The Reclaimed Leader Podcast

About 40 million Americans have left the church in recent decades. That’s something like one in six people. Today we talk with Michael Graham, co-author of "The Great DeChurching" about who left, why the left, and what it will take to bring them back. And, the research says, there’s a lot of hope on the other side.

Pastor, how’s your inner life going? Do you feel at rest? Are you experiencing God’s peace and strength? Life’s demands certainly get in the way, so how can you stop living from the outside-in, and start living from the inside-out? How to find your true rest.

Maybe you’ve been in a season where you’re spinning your wheels. Or, maybe, it’s been so hectic, you haven’t had time for the things that matter most. Today we talk about some ideas for taking inventory of your life and ministry. We’re calling it, cleaning out the garage.

As you transition into summer mode, and hopefully back off a bit from the frenzy, how can you prepare for this next season of ministry? Today we talk about 5 questions you can ask to help your church get healthier. Maybe it will spark a vision for what’s next.

You’ve probably heard the phrase “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” But, why? Because culture is about who you are, not just what you do. And, if the culture is bad, strategies will suffer. Today we talk about why your church’s culture is more important than strategy.

Sometimes you have to make hard ministry decisions. What makes it harder is if you’re deciding based on emotions. If you know your why, it will lead you to clearer, better decisions and, in the end, can be a huge source of unity. It's about ruthlessly sticking to your why.

Do you ever feel discouraged because you don’t have enough people, money or resources? Then, you’ll want to listen to our interview today with Pastor Randy Gaumer, whose church began with 3 people and no paycheck, and has become a flourishing church of over 100. Maybe God can do a lot more than you think.

According to Barna’s research, Gen Z is turning the tide on church participation in America. Today we get the chance to talk with the co-hosts of the Broken Made Beautiful Podcast – Hailey Walden and Kat Villaluz, about life, faith, and how to help the next generation win.

How in the world are you supposed to get it all done? There are high expectations for pastors today – dare I say, demands that we feel every day. How do we cut through the noise and budget our time for what matters most. A few time-management tips for over-worked and over-whelmed leaders.

There’s a disease that plagues Elder Boards across the country. You may recognize it as Action Deficit Disorder – where information runs rampant but action and implementation are frozen in place. The good news? It can be cured. We’re talking about how to help our Boards move forward.

Well, the Easter eggs have all been found, and the marshmallow peeps eaten up, but what happened to all those church visitors? Getting people to come once isn’t as difficult as getting them to come back. So, how do you do it? By paying attention to these 10 things.

I know we talk about forward movement on the other side of Easter – outreach, discipleship, and summer plans. But, are you feeling like you just don’t have it in you? Have you lost the joy in your sense of call? Maybe you don’t just need a vacation. Maybe you need to discover joy again.

Research shows that only 30% of Christians in mainline churches read their bibles once a week. If scripture is sufficient for what we need to know about faith and life, how do we handle the ripple effect of Christians not engaging with scripture? Here are some ideas to help.

Last week, we started unpacking how to use good questions to get moving forward on adaptive change. It’s not just about best practices but about the right practices for us. Today we continue with part 2 of our series on using a question-based framework for leading change.

Leading adaptive change in the local church can be pretty disorienting and discouraging. Why? Because we don’t have all the answers. Today Jesse dives into a framework to help ask the right questions to start working on the right solutions.

We’re just a few weeks out from Easter, which is the perfect time to start thinking about how to make first-time guests feel at home. We’re talking with our Dir. of Guest Services & Communication, Suzanne Duffy, about how to build and develop a welcoming environment.

No matter what size church you lead, small groups are a great discipleship strategy. Maybe you’re just thinking about developing small groups in your church. Or, maybe you just want to start one. The point is, that once you start reaching people, you’ll want to help them grow. Here are 5 key decisions that lead to better groups.

Have you ever experienced “death by meeting” or at least mortally wounded by meeting? Meetings can be a drain, but what if you could have greater impact with fewer meetings? Today we jump into how to optimize your meetings for mission movement.

Every church leader I know is looking for best practices for ministry. But one of the most important doesn’t sound that exciting: having a healthy governing board. If they can’t work together on the big mission and vision, it’s really hard to have a healthy church. 5 Moves to cultivate a healthy board.

Last week we talked about how to help Gen Z find Jesus. Today, we welcome the Dir. of Next Gen Ministries at Tower Hill Church, Lindsey Larkin, as she discusses what she’s seeing in ministry to teenagers and young adults. And, what to do if you’re struggling to reach them.

Last week we talked about how to reach young families, and we continue today by talking about reaching Gen Z. How are we calibrating our churches to speak to them? How are we including them in the life of the church? How are we translating Jesus into their language? A few ideas to get started.

So many of our older, established churches, have given up reaching young families. They say, "We’re just a small church, we don’t have the budget to reach them." But, they’re assuming it’s a resource problem - when in fact, it’s usually a willingness problem.

Pastors talk a lot about having healthy churches. But, what exactly does that look like? It’s not just about numbers it’s about fruitfulness. So, how do we discern the good fruit from the bad? The answer to that question is everything.

How do you know when a ministry is actually working? If it’s not, how do you know when to pivot to something else? Often, we don’t have good ways to measure the outcomes so we keep doing things in perpetuity. But, what if we got better at it? It just might help revitalize our churches.

Power tools are incredible – they can shorten a project exponentially, and, won’t tire you out like doing it by hand. And yet, pastors, for the sake of expedience or ease, tend to keep doing things without power tools. Today we’re reminding you about 3 leadership tools to help you move forward.