Todd Wilson is the CEO of Exponential, a national non-profit ministry whose core focus is distributing thought leadership through conferences, books, podcasts, software, and small group learning communities. After 15 years working in the field of nuclear engineering, Todd switched gears to become a pastor. He is the author of the book More: Find Your Personal Calling and Live Life to the Fullest Measure and has written other articles, ebooks and training resources that focus on church multiplication and planting. Todd is married to Anna and they have two sons, Ben and Chris, and two beautiful daughters-in-law, Therese and Mariah.
Key Questions
-Why did you spend five years researching and writing a book on personal calling?
-What is the three-part framework you give for helping us to think through our primary and secondary callings?
-What do we need to do in our churches to help people live according to their callings?
-How do we make the necessary shifts in our churches so that we can start growing disciples God’s way, and who is doing this well?
Key Quotes
“One of the core elements of multiplication is this idea of calling, the idea of mobilizing everyday missionaries on their everyday mission fields.”
“We know we’re only here for a limited time, but we really want our impact to sustain beyond us.”
“We unfortunately turn calling into a form of idolatry because we turn the secondary calling, our unique gifting, [into] the most important thing, rather than the primary calling being honoring God, being disciples who make disciples wherever we are.”
“1. Who am I created to be? 2. What am I made to do? 3. Where am I supposed to do it?…Those are three questions that universally have been asked by men and women since the Fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden.”
“Guess what? If God called you halfway around the world, your primary calling in that place halfway around the world would still be to be a disciple who makes disciples in that place you’re in.”
“Our primary calling does not require God to relocate us anywhere in the world. The primary calling can be lived out right where we are.”
“We focus extraordinarily on the ‘do’ part of [our kids’] calling. We don’t spend enough time on the ‘be’ part.”
“We have, literally, 22-year-olds coming out of college who do not know who they are.”