unSeminary Mobile MP4: Recent Episodes
Rich Birch & Guests
As church leaders, we often find the post-Christmas period a time for reflection and planning. The festive season’s hustle has settled, and it’s time to ponder on our successes and the areas where we yearn for growth.
In this latest episode of the unSeminary podcast, we delve into crucial insights and strategies to transform your Christmas achievements into sustained church growth.
Reflecting on Christmas: More Than Just Numbers
Christmas is often marked by increased attendance and heightened church activity. But what does this mean for your church beyond the holiday season? This episode encourages leaders to view Christmas not just as a one-off event but as a benchmark for potential growth.
It’s about asking the big question: What if every week was like Christmas at our church? What changes and strategies would be required to accommodate and nurture this level of engagement year-round?
Five Key Areas for Church Growth
- Shareable Weekend Teaching: The content of your sermons matters. How can you make your teachings more relatable and shareable so that your congregation feels compelled to invite others?
- Eventful Big Days: Apart from Christmas, identify other significant days in your church calendar. How can you make these days special and inviting to both members and newcomers?
- Captivating Online Conversations: Utilize your social media platforms not just for announcements, but to engage in meaningful conversations. What online strategies can you implement to foster community and outreach?
- Magnetic Community Service: People are drawn to churches that actively make a difference. How can your church’s service to the community be a catalyst for growth?
- Appealing Volunteer Experience: Volunteers are the backbone of any church. How can you enhance their experience to not only retain but also attract more volunteers?
A Call to Action
As we step into the new year, let’s reframe our perspective. Let’s harness the energy and success of Christmas and channel it into long-term growth strategies. This episode isn’t just about reflection; it’s a call to action. It’s an invitation to envision and work towards a future where the extraordinary becomes the norm in our ministries.
Join us in this insightful episode to discover how your church can grow beyond the Christmas season.
Remember, what was special for Christmas this year can be normal going forward.
Welcome back to the unSeminary podcast. We’re talking with Nick Thompson, the Executive Pastor at The Living Stone Church in Denver, Colorado.
How is your church executing on its vision? If you’re a church leader looking to create a practical framework for decision-making, a Vision Frame might be just what you need. Listen to this week’s podcast as Nick shares how to bridge the gap between vision and execution in your church.
- The Vision Frame. // The Living Stone has a big vision: to expand the movement of Jesus followers across Denver, the West, & the World. In order to move toward this goal, the church has implemented a Vision Frame. The Vision Frame is a bit like a picture frame with the church’s vision at the top of the frame, values on the right, strategy on the bottom, and measures on the left side. This framework helps the church discern whether to say yes or no to things because everything they consider needs to fit within this frame. If it can’t go through the frame, it needs to be tabled.
- Values. // Values define and determine a church’s culture. Churches can become too focused on comparing themselves to other churches, or choosing something aspirational for their values. Instead pay attention to who God made your church to be and ask what you really value. At The Living Stone Church they found that the things they valued most were people, prayer, and praise. They believe prayer is the work, people are the mission and praise is the response to God’s moving.
- Keep it simple. // Nick and his staff try to keep communication simple when they talk about the church’s values. They can operate as a single word as well as a punchy statement that doesn’t need a long explanation. In addition the leaders at The Living Stone are constantly paying attention to where they can talk about one of the values, whether it’s in a sermon or a team meeting.
- Strategy. // The strategy is always how your church accomplishes your mission and vision. At The Living Stone, their strategy is The 5% Life, which is a starting point that everyone can engage in as they grow in their relationship with God. The strategy is to spend 1% of the day (at least 15 minutes) in God Time, 1% of the month (1.5 hours) in Group Time, 1% of the week (1.5-2 hours) in Gather Time at church, and 2% of the year (7 days) in Go Time, serving locally or globally in missions. The 5% Life focuses the body at The Living Stone strategically towards God and towards the mission of what God’s asked the church to do.
- Measures. // If we want our churches to grow, we need to be measuring how we are executing on the vision. Otherwise we won’t know if we’re hitting the mark or not, and growth will be slow and painful. The Living Stone uses the actions of abiding, connecting, and sharing as their measures. These measures help the church to examine if they are doing what they say they’re doing to get where they want to go. The church asks, are people growing spiritually? Are they connecting with people? When those two things are happening, sharing Christ with those around you is a byproduct.
You can learn more about The Living Stone Church at www.thelivingstone.church.
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Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: CDF Capital
Since 1953, CDF Capital has helped Christians and churches embrace their part in this story by providing the 3 kinds of capital every congregation needs for growth—Financial Capital, Leadership Capital, and Spiritual Capital. At CDF Capital, we care about each of these components. When a church is properly resourced financially, spiritually, and in leadership, lives are transformed.
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Episode TranscriptRich Birch — Hey, friends welcome to the unSeminary podcast. So glad that you have decided to tune in. Super excited today for today’s conversation but looking forward to this one. We’ve got Nick Thompson with us. He is the executive pastor at a church in Colorado ah, called The Living Stone Church and they exist to expand the movement of Jesus followers across Denver, the west, and ultimately the world. It’s one of the top reproducing churches in the world and Nick he’s an executive pastor. We love executive pastors here at on unSeminary. Welcome to the show. So glad you’re here.
Nick Thompson — Yeah, great to be here. Appreciate the opportunity to be on.
Rich Birch — Yeah, what don’t you tell us about The Living Stone? Kind of fill in the picture, you know what did I miss there? What what do we, you know, what do we what do we need to to know about the church?
Nick Thompson — Yeah, yeah, so we’re ah we’re still what would we consider a church plant. And the church was planted by our lead pastor Keith Baldridge in 2016 of August. And we’ve been journeying for a while now. We’re we’re now in 2023 so we’re we’re encroaching 7 years, and it’s been a great journey. I’ve seen a lot of activity from the Lord and just just unbelievably grateful to be a part of what God’s doing through this church specifically. Um I came on board a little over 3 years ago now. So I’ve been about halfway through been a part of that and yeah, it’s just super special.
Nick Thompson — We’re in a really unique area because ah for the listeners and for those who don’t know, um, Colorado is as a whole is about 94% unreached as far as faith goes. And so there’s there’s no better time to be planting churches here locally in our our state specifically. I know there’s other areas, the west, is very similar so that’s that’s why we’re doing what we’re doing.
Rich Birch — Yeah I love talking to church leaders like yourself that are in communities that you know people don’t wake up on Sunday morning and say, hey we should go to church today. They just don’t do that in Denver.
Nick Thompson — No!
Rich Birch — And the fact that you you know they’re not like oh what what are the things we should do today? Well after we go to church… That’s just not what they’re saying in Denver. So, which I love. I think this is great. We can we can all learn and that’s my heart. That’s the kind of communities I’ve served in as well. That’s so good.
Rich Birch — Well one of the things that caught my eye my kind of got my attention ah at Living Stone was your mission. And so The Living Stone exists or your vision to expand the movement of Jesus ah, followers across Denver the west in the world. And I just I love that. That’s such a huge vision, massive. How how does that work itself out in reality? What does that look like how, you know, how are you as an executive pastor – we’ve often said in the past that executive pastors live at the intersection of execution and vision. Ah, that’s really the place that we we live at, so what does that look like for you at Living Stone?
Nick Thompson — Yeah, it’s ah it’s a great question. Um, really, that’s been the majority of my time being on staff here at The Living Stone has been to take that vision and really form good strategy systems, practical steps to help our church really start achieving that, because you know as vision goes, it’s it’s the thing from God. And you know we need to accomplish it because we’re we’re doing his his will and his work. And so it’s it’s super imperative that we’re we’re thinking and focusing on that.
Nick Thompson — So one of the things that we implemented just about a year and a half ago that has made um a lot of acceleration a lot of momentum, just a lot of inclusiveness for our people… Sometimes there’s a huge gap between vision, especially a big vision like this and how people get there. Um, what we’ve what we’ve gotten to as far as like a solution for us is we don’t want them filling in those blanks. We need to be the the forerunners of here’s here’s how we’re doing it. Here’s… the why is right there but here’s how we’re doing it. We’re gonna really spend some focus time on on getting that right.
Nick Thompson — So um, the thing that we we actually we we say we adopted because we didn’t steal it. We didn’t borrow it. We’ve used the term we adopted from one of our partner churches, Hope Church, is something that we’re terming as the the vision frame. And so it’s basically like a picture frame. You’ve got vision at the top. You’ve got values on your right. You’ve got strategy on the bottom, and then you got your measures on the left side. And having that vision frame has been super impactful, not just for us as a staff team, but also for our people to really understand, you know, why do we say no to some things? Why do we say yes to some things? Um, how does everything that we’re really going after fit with the overall big vision moment that we’re we’re calling expanding the movement of Jesus followers to Denver, the west, and the world?
Nick Thompson — And so it’s really just a ah simple frame and and the way to think about it is if it can go through that frame, it’s probably something that we should be doing or at least have on our future cast. If it can’t go through that frame, it’s definitely going to have to be tabled for now. Maybe in the future it it does make sense. But right now that’s just a no. And so it’s just really simple analytics practices to help our people um, work through that. And I I could go through that if you want me to like really what those each sections are.
Rich Birch — Yeah I would love that. I’d love to hear that I love this idea of really breaking it down and trying to close the gap between those two, vision and execution. So yeah, so so yeah talk us through maybe we’ll talk through those four and then we can come back and could get a sense of you know what what do you mean by all those words. And then how have you actually implemented and rolled that out at you know at Living Stone. So let’s let’s start start with talking through those pieces.
Nick Thompson — That’s great. Um, three of them are are really interesting to me because I truly believe that most churches are going to do something similar to what we’re doing in in three of these categories. They’re just maybe worded a little bit differently. You know, when I look across America and I’m looking at like what churches are doing as far as their vision to some level they’re they’re pretty much similar. The great commission is there for a reason.
Rich Birch — Yes.
Nick Thompson — We’re just we’re just using different language to to help people motivate and get there. But for us our vision is ah ah making followers of Jesus, so creating a movement of Jesus followers to Denver, west, and the world. And the strategy there just just to give the big blueprint is Samaria, Judea, to the ends of the earth. It’s it’s starting where we are and starting to work externally. The west has never seen a major move um, of God and so we want to be a part of that. We feel the calling in that not just for here in Colorado. And so that’s that’s like the small strategy behind why the vision is played out that way. Um, so that’s our vision. That’s our we call it our “mis-sion”…
Rich Birch — Yes.
Nick Thompson — …because it’s really a mission/vision kind of loaded in one. Um you know, moving from there to the right side of the the frame we we get into our values. Um something that I did when I came on staff was I said hey, they had like I want to say it was like 7 or 8 values and nobody could remember what 1 of them were.
Rich Birch — So true.
Nick Thompson — And I said well they’re not very valuable if we can’t even remember…
Rich Birch — Yes, absolutely.
Nick Thompson — …so let’s put those in the trash can for now, even though you may feel like that’s a wound. It’s it’s not a big enough wound because you don’t even remember what they are. And it was really easy.
Rich Birch —
Nick Thompson — But I said, you know when we’re defining culture, values determine the culture; they they mark the behaviors of what get us to great healthy culture. And so I said let’s not try to force this. Let’s let’s especially because at the time that would have been three and a half, four years in I said who are we? Like what do we actually value? And let’s lean out of that instead of trying to say, I want to be this. I think sometimes churches get into that hangup of…
Rich Birch — So true.
Nick Thompson — …trying to see something over here, see another church over here, and say I want to be like that. But maybe that’s not who God has made that church to be. It’s a body. It’s an organism. It’s not just an organization. It’s this fluid thing. And so we did that we just took a step back and said what are what are the things that we value? And it was really funny because it surfaced really quickly: people, prayer, and praise. Those are the three values that we lean into and you can’t have one without the other. It’s almost like a three-legged stool. They’re all equal. They’re all just as valuable.
Nick Thompson — Um, but we say prayer is the work. Ah, you know we don’t we don’t work and then pray. We pray and then God does the work. We we give him the glory, which is where praise comes in. We don’t we don’t take that. We just allow God to do what he wants to do. This is really his church. We’re just the part of the vehicle in between. And then people are the mission. You know our our church if I was to supersede and say there is a higher value, that would probably be the one. I wouldn’t dare to actually say it on paper or anything like that. But the reality is like you ask anybody at our church like why do you come here? Why are you here? You know what’s the reason you keep coming back? It’s the same answer from every single person. It’s not the preaching. It’s not the worship, no matter how good or how bad any of that is. It’s not really the operational side of Sundays. It’s the connectivity with our people. That’s something that we have that we actually don’t have a lot of as far as the the global church here in Colorado. S we choose to lean into it and make it a high value. Um does that make sense?
Rich Birch — I love that – let’s this pause there for a second. Absolutely, it makes total sense. So the couple things I want to point out. So I love the whole descriptive versus prescriptive conversation on values, right? Like I think we sometimes are looking for aspirational things things we wish were important to us. Talk us through that a little bit more; pull that apart because you you know you you talked about that there, but pull that apart a little bit more. What what kind of was your instinct around hey you know what? Let’s let’s let’s describe more who we are rather than who we want to become.
Nick Thompson — Yeah, um I think part of that too is you know we we, Pastor Keith and I, we get to spend a lot of time helping young churches or not launched churches just yet, we get to do a lot of leadership in that category which is super fun – one of our our biggest life-giving things that we get to do. And one of the things just through learning through this that we we always teach is you know don’t try to, unless God – that’s a one caveat, right? Like if God says, no this is who I want you to be; like this is who you are. And you already know that going in, holy cow man you have a huge leg up like crazy. So that’s that’s awesome. Um I don’t find that to be very normal I think most of the time people are trying to find the DNA of their church, which is really what we’re talking about is like who who is this church. What is the heartbeat? What is the lifeblood? That really accentuate to gets you to the vision.
Nick Thompson — So as far as like the description behind that the things that we were looking for again and again we had a couple years of of play time to understand it. You know three and a half to four years. So it was just a simple question like who really are we? What are the things that really rise to the service when we say this is what we care about? I think some churches—this is what is kind of unique—I think some churches have different flavors of this. Like I think people are always going to be a part of that in some way however the language gets there.
Nick Thompson — Obviously because of what we do, God is probably going to have some center point in that value system. And so those two are are really primary, I think. I don’t know how a church could operate without valuing those two things to some degree or some level. Um, and the extra is is you know I like I like the rule of threes because it keeps things off of like ah a dual net. So just having at least a third or maybe more as long as it can be remembered, as long as it could be…
Rich Birch — Yeah.
Nick Thompson — …and that’s what was super nice is that wasn’t hard for our people to grab; they’re already doing it. That’s. That’s who we are. So it’s like you don’t have to recreate the wheel. You don’t have to try to, man, we’re we’re the 7 steps of excellence like…
Rich Birch — Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Nick Thompson — …but we’re not so you know we shouldn’t be focusing on that.
Rich Birch — Yeah, I love that. So good. I also the other thing I love about this the from a communication point of view your your core values is they operate at two levels. And you and it was funny because I was thinking this as I was reading this on your site. Which which to me again friends I think this is like best in class. Um, it can always get there but man if you can push towards it, it’s amazing. That your values operate as both a single word and then a very punchy statement. So prayer, people, praise. And then prayer is the work, people are the mission, praise is the response. Um and and man if you can get if we can push ourselves to that kind of clarity, I I think that just helps us.
Rich Birch — Talk us through maybe in different environments or different ways when you’re communicating, where would you use just the single words where would you use a little bit longer and then obviously expands out from there. There’s the paragraph. There’s the full you know. There’s the sermon. There’s the series. You know like it’s you know it obviously goes you could talk about the stuff for a long time. But talk through the particular difference between when are you using just individual words as opposed to the the you know the the punchy statement the punchy few words together.
Nick Thompson — Yeah, it’s a great question. Um in everything that we do, we try to use the “kiss” method – you know, Keep It Simple Smarty. Um, we try to we try as much as we can, because you know the reality is what’s in my brain, what’s in Pastor Keith’s brain the rest of our staff is so much information…
Rich Birch — Right?
Nick Thompson — …that is not translating at the same rate. And so we do think very um, clearly we do think you know very um, even in private like how what is the best way to get this information across? And so with all of the vision frame, including the values, that’s why we use singular and the long-term expression because there’s moments where we get to teach on it. Um, you know one of the things that Pastor Keith does when he’s preaching is he’ll he’ll throw out his sermon then he’ll send it to either me or or one of our other staff members and we’ll say, hey right here’s a great place to load one of our values in. It’s it’s prime; it’s already there. You’re not, you’re not adding to scripture. You’re you’re you’re using it to accentuate what we’re trying to talk about. So here’s a great place to do that. Maybe we’re having a team meeting in the morning and we’re rallying behind one of our values. You know, if we’re saying people are the mission, you know we get to do a little bit more description with that in that moment. Um, but again we’re throwing it everywhere, especially on the – that’s where I would say would be the difference is if you’re doing a teaching moment, have longer descriptions. if you’re just like putting in the net out constantly so people just feel it, hear it, and start absorbing it, use the use the smaller words.
Rich Birch — Love it. So good. Okay, so you also said strategy. Talk us through what do you mean by that word? This is one of those words that I feel like in in a lot of or in some circles it becomes it’s like it’s like this magical thing. Ah you know but help us understand what what do you mean by strategy? How does that fit into the frame?
Nick Thompson — So yeah, yeah, strategy is is simply it’s the how. How do we get there? Um, the why is is you know the vision that’s that’s holding that. Even to some level the what is you know in our values. Um, the where and the who, I think all of those exist too, within some of the measures some of the values and and are definitely our our vision. But the strategy is always the how. So that’s what we mean by strategy. And this is actually the one area I think churches get to have a lot of fun with because this probably will not look exactly the same between any one church, unless it’s like a campus or something like that. That’s a little different story. But this is how we how we accomplish the mission. This is what we’re saying. When we do these things. This is how the vision over time gets accomplished. So that’s that’s like the simple answer to that.
Rich Birch — And and so how do you define that? What does that look like for you guys? How would you talk about the strategy?
Nick Thompson — Yeah, so our strategy is we call it The 5% Life. Again, it’s part of what we adopted from Hope Church in Las Vegas, and it’s very simple. It’s it’s 1% 1% 1% and then 2%. So that equals your 5%. We always we always throw this out there for the Christians in the room. What we’re not saying is that we want you to have a 5% relationship with Jesus.
Rich Birch — Sure, sure.
Nick Thompson — Ah non-believers never think that but it’s always the Christians that are like well I think that’s practically heresy. We’re we’re not saying that like even remotely. What we’re talking about is hey, this is a starting point and if we can get everybody to engage The 5% Life, we truly believe, and and we have analytics to prove it, ah that we are growing in that vision and going closer and closer towards that goal. So, breaking that apart, it’s really simple. We ask that people spend 1 % of their their day in God time, which is roughly 15 minutes. We ask that they spend 1% of their month in group time, which is basically our small groups. And they they spend basically one night a week for you know an hour and a half—that’s what that equates to—gather time is another one percent, which is coming to church weekly. 1% of their week is is basically an hour and a half to two hours of of time with service, and just getting to gather and be in fellowship. And then the 2% is go time, going locally and going globally we ask that. You know they would spend their year in a 2% fashion, praying and focusing on the global effect which means they go on a missions trip, or they they do something within that, it ends up being about seven days, they end up spending about seven days here locally on mission too. So it focuses them strategically towards God and towards the mission of what God’s asking this specific church plant to do.
Rich Birch — Um I love that. So I that’s I love that articulation. That’s ah, that’s a ah clear example um I think the thing I love about that is you’re focusing on you know, by by focusing on the percentages and talking about the timeline, ah, you’re giving another level of depth to this. You’re saying hey this is this is the kind of time, this is the kind of—and we we live in a time-obsessed culture…
Nick Thompson — Yes.
Rich Birch — …where time is our greatest attention is our greatest you know asset. Um, you know see you know Facebook and Instagram who are monetizing that attention. And so by saying hey, let’s let’s use that attention, you know, for our spiritual growth. I love that. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anybody else talk about it like that. I just think that’s really great.
Nick Thompson — Yeah. Yeah, we’ve we’ve found it to be highly impactful. I mean it’s simple and yet there are so many sub-layers to that that, especially our staff gets to work with. Like you know we break that apart. We we really help people on the serving level. You know if we can get people to serve, they’re really operating in that gather time. The I would say the most important though of all is the first one. If they can spend 15 minutes daily with God um, we will see the trajectory of their spiritual growth like crazy. Because it won’t stay at 15 minutes, one; it will it will get longer. Ah, they’ll also have a relationship with God. We believe that we believe that we’ll we’ll taste and see that that’s good. And so we I don’t know that we shove it down. People’s throats. But we we talk about it an awful lot. Especially that first one just because we know that you know without that we’re we’re operating and working through, you know, fleshly mindsets and that just takes longer to get there. It it doesn’t matter how great your strategy is for your vision without God. It’s it’s just gonna be so much so much work that we just know God could go before us. So.
Rich Birch — Love it. And then I think the I think if I remember correctly the the other part of the frame is measures is what you’re you’re measuring as an organization? Talk talk me through that. What’s that look like?
Nick Thompson — Yeah, this is ah this is actually again, this is another one that I think would be pretty consistent with any church. Those first top three – the the vision the values and then the measures will be pretty consistent, some version of it with any church. And yet I find that the fourth one is the one that most churches don’t do because they either don’t have time for it or they don’t think it’s valuable. And the reality is you can’t you can’t grow into what you don’t measure. So if you’re not measuring it, you’re not even focused on on the vision is the reality and I know that might be hard for some people to hear, but it is the truth. Like if you’re not measuring as you go—Jesus did this in certain ways—I think there’s so much aptitude for that biblically even with the parable of the talents. Like if you’re not aware of what you’re doing with the things that God’s given you, growth is just ah, slow… it’s not just a slow-go. It’s ah painful. And sometimes it’s like that for other reasons, but that’s just something that we can do right from the get-go for sure.
Nick Thompson — Um, so our measures are they they operate within every bit of what we just described. They’re they’re really simple: abide, and connect, and share. That’s how we evaluate are our people, are we doing what we say we’re doing to get to where we’re going? If if we can measure those things in just a simple way abiding in Christ, meaning are people growing spiritually? Are they are they connected to the vine? And and that comes from that God time; that comes from that gather time. Ah, all all of those ingredients grow that one thing.
Nick Thompson — Are they connecting with people? You know if they’re just islands unto themselves, they’re not going to be effective in the ministry that God’s called them to. And so again, all of that touches the strategy. It messes with our values. And it and in the end it actually gets to our vision. If they’re connecting with people, we we know that they’re going to be alive in Christ and continue in healthy relationship with people and with him.
Nick Thompson — And then the sharing part, and this was this is by far—just to give everybody clarity here—this is by far a most challenging part is to get people to share into the mission. And so we believe that when we do all these things well within our staff teams within our volunteers within our groups, we believe that sharing is ah is a byproduct, sharing Christ to those around them. You know if he’s truly renewed you, if he’s truly come into your life, that’s a gift that you want to give other people. And here in Colorado we’re not, we’re not from the south. So it’s not like, hey come in my house. That’s very weird here.
Rich Birch —
Nick Thompson — Um, but that doesn’t mean we don’t share Jesus. And so we’ve had to get calculated on on how we do that.
Rich Birch — So good. Okay, so talk us through. So love that super clear explanation of the frame. Talk us through maybe how you’ve rolled this out. How does this kind of impacted how you’re making decisions at ah at the church?
Nick Thompson — Yeah, yeah, I’d I’d love to just be like super honest with you know, the good and the bad because there’s been some tension for sure.
Rich Birch — You mean it’s not been all perfect? It hasn’t been all like oh it’s amazing.
Nick Thompson — Yeah, yeah, coming you know, we’re we have taught this now, our church is like living through this we would do it again 10 times out of 10 despite the pain and the the frustrations and the tensions that have come. Um but we we started the rollout by by doing two things. We got our groups involved, because they’re they’re really the heartbeat of our church. Like if you’re in a group you’re you’re part, you’re you’re involved at a pretty high level you’re because you’re doing a buy, connect, share. Um and and we also did a Sunday morning series to really launch this. Um and I knew this was gonna happen anytime that you really hyper focus on vision and say this is what we’re doing; this is who we are. You’re gonna have people that are like, this isn’t what I want. And one of the things that I do at our church is I help people get where they need to go. I thoroughly enjoy doing that because it’s really about the kingdom at the end. If if our church is at the best church for you, you need to be in a church that’s going to be, you know, giving you what you need to be successful as a believer. And so I will I will like literally walk you to that church, however that needs to happen so that you could do that. But that’s one of the things that we saw was a tension point is people who were on the fence and were like, well I’m coming for other reasons. We just had to be honest and say, that’s okay, but that’s not who we are.
Nick Thompson — At some, and I’ve seen this, man, over over years if people are there and they’re expecting something else, and we’re like well maybe we could do that, maybe we can’t. You’re hurting them and you’re hurting yourself, I think in the process because they’re probably never going to let go. If those things are really deep in them, they might even be ministry callings or ministry giftings, but if if you as a church are saying, you know, there’s other churches that that’s what they do and they’re really good at it. Like you should definitely go be a part of their ministry. You’re growing the kingdom. Yeah…
Rich Birch — Yeah, totally.
Nick Thompson — …like it’s not about just our church sometimes, and so that’s definitely been a major tension. And at the same time, the people that are that is the vision for them too, they have gravitated and like clung to it in a way that I’ve never seen before. Like especially on our measures side. Our measures have been more successful, specifically this year than any year I’ve seen combined.
Rich Birch — That’s cool.
Nick Thompson — So it’s been major value. Major value.
Rich Birch — And that must be because it’s it’s would you say it’s because it’s gaining momentum internally. It’s like more people know about it. They know what the measures are. They know…so then it becomes you know, shared language, and then there’s a positive reinforcement on that. Is that what’s going on?
Nick Thompson — Yeah, shared language I think is key. It’s huge. It’s also simple. It’s not hard to follow. I mean I think if you’re making things hard to follow, getting to lead well is going to be difficult for you because, you know, people aren’t looking for really really hard follows. They’re looking for…
Rich Birch — Yes.
Nick Thompson — …I mean think how easy it is to follow with our our world, right now. You click a button to some level. So we’re trying to always make that more simple but also highly effective which always comes with tension.
Rich Birch — Yeah, interesting, interesting. So what what coaching would you give, maybe looking back over your roll load over these last couple years. What would you do different, knowing what you know now? How would you coach in other churches that are thinking about you know they’re thinking about the frame, they want to you know, dive deeper ah to to ultimately drive, you know, better execution, life change in people’s lives. What would you what would you coach them to think to do differently than maybe you did?
Nick Thompson — Yeah, I would ah I would say definitely get aggressive with that whole idea. Maybe you want to do something different and it’s not a frame. Maybe it’s something, but similar. Like regardless I think having those four things is is worth more than we could probably equate to. And if you if you do that again what you’re doing is you’re creating a simple pathway for people to get on board and follow, and an onramp off too. I would say that’s even more important. Because if you’re from like the bible belt or, you know, if there’s depending on where this church is that we’re speaking to right now, it’s going to look different culturally. It just is. And so knowing those things, both are so important the off off ramp for people who are like, this isn’t what I want; I want a church that is all about like level 10 worship and all the resources go to that. Okay, that may not be you though. So don’t…
Rich Birch — Right.
Nick Thompson — …pretend like it is. Like and that’s that’s a thing as a church plan I think one of the one of the hardest things is is saying, well we need to grow with people because that’s part of our vision obviously. That’s a major key driver. But grow with the people that are part of the vision is is just as as lucrative because if you’re doing it with people who are just on the there there’s a lot of frustration that comes with that. There’s a lot of pulling away from the vision and so you’re working over yourself. I’ve always said this like ah since I started in leadership is I would rather run with 5 people that are all in than 500 people that are barely got a toe in. Because you can actually do way more with those 5 people by a lot. I mean the amount of resource for a leader that has to go into trying to gather and and group people back in over and over is extreme. So find people that are really in with you and get them to replicate everything that you’re doing and saying, but you got to make it simple which is why we have the vision frame.
Rich Birch — Yeah, love it. This has been so fantastic. I’m sure there’s people that are in their cars that have pull pulled over and are writing stuff out because it’s been so much helpful ah helpful tips here. This has been been fantastic. As we come to close as we kind of come to to wrap up the conversation, any kind of final words of advice or encouragement to leaders who are listening in today?
Nick Thompson — Yeah, yeah, something that I’ve been going through recently I think it has a lot to do with what we’re talking about, but man pray. The bigger the bigger and more leadership anybody gets, I think requires more prayer for.
Rich Birch — Yeah, so true.
Nick Thompson — So like if you want your church to grow, pray more. If if your church is growing, you should already be praying more. Like spend more time with the Lord because you’re going to need his guidance and his direction.
Rich Birch — So good. Well, that’s a great great word to end on. Nick I really appreciate you being here today, and it’s great to connect a little bit. If people want to track with you or with the church where do we want to send them online?
Nick Thompson — Yeah, ah livingstone.church – that’s ah that’s our online resource and you can see all of the things that we have to offer. We’re we’re going to be offering some more resource pages here soon. A new podcast that we’re starting, some really fun stuff. So, man, it’s been a huge privilege. Thank you so much for letting me on here today.
Rich Birch — Love it. So good. So we’ll have links to all that in the show notes but really appreciate you being here today, sir. Thank you for your time.
Nick Thompson — Thank you.
Welcome to the unSeminary podcast. Today we’re talking with Shawn and Sonny Hennessy, from Life Church Green Bay in Wisconsin. Shawn and Sonny are also co-hosts of The Rise After the Fall podcast and together founded The Exchange Collaborative. The highs and lows of ministry, and the trials of life can threaten to destroy pastors […]
How you think about what you do in ministry is very important. The mindset you bring in to your ministry can be a make or break factor in your church’s ability to impact your community. Over the last few years, I’ve had the honor of talking to hundreds and hundreds of church leaders for my […]
Thank you so much for joining us for this episode of the unSeminary podcast. I’m excited be speaking with Mark Hearn, pastor of First Baptist Duluth in Georgia. First Baptist Duluth really is a multi-cultural church. Currently it is composed of 42 different nationalities. There is music in different languages and people from all over […]
Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us this week for another unSeminary podcast. I’m excited to have Scott Kramer with us today. Scott is the executive pastor at GT Church, which has two locations in Pennsylvania. GT Church is a 91 year old church with a very contemporary feel. They aim to make their […]
Thanks for joining us for another episode of the unSeminary podcast. Today I’m excited to have with us our guest, Bruce Ammons from Sugar Creek Baptist Church. Sugar Creek is one of the fastest growing churches in the country. Serving the greater Houston area, the church is very ethnically diverse, with people among the congregation […]
Art Rainer is the Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS), and previously the Administrative Pastor at Family Church in Florida. In his current role at SEBTS he does work with financial development, marketing and communications, and enrollment, just to name a few. He has a passion for personal finances which […]
Stephen Brewster serves as a part of the leadership team at Freedom House Church in Charlotte, NC. In his role, he leads the Creative team in dreaming, creating and executing experiences, communications, music and more for all areas of ministry at the church. Stephen has nearly 20 years in professional creative environments including music marketing […]
Andy Steiger is the founder and director of Apologetics Canada, an organization dedicated to helping churches across Canada better understand and engage today’s culture. He created and hosted the Thinking Series and is the Author of Thinking? Answering Life’s Five Biggest Questions. He has spoken on life’s big questions internationally in universities, conferences, churches, prisons […]
Welcome to this week’s podcast and thank you for joining us today. We’re talking with Scott Bixby of Northridge Church in Rochester. We’ve highlighted Northridge Church in the past in this article about theater churches, and we’re happy to be talking with them again. Northridge Church has been around for 127 years and was a […]
Hey, everyone! Thanks so much for joining us today for this week’s unSeminary podcast. In this episode we’re excited to have Brian Dennert with us from Faith Church. Faith Church was founded in 1963 in South Holland, Illinois. Today they have eight campuses within Illinois and Indiana. Like many others, the church was on the […]
Thank you so much for joining us for today’s unSeminary podcast. I’m honored to have Lead Pastor Ryan Visconti from Generation Church in Arizona with us today. Ryan’s dad became pastor of Generation Church in 1989, and at that time there were about 70-80 people attending. The church began to grow and move into bigger facilities, […]
Thanks so much for joining us for another episode of the unSeminary podcast. I’m excited to have with us today Mike Bellanti, the lead pastor of Northbrook Church outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Northbrook is a nondenominational church about 30 miles outside of Milwaukee, made up of upper middle class families who mostly work in the […]
Welcome back to this week’s unSeminary podcast. Thanks so much for joining us today as we talk with a friend of mine, Jon Morrison, who is an author and a blogger. He is a different kind of guest from our usual visitors and he is here today to talk with us about his journey as […]
Hey, everybody, and thank you for joining us for another episode of the unSeminary podcast. Today I’m talking with Warren Bird and Carl George. Warren works for ECFA (Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability). Carl was a professor for years at Fuller. The two of them collaborated to write the highly successful book How to Break […]
Hey, everybody, welcome to this week’s unSeminary podcast. I’m excited have with us Tony Morgan, lead strategist and founder of the Unstuck Group. Tony has been helping churches for years, but he started the Unstuck Group after hearing from other pastors about the struggles and roadblocks they were facing within their churches and ministries. Many […]
Hey, everyone, it’s great to have you join us today for this week’s episode of the unSeminary podcast. I’m excited to have with us today Dan Zimbardi, the executive pastor of Sandals Church. Sandals Church started 20 years ago in Riverside, California, in Pastor Matt Brown’s living room with eight people. Since then the church has […]
Thanks so much for joining us for this week’s unSeminary podcast. We have Kevin Lloyd, executive pastor at Stevens Creek Church in Augusta, Georgia with us today. Stevens Creek is thirty years old this year and has 2 campuses with 2500 people. It’s a church that is focused on connecting with people who are not used […]
Hello, everyone, and thanks for joining us for today’s unSeminary podcast. We’re excited to have our guest Phill Christiansen from Canvas Church in Montana. Phill has been at Canvas Church for about four years and he has seen it grow quickly and thrive during that time. The church was on decline when Phill arrived, but […]
Thanks so much for joining us today at the unSeminary podcast. I’m excited to have our guest, Barnabas Piper of Lifeway Leadership. Barnabas lives in the Nashville area and is a speaker and author, the son of Pastor John Piper. Being a pastor’s kid influenced his childhood and life tremendously, making Barnabas an observer of […]
Thanks so much for joining us today for the unSeminary podcast! Today we have with us Jared Hogue of Creative Sheep, whose mission it is to resource churches with high quality video and graphic design content. They do custom work and pre-packaged content to allow churches to enhance their services. Jared also works with Adore Church […]
Welcome back, everybody, and thanks for tuning in today for another episode of the unSeminary podcast. Today we have Ben Stapley, the creative pastor at Liquid Church in New Jersey. Liquid Church started 10 years ago in the northeast of New Jersey. They currently have six campuses and about 2500 people in the weekend services. […]
Hey, everybody, and welcome to this episode of the unSeminary podcast. I’m glad to have you join us today for our chat with Gene Jennings, associate pastor of True North Church. True North Church was planted in 2004 in North Augusta, South Carolina and is one of the fastest growing churches in the country. True […]
Joshua Canizaro was born and raised in the greater New Orleans area where he began serving as a youth pastor in the summer of 1999. After pastoring in Louisiana for nearly six years, he and his wife Amber felt the Lord moving them to join the team at Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Alabama. […]
On today’s episode, we have Pastor Becca Reynolds from Valley Creek Church. We dive deep in some practical help for raising up next generation of leaders for your church. Don’t miss this! Thank You for Tuning In! There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I’m […]
Joanna la Fleur is the Creative Communications Director at C4 Church in the Eastern Suburbs of Toronto, Canada. This is a fast growing multisite church aiming to impact 10,000 people within their community. In this conversation, Joanna provides some uber practical advice on how to balance all the various communications needs in your church! Thank […]
Drake De Long-Farmer is the executive pastor at Gateway Church where he leads various teams (including HOUSE PARTIES and our Pastoral Team), working with key staff and interns in ministry development and also oversees Gateway operations. Discipleship is at the core of his role and ministry teams. Drake is a passionate Frenchman with a love […]
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Hey, everybody, and welcome to this week’s unSeminary podcast. We’re happy to have you here today as we talk with Justin Varghese, executive pastor at Venue Church. Venue Church is probably the youngest church we’ve featured on the podcast. It was started in 2013 and is one of the fastest growing churches in America. They […]
Thanks so much for listening in today on the unSeminary podcast. It’s so great to have you joining us and we’re excited to be talking with Matt Robertson. Matt is from Gateway Fellowship Church, which started in 2008 in San Antonio. Gateway has done a lot of amazing things in reaching out to their community and […]
Thanks so much for joining us today for the unSeminary podcast. Today we have Matt Hessel from Traders Point Christian Church. Traders Point Christian Church was founded in 1834. The church has grown a lot in the last eight years. They currently have two campuses and are getting ready to launch their third in downtown Indianapolis. […]
Thanks so much for listening in today on the unSeminary podcast. It’s so great to have you joining us as we talk with Greg Atkinson. Greg has joined us on the unSeminary podcast twice before, and we’re happy to have him with us for a third time. Today we’re talking with Greg about first impressions. […]
It’s been said that success doesn’t really happen until successful succession. Prevailing churches across the country are working on how to move through succession in a purposeful was a generation of leaders consider what their legacy is in ministry. Today’s podcast is an interview with Chris Bonham from Grace Family Church in Florida, a church […]
Thanks for joining us for this week’s unSeminary podcast. We have Jeremy Dager with us, from Mercy Hill Church in Greensboro, North Carolina. Mercy Hill just recently turned four years old and is on the precipice of becoming a multi-site church. Jeremy leads the age-based ministry, which includes the kids, student, and college ministries. Greensboro has […]
Welcome to this week’s unSeminary podcast and thank you so much for joining in. We have Lee Kricher with us. Lee started preaching with Amplify Church in the suburbs of Pittsburgh in 2003, which was really at a moment of much needed revitalization. Amplify started in the late 70s and had very strong growth until […]
Hey, everybody, and thank you so much for tuning in with us on the unSeminary podcast. I’m honored to have Pastor Shell Osbon with us today from Life Church in Smyrna, Georgia. Life Church of Smyrna started 63 years ago and Shell Osbon has been lead pastor for the past 13 years. If someone were […]
Hey, everybody, and welcome to this week’s unSeminary podcast. I’ve been excited about having our guest on today, Katie Allred from Brentwood Baptist in Tennessee. Katie is the web content manager at Brentwood and is charge of web, email, and social media. Brentwood is an innovative contemporary church right on the edge of Nashville and they work […]
Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to join us here at the unSeminary podcast. Today we have Donnie Griggs from One Harbor Church in Morehead City, North Carolina. One Harbor was planted eight years ago in the small coastal town of Morehead City. It started small and then grew quickly. […]
Thanks for joining us for this week’s unSeminary podcast. We have a great guest today, Todd Adkins of LifeWay Resources. Todd is from Kentucky and grew up in small churches where he learned a lot about leadership from his father and uncles who were all pastors. In college Todd studied speech and philosophy and eventually […]
Thanks so much for spending some of your day with us at the unSeminary podcast. Today we have a great guest with us, Kent Jacobs of Epic Church. Epic Church started in 2008 and is experiencing tremendous growth in Philadelphia. In the northeast part of the country, most people either have no church background or […]
Welcome to this week’s unSeminary podcast and thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to join us. Today we’re honored to have Carey Nieuwhof with us. Carey is the founding and teaching pastor of Connexus Church just north of Toronto. Carey describes Canada as being a post-modern, post-Christian country. Going to […]
Hey, everybody, and welcome to the unSeminary podcast. I’ve been looking forward to this podcast and am excited to share it with you all. Today we have Dave and Scott from Redeemer Dubai. Dave and his wife started Redeemer Dubai after praying for guidance on where to go to help lead people to Christ. They stopped in Dubai […]
Welcome back to the unSeminary Podcast. Today I’m super excited to be talking with John Finkelde again. John is a church leader from Australia and runs an organization called Grow a Healthy Church. Australia is a very secular culture and less than 10% attend church regularly. Australians are a very independent culture probably because of […]
Welcome to this week’s unSeminary podcast and thanks for joining us today. We have lead pastor Robert Manda with us from Eastern Light Presbyterian Church in Malawi in the southern part of Africa. Eastern Light was started by South Korean missionaries in 2006. It is a church that is still growing and very focused on […]
Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to join us today. I’m excited to have Ross Lester with us all the way from Johannesburg, South Africa. He’s the pastor at Bryanston Bible Church. South Africa is full of opportunity and challenges as far as ministry goes. There is a lot of […]
Hello, everybody, and thanks so much for joining us today. I’m excited to have Yoshito Noguchi with us, all the way from Tokyo, Japan. The greater area of Tokyo is about 36 million people and less than 1% are Christian. There are only 1,000 Christian churches in Tokyo to serve those 36 million people. Yoshito […]
Thanks so much for joining us today with this week’s unSeminary podcast. This month we’ve been talking with church leaders around the globe about what God is doing in their part of the world and what we can learn in our own ministries. Today we’re speaking with Ken Costa, the founder and author of God at Work […]
Hello and thank you for joining us for this week’s unSeminary podcast. We’re super excited this week to have Tyler Reagin with us from Catalyst. The Catalyst organization runs Catalyst Conferences around the country. The organization was started about 16 years ago by John Maxwell, who wanted to connect and invest in the next generation of leaders […]
Welcome to this week’s unSeminary podcast. I’m honored to have you with us today as we speak with Mitch Harrison, executive pastor at Canyon Ridge Christian Church in Las Vegas. Canyon Ridge has been around for about 20 years and has two locations, as well as church online. It is a contemporary church that has […]
Hello, everyone, and thanks for joining us for this week’s unSeminary podcast. Mark Crull, executive pastor at Northview Church in Indiana. Northview is a fast growing church with five campuses as well as online services. The church started in 1980 with 29 people meeting in an elementary school cafeteria and has grown to over 7000 attendees. So […]
Welcome to this week’s unSeminary podcast and thank you for joining us. I’m honored to talk today with Bobby Herrington, the executive pastor at Mercy Hill Church in Greensboro, North Carolina. Mercy Hill started in 2012 as a plant of the Summit Church, and is now one of the fastest growing churches in the country. […]
Welcome to this week’s unSeminary podcast. We’re honored to have Pastor Danny Anderson with us from Emmanuel Church in Indiana. Jim Devney founded Emmanuel Church in 1977 and Danny, who was originally the church’s high school pastor, took over in 2006 at the age of 28. The church continues to grow and became a multi-site […]
Thank you for joining us today for this episode of the unSeminary podcast. We have Kevin Peck from Austin Stone Community Church in Austin, Texas with us today. Austin Stone began 15 years ago and now has seven campuses at five locations in and around Austin. Kevin began working with the church about a year after it […]
Hello, everyone, and welcome to this week’s episode of the unSeminary podcast. Today we have a two for one special with guests, Clayton Hentzel and Ben Ellefritz of The Crossing Church. The Crossing has 10 locations in four different states across the Midwest. Clayton has been a part of the church for about 12 years, […]
Hey, everyone, and welcome to this week’s unSeminary podcast. We’re happy to have you with us as we talk with David Fletcher. He is the executive pastor at EvFree Fullerton in California and also runs a ministry called XPastor. EvFree Fullerton is a historic church where Chuck Swindoll once pastored. As he became well known, […]
Welcome, everyone, to the unSeminary podcast. Thank you for taking the time to join us today as we talk with author and speaker Mike Bonem. Mike is the author of the book Leading From the Second Chair. He started as an engineer and then went back to school to get his MBA and work as […]
Welcome, everyone, to this week’s podcast. I’m happy to have you with us as we talk with Julie Liem from Eastside Church in Anaheim, California. As long as Julie had been at Eastside she always worked in a volunteer role, but a few years ago the position of Director of Volunteers was created and she was […]
Hey, everyone, and welcome to this episode of the unSeminary podcast. We’re honored to have Jason Berry from 12Stone Church in Georgia. 12Stone currently has nine campuses and is one of the fastest growing churches in the country. Their goal is to be engaging and relevant in a way that encourages people to apply God’s teachings to their […]
Today we’re doing a special Monday edition of the unSeminary Podcast and we’re talking with Meagan Ranson from 2|42 Community Church in Michigan about how they are leveraging Pokémon GO game as a community service tool. We’re doing this episode today to bring you up to speed on what the game is and explain how you […]
Welcome, everyone, to the unSeminary podcast. Thank you for taking the time to join us today as we talk with Heather Larson of Willow Creek Community Church. Willow Creek Community Church is located in Chicago, and it started 40 years ago at the Willow Creek Theater. Willow Creek now has 8 campuses total. Heather started […]
Hello, everyone, and thanks for joining us for this week’s unSeminary podcast. Today we have Phil Taylor from Mosaic Church in central Florida on the show. Mosaic Church started on Easter 2003 and currently has three locations. Being in the backyard of Disney World, Mosaic serves a lot of people involved in the entertainment and […]
Welcome to this week’s unSeminary podcast and thanks for joining us with Reggie McNeal of Leadership Network. Leadership Network began in 1984 with just 20 leaders and now serves over 200,000 leaders around the world. They help identify where God is working at the edges of his kingdom and help His work spread. Reggie currently […]
Thanks so much for joining us today for this episode of the unSeminary podcast. We’re absolutely honored to have Brad Lomenick with us today. Brad is one of those guys who knows everyone, so you’ve probably heard of him or seen him a time or two. He spent 12 years leading the Catalyst Movement. Currently […]
Welcome to this week’s episode of the unSeminary podcast. We’re so happy to have you with us today as we talk with Shaun Nepstad from Fellowship Church in Antioch, California. Shaun is a fifth generation pastor on both sides of his family. He always wanted to become a pastor but wasn’t sure at first if […]
Hey, everybody, and welcome to this week’s episode of the unSeminary podcast. Thanks so much for spending time with us today as we speak with Dino Rizzo of ARC, the Association of Related Churches. He’s also an associate pastor at Church of the Highlands. ARC began as a conversation about how great it would be […]
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the unSeminary podcast. This week we’re talking with Sean Seay of Athens Church in Athens, Georgia. Athens Church has been around since 2004 and is a strategic partner of North Point Ministries. Athens, GA is a diverse college town and that is represented within Athens Church itself. While God has […]
Thanks for taking the time today to listen as we talk with Richard Lee, Director of Church Mobilization with International Justice Mission. International Justice Mission (IJM) was started 18 years ago and is the largest anti-slavery organization in the world today. They currently have 17 field offices around the world and start them in remote, […]
Hey, everybody, and welcome to the unSeminary podcast. Thanks so much for joining us today as we talk with Troy Palermo from Life Point Church in Ohio. If you don’t know Life Point Church, you should. It started just over 10 years ago and is now made up of about 2,000 people. A more contemporary church […]
Thanks for joining us for this week’s episode of the unSeminary podcast. I’m excited to have Dr. Thom Rainer, president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources, for this episode. Thom has written over two dozen books, has a great blog and podcast, and we’re very excited to have him with us today. Thom started […]
Hey, everybody, and welcome to the unSeminary podcast. This week’s guest is Lane Sebring of the website PreachingDonkey.com and author of the new book Preaching Killer Sermons. Coming out of seminary, Lane saw that much of the focus was on having a biblically accurate sermon about the life and teachings of Jesus, but there wasn’t much […]
Welcome to the unSeminary podcast and thanks for spending some time with us today. We have Lori Wilhite speaking with us for this episode. Lori leads a ministry called Leading and Loving It targeted at pastors’ wives and women in ministry. Her husband is the senior pastor at Central Christian Church in Las Vegas. […]
Hey, everybody, and welcome back to the unSeminary podcast. Thanks for listen in as we speak with Jim Nicodem from Christ Community Church. Christ Community Church is located in Chicago and has four locations, with about 5,000 people attending services there. Jim has a passion for teaching God’s word and he is one of the […]
Thanks so much for taking the time to be with us today. Across the country, churches are struggling with the task of trying to gain ground in their community and make a lasting impact. On today’s episode, we’re chatting with Terry Parkman of River Valley Church. We’ve had a few members of River Valley […]
Welcome back to the unSeminary podcast and thanks for spending your day with us. Today we’re chatting with Joshua Mauney, founding pastor of Turning Point Church in Lexington, Kentucky. Turning Point Church is a fantastic church whose mission is to be known for the restoration of the family. When you step through its doors, Turning Point should feel like […]
Happy Thursday, everyone, and thanks so much for joining us for this week’s unSeminary podcast. Today we have Christa Hesselink with us. She works in the church and non-profit context and is currently the Director of Next Generation Engagement with the Brethren in Christ in Canada. At 24, Christa was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She […]
Welcome to this week’s episode of the unSeminary podcast. We’re happy to have you join us today as we talk with Mark Molina of Westover Hills Assembly of God in San Antonio, Texas. Westover Hills Assembly of God has three campuses and about 4,000 people who come to hear God’s Word. The church was […]
Thanks so much for taking the time to listen to the unSeminary podcast today. I’m honored to have Darren DeLaune from New Life Church in Arkansas with us today. New Life started in 2001 and now has 10 locations with 12,000 people. One of the fastest growing churches in the country, they describe themselves […]
Welcome to this week’s episode of the unSeminary podcast. I’m pumped for today’s conversation with Clay Gatlin from Faith Christian Community in Anchorage, Alaska. Faith Christian Community is a non-denominational church in Anchorage, which was created by the merging of two other churches. Clay says that Anchorage is an extremely diverse city, full of […]
Hey, everyone! Thanks so much for joining us today for the unSeminary podcast. We have a great guest today, Joel Schmidgall of National Community Church in Washington, DC. National Community Church was started in 1996 by Mark Batterson and is known as the Theater Church because it has several locations in old theaters. Joel […]
Welcome back to the unSeminary podcast. Thank you for joining us today. Our guest for this week’s episode is John Cox from Watermark Church. Watermark Church is in Dallas, Texas, and has three campuses with an average of 14,000 people each Sunday. Watermark has set out to reach people who have been turned off […]
Welcome to this week’s unSeminary podcast! We’re honored to have you join us today and we are honored to have Mike Ash from Next Level Church in Florida talking with us. Next Level started in 2002 and is a multisite church with two campuses and about 3000 people attending each Sunday. For about nine years […]
Welcome to the unSeminary podcast. Today we’re honored to have Layne Schranz from Church of the Highlands. Church of the Highlands was started in 2001 and now has 12 campuses with 31,000 members. It was started as part of an experiment among a small group of pastors and was so successful, it developed into a […]
Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining in to this week’s episode of the unSeminary podcast. Today our guest is Mark Mellen at Elevate Life Church in Florida. Elevate Life has about 1200 attendees and is one of the fastest growing churches in the country. Mark describes Elevate Life as a contemporary, young families church […]
Welcome back to this week’s episode of the unSeminary podcast. I’m excited to have Darin Poli, Executive Pastor of River Valley Church, with me today. River Valley Church is a great church in the Twin Cities metro area of Minnesota and is celebrating their 20th anniversary this year. They have an attractional model of church—they […]
Hello, everyone! Welcome to this episode of unSeminary. Thank you so much for tuning in. I’m honored to have Brent Dolfo from Leadership Network today. I like to say Leadership Network guys are the smartest guys in the room! They’re an organization that is really dedicated to increasing the impact churches are having by networking […]
Welcome to this episode of the unSeminary podcast. Today I’m excited to have Bob Smith of 2|42 Community Church on the show. 2|42 Community Church was started in 2005 and has been one of the fastest growing churches in the country for a few years in a row, now having about 4,000 attendees. Bob was […]
Hey, everybody, and welcome back to the unSeminary podcast. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to today’s interview. We have Greg Curtis with us today, from Eastside Church in Anaheim, California. Eastside Church has two locations, one in California and one in Minnesota. Greg first came to Eastside Church at […]
Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of unSeminary! Today I’m excited to be speaking with Deborah Ike of Velocity Ministry Management. What is Velocity Ministry Management? It’s a company that helps church leaders implement systems to manage their churches better. Deborah has a heart for ministry and a head for business. She’s worked with many […]
Thank you so much for taking the time to listen in during this busy season. Today I’m honored to have Kevin Negaard with us. Kevin is the executive director at Sunnybrook Community Church. Sunnybrook was started in the 1960s, but had a turnaround in the early 2000s and became almost a new church. Kevin […]
Welcome back, everyone. Today I’m honored to have Mark Lunsford of Hope Fellowship with us today. Hope Fellowship is one of the fastest growing churches in the country. It started with 51 people in Frisco, Texas, in 2001. It now has 3 campuses and over 5,000 attendees. Mark is the executive pastor at Hope […]
Welcome back to the unSeminary podcast! We have a great episode today with our guest Pastor Derwin Gray. You may have heard of Pastor Derwin – he leads the multi-ethnic, multi-generational Transformation Church. It is a mission-based church with four campuses near Charlotte, North Carolina. Derwin grew up unchurched, but attended Brigham Young University, […]
Hello, everyone! I’m so glad you stopped by to spend some time with us here at the unSeminary podcast. Today I’m talking with Darryl Taliaferro. Darryl is the executive pastor at Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Nashville, Tennessee. Mt. Zion was started in 1866. The current pastor started there in 1992 with just 75 […]
Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to listen in to today’s podcast. I’m excited to be speaking with Jayne Poli from River Valley Church. If you aren’t already following River Valley Church, you should be. It is a fast growing church that is made up of nine campuses and […]
Welcome back to the unSeminary Podcast. Today I’m really pumped to be speaking with Ryan Britt of Church of Eleven22 in Florida. Ryan is the Executive Ministries Pastor of Church of Eleven22. Originally beginning as a young adults service at 11:22 AM at Beach Church, the service had such an incredible turnout, it eventually […]
Thanks so much for joining us again for today’s episode of unSeminary. I’m here today with Clayton Walker from Experience Life Church in West Texas. Experience Life Church was started in 2007 and has grown phenomenally, now with 5 locations. Clayton is the executive pastor and he oversees the campuses and ministries. He also speaks […]
Today’s guest and I have literally tried for months to get together and so I’m honored to have her with us today. Christine Kreisher is a connections pastor at GT Church in Pennsylvania. As the connections pastor, Christine oversees the first time guest’s experience and discipleship with GT Church. Christine also works with volunteer […]
Thanks for listening in today! I’m honored to have Jim Pourteau from Destination Church joining me on the podcast. Jim is both an executive pastor and campus pastor at Destination. He started as a volunteer who was looking for a place to worship, but in the process of serving, Jim fell in love with […]
Hello, everyone. Today I’m happy to be chatting with Chad Fisher from Rock City Church in Columbus, Ohio. Rock City Church has been pegged as one of the fastest growing churches in the country for two years in a row, so obviously they’ve gotten some things figured out around those parts. Chad was a […]
Hello, everyone! Thanks for listening in to the unSeminary podcast. Today I’m honored to have Hal Seed from New Song Community Church in Oceanside, California. New Song is a church with five campuses that is doing a lot of great stuff and reaching their community with a big impact. It was first planted 23 years ago […]
Today I’m excited to be talking again with Larry Hubatka from Elevation Church. For those who don’t know, Elevation Church was founded in 2006 by Pastor Steven Furtick and his wife Holly in Charlotte, NC. Elevation Church has now grown to 13 locations–10 in the Charlotte area, 1 in Raleigh-Durham, 1 in Roanoke, VA, […]
We’re happy to be back and talking today with Josh Whitehead from Faith Promise Church in Knoxville, TN. Faith Promise has been around for 20 years and started in Oak Ridge, TN, without a pastor. The original group wanted to impact the unchurched in their community by being a different kind of church. The church […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Programming Note // The unSeminary Podcast is going to be on a hiatus until September. We’ll return then with lots of great new episodes with some fascinating church leaders. Enjoy the summer! Today’s episode is a little different than usual. Instead of hosting an […]
Once again, Frank Bealer from Elevation Church is joining me on today’s podcast. Elevation Church is doing a lot of exciting things in their growth and Frank is here to tell us how they’ve learned to help each other. Helping each other grow It can be hard sometimes to work across departments within a […]
I’m super excited to have Adrian Schoonmaker from Grace Community Church in the Hudson Valley, New York, with us today. We’ll be talking about what it takes to develop spiritual coaches that can go out and really spread the church’s message and bring people to Christ. About Grace Community Church Grace Community Church started […]
Have you ever stopped to think how amazing the human brain is? It’s capable of so many reactions in an amazingly short time. God gave us this brain, so doesn’t it make sense to understand it and learn how to use it to the full advantage within your ministry? Today, we have Charles Stone […]
Today I’m excited to have my friend George Mekhail from EastLake Church again. He’s talked with us before on opening multiple campuses, and today he’s back to talk with another topic his church has recently faced. About EastLake George is always thinking about what’s next in life, society, and church. He’s been with the […]
Today we’re talking with two people who can help us take a new look at missions work. Pastor Randy Hollis joins us today from Believer’s Church in Louisville, Kentucky, and Trip Critz joins us from Poverty Dignified in Charlotte, North Carolina. About Believer’s Church Pastor Randy has been with Believer’s Church for eighteen years […]
Thank you for joining in for this week’s episode of the unSeminary podcast. Today I’m talking with Rodney Arnold of One Life Church in Knoxville. Rodney and I are mutual friends with one of my previous podcast guests, Bobby Williams, and I’m happy to get the chance to speak with him this week. About […]
Joining me on the unSeminary podcast this week is John Finkelde from Perth, Australia. John has been in the ministry for about 33 years. He spent 10 years as a team pastor, followed by 20 years as a lead pastor. About 3 years ago, John and his wife began a new ministry, “Grow a […]
This week on the unSeminary podcast, I was honored to welcome the Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Associate Professor of Communication at Azusa University, Dr. Ryan Hartwig. I first met Ryan while he was doing research for a new book. He visited with me on today’s podcast […]
Welcome to this Thursday’s edition of the podcast here on unSeminary. I’m so excited you’re tuning in this week because today, we’re going global! For the first time here on the podcast, a Non-North American church leader is joining me: Morgan Herselman, of Southpoint Church in Cape Town, South Africa. Morgan starts off the […]
Welcome to this Thursday’s edition of the unSeminary podcast. This week I’m super-excited to be talking to Chris Vacher, also known as Chris from Canada, who is an excellent leader at C4 Church, east of Toronto. Chris got this week’s session started by filling us in on his ministry at C4. The church […]
This week I was blessed to have Mike Linch share with me his take on the importance of churches forming relationships with and staying connected to the people in their communities. Mike is a pastor in Kennesaw, Georgia. His church, NorthStar started as a church plant a little more than 18 years ago. […]
Welcome to this Thursday’s podcast on unSeminary. Today, I had the privilege of talking to Ron Walborn, Dean of Alliance Theological Seminary. We talked about assessment and how to determine if people are growing. I asked Ron what sort of things we should be thinking about as pastors when it comes to assessing people’s […]
This week on the unSeminary Podcast, Tim Cool with Cool Solutions joined me for a tremendously informative and enlightening conversation about stewarding the facilities God has entrusted to us. Tim is the father of 18-year-old triplets who are in their last quarter of high school, almost ready to take the leap into college. He […]
Today’s podcast is a replay of one of our very first episodes because I think it’s important for leaders to wrestle with what this leader has to say. We’re launching a brand new course in unSeminary Premium called Email 201 … it’s all about leveraging email as a marketing and communications tool for your […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Internships are all about investing in the next generation! On today’s podcast I have two friends and collegues – Sara Defazio & Jason Yost – and we have a conversation about what we’ve been learning about internships at Liquid Church. This episode is perfect for […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Today’s conversation is with three leaders who work to help churches like yours and mine in the whole area of generosity and systems. We discuss a brand new report that that explores the relationship between donor behavior and new technologies like mobile giving and […]
Sarah Stanley is the Youth Support Pastor at The Meeting House … a 15 campus multisite church! In this interview Sarah gives some great insights into how to motivate students to engage in compassionate outreach into their communities. She talks about some the lessons they’ve been learning about seeing students get out of their […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Tim Stevens is a team leader with the Vanderbloemen Search Group, an executive search firm that helps churches and ministries find great leaders. Previously he was the executive pastor at Granger Community Church in Indiana. During his twenty years there, he helped grow the […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Jordan Schiller is a part of the leadership team at Real Thread. This is fantastic conversation as we chat about how t-shirts can be a ministry tool. Real Thread produces hundreds of thousands of shirts every year and in this conversation we dive into […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Scott Cochrane is the Vice President of International Ministries at the Willow Creek Association. The WCA was birthed out of the Chicagoland church called Willow Creek Community Church and has a passion for helping leaders develop around the world. In this conversation, Scott talks […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Dan is the the Executive Pastor of 12 Stone Church in Georgia. He’s been known as the “pastors’ coach” because he provides practical and encouraging insights for pastors across the country. In this episode Dan gives us a behind the scenes look at 12Stone […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Greg Atkinson is an author, pastor, blogger and all around great guy! This is his second appearance on the unSeminary podcast and we’re excited to have him today. Today he’s talking about what innovation looks like from a biblical perspective and the role it […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Richard Clark is the Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Christ and Pop Culture. He lives with his wife in Louisville, KY and has a MA in Theology and the Arts from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. On this episode Richard explores how Church Leaders should interact […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Jon Peacock is a church planter and leader that you need to be tracking with. He leads a church in the suburbs of Chicago called Mission Church is focused on reaching 10 communities within reach of their church. Since October of 2011, they’ve been […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Game Church is a ministry that is attempting to reach out to the gaming “subculture”. They do this through active participation in the video game world and through running a digital outreach through a blog and podcast. In this interview, Drew Dixon talks about […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Steven Murphy is a friend I bumped into years ago while he was on staff at Seacoast Church. He has a passion for visual story telling and does that through great video work. In today’s podcast we talk about some of the ins and […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Al Pittampalli is the author of Read This Before Our Next Meeting, which sold over 100,000 copies in the first week after it was released. He called himself a “meeting warrior” and spends time coaching, consulting and cajoling some of the largest organizations in the country […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Steven Barr is the Vision Pastor for Cast Member Church, serving the 67,000+ community of Cast Members who work for The Walt Disney World Resort, in Orlando, FL. During this interview Steven gives us insight into the fascinating “niche-ministry” he’s launched to reach this community. This […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Jonathan Manafo is an artist, pastor & church planter. In this interview he gives some great insights for church leaders looking to connect with their communities. Listen in for the heart behind making and impact … and for practical advice on how to make […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Ron Walborn is the Dean of Alliance Theological Seminary. Ron has been the head of the Pastoral Ministries Department at Nyack College since June of 2000 and was named the Associate Dean of Bible and Christian Ministry in June 2005. Ron was elected to the Board […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] William has been able to combine over 15 years of ministry experience as a Senior Pastor with the best practices of Executive Search to provide churches with a unique offering: a deep understanding of local church work with the very best knowledge and practices […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Growing churches today are utilizing multisite and church planting strategies to reproduce themselves for greater outreach and impact. This interview features a robost conversation with Jim Tomberlin & Tim Cool about the new rules for church buildings in a multisite, church planting, and giga-church […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Today’s podcast is a rebroadcast of a webinar that we hosted at unSeminary all about how to record, produce and release your church’s music. We dive deep with two leaders from Liquid Church as we talk about their experience with a song they just […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] For nearly 10 years whether it be financial, leadership, or even ministry help, God has allowed Chris to work with ministry leaders to help them maximize the challenges that come from effectively transferring vision to their team. In this interview Chris talks about the […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] With over a dozen years of local church ministry Justin has spent the last several years starting business’ and ministries that partner with pastors and churches to advance the Kingdom. He is the founder of Helpstaff.me (now Vanderbloemen Search), Oaks School of Leadership, and […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Today’s episode is a bit a different than a normal church leader interview … during today’s podcast we give you a sneak peek into two resources we’re launching that have been designed to help you and your church go further, faster. Looking for more […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Rob Cizek is Executive Pastor at Northshore Christian Church, a non-denominational church of 1,500 and Christian academy of 1000 in the Seattle area. He oversees daily operation of the organization and its ministries. In today’s interview he provides some great coaching for church leaders […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Anne speaks at colleges, conventions and churches on topics of social justice, sexuality, health, addiction, and general Biblical themes of grace and restoration. She has traveled around the United States and to over 20 countries telling the stories of hope found in least likely […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Today’s unSeminary podcast is a special episode designed to help you thrive (not just survive) this summer at your church. We all know that summer can be a tough time for churches … lagging attendance, lower volunteer engagement, revenue is down … but what […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Darsen Sowers is a Kid’s Worship leader at Reimage Church in Greenville, NC. He has written music specifically geared for children ages 3 to 10 and has a passion for reaching the next generation with the message of Jesus. On today’s podcast we talk […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] J. Warner Wallace is a cold-case homicide detective, a Christian case maker and an author. Jim was a conscientious and vocal atheist through his undergraduate and graduate work in Design and Architecture (CSULB and UCLA); he always considered himself to be an “evidentialist”. His […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Today’s podcast is a conversation with the Executive Pastor at a fast growing church in the North West called East Lake Church. Sprouting out of the one of the least “churched” communities in the country, East Lake gives some fascinating insights into reaching out […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Grace Chapel is a 60 year old church … not exactly the stereotype of the sort of church that is adding new campuses as a way to reach out to it’s community! But Tom VanAntwerp talks through how this church is leveraging campus expansion […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Dhati is a church planter currently working in Atlanta, Georgia. In this episode he tells the story of Blueprint Church and the lessons he is learning about discipleship in an urban context. This episode is full of great insights for church leaders looking to help […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Have you ever been cornered on a Sunday by somebody asking you just squeeze this one little thing into the announcements? Did you ever get one of those emails from a team leader asking for stage time … for the 100th time … to […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Dan is the the Executive Pastor of 12 Stone Church in Georgia. He’s been known as the “pastors’ coach” because he provides practical and encouraging insights for pastors across the country. In this episode Dan provides help specifically for pastors leading smaller churches. It’s packed […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Brandon Cox is a church planter, author, church communications expert and all around great guy! In this episode Brandon talks about the “tension” between “growth vs. control” for church leaders. He gives some great insights for senior leaders looking to make an impact in […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Will Mancini is a former pastor turned consultant and really a friend of local church leaders. His goal is help all church’s experience the benefits of stunning, God-given clarity. He’s worked with an unprecedented variety of churches from growing mega-churches and missional communities, to […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Every spring church leaders from around the world who are concerned about the next generation make a pilgrimage to Atlanta, Georgia for the Orange Conference. This conference is a “must attend event” from my perspective for leaders looking for inspiration and information to help […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Mike Linch is the senior pastor at NorthStar Church and you need to get to know him and his church! So many church leaders dream of making an impact in the community they are place in … Mike’s church is taking action towards it! […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Warren Bird is the head of research at Leadership Network. This week he published the Leadership Network/Generis Multisite Church Scorecard … the largest study of the multisite movement ever done. This report is full of fascinating insights into this explosive part of the body of […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Late last year I bumped into Sarah and her book Jesus Feminist. I took some time to read through her book and I found myself drawn in by her writing, her stories and how she was challenging me. Today I’m honored to have Sarah […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] At it’s core every church has unique DNA that defines what it’s going to be like and the impact it’s going to have on it’s community. On today’s episode small group expert, Alan Danielson gives us some really helpful handles to understand our church’s […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Today’s episode offers an insightful and fresh look into how your church can partner with other ministries around the world to make a different. Christa is one of the sharpest leaders I know on the area of global compassion and offers up a gracious […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] On today’s episode of the unSeminary Podcast we’re taking questions from listeners about Church Communications. We cover a wide variety of topics that I hope will help your ministry. Are you wondering how to keep your growing and complex ministry aligned? Thinking about upping […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Today’s podcast is from the “Lost Episodes File” ... literally! I recorded this episode back in August 2013 but then it was lost on my hard drive … so I was so glad when I got a chance to recover it and present it […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] On today’s episode we talk with the Small Groups Pastor from Long Hollow Baptist Church, Ben Reed. The conversation covers a wide variety of topics around getting people connected to groups, training leaders and ensuring that groups stay healthy and strong. This episode is […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Ministry life is demanding and hectic. In fact, one of the occupational hazards of church leadership is it can erode your soul. In today’s episode we talk with Pastor Rich Villodas who is the lead pastor of New Life Church in Queens, NYC. Rich […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Kevin Bordeaux was called to a declining church of 20 people and over the next 16 months the church grew to over 300 people. Today’s podcast is an inspiring story of how Kevin led through that change. He offers a bunch of insights for […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] The multisite church movement continues to gain momentum around the world. Core to this strategy is an entirely new group of church leaders called “Campus Pastors” and they are vitally important to a healthy multisite strategy. On today’s show we explore this important role […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] On today’s podcast we have church consultant, author and pastor Greg Atkinson. We’re talking about four areas that every church should work on to become more irresistible in the coming year. This episode is overflowing with helpful thoughts on how to make your church […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Only 15% of multisite churches make it beyond 3 campuses … Elevation Church has 9 locations! Today’s podcast is with Frank Bealer, the Family Ministry pastor from Elevation Church. He provides some proven mindsets, tactics and approaches for developing a cohesive ministry across many […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Today’s interview is a first for the unSeminary Podcast … we have Ben Stroup joining us and he’s not a local church leader! Ben is an expert on leveraging content to move people towards action. Today’s podcast is perfect for church leaders who have […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Kristy works with New Campus Development for The Chapel, a multisite church in greater Chicago area. Since joining The Chapel in 2009 she has helped them grow from four to eight campuses mostly through mergers. Today’s episode is full of insights from her on […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Today’s podcast is a FREE webinar on personal productivity designed specifically for church leaders. This episode is packed full of practical tools to help you do more with the time you’ve been given. We take a deep dive into how to effectively manage the […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Carlos Lollett is the worship director at Christ Fellowship in Miami, Florida. He leads the musical worship efforts across 6 locations with over 20 services every weekend! Listen in on this interview as he gives some great insights about finding, training and releasing artists […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Gregg Farah is the Discipleship Pastor at Shelter Rock Church in New York. On today’s show Gregg takes us into the trenches of providing discipleship opportunities that connect with people in today’s fast paced culture. Listen in as Gregg talks us through the work […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Andy Tilly has been in the trenches of multisite ministry for over 10 years. During that time period he has spent most of his time leading some of the most innovative student ministries in the country. On today’s interview we dive into practical advice […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Chris Vacher is in the minority when it comes to being a creative leader within a local church … he’s a worship pastor that’s stayed longer than 2 years! During today’s interview Chris talks about how senior leaders can work with creative leaders within […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] According to Tim Peters, 1,700 Pastors leave the ministry for good every month! [ref] A large contributor to that fact is that we’ve structured our work environments to unhealthy and counter productive. In today’s podcast Mark Lesher talks about what he’s been doing at […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Every church thinks it’s reaching people far from God … Bob Franquiz came to the stark reality that his church wasn’t. On today’s podcast Bob talks about his journey from transforming his church from just reaching “insiders” to becoming a magnetic church that attracts […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Today’s podcast is packed full of insights from two of most innovative student ministry leaders in the country! Kenny & Elle Campbell serve together in Middle School Ministry at The Chapel at Crosspoint in Buffalo, New York. During today’s episode they give practical insights […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Jenni Catron is the executive director at Cross Point Church in Nashville, TN, a 10-year old multi-site church. She leads the staff of Cross Point and oversees the ministry of its multiple campuses. Prior to joining the staff of Cross Point, she worked as Artist […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Bobby Williams is the pastor of Ridge Community Church in Oak Ridge, TN. In this episode Bobby gives us insight into a new way of following up with First Time Guests at his church. He talks us through how he’s strategically using email to […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Carey Nieuwhof has led more change in his church in the last 10 years than most pastors will lead in 10 lifetimes! Carey is a “must listen to” leader for church leaders wanting to understand how to lead your church through change. This episode is […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Corrin Bauer is the social media guru behind everything at Mars Hill Church. Today’s episode is packed full of practical insights on leveraging social media channels for ministry outcomes. Corrin manages social media channels that currently reach over 500,000 people daily and in this […]
Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] // [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] We’re so fortunate to have Ron Edmondson joining us for today’s episode of the unSeminary podcast! Ron is a fantastic leader and provides some amazing insights into helping turn churches around and also the critical place that systems play in your church. Make sure […]
Are you looking for practical ministry help to drive your ministry further … faster? Have a sinking feeling that your ministry training didn’t prepare you for the real world? Hey … you’re not alone! Join thousands of others in pursuit of stuff they wish they taught in seminary. Published every Thursday starting in September 2013, […]