The Church Lobby

What happens when all the church growth principles that were working in your church, suddenly stop working when you need them the most? Karl Vaters interviews Paul Dazet about what happened to him, as the pastor of a fast-growing church shortly after he was diagnosed with cancer. Over 100 members left, saying things like “I just can’t handle being sad at church,” and “It used to be so energetic. Y...

Karl Vaters interviews Leanne Friesen about grief. Specifically, how pastors, family members, and other caring people can help give people the room to process their grief when they go through a profound loss. Karl and Leanne also talk about how to process those feelings ourselves. Leanne is a former pastor and is the author of  Grieving Room: Making Space for All the Hard Things after De...

Karl Vaters talks with Darrell Stetler about a new AI program Darrell has created, called Sermon Illustrator. After a short introduction to what AI is, and some of the advantages and dangers of using it, they narrow in on this tool that helps pastors with a very specific task – finding illustrations (stories, metaphors, historical events, and so on) that can give your well-prepared sermon a story,...

Karl Vaters talks with Luke Simmons, the pastor of  Ironwood Church  in Mesa, AZ. Recently, Luke and his church elders decided to pursue a very ambitious goal with the aim of helping their large, growing congregation feel smaller and more connected. As a big-church pastor, Luke is not a typical Church Lobby guest, but he and Karl follow each other on X (formerly Twitter) and when Lu...

Over the last few months, several of our podcasts have been about bivo/covocationality, side hustles for pastors, and so on. And more are on the way. Why? Because the future of the church is bivocational. In this episode, Karl Vaters talks to Andrew Hamilton about the content from his book,  The Future is Bivocational: Shaping Christian Leaders for a Post-Christian World , including the theol...

*ATTENTION NEEDED* Help us get to Malaysia by going to KarlVaters.com/support Anything you can give will be appreciated. Karl Vaters interviews Bryan Sims about creating an environment for discipleship to thrive, from his book,  Creating Space: Cultivating Environments for Disciples of Jesus to Thrive and Multiply  (co-written with Craig Robertson). In the first half of the book, an...

Karl Vaters interviews Derek Maxson about some simple ways to make sure your church website is reaching the three kinds of people who are most likely to use it. Derek runs Spiffy. Church, an online ministry that specializes in helping smaller churches get the most from their websites, using limited time and resources. Derek and Karl talk about how to optimize your church website by making it simpl...

Karl Vaters interviews Mike Edmondson about the hot-button topics of racial segregation in the American church, why affinity spaces matter, and how the gospel defeats racism – even the racism that has sometimes been promoted within the institutional church. Mika speaks with experience, wisdom, directness, and grace, generating more light than heat. Some of what Mika and Ka...

Rachel Bren is a survivor of sexually related trauma, and now she serves with  SRTServices.org , which helps people recover from their trauma, and can help you and your church. She’s also the co-host of the  Grace & Grenades  podcast. Karl Vaters interviews Rachel about what sexual related trauma is, how the church can help those dealing with it, some mistakes to...

Karl Vaters interviews Sam Peters about the microchurch model, and more specifically, what are the minimum aspects that need to be in place for a church to be a church? If you’re serving a small church that’s considering if you have a viable path forward, the microchurch model is worth considering, and Sam offers some help for thinking about it in fresh, new ways. Sam Pete...

Karl Vaters interviews Desmond Barrett about how small churches can do a better job at reaching, welcoming, and keeping guests. Desmond is the author of  Helping Small Churches Win Guests: Preparing to Increase Attendance ,  which is a short, but very practical book that pastors will find great benefit in. Karl and Desmond talk about: How to reimagine the church facility from the parking...

Karl Vaters interviews Brad Hill about some of the latest findings concerning the church and technology. Brad is the Chief Solutions Officer at  Gloo , an organization that came out of nowhere a few years ago, and now seems to be everywhere. After clarifying Karl’s curiosity about who/what Gloo actually is, they talk about some of the important findings from a recent study Gloo conducted...

Eric Hoke is known as the “I Help Pastors Get Jobs” Guy. Karl Vaters talks with Eric about how to build long-term sustainable ministry, reduce financial stress, and create value in the marketplace by becoming an intentionally covocational pastor. Eric’s new book,  Market Street Pastor: Ministry Sustainability without Money Stress , addresses many of the issues involved in making the shift tow...

For Episode 100, Karl Vaters has a very special conversation with his father, Albert Vaters, about the pastor’s relationship with God’s Word, the Bible. In addition to each of them spending 40 years as pastors (over 80 years of combined pastoral ministry!), they were also both raised as preacher’s kids, so they can speak from multiple perspectives about life in a pastor’s home. In this conversatio...

Karl Vaters talks with Russ Taff. One of the great voices of Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) in the 1970s-90s, Russ won five Grammys, 13 Dove Awards, and was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame three times (with the Imperials, the Gaither Vocal Band, and as a solo artist). He also spent decades struggling with alcoholism, church hurt, and shame, stemming from the severe trauma...

Alberto Bello is a church planter in Bakersfield CA, and he’s written one of those books everyone says they could write,  Ten Things They Didn't Tell Me About Leadership . Karl Vaters talks with Alberto about that book, the experiences that led to it, and the lessons to be learned from it. Including: Knowing who you are in Jesus The Comparison Trap How failure is necessary for success How not...

Mike Rubino is a pastor in the unique ministry environment of Long Island NY. He’s also the founder and director of  Church Revitalize , which helps churches that need to revitalize their ministry, through cohorts, coaching, and more. Karl Vaters talks with Mike about church revitalization, with a focus on Mike’s new workbook,  The Revitalize Roadmap: Getting Your Church on the...

Every church should be open to everyone who wants to attend. So, we need to be more purposeful about making sure we're not unintentionally denying access without realizing it. Barbara Stanley oversees  Wonderful Works Ministry , which equips churches to serve families affected by disability. They have a large and growing set of resources to help churches of all types. Karl Vaters ta...

A clergy sabbatical is not a luxury for the few, it’s an essential element in recalibrating your ministry and reestablishing healthy habits for ministry longevity. Sabbaticals are having a moment right now. With the accelerated pace of life and ministry, we’re recognizing their value in a fresh, new way. Sean Nemecek and the team at Pastor In Residence Ministries  have been working with pasto...

Have you ever noticed that people don’t pay attention to sermons the way they used to? It may not be the fault of shorter attention spans (not exclusively, anyway). There’s a lot more happening — and we, as pastors and communicators can do something about it. Karl Vaters talks with Payton Minzenmayer. He's a pastor, and the founder of  ChristianStoryLab.com...

According to John’s vision in Revelation 7:9, heaven will be filled with people who are still recognized by their ethnicity (every nation, tribe, people, and language). So, if we want the church here and now to reflect that, Sunday mornings must stop being the most segregated time of the week. That’s the premise of Karl Vaters’ conversation with Jamaal Williams and Timothy Paul Jones, the co-autho...

The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus changed everything. Not just for eternity, but for the world here and now. According to Glen Scrivener, the author of  The Air We Breathe, How We All Came to Believe In Freedom, Kindness, Progress, and Equality , most of what we now consider to be self-evident human values were not so evident or common before Jesus. In this conversation, Karl and Glen...

Karl Vaters talks with Scot McKnight about what we can learn from those who are deconstructing their faith. This conversation is based on the content of Scot’s new book (co-written with Tommy Preson Phillips),  Invisible Jesus: A Book about Leaving the Church and Looking for Christ . This is a challenging book and a challenging conversation, especially if you are to the right of center t...

Karl Vaters interviews Matt Lucas about starting your congregation on the road to spiritual maturity through increasing their Bible reading. Specifically, how reading the Bible at least four times a week is so powerful, it's been called "The Power of Four." Matt is the CEO of Our Daily Bread (known for their quarterly devotionals) and The Center for Bible Engagement. Karl and Matt talk about: What...

Retirement isn’t what it used to be. In the U.S. military, retirement is mandatory at 62 years of age, but U.S. Army Garrison Chaplain (MAJ) Lisa A. Northway is an exception to that. Lisa, who’s currently stationed in Fort Sill, OK, has been called the “Grandma Moses” of the Army Chaplaincy. She recently received permission to extend her chaplaincy for a few more years. In this podcast, Karl Vater...