Warren Buffett & Mark Cuban’s 1 Investment – Why It Matters for Church Leaders

We explore why church leaders must prioritize investing in themselves to maximize their ministry effectiveness and fulfill God's calling on their lives.

• Warren Buffett says investing in yourself is the best thing you can do—anything that improves your talents and abilities
• Many church leaders poured into others but neglect their own growth in skills, leadership abilities, and faith
• Mark Cuban believes the best investments are in yourself, emphasizing that with effort, we can learn almost anything
• After the pandemic disruption, many churches quickly returned to familiar routines rather than continuing to innovate
• Our real competition as ministry leaders isn't other churches but burnout, irrelevance, and stagnation
• Even Jesus and Paul modeled the importance of withdrawal, rest, and continual growth
• Four practical ways to invest in yourself: read more, develop a new skill, prioritize rest, and expand your network

What's one way you're going to invest in yourself this week? Share in the comments or email podcast@chemistrystafffing.com.

Have questions or comments? Send to podcast@chemistrystaffing.com

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Chapters

• 0:00 The Neglected Investment in Ministry
• 1:10 Warren Buffett's Wisdom for Church Leaders
• 2:20 Mark Cuban on Learning and Growth
• 4:12 Four Practical Ways to Invest in Yourself
• 7:44 Final Challenge and Invitation

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:08

Imagine this you spend years investing in your church, in your congregation, in your staff, in your volunteers, but one day you wake up and you realize that you've neglected one of the most important investments of all. And Warren Buffett and Mark Cuban two of the greatest business minds of our time both say that one of the best investments you can make isn't in stocks or businesses or real estate. It's in yourself. We're going to talk about that today here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Hi, thanks for joining me. My name's Todd Rhodes. I'm your host here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. So here's the question for you as a church leader are you investing in yourself in a way that maximizes what God has called you to do? We're going to talk about that today, and we're going to start with Warren Buffett's investment advice. Warren Buffett, you might like him, you might hate him, but he's made a lot of money and he is probably best known in the world for investing. And here's what Warren Buffett says. He says investing in yourself is the best thing you can do Anything that improves your own talents and your own abilities. Nobody can tax it and nobody can take it away from you. All right, so what does that mean for us as church leaders? What can we take from this little tidbit of information from Warren Buffett? We pour into others every day as church leaders, but have we truly taken the time to maximize the gifts that God has given us and the things that he's called us to Do? We learn new skills? Are we expanding our leadership abilities? Are we deepening our faith? Are we really getting in the word and digging deep? These are things that, no matter where you are in your ministry career, those things will never, ever lose value. So what should you do? Take some time for some personal growth. Read, get in the word, take a class, go to a conference, develop some kind of new leadership skill, get out of your comfort zone, because the more you grow, the more you're going to have to offer and the more that God can even use you. All right, so that's Warren Buffett. I mentioned the kind of name drop Mark Cuban here as well. Again, you might love Mark Cuban, you might despise Mark Cuban, but Mark Cuban has done pretty good in business, and here's a quote from Mark Cuban that I think is really interesting. He said the best investments I've ever made were investing in myself, first and foremost, if I put in the effort, I can learn almost anything. So again, what does that mean for us as church leaders, as ministry leaders? Here's what I think is really important and I've been a strong proponent of this for years is, as ministry leaders, if you stop learning, you stop growing and it really cuts into your effectiveness as a leader.

Speaker 1: 2:59

We get comfortable in what we already know. I think what happened five years ago with this little thing that we went through as a country and as the church I had really hoped that it would kind of rock us to do the uncomfortable and you know what it did for two months, three months, six months, however long that we weren't able to meet in person. But what I saw happen next really bothered me and it disappointed me overall Not everybody, not every church, but a lot of church leaders. As soon as you were able to meet again and do church the way that we'd done it all of our lives, guess what we did? We went back and we did exactly what we did and what we knew how to do. We went back to what was comfortable and we got comfortable in what we already knew. And when we couldn't do it we tried new things. But as soon as we could go back, man, a lot of us just went back and today, 2025, we're still doing things a lot of times the way that we did them in early 2020, just because there's a level of comfortability Is that the right word? We feel comfortable, okay.

Speaker 1: 4:14

So, mark Cuban, this quote reminds us that continuous learning, trying new things in the business world, they would call that a competitive advantage. I don't know that we would use that term in ministry, but it's really important because our competition isn't a business rival in the church as church leaders. That's not our rival. Our rival is burnout and irrelevance and stagnation. So what does this mean for you? And stagnation, so what does this mean for you? What can you take from this?

Speaker 1: 4:44

From Mark Cuban, here's the question for you today what's one thing you wish you knew how to do in ministry, but you've never done it or you don't know how to do it? That's a great place to start Start learning something like that today. Even Jesus, in his earthly ministry, withdrew to spend some time with the Father and to rest and to learn. The Apostle Paul did the same thing. He's constantly encouraging Timothy to grow in his knowledge. Why? Because when you invest in yourself. When you increase your knowledge, when you're a constant learner, you invest in your ability to serve others better. So make that self-investment a part of your routine, spiritually and emotionally. And can I say it Professionally? And here's the deal If you don't do this intentionally, you're probably going to end up staying in your comfort zone. How do I know that? Because that's how we all operate, unless we're intentional. So how can I be intentional, todd? What can I do to be more intentional here? Let me be real, just really quick, and this isn't rocket surgery.

Speaker 1: 5:58

Okay, four practical ways that you can get better and invest in yourself and what God has called you to do. Number one is just read more. Some pastors and church leaders are avid readers, and that's awesome. You need to do that. If you haven't read a book in the last six months, you need to read more. Whether it's scripture, that's absolutely important. You should be doing that, obviously. But leadership, books on theology, things that will stretch you, things that will sharpen your mind, those are all really important. So read more.

Speaker 1: 6:30

Number two develop a new skill Preaching, technology, counseling when do you need to grow? What will make you a better leader you need to prioritize. Number three prioritize rest and renewal. As I mentioned, jesus modeled rest, and a burned out leader is just an ineffective leader. So you need to do that as well as part of this investing in yourself. You need to be at the top of your game and to do that, you can't be burned out. And then four what can you do to expand your network? Who around you or who do you know that you look up to? That would be a great mentor or somebody that just really kind of stretches you and sharpens you. Iron sharpens iron. So find those people and expand your network and spend intentional time with people that can help you.

Speaker 1: 7:16

The church needs healthy, growing leaders and it all starts with you. If you've made it this far and thank you so much for making it this far today here's my challenge. What's one way that you're going to invest in yourself this week? I'd love to hear what you come up with. You can drop something in the comments wherever you're listening or watching, or you can send an email to me at podcast at chemistry staffingcom. Thanks so much and join us again next time right here on the healthy church staff podcast. You.