The Small Town Big Church Leadership Podcast

Welcome to the Small Town Big Church Summer Throwback Series where we're dusting off some of our best episodes to position you and your church for growth as we ramp up for the fall season. Today is part 3: Creating and Maintaining a Healthy Culture. Families have a culture. Sports teams have a culture. Your workplace has a culture. Your neighborhood has a culture. Your church has a culture. The qu...

Welcome to the Small Town Big Church Summer Throwback Series where we're dusting off some of our best episodes to position you and your church for growth as we ramp up for the fall season. Today is part 2: 4 Steps to Attracting and Training Quality Church Volunteers Do you have a difficult time finding and keeping high-quality volunteers? Is the same 20% of your church doing 80% of the work? It do...

Welcome to the Small Town Big Church Summer Throwback Series where we're dusting off some of our best episodes to position you and your church for growth as we ramp up for the fall season. Today is part 1: How are we winning? Would you say your church is growing, declining, or stagnant? Seriously, it's a valid question. Sobering, but valid. Most organizations unfortunately don't have a measurable...

What if the most important part of your Sunday service happens before the message starts? The first 7 minutes can make or break a first timer's decision to come back—so let's talk about how to create a "Wow" that lasts long after they leave the parking lot.   Check out our CHURCH: www.mountainmoverschurch.org Would you like to GIVE BACK? https://pushpay.com/g/mountainmoverschurchsrc=hpp Join our F...

Too many believers settle for spiritual stagnation—but true discipleship requires growth. So how do we as a church family inspire people to take their next steps in faith effectively? In this episode, we're diving into the power of creating a culture that invites others into their next steps of spiritual formation and more specifically, the role you can play in making this a reality as we grow the...

Have you ever received feedback that stung—feedback that felt more like an attack than a helping hand? As church leaders, how we give and receive feedback shapes our team culture and ultimately impacts the mission. In today's episode, we're diving into the difference between criticism and critique—one tears down, the other builds up. Want to create a culture where feedback fuels growth rather than...

None of us like being corrected or being made to feel like we fell short in our performance or we somehow didn't measure up, or get it just right. Most people don't know how to handle helpful feedback, but we have to learn to embrace it if we truly want to get better as individuals, a team, and especially as a church. So, in today's podcast we want to share how to build a culture of critique, spec...

If your church is going to get better everyone has to get better together. This means looking within and raising our self-awareness. The challenge is, None of us like being corrected or being made to feel like we fell short in our performance or we somehow didn't measure up, or get it just right. Most people don't know how to handle helpful feedback, but we have to learn to embrace it if we truly...

 If you've been a volunteer, leader, staff member, or especially a pastor, for a while, you are well aware by now that spiritual attacks are inevitable specifically during seasons of growth. Many of you have learned to even anticipate it before it happens. Some of you on the other hand, may be so new to serving in the local church, you didn't even realize this was a thing. Well surprise!! It is. I...

Have you ever wondered how large companies like Home Depot, Chick-fil-A, Silver Dollar City, and the Ritz Carlton can consistently drive excellence to the front lines? How is it (as a customer) you can experience such consistency from one employee to the next, or even from one location to the next and experience the same vision across the board? It seems like, the more employees you have involved...

Though there are many many things we could attribute to the kingdom success we've experienced, if we had to boil it down to one thing that has made the biggest difference, we would probably attribute it to fasting and prayer. In the same respect, we want you to see supernatural ministry success in 2025 and we are stubbornly convinced that fasting and prayer will fuel your ministry with the power n...

One of the most common mistakes we see people make in ministry whether you're a volunteer, a staff member, or a pastor is not making time to correct past mistakes. The New Year is quickly approaching and as busy as the Christmas season may be, one of the most powerful habits we can put into practice is the power of Pause and Reflect. So, today we're going to share 3 questions you should we be aski...

 It's the most wonderful time of the year, not only because of Jesus' birth, but because it's the time when un-churched people are most receptive to the gospel. So, what does that mean for us as small town pastors, staff members, and volunteers? How do we make the most of the Christmas season and impact more hurting people than we ever thought possible in our surrounding communities? That's exactl...

In our last episode, we talked about building a bridge from the entrance to the altar. More specifically, we're talking about having a system in place that offers a seamless process for taking a brand new family from the entrance of the church parking lot to the sanctuary altar where we hope they will surrender their life to Christ. The key word here is seamless. Last week we talked about each par...

Most new families know within the first 7 minutes whether or not they are coming back to your church. If the Church's mission is to make disciples (and it is), then our objective for every weekend worship experience should be centered around getting people from the entrance to the altar. But there are alot of variables competing for the attention of the person who needs hope. So, how do we develop...

In the church world, which is an ever-changing, ever evolving, event-driven organization, maintenance mode is NOT an option, not if you want to be a part of a growing church that is reaching new families for Christ continually. So, what does it take? You have to learn forward thinking. There's 3 things you need to know about forward thinking that will positon you for success as you navigate throug...

The success of any volunteer team in a church or an organization is largely determined by having the right people in the right positions on any given team or within any given department. Jim Collins, in his book, Good to Great, says, "The right people in the right place are the foundation of greatness". So, this begs the question, "How do I get the right people in the right positions? That's what...

Whether your church is currently growing or isn't, you should still be asking yourself this question, "Do I have the Leadership quotient to lead our team, or department, or church into this next season of Growth? Am I going to help our church to gain speed or am I going to slow us down? "Am I the gas or the brakes?" In today's episode we're going to give you 4 things that will help you to be prepa...

Tell us if this describes you. You will do just about anything to avoid conflict. You're not a self-starter unless you are working with others, but you really do get things done when it's something YOU want to do. You tend to choose the path of least resistance, You're happy to go along with whatever everyone else wants to do, but can be quietly stubborn when people put unexpected demands on you....

Do you see yourself as one who would say, "Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way!"? Have you ever been told you're a little too blunt or aggressive? Do you enjoy a good verbal debate just to see what others are made of? Are you one who will fight to the death defending people you care about? You my friend could be an 8 on the Enneagram. If you have missed any of these episodes, you have to go b...

Do you see yourself as curious, an investigator, a thinker? Maybe you're more reserved in relationships and you don't play into emotions. You like figuring things out and you love your alone time. You might be a 5 on the Enneagram. Or maybe you see yourself as being overly cautious and often times indecisive. You are a hard worker, highly loyal with people that are close to you, and when you're no...

Do you see yourself as curious, an investigator, a thinker? Maybe you're more reserved in relationships and you don't play into emotions. You like figuring things out and you love your alone time. You might be a 5 on the Enneagram. Or maybe you see yourself as being overly cautious and often times indecisive. You are a hard worker, highly loyal with people that are close to you, and when you're no...

Today is Part 3 of "Utilizing the Enneagram to Understand Yourself and Others". If you didn't catch part 1 or 2 make sure to go back and get caught up. Let's do this. RESOURCES The Road Back to You: https://amzn.to/3A02NRI The Story of You: https://amzn.to/3DRwhCv Take the Integrative Enneagram iEQ9: https://iancron.ieq9.com/ Check out our CHURCH: www.mountainmoverschurch.org Would you like to GIV...

Today is Part 2 of a series we began on our last episode "Utilizing the Enneagram to Understand Yourself and Others". If you didn't catch part 1 make sure to go back. Otherwise a lot of what we're sharing today probably won't make a whole lotta sense. If you are in ministry, you are in the people business. Whether you're a pastor, leader, or volunteer, you need to learn to lead yourself first. It'...

Understanding how you and others are wired is crucial when it comes to relationships. It's true in friendships. It's true in parenting. It's true in marriage. It's true in the workplace. And it's especially true in the local church no matter what role you serve in whether you are a volunteer or the lead pastor. Wherever there are people there are personalities and with each person comes a differen...