lonely? Yeah, right, because you're the only one, right, starting a business? Same type of thing, right? Like you're yeah, so there's so much importance to like connecting and and bringing around community with people that are kind of walking in the same areas. How do you guys do that?
Speaker 3:Well, that's why we created it to be a network first and then a service second. So it wasn't just, hey, I can help you fundraise. That's how it started. But, like, we started to think this is more than that, this is a network, and so we launched chapters. So we have an Omaha chapter that meets every first and third Friday. There's about 33 nonprofits in this city that meet together.
Speaker 3:It's it's a little under the radar because, again, it's it's really designed just to be that place for nonprofit leaders to find refuge and connection and oh, you do struggle with that or Connection or resource sharing. So that was the first chapter. We started starting one in Arkansas. We have multiple online ones, we're talking to people in Florida and Chicago and New York, and so this really is that network feel, because there's a lot of business that works. There's some churches, especially in Omaha church networks, but there wasn't a ton of nonprofit networks and we saw that gap where a lot of nonprofit leaders were so lowing it, and so some of their board members come. It's great time. That's really great.
Speaker 2:So With everything taken off, with equip yeah, everything taken off where you're at, how do you stay rooted to Jesus and your first person, your first character, value of that?
Speaker 3:servant leadership. You have a buddy. His name is Jesse. He's my best friend. We grew up together. I Kind of created a role for him at equip to bring him onto the team because I wanted him close. I think one of the things with business Depending on how businesses are run, you can run them really solo. Churches naturally have boards. Nonprofits illegally have to have a board, depending your business structure. You don't need one. So I think the danger in business is the loneliness. Just like nonprofit leaders, I think you can just be running solo and just doing your thing alone. I don't believe in that, though. I think having the close people around you is critical, and so I gotta hang out with him more than I ever have, which is awesome, and we get to build it. Talk about life yeah, have community. It's critical for me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's really critical and and one thing I'm really pressing in to trying to help everyone else and someone helped me with this too is just that reminder that you, you need and I think it's a biblical call you need the Intercessors right so there's the one-to-one, that that person that you're just they know everything, right single thing about you and you're able to talk, to talk to them and and that's not your spouse- Right someone else and then, and then kind of this group of three that Jesus had there, and then, and then you have kind of this larger group you're 12.
Speaker 2:And then you've got just the whole, a whole community where they, they just know that. But it is so important to do that. Joey, as we wrap up today, let me ask you this last question knowing everything you know today and and where you been and and where you're going, and everything that that is there and the excitement of there, what would you tell your 20 year old self?
Speaker 3:It's a big question. What would I tell my 20 year old self? Hmm, man, I would say. I would say Be patient. The lessons are not just in the books, but in the failures and the every season has its purpose. I'm just like throwing different ideas now, but every less, every season has a lesson in it. Bring more mentors around you. Those are probably what I would say. That's good. They're kind of all over the place, but that's good, no, that's really good.
Speaker 2:I think so many of us are afraid of failure. Failure is so important. It's good. We can't learn without failure Absolutely, and so you have to be willing to fail, especially if you're leading, you're gonna fail, right, it's okay. And the mentor piece is a really, really big idea. I think it's so important for all of us. Look at and you know some might be hearing this and saying, okay, great mentor, who do I? Who do I? Look at anyone in in where you want to go, whether it's a successful marriage, and by successful meaning that they're still married, that they're, they have longevity in their marriage. So if you're a young married couple, if it's parenting, someone that has children that are much more seasoned or older, and if it's your career, look at someone that you go you know what, in 10, 20 years, I hope I'm where they're at and then just talk like invite them into your life because they'll tell you the landmines that you don't know where they're at and what to avoid and or how to navigate through them.
Speaker 2:So, so that's a really wise, wise thing. Anything you want to wrap up with us today.
Speaker 3:No, just thank you, and if you know anybody who's running a nonprofit, we'd love to have them in the network.
Speaker 2:So how can they find you, joey, our?
Speaker 3:website's equipglobalco, and any nonprofit leader or someone on a board or even a church leader can join the nonprofit or join the chapter and be apart.
Speaker 2:All right, equipglobalco, just go check out the website at least. Then look at it and then share that with anyone that you know that's out there. Share that on your Facebook Once again like review. Share this podcast. Thanks again for faithfully leading, faithfully living and faithfully loving.
Speaker 1:Have a great day everybody. Thank you for being a part of this month's Greg Griffith Leadership Podcast. Join Greg next month for leadership insights to faithfully love and faithfully lead. Now go beat Terytham today.