The Church Lobby

A little over a year ago, A.I. came into our lives in a big way. Suddenly, it seemed to be everywhere. Karl Vaters talks with Jason Moore about what A.I. is, why it came into our lives so suddenly, and what its strengths and dangers are.  Then they spend the bulk of this slightly longer-than-usual episode with Jason physically walking us through using A.I. in real time, showing it to us on hi...

Everyone has an opinion about live streaming, pro or con. As I sift through it, I only want to give a platform to the most helpful, thoughtful voices, and Tim Fox is one of them. In this podcast, we talk about the content of a Facebook post Tim wrote that challenged the reasons most churches live stream their services, while offering some thoughtful alternatives. Tim is not anti tech, but he is go...

Pastors need to read, not just for information, but for  formation . Austin Carty and Karl Vaters cover topics like: The importance of reading many types of books, not just works of theology and leadership How reading helps us become more mature, wise, and caring How reading the Bible with a sense of wonder helps embed its truths into our lives How important it is to take reading seriously, n...

Just showing up in people’s lives is such an important aspect of life and ministry. Karl Vaters talks with Drew Dyck about why this is so important, as outlined in Drew’s new book,  Just Show Up: How Small Acts of Faithfulness Change Everything (A Guide for Exhausted Christians) . Including: The value of our physical presence in pastoral ministry The importance of quantity vs quality time How...

Burnout is a huge issue among pastors. But did you know there’s a simple (but not simplistic) way to start addressing and reducing burnout? And that your congregation can help you with it? That’s the premise of Karl's conversation with Josh Taylor, based on his book,  A Preach Well Church: How Churches Can Stop Burning Out Pastors . Josh and Karl talk a...

There are so many books about how to turn a lifeless church around. Most concentrate on the pastor’s role. But what about the role of the congregation members? In small churches, this is especially important. Karl Vaters talks with Bud Brown about how to help the congregation become agents of life and hope in a dying church through the power of prayer, from the content of the book,  Lifeless...

In a recent survey, 80 percent of respondents said "yes" to the question, “since serving on a church board, do you feel your spiritual life has declined?” Why is this happening, and what can be done about it? In this episode, Karl Vaters talks with Dave Beckwith about How to Turn Your Board Meetings Into God Meetings, including How our current corporate style of board meetings isn’t just...

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...