In this episode of the Backstage Pastors™️ Podcast, Phil Taylor and Tyler Drewitz welcome Nathan Young and Dave Hartman, co-authors of How to Be Second to discuss the identity, strengths, and challenges of second-chair leadership. The conversation explores why some leaders are uniquely wired for supporting roles, how executive pastors and operational leaders thrive, and why being second is not a stepping stone but a meaningful destination.

When I wrote “Defining The Executive Pastor Role” almost ten years ago, there wasn’t much out there for second chair leaders anywhere, let alone in the church world. You had Bonem’s book, which is still a classic. And a couple other moderate works. And that was it. In the ten years since then, we’ve seen a greater awareness of the second chair role, and there are no shortages of cohorts, and online seminars for you to attend now, which is great. But as far as actual published books that you can go on Amazon and buy right now, not much has changed. Bonem did a follow up, which is another great addition to your XP library. And that’s it for pastors specifically.

And then one day, last year I was scrolling through Facebook and saw that a friend of mine from college had co-written a book called “How To Be Second”. It’s not for the church specifically, but lots of it applies to the church. And it’s really good. I of course immediately reached out to my friend Dave Hartman and his co-author, Nathan Young. I would highly suggest that you pick it up and give it a good read. You won’t be disappointed.

In addition to the book, Dave and Nathan host a monthly meet-up for Q&A and community. They’ve invited me to their May 24′ online gathering. You can sign up to join it here. It will not be posted anywhere for future viewing.