7 Questions with Kendrick Neal

Kendrick Neal is the newest staff member at CSBC, serving as the Director of the Office of Disaster Relief for the CSBC. His rough and tumble exterior is well-earned, dating back to his water polo days in high school, plus 18 years of playing rugby regularly as an adult, and his military years as a Captain in the United States Marine Corps, where he did two tours for Operation Iraqi Freedom. But don’t let those broad shoulders fool you. Kendrick is an adoring husband to Melissa, and father of 3 growing kids. He reads often and has a heart for both scripture and evangelism, (and he knows how to merge his spiritual side with his powerhouse side). In fact, he has hopes to one day motorcycle through Southeast Asia to visit all of the churches Paul started.

Let’s see, I’m reading “Spiritual Authority” by Watchman Nee, and “50 People Every Christian should know” (Wiersbe)… . oh - and shout out to Jason Robertson for recommending – “A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness.” I’ve been reading through one section a week.

They’re both good, but whoever has the shortest line wins…that normally means Chick-fil-A. In-N-Out’s lines drive me crazy.

Relationship evangelism. In a relationship people ask you why you believe what you believe. If they don’t ask you, they aren’t interested in listening to your answer. Building relationships is the proactive part of relational evangelism. It’s one of the best parts of working in Disaster Relief or in chaplaincy. People are always asking about our faith.

I really like “Lead on” by Dr. Iorg. It’s short and relevant. I listen to “The Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast,” and then, every once in a while, I let Dave Ramsey yell at me.

This moment happened at my first church. Actually, it was my first day moving into my new house, so it was before I even checked in to the church. We were so excited about saving the world, you know?... Saving San Diego and teaching our neighbors about Jesus … just super excited. Well, the day we moved into our house, my neighbor invites me to sit with him by his pool, and he goes on to tell me how safe the neighborhood is…He says, “Yeah, in fact, just today people were knocking on doors inviting people for church.” So, I said, “Oh! Do you know which church?” And he says,” No…we ran them out. We don’t want any of those crazy Christians in this area…” then he immediately askes, “so, what you do?”

Joshua – what an interesting time it must have been for him to sit under Moses’ leadership. He was a spy, he got to see the Promised Land, he got to CONQUER the Promised Land, and see all the miracles that God did during those battles. Joshua is on one of the greatest leaders in the Bible.

Redeemer because when you talk about Joy and Comfort and Friend... all of those things come because He is our Redeemer. Redeemer is foundational to the other aspects of Christ.