Living With a Strategic Plan With Pete Richardson
January 05, 2022
Jennie Allen
Bible teacher, founder of IF:Gathering
Pete Richardson joins Jennie on the podcast to talk about re-discovering your gifts, talents, and dreams.
So with integrity, I just sat here and processed it hard. I don't know that any human on earth's life has impacted mine more than who my guest is today. And I know that is a huge statement. So I genuinely chase down all the people that have changed my life. And just about he's up there in the top three, for sure, not the top one. And, and the reason why this was the case was Pete Richardson who runs and owns Patterson Center. He was a guide that was put in my life at the moment where I really genuinely, all I wanted to do was quit. And what he did was he, he turned to my life story. He turned to the way I was living in the patterns of my life. And he looked at everything and Zack was with me. We looked at Zac's parts as well, and we really began to dream and build a healthier way to do life. So he was the perfect person to have for this season when we're talking about what it looks like to be a healthy person, because he really has taught me a lot about that. What does it look like to, to find healthy rhythms and healthy ways of working and healthy ways of relating and, and practicing life? So I want to begin, Pete, you just introduce yourself just a little bit about how you found yourself as one of the master guides here at Patterson, and then eventually running it.
Yeah, those are, when you hear something like that about yourself, it's like really? I do, you know, do you know me as well as I know, you know? Um, but I'm grateful for, for that and our time together years ago with you and Zac. And I remember, so I'm 59 right now and when I was 29, so literally 30 years ago, I spent two days with this guy named Tom Patterson. And I was sort of on your side of our meeting, you know, and I was in the chair and he was guiding me and he used his approach, sort of his, his philosophy and principle driven way of engaging somebody and excavating truth through really a Socratic methodology, which is more of a Jesus methodology, the art of asking the right questions at the right time to guide somebody to the self-discovery of truth, and then to guide them to make a decision on how they'll steward or respond to that truth.
So he, Tom did that to me 30 years ago and, and gave me really, uh, a map, a life map that was built on different layers of truth, who I am, who I am not God's call on my life to get the talent God's invested in me. And, you know, in that process, um, I, I had this whisper deep in my spirit. Like I wonder if I could ever help people even to a small degree, like Tom is helping me. And, and he had tapped into something in me, which I at bedtime really didn't believe or fully understand. And, and now 30 years later, it all changed on those two days with Tom back in Palm Springs, California. So, you know, when we intersected years ago, I was deep into that journey and had committed my life to this, this whisper of a call that I had discerned from God to invest in something, you know, using the talent God had given me and to cultivate it and bring it to a, more of a mature application to help other people. So that's a quick answer.
THE FINGERPRINTS OF GOD
And you have helped a lot of people. This is what Pete does with his life. Now you have done it for, you know, I mean, huge companies like OtterBox, you have played that role. Small non-profits like If: gathering, you play that role in many others, um, I'm just very grateful for your wisdom and discernment and how you use your gift. So we call him Yoda around here. He has, he has been a part of us planning and growing this thing that is, you know, overwhelming some days for me. And so yet you, you are good at, at boiling, some things down, you were good at saying, okay, Jennie, like what you're talking about right now, Pete, is, is that truth. And so when I experienced this process, you really started with back, you know, go back into your life. Let's look at the themes. Let's, let's quote, chapter title, the parts of your life and where you've been and where God's taking you. What do you look? And again, we're not going to give away the whole process. Y'all just need to go do it. But what are you looking for when you look back at somebody's story? What's the point of going back to go forward?
Well, it's not to live in the past. It's not to be stuck in the past. So the value of one's backstory is to learn from it. So just like any good, good story, good novel, good movie. There are plot lines threaded through that storyboard and sub plot lines and learnings and messages that, you know, in the world of film, as I understand it, screenwriters actually craft and write into the screenplay. So if we apply that principle to our own lives, what do we learn from how we got to where we are? Where do we see the fingerprints of God? What, what are some of the plot lines and sub-plot lines and themes that God has weaved together through all the ups and downs, the turning points as we call them of our life journey and story. When, when we can see that almost zoom out from it and get a bird's eye view on our life from the earliest days to where we are now, then we can decide with God's help.
Like, what do I, what should I carry forward? And what should I leave behind, for example, or, or as I look at the plot lines and sub-plot lines of my past, how do those potentially play out as with God's help and keeping step with him, write feature chapters of the story in front of me. So it's, there's value to that perspective. It's not to be stuck in the past it's to learn from it. And oftentimes people feel like the different episodes of their backstory are disconnected. Like they have no meaningful purpose as a continuous whole. And what, what we see in this is like, actually none of those episodes are one-offs or random. They all play into the broader story. Even the ones that were embarrassed by or feel really bad about.
So, I mean, how old do you have to be to have this kind of story? Like, do you feel like people in their twenties can do this? Is it limited?
I worked with a lot of young 20 year olds, even teens, 17 year olds, 18 year olds. Yeah. Granted, nobody has the kind of life perspective at age 21 that they do at 40, you know, that's obvious, but you can always glean and harvest the truth of how much life you've already lived. Why not? The earlier the better is my opinion. If, if you're willing to ask the right questions and embrace the learnings from those discovered questions, you know, then yeah, you can, you use, you go with what you've lived, you go with what you have and you build on that.
SMALL SHIFTS LEAD TO DISCOVERY
And so as you're building, and, and I, I look at what you did for me. And a lot of it was super practical, candidly. I mean, I think sometimes we think about becoming a healthier person and we think of these massive life change moments, but, but some of it is just, some things are broken and you just need to make some small adjustments that could really change everything. Talk a little bit about that. Just some of the practical ways you, you look at someone's life and see, you know, what, this is broken and we need to fix it.
Oftentimes those are relational issues, right? Like, so what we did with you and what we do with people at Patterson is we look at life so most come to us for some kind of vocational confusion. What do I do with my life? Which pathway do I go down? That kind of thing? Or what do I say no? And yes to, I have so much opportunity. It's paralyzing. How do I sit through it? Once we get into the backstory and someone's holistic perspective, and we're really trying to, so the principle is the truth. Jesus said, it, the truth sets you free in his own way. I remember the woman at the well and John 4, like this guy just told me everything about my life. And he said, well, the real worshipers are going to worship, worship me in the spirit and in truth. So the value here is like, when I can flesh out list of truth, whether it's vocational stuff, or oftentimes, like I said, relational stuff that comes out of, you know, not either dealing truthfully with broken relationships or being fully present in important relationships, because I'm not recognizing the importance of that.
So a lot of like high powered leaders, unfortunately when it's too late, have a lot of regret because they've neglected important relationships, but we all know that it's like deathbed regrets, but, but at any point in your life journey, to discover the importance of creating time and space, we're creatures of time and space, which means I have to get really practical on my calendar sometimes. Like, how will I create time and space for important relationships? That would be one discovery that comes out all the time in our work. Another one is how do I create create appropriate time and space for investment in the health of myself, my body, my spirit, my soul, my emotional well that I have to live with. How do I engage that in a healthy way? So, you know, we did that with you and Zac it's like how we call it replenishment cycle insight.
Like, what do I need to do? That's not narcissistic. It's not, it's not selfish overindulgence but it's like, even Jesus did. It was like how many times in the scriptures, like Jesus just disappeared for two days. And even the disciples, like where is he? Where were you? Oh, I was in the, in the mountains, in the Hills being with the father, you know, he was in touch with his own humanity. So should we be? And so what do I need to do practically in the course of busy life to cultivate personal health, relational health, these kinds of things come out in our life plan, new work, all of it.
P.I.E.S.
Okay. So I'm guessing the tens of thousands of people listening to this are not going to probably get to do Patterson. So what would you say to them about specifically this point before we move on, just laying out a little bit more structure into their week for health and for wholeness?
Yeah. So we use the, the acronym pies, P I E S to kind of look holistically at yourself. You can do this with yourself, but the P stands for my physical health. The, I stands for my intellectual or my mental health. The E stands for my emotional health and the S for my spiritual health. So you can get real practical. You can say, what do I need to do on a daily, weekly, even monthly cadence or rhythm to put good life, good energy into my body, mind, emotions, and spirit. So we call that energy management. There's science behind this. There's a great book called the Power of Full Engagement by Tony Swart and Jim Loehr written in the nineties. And it's, if we think of ourselves, when people say I'm tired, I'm exhausted. I'm burned out that what they're feeling is the depletion of energy it's gone.
And so what can we do? And this PIES sort of looked at our lives to put healthy energy into ourselves so that we have good energy to give, to relationships, productive energy, to give, to projects, creative energy, to give the things we're working on. So I've got to have, especially as I go into an intense season in front of me on my calendar, I want to make sure I've got my Duracell battery is full of energy, so to speak metaphorically within me. So I've got to do things, I call it just the rhythmic plea. And so you can say, you know, what do I need to do physically daily, weekly to put good energy into my, my body. And it's all connected. If you do that with your body, you're probably going to impact your thinking and your spirit. What do I need to do to put good energy and life into myself to stir my mind?
So, so for me, I'll give you some examples at age 59, there's this book written younger next year for people 50 years and older. And it's all about the science of this. If I get my heart rate up, for example, four times a week for 45 minutes, each at 85% of my max, I am regenerating life on the cellular level. So I do that. I wear a heart monitor and all that stuff. And I usually listen to podcasts or audio books while I'm working out. So I'm, I'm, I'm not just doing physical work and putting life into myself, into my mind and into my spirit. I've got to have my mornings of solitude and I do a thing called Morning Pages by Julia Cameron, The artist's way. It's not really journaling, but just brain drain on paper. First thing in the morning, you get all your thoughts out, write three pages, long hand.
And a lot of creativity comes out, prayers, come out. I'll write letters to my kids. And if I can do that four times a week, it's so life-giving. And I usually do that in combination with scripture and meditation and silent prayer. That's all lumped up in the morning. And then I need one long walk a week. This isn't with my dog. It's not with my wife, Janet. It's like two hours on the weekend. And I that's where I just talk to God. I just throw out questions to God. Like, what do you think about this? I'm thinking about doing this. Do you have any inputs? In scripture leaders who did not inquire of God, it never went well for them. But those who did. So what is inquiring of God means it's like asking God what he thinks about what you're thinking and doing. You know, so that's life giving to me. And then lastly, I'm a reader. I'm always, I'm reading three or four books at a time and that's input. So if I'm doing those four things, working out mornings long walks and reading that stuff, I have full control over. It's putting life into me. And it allows me to give life out to other people and other things I'm doing. Does that make sense?
PLAN AND KEEP IN STEP WITH GOD
And some people listening are going, I have three toddlers. I don't have any of that. And I would say in those years, for me, it was one day a week. It was a weekly rhythm. And I would, I would get a sitter and pay for that for four or five hours. And I would spend the whole day doing those things like walking, talking with God, reading. And again, it wasn't that I didn't have a quiet time that other days it was just that it might've been 10 minutes. Maybe, you know, or it might've been a podcast in the car or worship in the car with all these kids. So I just want to encourage you that, that even if what Pete's saying feels overwhelming to you, and you're like, I couldn't add all that to my schedule. There's ways you can do that, that work with your life. But I think prioritizing it is what he is saying in a way that that's intentional and may even cost you money, like where you having to prioritize it and get a sitter or wake up really early, or maybe it's at night for you, but finding that time.
Okay. I want to go back to this idea of planning our lives, because I think this is a very fine line between, and I want you to speak to this because you changed my view on this. Actually I used to be someone that never had a five-year plan and the reason why was because I just wanted to live open-handed and trust God and be where he wants me to be. And that worked until I had a team of 20 and a massive organization to lead. And now, even for kids that are growing older and I need a plan, like we, we are making financial decisions. We are making life decisions that require foresight and looking ahead, and you really changed my view on life planning, that, that God talks a lot about it. And that, that isn't necessarily manipulating his will.
I've had people say, oh, Pete, if we just listened to God's spirit and do what he says, why do we need to plan? Well, I there's a whole theology around planning. I could give you a case where God is the ultimate strategic planner. So when I say strategic, that stirs up different emotions for different people. Strategy is thinking about tomorrow, today. That's a very biblical concept. Where there's no vision. What happens.
People perish.
People perish in other version, says the heart grows weary. So, so we can't predict it. Yeah. We can't, we can't predict the future. Obviously we're not, we don't know the future, but I believe God's created us to go create the future. So in order to think forward, so call that whatever you want, planning, visionary, whatever it is, you have to set things in motion today. If you want to get somewhere tomorrow, my sort of theology around that being created in God's image. Some of us are very creative and strategic. Some of us are more operational and management driven and that's okay. That's just how we're hardwired. It's like personality. But if we don't have a vision for the future, you're going to feel it in your heart. You're going to your heart's going to be weary. And when we work with organizations and we walk into an environment and you hear things like, well, I used to know where we're going. I don't know anymore. That's a visionary problem. That's a vision problem that used to be there. That isn't. So my opinion on all that is that yeah, we do our best to, to plan and go create the future and then keep in step with God and allow him to direct our steps and edit our plans accordingly. That's how he's created us to live and think forward and walk with him. And a lot of Proverbs talked about out of the heart comes the plans of humanity, of us, right? Where do plans come from? Deep on our God created spiritual heart. And if we're in touch with that and God's moving our heart in different directions, because our heart can also be deceiving. It can also lead us astray, but our God-inspired heart, that's where he moves us to think forward and to think into the future and then go create it.
A SONG IN YOUR HEART
I'm going to actually do a little case study with you, and I'm going to build this person. I'm gonna tell you about them. I'm gonna ask you some questions on behalf of them. Cause I think this person is a lot of you out there, but let's do it for one person. This person does not see the future. They don't know what they're good at. They think maybe they're good at creating things in artistic way. They know they have a passion for the kingdom of God, but they really don't have a lot of clarity of what that means or what the first step would be. And so they kind of shut down and the few dreams they do have, and every once in a while, they'll think of something to do. And they're like, you know, I would really love to create this thing or do this in my life. They feel so much fear that they shut down that they're just are overwhelmed with fear. What would you say to that person first? And I know you don't have their life story in front of you, but, but specifically with that fear and lack of vision, those two things.
Yeah. So every good story has a great bad guy. We call that the antagonist, we call that the enemy of the good guy. Who's trying to keep the good guy from accomplishing from saving the world, right? That's like the movies we enjoy at least some of us. So, but that's true for your whole life. So if fear is, if fear is whispering, it's cold, chilly voice inside your inner ear. You're probably onto something. That's one thing I've discovered in many times, not all the time. So many times fear can actually point the way and validate what God is nudging you to do. So it's kind of like, um, fear of standing in this doorway and doesn't want you to go to through the, through the doorway. When in reality, if you move towards a fear and through it on the other side, you go, wow, what was I so afraid of?
So that's one thing that's sort of philosophical and theological about fear. Fear never comes from God. It never comes from your friend. It's always coming from the opposition to God's call on your life. So which begs the question, well, how do I discover God's call on my life? Well, that's a long conversation, but, but I will say this, everyone, everyone, no matter who you are, where you're at in life, what season you're in, you have God given gifts and talents that came from God. And so part of the discovery is like, what are those God given talents? And I was born with, and that maybe God gave to me their spiritual gifts, the New Testament that talks about spiritual gifts, that God dispenses it at his discretion either way. They're both from God, natural gifts, natural talent and spiritual gifts are both from God. So everyone has three to five core talents, everybody.
So the first thing you got to do is like really discover what those are. And then over time, like over a year over decades, cultivate those gifts. Because talent neglected, stagnates. It's gotta be cultivated. And, and even if you're a parent, a young parent with kids, your little people in your life have these God-given talents. One of your primary jobs is to help them discover those and own them and begin to cultivate them and nourish them and grow them into their fullest expression. I believe the bulk of humanity, David Thoreau said the massive humanity lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in their heart. That's sad. That's a sad statement, but it doesn't have to be that way. So what does that mean? Then I've got to discover my God given talent. I've got to discern where God's moving me to apply that talent.
And that can be in multiple things. It can be to create something like you mentioned. It can be to invest that talent into relationships. It can be to find meaning in the exact space and place. I am in life in the season of life right now in some way that brings good to the world. Even in little ways, all of these give life to the, when we are using our God-given gifts in some meaningful way, usually to benefit others. That's where we find our greatest joy. And so, you know, I'm empty nest now, but I was introduced to this when I had two little kids at home and I was, you know, running a team of 80 people, vice presidents that are in our organization. And yeah, it's hard to juggle all this, but the decades go quick as I'm sure you're Jennie already realizing, like, how did I get here so fast? So you got to see it as a lifelong journey and process.
ROLLING VISION FORWARD
So there's probably two types of people right now listening to this man. I'm sure there's more, but I can, these two people asking a question to you, the first person is the person who has big dreams, but shuts themselves down because they're scared of those. And they think what if I have bad ambition? What if I, you know, what, what if this isn't God and I'm just going for it? You know, what would you say to that person?
Oh, fire it off to God first. See if that's what he thinks. Like always do that. Or don't you think about this and thinking of doing this, what do you think? Do you have any inputs? And, and I do that out in walks in nature. And I, you know, I don't always, I don't like having this direct line to God. I don't know. I'm not expecting that, but there's something that happens in the human heart when they do that. And we open ourselves up to receive the creative ways God engages us in our world. So that's number one, like always bring what you're thinking to God. And, and that includes those fears that are trying to shut you down from pursuing some of those dreams you have, what is surrender? Paul said, if you really want to be free, you got to surrender. So let's surrender. Surrender is like letting go of things. God didn't create me to control and trusting him with those things. So I got to let go and I got to trust. So that would be another thing is like engaging that fear within, through surrender. And then it's, as you're inquiring of God and move in forward towards that fear, that's where life begins to open up with us. And we're actually keeping in step with God's presence in our life, keeping step with the spirit, right? We're we're w we have a vision for the future. We want to go do something. I got to frame it within the constraints of the season or life I'm in. And I've got to begin to move in that direction. And the vision pulls me towards it.
That's the power of God given vision. So if you have a vision for something, you've really got to bring that into dialogue with the Lord, number one, and then begin to move in that direction. God given vision has a gravitational pull, but it pulls you towards it. And over time, over time, what you envision, you're like, it's becoming your reality over time. So what we did with you in the If team it's like, we mapped out a vision for the future. And much of what we mapped out years ago is now your reality today. That's a cool thing. And it rolls forward, right? You got to keep rolling vision forward.
THE TREASURE HUNT
They called Pete a few years ago or a year ago and said, so you make a life plan. You get to pick for how long. And, and I picked mine. I think we, we made it for eight years or 10 years. And about three or four years in, we'd done it all! Which was funny. Like the eight years happened in three, which was amazing. And I called him. I was like, I don't know what to do. And he was like, well, you need a refresh. Like you need to go back in. And let's, let's look at the next five years. And it was just so cool to see like how God, one thing we're talking about a lot this season is just how God partners with us. That there's a value statement on If:gathering 's wall, it says we work with God and it's that God is moving.
And his spirit is drawing and his spirit is guiding and his spirit is present. And we're desperate for his spirit. Nothing happens without his spirit and we work, right? Like we also are participating in that. And I think that's what you're so good at is just both that practical strategy, but also that dependence on the spirit of just continually asking God. So now the next person is the person who is afraid to dream. Like they do not want to dream. They are scared of it. They they've never been taught how they think if they dream, they won't even have anything to dream. Like it'll just be quiet and dark. What would you say to that person?
Yeah. So again, the great opposition of the human story is fear and all the different voices of fear and fear never comes from our friend. It never comes from God, never comes from our advocate. It always comes from the enemy of our soul from the dark side, from, from Satan himself. That's just, that's where it comes from. So that's, and everyone has some degree of that. Internal struggle, everybody. So if, if your internal heart is shut down to that degree, there's a, a treasure hunt to go on to excavate, kind of some of those, I would metaphorically cut kernels of a dream within you that God's put there. So for example, like if I were to ask you, like, what do you just love to do? Like, like when you can win, when you win, when you have time and space, what do you just love to do that?
When you do it, time almost becomes irrelevant. Everybody has some kind of response to that. There's hints and clues in there of talent and how you want to apply that talent to the world. Another example would be, if I were to ask you, like, what really motivates you or sets you in motion to do something like some people are driven by getting things done. Some people are driven by how we get things done. Some people are driven by somehow creatively turning a nickel into a quarter. Some people are driven by solving problems. Some people are driven by organizing chaos, whatever it is like, what moves you in a motion? If I were to ask someone there's there's hints and clues in that, like what, you're good at, what you love to do and where you want to take those, those gifts and talents and where you want to apply them.
So I could go on and on. But my point is, you've got to give your self time and space to discover what's underneath the silence. Is there stuff there? And, and there's an excavation of discovery and truth. We would call search and discovery mode of this whole process. Like I've got to, I've got to go on a treasure hunt for what God has put in me and where he wants me to use that stuff. And, and everyone has that. Even if you're feeling shut down, it's inside of you, you know? And it may be a season of discovery. You may read differently. You may talk to friends differently. You may experience different guided processes differently like you did Jenny, but you've got to give yourself time and space to go discover what you're not seeing right now,
Pete, I just think of everybody listening and how moved they are by this, because it's so practical, but it's also speaking to the depths of them. Would you just pray for everybody listening right now that they might be discouraged in either camp of just dreams that are too big or dreams that are too small?
Yes. Yeah, Lord, we, first of all, say, thank you for the gift of our life. And it is a gift. This day is a gift. The fact that we're breathing and thinking and feeling it's all a gift, and we're grateful for that gift. We declare you as the giver of life. And we declare you as the one who creates us purposefully with amazing design and creativity. And I'm reminded how Luke summed up David's life. When David had fulfilled God's purpose for his generation, he fell asleep. And I pray that everyone listening would like discover your purpose for them for their generation before they fall asleep. And we need your help to do that. And so by your spirit, Lord, I pray that you would set us on a pathway to discover what you had in mind when you conceived us in our mother's womb, when you made us, and that you would help us begin to see the hints and the clues of what you're inviting us to pursue and become with your help. You've been in step with you. And we long to do that Lord sooner rather than later, but we, we surrender to you our own fierce, who surrender to you our own dreams, even, and we trust you with all of that and are grateful again for the gift of life. So may your will be done in our lives.
