Introducing The Leadership Table: A New Podcast for Christian School Leaders
Some of the best conversations about leadership don’t happen from a stage. They happen around a table, over a meal, between friends who have walked the same road and are willing to talk honestly about it.
That is the idea behind The Leadership Table, CESA’s new podcast for Christian educators. Hosted by Dr. Katie Wiens, Executive Director of CESA, and Tawanna Rusk, Associate Director of CESA, the podcast brings together leaders from across our member schools and the wider Christian education community for candid conversations about what it takes to lead well, and to last.
Why a Podcast, and Why Now
School leadership is hard, and it can be lonely. Whether you serve as a head of school, a division principal, a development director, an athletic director, or a department chair, you carry real weight for your community. Many of the most valuable lessons in this work are passed from one leader to another in informal moments: a hallway conversation at Symposium, a phone call with a trusted colleague, a meal with a mentor.
The Leadership Table is our effort to pull up more chairs to those conversations. Each episode features experienced leaders sharing what they have learned, often the hard way, about faith, trust, people, and the daily practice of leading a Christ-centered school. Each episode is designed to be practical, honest, and encouraging, something you can listen to on your commute, share with your leadership team, or use to spark a conversation with your board.
Episode One: Lasting Leadership
Trust, Blind Spots, and the Relationships That Sustain Us
What helps Christian school leaders lead well, and last? In our first episode, Katie Wiens is joined by two leaders who have played a formative role in CESA since its earliest days: Barry Giller, Head of School at Charlotte Christian School, and Jay Ferguson, Head of School at Grace Community School in Tyler, Texas.
Together, Barry and Jay bring more than 40 years of headship at their current schools: 17 years for Barry and 24 for Jay. As Katie notes in the episode, the average head-of-school tenure at NAIS schools is 6.1 years, and 9.1 years at CESA schools. Barry and Jay have beaten the odds. They have spent time thinking about why good people, even good leaders, sometimes lose their positions, and what helps leaders stay healthy for the long haul.
Here are a few of the themes they explore.
Trust Is the Foundation
When asked what usually lies behind a leader’s departure, Barry’s answer is simple: a breakdown of trust. Jay agrees, pointing to the relationship between the head of school and the board chair as the one that matters most. Having served alongside 15 or 16 board chairs during years of one-year terms (which he is quick to say is not a best practice), Jay learned to invest deeply in that relationship.
Barry describes a monthly meal with his board chair and chair-elect that he has kept for all 17 years at Charlotte Christian. He also passes along advice from Jim Marsh to “beware of the third board chair,” a reminder to know and invest in the leaders who will chair your board two and three terms from now.
Vulnerability and the Ministry of Presence
Both leaders talk openly about the temptation, especially early in leadership, to hide weakness and struggle from the people they lead. Barry says that even after 17 years, there are days he isn’t sure what he’s doing, and now he is willing to say so. Authenticity, they agree, is what boards, teams, and parent communities are looking for.
Jay shares a finding from his dissertation research on the pastoral leadership of heads of school. When he asked students, parents, teachers, and trustees how they knew their head of school loved them, the answer was almost always the same: “They come to my stuff.” The ministry of presence is powerful, and both leaders agree it won’t happen unless it is on the calendar.
“Don’t pick up the phone to call the principal. Walk across campus to go talk to the principal. Because while you’re doing that, you’re having four or five conversations where you’re actually figuring out what’s happening in your school.” — Jay Ferguson
Slowing Down to Build Relational Capital
Leaders who move too fast often struggle the most. Barry remembers his early days as a football coach, when a playbook that worked in New York failed completely in Miami because he hadn’t learned the new context. Jay adds that change requires relational capital, and new leaders need to build it before they spend it. His advice for leaders who want quick wins? Start with the easy ones, like repaving the parking lot. Nobody complains about that.
“The difference between a leader and a target is 25 yards.” — Barry Giller, passing along advice from a mentor
Facing Our Blind Spots
Katie raises a striking statistic: while about 95 percent of people believe they are self-aware, only 10 to 15 percent actually are. Jay explains why blind spots are so hard to fix. Seeing the blind spot is only half the battle. The other half is doing the internal work to understand why it is there.
Both leaders share personal and deeply honest stories of how God revealed their blind spots. For Jay, it came at a railroad crossing. For Barry, it came through a series of hospital visits and a friend who told him, “God’s never called you to be successful. He’s called you to be faithful.”
Friendships and Spiritual Rhythms That Sustain Us
The conversation closes on a hopeful note. Barry and Jay describe the friendship they have built over the years, one that started when Barry simply asked Jay to be his friend. They talk about the importance of truth-telling friends who will “speak life” into a leader, and about the intentional time it takes to keep those friendships strong beyond one meeting a year.
“I think people have to be courageous and say, I need a friend.” — Barry Giller
They also share practical rhythms they have built into their own schools, including monthly days set aside for prayer and preparation, spiritual renewal days for leadership teams, and flexible schedules that honor the different demands and seasons of life their people face. Leaders sometimes worry about stepping away from campus, but Jay sees it differently.
“The mark of a good leader is how well the school functions when you’re not there.” — Jay Ferguson
Listen Now
Episode one of The Leadership Table, “Lasting Leadership: Trust, Blind Spots, and the Relationships That Sustain Us,” is available now.
We encourage you to listen, and then share it with your leadership team, your board chair, or a colleague who could use a word of encouragement this season. Consider using one of these questions to start a conversation:
- Who is telling you the truth as a leader?
- What intentional time is on your calendar this month for presence, prayer, or friendship?
- Where might you be moving faster than your relational capital allows?
Join Us at the Table
Over the coming months, Katie and Tawanna will welcome more guests to The Leadership Table for conversations on the opportunities and challenges facing Christian school leaders today. New episodes will be released through May 2027, and we will share each one with you as it goes live.
We are grateful for Barry and Jay, for their friendship, and for the gift of a community where leaders can do this work together. As Katie says at the close of the episode, what could have been a heavy conversation turns out to be full of hope: hope in our incredible God, and in a community of people who are doing this work alongside us.
Pull up a chair. We’re glad you’re here.