She began leading a 70-year-old organization founded by Billy Graham, and found it trying to be five things at once on one budget with one team. It was a philanthropy, a media company, an investigative journalism outfit, an external presence for the church, and a pastor. Something had to give.

In her second month, she gathered her leaders and wrestled for hours with one key question: What are we? 

The answer redefined the budget, the editorial direction, and the culture. And it meant admitting the organization is one thing, and it is not the other four.

This conversation is about inheriting something significant and then reshaping it without destroying it. Nicole talks about the daily discipline of building a new culture inside a legacy institution.

Rev. Dr. Nicole Martin is President and CEO of Christianity Today. CT reaches 41 million people annually through its journalism, podcasts, and publications, with a third of its audience outside English-speaking contexts.

But that meant scaling a high-connection, immersion program from 200 students to 550 in a single year. And that, in turn, meant recruiting 45 additional faculty members, asking them to give up two weeks of August and solving problems that didn't have easy answers. And yet, Phil made the change.

This conversation covers what COVID made possible, what he did with criticism about moving too fast, and how he and his wife rode bicycles all over the city to meet up with students at a key time. 

Phil also talks about where the hardest decisions arise, what he wishes someone had told him before he became president, and one piece of conventional leadership wisdom he quietly ignores.

Dr. Philip Ryken is President of Wheaton College in Illinois, a Christian liberal arts institution with $206 million in revenue in 2024.

Our conversation covers the three goals he holds in constant tension: building proximity to power, speaking truth to power, and building power in ways that reflect the organization's values. He also walks through how he led a yearlong rebranding of a 50-year institution without producing grief, and what the difference is between being listened to and being acquiesced to.

Eugene also talks about why he doesn't "enjoy" his work and why purpose is a better word than joy for what keeps him going in the current moment.

Eugene Cho is President and CEO of Bread for the World, a Christian advocacy organization with a staff of 60-plus working to end hunger.

Then the cracks started to show.

Peter had to stop, own the mistake, and go tell the donors who had believed what he told them.

Peter is one of the most intentional leaders I've interviewed about building a personal network of advisors. He also names something I think every CEO should wrestle with: not whether you and your organization has cracks, but where they are and who can see them.

Peter also shares a family decision that he nearly got wrong, and what it revealed about what most nonprofit leaders are carrying.

Peter Greer is President and CEO of Hope International, an international development organization operating in about 30 countries, with $41 million in revenue in 2024.

In the next 24 hours, she called legal counsel before the board, received an unexpected offer from a tech platform, and decided to pivot the entire conference online before anyone else in the sector was doing it. Within 30 days, she took it global. 

CLA eventually trained over 11,000 leaders in more than 100 countries on the platform she built that week.

Tami also names something I hear from CEOs frequently: crisis has a unique power to make leaders think the unthinkable. The question is whether you can get there before the crisis forces you.

Tami Heim is President and CEO of the Christian Leadership Alliance, celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2026.

He did it with about $25,000 in internal time, replacing software that would have cost over $750,000 to build. Most nonprofit CEOs are still asking whether to pay attention to AI. He's already restructuring how his organization functions by using it.

Bill Simmons is President and CEO of Hope Rises International, a Christian global health organization working in more than 50 partnerships across Africa and Asia to address neglected tropical diseases. Annual revenue: $11.3 million. 

This is the first time I've seen how AI can transform the processes and outcomes of the nonprofit sector.

She also talks about the two ways CEOs drift into bad decisions: chasing off-mission funding and refusing to sunset programs they love, plus why she thinks the hardest decision most nonprofit CEOs eventually face is knowing when to leave.

Dr. Jody Levison-Johnson is President and CEO of Social Current, a national organization that accredits, trains, and advocates for a network of approximately 1,800 human service organizations across the US and Canada.

Four years later, Curtis, David French, and Russell Moore were at the center of the most prominent faith-and-politics curriculum in the country. A quarter million people had used it. This conversation is about how a founder navigates a pivot, and why market need and relationships sometimes rewrite the plan.

He also talks about the two ways nonprofit CEOs drift into bad decisions: chasing off-mission funding and staying stuck in a rut. And he offers a reframe on anxiety that has real implications for how CEOs lead through loss. Curtis calls it "holding," and he thinks the CEO's job in seasons of organizational pain is something closer to Chief Grieving Officer.

Curtis Chang is Founder and Executive Director of Good Faith, an organization at the intersection of Christian faith and public life. The After Party, its flagship curriculum on faith and politics, has reached over 250,000 users. The Good Faith Podcast ranks in the top 0.5% of all podcasts globally.

Andy also traces the 40-year collapse of institutional trust to something deeper than politics: the unmasking of prestige as mere dominance. And he makes an unexpected case that the generation coming into the workforce right now may be the best in decades, if you can earn their trust first.

Andy Crouch is Partner for Theology and Culture at Praxis, a New York-based nonprofit that supports faith-driven founders, funders, and innovators, from early-stage ventures to both nonprofits and businesses operating at meaningful scale across every sector.

This conversation covers that decision, how she navigated a pressurized process, and what she wishes she'd had in those first weeks that was lacking.
She also talks about the energy calendar she built after hitting a wall, the decisions that still keep her up at night, and what it looks like to lead a legacy organization toward better health and effectiveness. 

Jennifer is President and CEO of American Bible Society, founded in 1816.

We talk about that decision, the actual calculus, and the strategic mistake he thinks many nonprofit CEOs are making right now.

He also talks about what nobody told him before he became CEO, the culture he has spent 25 years building, and why standing for nothing is the fastest way to lose trust.

Phil is president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, a research and advisory organization serving foundations and donors across the sector, and author of Giving Done Right.

Hosted by Adam Jeske, The Nonprofit CEO Advisor, this podcast goes beyond theory and best practices to the real choices that define careers and shape communities.

If you're a nonprofit CEO navigating tough calls, or you know one who is, this is the conversation you've been missing.

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