The One Thing

Church life can get messy quickly. In this episode, Scott Sanders chats with Chris Rooleht about why having a simple serve chart can help bring clarity to ministry, showing who’s doing what, where responsibilities sit, and where people might be carrying too much. They discuss how serve charts can help churches care for people well, identify gaps in ministry, and plan for the future. In this episod...

Most staff meetings feel like a drain. Too long, unclear, and full of talk that changes nothing. But what if your weekly meeting could actually strengthen your team, sharpen your culture, and leave people encouraged?  In this episode, Andrew Mitchell (Executive Pastor at EV Church on NSW's Central Coast) joins Pete Hughes to unpack why great staff meetings are one of the most overlooked leader...

The Point Community Church in Port Macquarie, NSW was growing at 10% a year, but barely anyone was actually becoming a Christian. When they benchmarked themselves against other churches, the gap was stark: other churches were seeing 5–7x more non-Christians come through their evangelistic courses. So they asked hard questions about what was actually happening, and made a series of deliberate chang...

If you stepped away for a month, would your church stall? The hero complex in ministry rarely announces itself. It feels like diligence. Responsibility. Sacrifice. But underneath can sit something more dangerous — the quiet belief that everything depends on us. In this episode, we explore: What the hero complex really is and why it shows up in gospel ministry The warning signs, from micromanaging...

You can usually tell what’s going on in a pastor’s ministry by what’s on their bedside table. Not the books they recommend, but the ones they are actually reading, half-reading, or quietly avoiding. Rory Shiner opens up his own reading habits and presses the question most of us avoid: are we still being shaped, or just repeating what we learned years ago? Are we still the kind of people who are le...

Church planting is often treated as something only large churches can do. The latest Growth and Change report suggests otherwise. Across the Reach Australia network, smaller churches and unlikely partnerships are launching new congregations and reaching people who were never going to walk into an existing church. This episode explores what last year’s church plants are teaching the rest of us. If...

When was the last time we preached on generosity — and it wasn’t because the budget was tight? Money is one of the clearest windows into our trust, our fears, and our worship. Yet many of us only speak about it at the AGM or when pressure rises. In this episode, we reflect on generosity not as fundraising, but as discipleship. We talk about: Why giving flows from the grace of the gospel, not guilt...

What do you do when ministry starts to feel heavy and you cannot quite name why? Burnout is not always dramatic. Often it is a slow disconnect between your gospel convictions and your emotional capacity. In this episode, we explore why that drift happens and how coaching can provide a space to work through it. We talk about: What burnout actually looks like in ministry Why leaders often isolate th...

Morning tea after church can feel like a simple roster: bring a slice, pour the coffee, pack up and head home. But that space after the service is where newcomers decide if they’ll come back, where spiritual conversations begin, and where people take real steps toward Jesus. When we treat it as part of disciple-making, not just hospitality, it changes how we plan it, place it, and lead it. In this...

Over the last few years, churches have become very good at welcoming systems - name tags, check-in flows, connection cards, follow-up processes. But here’s the uncomfortable question: Have we become organised… but not warm? Today we’re talking about welcoming teams, and why relationships - not numbers - must be the hero. Scott Sanders sits down with Amber Edmonds (MBM Parramatta) to talk about fol...

The foundations you have for follow up at church matter more than you think - how do we move people from a welcome, to a relationship? Derek Hanna sits down with Dan Gorton (Cross & Crown Gold Coast) to talk about follow-up - not as admin, not as a system, but as love, names & relationships. As churches fill with visitors at the start of the year, this episode asks a deeper question: what...

There might be someone in your Bible study who keeps asking uncomfortable questions about church. - Why aren’t more people being reached? - Why do we keep doing church this way? And you might be tempted to shut them down. In this episode, Scott Sanders and Derek Hanna talk about the early signs of future church planters — including a holy dissatisfaction with church as usual and a deep conviction...

The first meeting of the year does more than set rosters. It shapes how a team understands why they serve. Scott Sanders and Derek Hanna walk through what to do when a volunteer team gathers for the first time: reconnect people, set the church’s gospel direction in front of them again, and show how this team helps that happen. They also cover what  not  to do. A practical listen for anyone leading...

Rallies feel outdated to some, but Dave Jensen thinks the problem was never the rally itself. With Gen Z more open than expected, he’s convinced large, clear gospel events might be overdue for a rethink. Why rallies may be working again, and why bad execution killed them last time Targeting people closest to belief, not starting with the hardest cases How the Alive rallies are structured, music, p...

Church members leave for all sorts of reasons, and how you respond can shape both their next steps and your church community. This episode explores what a thoughtful exit process looks like, even when departures are hard or messy. Key Why churches often don’t track why members leave and how to start doing it Handling departures that feel personal or painful without taking it on yourself Conducting...

Every church has a pathway. It might not be written down or planned, but it’s shaping how people move through our churches. Derek Hanna and Scott Sanders talk about how to identify the weak spots in your church’s pathway — where people are getting stuck, and how leaders can bring clarity without turning ministry into mechanics. In this episode, you’ll hear about: What we mean by a “pathway” in chu...

This is a replay of one of your favourite episodes: one you have to get right as we begin the new year. First impressions matter, and churches often underestimate how much. Peter Blanch and Scott Sanders discuss how small changes can make a big impact in helping people feel seen, valued, and truly at home. The theological foundation for welcoming Mistakes from not even thinking about it to overval...

A replay from one of your favourite episodes. One you need to think about as we head into the new year. Data is just a tool, but it’s an important tool. Its real purpose? Loving and serving your people better. A snapshot of data can give you an idea of your church health.  What we discuss Average Attendance: Are people showing up consistently? Growth Rate: Are you growing each year? What’s a healt...

A replay from your favourite episodes and coming at a timely part of the year: Derek and Scott look at the work of Dr Saundra Dalton-Smith on different types of rest. 1. Physical Rest Giving your body a rest. 2. Mental Rest It could be that you need to give your mind a rest. 3. Emotional Rest We can get emotionally tired when we are not paying attention to our emotions. 4. Spiritual Rest Reconnect...

We unpack findings from a recent survey of 84 churches across 10 denominations. The data is more encouraging than many expect — but it also exposes where momentum slows and why some churches see more people come to faith than others. We explore what’s genuinely helping people meet Jesus, what isn’t moving the needle, and where churches may be mistaking activity for mission. In this conversation: W...

Choosing a Church Management System (CMS) is a ministry decision, not just a technical one. In this episode, Toby Neal (Lead Pastor of Vine Church, Sydney) shares what he learned while evaluating and changing CMS platforms in a real church context. We talk about how systems shape workflows, staff capacity, and follow-up — and how to tell whether a platform actually supports disciple-making or just...

Nobody signs up for ministry to get excited about governance, but ignore it and you'll end up running in circles. In this episode we dive into the practical side of governance in ministry, why it matters for healthy churches, and how to navigate common roadblocks. How governance and ecclesiology interact, and why your church DNA matters from the start When decision-making structures hinder min...

If the emotional side of ministry keeps catching you off guard, it’s worth paying attention to what that might reveal about your own emotional intelligence. Scott Sanders and Jo Gibbs look at the practical side of emotional intelligence, why it matters for everyday ministry, and what gets in the way of developing it. What low EQ looks like in normal, everyday interactions How a leader’s reactions...

When your senior pastor isn’t leading — or at least, not leading well — what should you actually do? Today we drill into that tension without sugarcoating it. It’s not just about calling someone out, but about understanding yourself, your role, and how to navigate tricky dynamics without blowing things up or burning out. How your own wiring shapes the frustration you feel Clear signs of an actual...

Public prayer often gets treated like a warm-up act in church. But what if it’s one of the most spiritually potent moments in the whole service? Natalie Ray wants us to stop coasting and start leading prayers that actually lead. Why public prayer is often flat — and how to fix it What changes when we treat prayer as intercession, not narration The real reason your church probably struggles with pr...