Alex Seeley on Leading With Effortlessness, Building a High Talent, Low Ego Team & Stewarding God’s Presence
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In this episode Jason chats with Alex Seeley. Their conversation traces Alex’s fascinating journey from pioneering a revivalist movement in Australia with her husband Henry, to moving to Nashville together to plant a church. They discuss the challenges of planting in a city with a church at every corner, a spirit of religion clinging to the hearts and minds of people, and a transient population that is often more concerned with building their own careers and platforms then building God’s church.
Alex’s insight on the heart of ministry and the distinction between gifting and character is incredibly helpful for any pastor seeking to evaluate the success or fruitfulness of his or her ministry. More than that, she offers wisdom on how to steward the talent God brings to your church and build a team of gifted individuals that serve the local church while avoiding the sins of pride, jealousy and dissension.
Alex Seeley
Alex Seeley was born and raised in Australia, and served as an Executive Pastor at a church in Melbourne for nearly 20 years. Having relocated with her family to Nashville in 2012, Alex and her husband Henry, began to open their home on Tuesday nights. By February 2014, their basement was filled to capacity and as a result The Belonging Co church was born. As Senior Pastors of the Belonging Co, Alex and Henry call Nashville home where they live with their two children, Holly and Taylor.
“God asked me - will you go to nothing, with nothing, but carry My presence with you?”
Alex’s Books
Alex has written and released two incredible books called Tailor Made & The Opposite Life.
Tailor Made is a must read for anyone who has had unhelpful and false labels spoken over their lives. . So much personal dysfunction starts with patterns of thought. Wrong thinking seldom leads to right living, which is why scripture insists that we “renew our minds.” In other words, we must take time to think about what we are thinking about.
In Tailor Made, Alex helps us identify harmful thinking often shaped by insecurities, difficult circumstances, generational patterns, bitterness and a distorted view of God as our Father. Her book offers to replace these broken ways of thinking with a new view of who God says we are as His children.
In Alex’s book The Opposite Life, Alex wades into the reality that God’s ways are not our ways. God’s kingdom often appears upside down when compared to the ways of the world. Yet God always knows best and the key to living an abundant life is leaning into the upside down wisdom of God’s word.
In The Opposite Life, Alex incites us to move in the opposite direction of human instinct and worldly wisdom that doesn’t line up with God’s word. Each chapter unpacks the opposite-life principles that include: death vs. life, fear vs. faith, last vs. first, worry vs. worship & more.
“The people of God in the midst of the pressure must put our heads down, bury ourselves in the face of God, so that we come out as beacons of light that the world will be attracted to.”
Do you want to hear sermons from Alex?
The Belonging Co. Podcast is an archive of past messages from Alex and the team at the Belonging Co. The Belonging Co. is a church that loves God, loves people and is passionate about the presence of God. The Belonging has created a culture of encountering Jesus’ life-changing love through worship, teaching and an environment of expectancy for God to move in power.
Youtube Links
We have also posted some of our favourite sections of this interview on our Youtube Channel - here is one of them:
This episode was brought to you by Compassion Canada.
The mission of Compassion is to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name. And they’re doing exactly that in 25 different countries. Now, here is what is unique about Compassion—100% of their work is done in partnership with local churches. In fact, for many of the communities Compassion serves, they don’t know a large international NGO—they simply know the people of the local church who serve the most vulnerable in their community. Compassion’s heart for the local church extends here, to Canada, too. They are experts at equipping the Canadian church for mission in ways that are tailored to each church’s unique context. We want to encourage you to begin a transformative missions partnership with Compassion.
Coming Up Next
Brad Lomenick
Brad is the former President of Catalyst and leadership consultant. Brad is a speaker, the founder of BLINC, and the author of The Catalyst Leader and H3 Leadership. He writes about leadership, the next generation, creativity, innovation, social media, teamwork, and personal growth.