The Church Lobby

With people attending church less frequently now, you average Sunday attendance represents a smaller percent of your regulars than ever befofe. And it affects how we pastor them and what they expect of the church in ways we may not realize. Karl Vaters talks about this with Chad Brooks, a co-vocational pastor, blogger at RevChadBrooks.com, and the host of the Productive Pastor podcast, about:...

In this solo episode, Karl Vaters shares 22 lessons he learned on his recent sabbatical that will help you if you’re considering one yourself. Including: How long it should be How to prepare for it What to expect, emotionally and mentally How to fade in and fade out of it slowly and more   BONUS MATERIAL How We Found Great Churches On Our Sabbatical In the supplement to this episode, Kar...

Karl Vaters talks with Brady Shearer, summarizing a report about church trends and church size. Karl and Brady talk about those stats and what they mean for small church ministry, including: How stats don’t tell you a church’s story, but they can help you see things you might not otherwise pay attention to Good news about racial, age and ethnic diversity in churches over the last 20 years Plus, Br...

Karl Vaters talks with Greg Atkinson, the author of several books, including  The Secret Power of Kindness: 10 Keys to Unlocking Your Capacity to Change the World .  Greg is probably most well-known as one of the leading church experts on hospitality and First Impressions. In this conversation, Greg talks about his brave choice to end the cycle of abuse he inherited from his fa...

Forgiveness may be the most desired, but among the least understood virtues found in scripture, and in life.  Karl Vaters talks with Dr. Bruce & Toni Hebel, co-authors of  Forgiving Forward: Unleashing the Forgiveness Revolution . In this episode we talk about The Power of Forgiveness, including a lot of ideas that may feel counterintuitive to you, so lean in and hear the biblical fo...

Karl Vaters interviews Dianne Finkelde, the author of several books, including  Unlock Your Bible: The How-to Study Guide for Everyday Christians . Karl and Dianne talk about, not just the importance of reading the Bible, but how to read it in a way that the everyday person can understand it, appreciate it, and do what it says, including: Letting the Bible explain the Bible Hearing God as he...

If you've never taken a sabbatical or wondered why they matter, this podcast is a great introduction to it. In this solo podcast, Karl Vaters talks about: Why sabbaticals matter for pastors An important lesson on time management from the life of the Apostle Paul Why Karl is taking his sabbatical now The sabbatical template he will follow How to get the...

Karl Vaters interviews Sallie Guillory, the author of YouTube Strategy for Churches: A practical guide for your church to reach more people through YouTube . Karl and Sallie talk about some extremely practical ideas to use the world’s biggest video platform and second largest search engine to help people find your content, including: How to get more mileage out of the content you’re already creati...

Karl Vaters interviews Dale Sellers of the 95 Network, which provides resources for the 95 percent of churches that are not large. In this conversation, Dale and Karl talk about some of the important issues facing small churches as we come out of the pandemic and look ahead to 5-10 years of fallout, including: The need for rest and soul care for pastors Why the expected wave of pastoral resignatio...

Karl Vaters interviews Michael Clary about the dangers of what he calls Elitist Christianity. This conversation was inspired by a Twitter thread Michael wrote in which he confessed to an arrogant attitude he had developed as a young, successful church planter. Michael found himself looking down on pastors and Christians who hadn’t had his training, even though they were the people whose shoul...

Karl Vaters interviews Ryan Lokkesmoe, a church-planter and the author of a new book,  Paul and His Team: What the Early Church Can Teach Us About Leadership and Influence . Karl and Ryan talk about what we can learn from the way Paul worked with his ministry team, and how those lessons translate to ministry today. Including: How Paul dealt with conflict, not seeing people as enemies to be de...

Karl Vaters interviews Sean Nemecek, author of the just-released book,  The Weary Leader’s Guide to Burnout: A Journey from Exhaustion to Wholeness .  In this episode we’re talking to pastors who are wondering if they might be dealing with burnout in ministry. Sean walks us through the following steps: What is burnout, and why does it seem to be on the rise, lately? How do I know if I’m...

Karl Vaters interviews Brad Roth, a Mennonite pastor in rural Kansas, a blogger at DoxologyProject.com , and the author of God's Country: Faith, Hope, and the Future of the Rural Church . Brad and Karl talk about four concepts from his book: The importance of Rural church Acedia The importance of Place A New Way to Measure Growth They also have an important conversation about replacing the typical...

Karl Vaters interviews Craig T. Owens, a pastor, author, co-host of the podcast “ The Craig and Greg Show ”, and a blogger at  CraigTOwens.com. In this conversation, Karl and Craig talk about the subjects addressed in his recent book,  Shepherd Leadership: The Metrics that Really Matter . Some of the important subjects include: Using biblical metrics for pastoral ministry The tendency to...

In this conversation, Karl Vaters talks to Daniel Sih about the information in his recent book,  Spacemaker: How to Unplug, Unwind and Think Clearly in the Digital Age . Specifically, we address three areas that are having a massive effect on our lives and ministries: Clutter Neuroplasticity The stories we tell In our increasingly tech-driven world, the technology that used to be (and still c...

An interview with Gary L. McIntosh about the principles in his new book, The Solo Pastor: Understanding and Overcoming the Challenges of Leading a Church Alone . In this episode, Karl Vaters talks with Dr. McIntosh about: The relentlessness of being a solo pastor How influence works in the solo-pastor church What expectations people have of the solo pastor Our connectedness to the congregation The...

Karl Vaters interviews Erik Reed, a pastor in Nashville TN. This conversation is, surprisingly, based on a Twitter thread Erik wrote about how excellence in smaller churches looks different than it does in bigger churches. Karl and Erik talk about The dangers of small churches trying to imitate larger churches The attractiveness of authenticity The importance of investing our time and resources wi...

Karl Vaters interviews Dan White Jr.. the coauthor (with JR Woodward) of  The Church as Movement: Starting and Sustaining Missional-Incarnational Communities . They talk about why we need a complete rethinking of how we do church, from the current, popular ways of seeing it as an institution or a series of programs, to seeing it as the movement Jesus intended it to be. Specifically, Dan...

Welcome to the first episode of The Church Lobby: Conversations on Faith & Ministry. In this episode, Karl talks about some of the big news coming from this ministry over the coming months, including four big reasons for the name change: Why The Church Lobby? 1)     The church lobby is where the church meets and does ministry 2)     It shifts t...

Yes, you read that title right. This is the last episode of “Can This Work in a Small Church?” No, we aren’t stopping the podcast. We’re changing the name. In this special bonus episode, Karl has no guests. Instead, he talks about the following: The three big reasons we’re changing the name What the new direction will look like What the new name of the podcast will be If you’d like to see the new...

Karl Vaters interviews Darrell Stetler, a small-church pastor, father of seven, and creator of NewStart discipleship curriculum, written with the needs and strengths of small churches in mind. In this conversation, Darrell and Karl talk about the importance of discipleship in the life of the church – and as a central role in our calling as pastors. Some key topics include: The importance of helpin...

Karl Vaters interviews David Zahl, author of  Seculosity: How Career, Parenting, Technology, Food, Politics, and Romance Became Our New Religion and What to Do about It . In this episode, Karl and David have a wide-ranging conversation about how the religious landscape has changed in our culture, but not in the ways you may have thought. According to David, we haven’t become less religious, b...

Karl Vaters interviews Alan Briggs, a pastor, the author of Staying is the New Going, the host of the Right Side Up Leadership podcast and StayForth.com. Karl and Alan talk about why geography matters in church leadership. Especially in an increasingly-mobile and increasingly-electronic world, staying planted where God put you is more important than ever for effective, incarnational ministry....

Karl Vaters interviews Aron Utecht, a pastor and the host of the  Good Ideas for Churches  podcast. Karl and Aron talk about some of the positive trends he’s been seeing in the church and among pastors, including a refocusing on mission rather than an obsession with methods. They also talk about the value of podcasting for pastors and churches, including what question we must answer befo...

Karl Vaters interviews Rick Hiemstra, a former small church pastor, now serving as the Director of Research at the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. Rick and Karl talk about a wide variety of subjects, including the Church Growth Movement, technology and how it has affected the way we approach pastoring. Some helpful insights include: What has people’s attention is what shapes them, and technology...