Ron Edmondson | The Legacy Project | Nashville

Ron Edmondson is a pastor and church leader passionate about planting churches, helping established churches thrive, and assisting pastors and those in ministry think through leadership, strategy and life.

Ron has over 20 years business experience, mostly as a self-employed business owner, and he’s been helping church grow vocationally for over 10 years.

Ron Edmondson Is Driven By | I love to see people grasp a new concept or thought — and get motivated to make a difference with their life. The desire to see growth in others fuels me every day.

My Highlights | We have had some incredible success at starting new churches and revitalizing existing churches. It’s the favor of God on our intentional, methodical, and strategic efforts.

The Difference Between Good And Great | I think people who are great at something have limited their focus to that in which they want to be great. You can be good at a lot of things — but not great at a lot of things. The more you narrow your focus on what you are doing, the better your success will be.

A Key Talent | I am a connector. I have the gift of discernment. I’m quickly able to discern a person and figure out where I can connect them to others with the same passion, desires, and callings that they have. It has served me throughout my career in both business and ministry. It’s one of the best ways I add value to people around me.

I think it’s a natural ability, but it’s also one I work on daily. I ask myself questions when I’m learning someone’s story — questions such as, “Who do I know who feels the same way as this person? Who could help this person where they are today. Who does this person need to know that I know?”

Principles I Live By | I am a follower of the teachings of Jesus Christ. As a believer, I have centered my life around the idea that — at the end of the day — my life’s best success will be determined by how well I do the first and greatest commands of Christ — to love God and love others. I strive for that every day.

Critical Skills I Develop | Listening, learning and waiting are critical skills for every leader. I can be quick to have an answer rather than listening to what the other person is actually saying first. That takes discipline and I’m still working on it.

A leader is a learner. In addition to the Bible, I try to read at least one chapter of a book every day. I’ve found if I do this I can average 25 books a year. Some years I do more, but I know that at the least I’m always learning something new.
Resting is something that those wired like me — wired for achievement — with little patience — have a hard time living. I’ve learned by experience, however, that when I try to rush my world or others I often miss some of the best life has to offers. People of success have learned they must discipline their time to decompress.

Lessons I Have Learnt | There are so many. One, you cannot lead people where they don’t want to go. You might be able to force — but leadership is more than that. It’s taking people along, who may not know the way and even be a little afraid, but willingly. They buy into the vision. That means we must cast vision constantly, continually encourage, and give people freedom within our vision to live up to their own potential.

Also, We tend to end in the direction we are headed. We shouldn’t be surprised if we end up in a bad situation, if that’s the direction we were aiming our life.

Third, You get more bees with honey than vinegar. Being nice to people usually gets better results than beating them into submission. (That’s actually a Bible truth: It’s the kindness of God that leads to repentance.)

Finally, people are different from me. I tend to want people to respond to life and me as I respond to life and others. They don’t.

Advice On Building Wealth | As someone who set out with this as a goal, I would say: Get a bigger vision for your life. There’s nothing wrong with great wealth or richness. It’s a blessing that allows you to experience much of life and help others greatly. But, if that is a person’s end goal they may get a lot of trophies at the end of their life but have no one to share it with and no ultimate life satisfaction. I can’t tell you how many funerals of wealthy people I’ve done where the family doesn’t speak to one another and the person who died was mostly unfulfilled. It’s a sad commentary on life. Set out to make the world a better place, to help others, to do good things for the betterment of society — and if that brings wealth all the better.

The Legacy I Would Like To Leave | I would want to encourage others to dream big, take risks, never be afraid of failure, and enjoy each season of life.