The Church Answers Podcast

Thom shares the current reality of The Hope Initiative. Its growth and the enthusiasm of pastors and church members have become joys to observe.

Thom expands on a popular article he wrote on the same topic. In the second episode, he covers the final five realities.

Thom expands on a popular article he wrote on the same topic. In the first episode, he covers the first five realities.

Many churches have membership rolls that do not reflect reality. Thom shares healthy ways to get the rolls to reflect those who are really still connected to the church.

Can you really keep accurate worship attendance? Thom gets a hearty "yes" and explains three ways to do it.

Thom exhorts church leaders to keep an accurate count of worship attendance. It's not all about the numbers. He shares why.

Over 10,000 Baby Boomers retire every day. Some of them are pastors and church staff. Will they have adequate income for retirement? If so, what will be the sources of income?

Many, if not most, churches have far too many activities and full calendars. Thom looks at how to lead these churches to do less to be more effective.

Churches are taking longer to find a pastor. As a consequence, the need for more interim pastors is increasing. Thom looks at the challenges they face.

Thom looks at the typical raises for pastors in 2023. He also looks at the pastors who will be left out.

"What are you running?" was once an ever-present question among pastors. That is not the case nearly as much today. Thom explains why.

Thom provides a high-level overview of the Know Your Community report. He looks at the factors that have led to its rapid growth.

If you have never read The Association of Religious Data Archives, you need to watch or listen to this podcast by Thom.

In a two-part series, Thom looks at the significant decline of the Southern Baptist Convention. Part 2 looks at practices that have changed in the SBC.

In a two-part series, Thom looks at the significant decline of the Southern Baptist Convention. Part 1 may surprise you.

In the course of a year, every church leader will get discouraged one or more times when there are few or zero volunteers. Thom challenges leaders to ask three questions if volunteerism is a problem.

There is an implicit redefining of older adults in the church. In many situations, older adults are no longer in their 60s and 70s, but they are in their 80s and 90s. What does this aging mean for churches?

This situation is exceedingly challenging. What steps should be taken if the spouse of a pastor or staff person does not attend church?

In the past, there was an expectation that a church staff member would be in the office 30 to 40 hours a week. Those days are gone, but how do we hold staff members accountable for working full-time?

Every pastor has experienced the pain of church members who stopped giving because they did not get their way in the church. Thom looks at how leaders should respond to this immaturity.

If you think some of your members are digging in their heels more than ever, you are probably right. In this podcast, Thom examines four reasons for this reality.

While there are no established principles to answer this question, Thom shares several items to consider when determining how many weeks a pastor should preach each year.

Building off the previous podcast citing the reasons why pastors struggle to have a real vacation, Thom shares five ways to remedy the problem.

Many pastors tell us that they get no true rest or mental time off when they go on vacation. Thom looks at the reasons why.

What if you could double or triple to the number of first-time guests in your church with a simple tool? Thom shares about churches that have seen such successes.