Intentional Churches Podcast

Don’t forget to reserve your spot for the Intentional Churches Conference in April here: https://www.intentionalchurchesconference.com/  Gregg and Leilani Sizemore, co-pastors of Creekside Church in Dallas, GA, join the podcast to share their incredible story of planting a church six months before the COVID-19 pandemic. From early momentum to massive disruption, and ultimately to realignment and s...

Church leaders often ask, "How do we reach people in places that seem anti-church or post-Christian?" Jesse DeYoung, Executive Lead Pastor of Flatirons Community Church, provides honest and actionable answers to that question in this episode of the Intentional Churches Podcast. Jesse shares his journey from a youth group kid in Kentucky to leading one of the largest churches in Colorado, all while...

Albuquerque presents both deep challenges and incredible opportunities for ministry. Pastor Nate Bush of New City Church shares how his team navigates the complexities of serving a city with both high levels of poverty and a large population of PhDs. He discusses the importance of balancing justice work with evangelism and how New City Church has shifted to ensuring every member owns the Great Com...

The future of the church in America is increasingly multicultural—compelling leaders to be intentional about fostering environments where diverse cultures can thrive together. Juan Carlos Heredia, Spanish Ministry Pastor at Houston’s Sugar Creek Baptist Church, joins Doug for this eye-opening episode of The Intentional Churches podcast to discuss the evolution of Hispanic ministry, the importance...

The Intentional Churches Conference is not your typical church leadership event—it's a movement. In this week’s special bonus episode, Erin sits down to interview Doug all about how The Intentional Churches Conference is evolving and what attendees can expect this year. Doug explains that IC is about more than just content—it's a collaborative network where church leaders learn from one another in...

What does it mean to cultivate a “missional mindset?” In this week’s episode of the Intentional Churches Podcast, Momentum Christian Church’s Sheryl Riggins sits down with Erin and Doug to share her personal journey of moving from a traditional church background to a mission-driven approach to faith. During their conversation, Sheryl opens up about her early years as a preacher’s kid, her career a...

How can churches move beyond an internal focus to reach their cities with the Gospel? Mark Ashton—lead minister at Christ Community Church in Omaha, NE—joins Erin and Doug on this week’s episode of The Intentional Churches podcast, sharing how his church—and a network of 60 churches in Omaha—is making relational evangelism a top priority. During their conversation, Mark introduces the concept of t...

We’re back this week with another powerful conversation, this time with pastor and church planter Lou Pizzichillo of Long Island, NY! Lou and his wife planted Community Church in Long Island back in January of 2020 (ideal timing, as any church leader would know!), and he’s sharing with us the many lessons he’s learned in the five years since.  Together Erin and Doug invite Lou to share his unique...

Welcome to a new year and a brand new season of The Intentional Churches podcast! We’re switching things up in 2025—shifting from a weekly release schedule to releasing longer, more in-depth conversations with leaders from around the country every other week. We’re so glad to have you along for the ride in Season 7!  To kick things off, Erin and Doug are joined by Jim Sheldon, the Executive Pastor...

For this final episode of 2024, Erin and Doug sit down with First Orlando’s Tracy Bowen to talk staff culture and how to create an irresistible cultural environment based on pursuing The Great Commission. Tracy holds a unique title at First Orlando—managing director of staff engagement and culture—and she’s used the position to help align the church’s staff towards reaching the ones far from Jesus...

Larry Kelley has been with New Hope Church in Houston Texas for 16 years now, and in that time he’s seen the church go from a small group gathered in a YMCA auditorium to a large multi-site church. How have Larry and the staff stayed aligned to New Hope’s greater mission amidst all that growth and change? Today’s Intentional Churches episode is all about Larry’s answer to that question.  For this...

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly altered the way we view online church, but where most churches have gone back to physical services, some decided to go all-in on the digital space. Enter Mark Lutz and his fully-online church, Lux. Mark served as the pastor of a traditional physical church for more than a decade before he felt God calling him into full-time online ministry. Lux launched in 2021,...

Most, if not all, churches have a mission that drives what they do, but how often are we making radical alignment to that mission the main thing? Today on The Intentional Churches podcast Erin and Doug sit down with Travis Kaiser, lead pastor of Florence Baptist Church in Florence, Kentucky. Travis is passionate about fostering a Great Commission-driven mission in every aspect of his church’s cult...

Welcome to season 6 of The Intentional Churches podcast! For this season of the podcast, we’re talking all about inviting and preparing for that next big event on your church’s calendar in light of The Great Commission. With Christmas right around the corner, this is the perfect time to talk about the invite potential of an event that will ultimately draw people closer to Jesus.  On today’s episod...

On the final episode of season 5, Erin and Doug invite Intentional Churches’ president and co-founder, Bart Rendel, to the show to outline the differences between intentional and unintentional churches. Bart has a heart for helping church leaders take personal ownership of The Great Commission, and that passion bleeds through every part of this conversation.  Since Bart is Doug’s partner in crime...

This week on The Intentional Churches podcast, Doug and Erin sit down with Mission Church’s Sarah Cole. Sarah serves as the Ventura, CA church’s welcome team lead—focusing on creating a volunteer culture that welcomes in everyone and anyone. Why is creating that culture of hospitality important to The Great Commission? How do we recruit and inspire leaders with the “why” behind welcoming new peopl...

This week on The Intentional Churches podcast, Doug and Erin sit down with Mission Church’s Sarah Cole. Sarah serves as the Ventura, CA church’s welcome team lead—focusing on creating a volunteer culture that welcomes in everyone and anyone. Why is creating that culture of hospitality important to The Great Commission? How do we recruit and inspire leaders with the “why” behind welcoming new peopl...

Reaching the next generation is a concern for any institution, especially the church. With Gen-Z leaving traditional religion in droves, how do we disciple this next generation and build up faithful, fruitful leaders? Today on The Intentional Churches podcast, Doug and Erin chat with THINQ’S Next Gen director, Grant Skeldon, to break down how exactly to reach young people for Jesus.  As a young le...

First Orlando’s Haley Malone never envisioned herself in ministry, but little did this former math teacher and volleyball coach know, she was already doing ministry just by building relationships with those around her. Now Haley serves as First Orlando’s groups director, overseeing all adult groups at the 150 year-old church. Doug sits down with Haley today to talk about how her passion for buildi...

Radical alignment with The Great Commission is a great goal to shoot for, but how do we actually take discipleship and make it personal? On this week’s episode of The Intentional Churches podcast, Doug sits down with Calvary Chapel’s executive pastor, Duane Roberts, to talk about authentic relationship-building, organizational alignment in a multi-campus church, and co-creation among teams.  As a...

For this week’s episode of The Intentional Churches podcast, Doug sits down with Chris Palmer, dean of ministry and theology at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida, to talk all things Christian consumerism. Doug and Chris have both witnessed the church’s slow evolution towards a more consumeristic, programmatic institution in recent decades. But how can we as church leaders combat that te...

A church can be considered an “institution” but that doesn’t mean our churches should have institutional mindsets focused on programs over people. For today’s conversation on radical alignment with The Great Commission Erin and Doug sit down with Chad Booher, the community engagement minister at his local church and an individual passionate about inviting, discipling, and empowering God’s people. ...

Erin and Doug are back for this week’s episode of The Intentional Churches podcast, sitting down with executive pastor Rodney Elliot to talk radical alignment with The Great Commission. Rodney serves as the executive pastor of Pathway Church in Wichita, Kansas, and during his time in that role he’s worked to align the church’s elder board with the core mission of reaching the one far away from Jes...

Welcome to season 5 of The Intentional Churches podcast! This season we’re talking all about how to radically align our churches and leaders around the promises of Scripture and the truths of The Great Commission. Luke Lezon is our featured guest today—a young lead pastor who’s faced his fair share of misalignment challenges while stepping into a lead pastor role after a major church split.  On to...

To close up season 4 of The Intentional Churches podcast, we’re releasing another bonus episode from our Intentional Churches Conference 2024, this time featuring our opening session with lead pastor Clint Nolder. Clint leads Foundation Church in Newnan, GA, and during his time with our conference attendees Clint shared on the faithfulness of God in the midst of life’s many battles.  A ministry le...