The Church Lobby

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...

Karl Vaters interviews Ron Klassen of the Rural Home Missionary Association (RHMA) about seeing the unique nature of the small church, not as a problem to be solved, but as a strength to leverage, and even to exploit. Here are a few highlights: Small churches have unique ministry gifts that shouldn’t be seen as problems to fix, but as positives to exploit. The relational aspect of small churches i...

Karl Vaters interviews Matt Whitman, host of the Ten Minute Bible Hour podcast and YouTube channel. Karl and Matt talk about the intersection of Bible teaching/preaching and pastoral care. This conversation also covers  The importance of our online presence How to avoid the temptation of living by clicks Taking care not to get stuck wandering down political and theological rabbit trails Why t...

Karl Vaters interviews Matt Steen, a former pastor and church planter, now with Chemistry Staffing, a ministry that helps churches find great staff members (and helps staff members find great churches). The episode is filled with practical advice, including What’s changed in pastoral transition/placement over the last generation How the pandemic has accelerated pastoral transitions The five key pr...

Karl Vaters interviews John C. Nugent about this subject, which is at the root of some of the biggest challenges pastors are facing today. Dr. Nugent is the author of several books including Endangered Gospel: How Fixing the World Is Killing the Church. He is a professor of Old Testament studies at Great Lakes Christian College, and co-host of the After Class Podcast. John’s approach helps us unde...

Karl Vaters interviews Cory Hartman, co-author of Future Church: Seven Laws of Real Church Growth about what happened when church growth answers didn't work for him or the church he served. His background and experiences will sound familiar to most small church leaders. And this conversation will be very encouraging. In this conversation, Cory and Karl talk about  How Cory, a “failed” small c...

Karl Vaters interviews Dr. Sandie Morgan, co-author of the new book,  Ending Human Trafficking . In this episode we talk about how healthy churches are uniquely positioned to help prevent human trafficking, including: What signs to look for in people who may be vulnerable How to partner with other agencies and law enforcement How to set proper policies Why we need to pay more attention to lab...

Karl Vaters interviews Dr. Gary McIntosh about Donald McGavran's role as the pioneer of the church growth movement. But don’t let the term "church growth movement" stop you from listening. Dr. McIntosh tells us that the origins of church growth are far different than what most of us have been taught recently. Some of the misunderstandings he clears up include: That it came from the heart of a...

An interview with Austin Savage about the role of marketing in church leadership, including what marketing is, what it isn’t, and why we need to destigmatize it to use it effectively. You may know Austin from the work he did with 95Network.com, including several years co-hosting the 95Podcast with Dale Sellers. Recently, he established Austin Savage & Co. to help churches with creating content...

So, your church has a Facebook page? In a small church, that should be enough of an online presence, right? Wrong. It finally happened! The answer to the question, "Can This Work In A Small Church?" isn't "yes"! (Well, not entirely, anyway.) Find out why in this interview with Josh Givens. Topics include: The importance of getting online Why we must stay connected to the people we meet there Why w...

An interview with Jon Sanders, the founder of SmallTownBigChurch.com, co-host of the EntrePastors podcast and author of Rural Church RESCUE: A Call to Restore Healthy Churches to Rural North America . Jon and Karl talk about how Jon used the principles he learned as a firefighter to help churches better understand how to do ministry that matters. The parallels between the roles of firefighter and...

Karl Vaters interviews Dr. Vincent E. Gil, the author of  A Christian's Guide Through the Gender Revolution: Gender, Cisgender, Transgender, and Intersex  (Cascade Publishing, 2021.) . Dr. Gil taught human sexuality and counseled at a conservative Christian college for 38 years. He has been a consultant on sexual issues for church leaders and denominations, and is himself a licensed mini...

Karl Vaters and Jeff Hamilton (founder of Dad Academy) talk about the importance of helping men become the dad they want to be by becoming at least as intentional in their parenting as they are in their job. Topics include: Why “Dadding” is so important and so challenging The importance of having an intentional plan The impact of building a positive culture in your home by creating...

The  Bible-Reading Coach  is a guide to help anyone read through the entire Bible in 52 weeks. It all starts with a weekly podcast, available in both audio and video formats, hosted by pastor and author Karl Vaters, it’s designed to help beginners and longtime Bible readers get more out of your journey through God’s Word by making your reading journey Simple, Understandable, and Rewardin...

Karl Vaters interviews Peyton Jones, a church planter and church planting specialist. He’s written several books, most recently,  Church Plantology: The Art and Science of Planting Churches , which is the basis for this conversation. Peyton and Karl talk about a lot of issues regarding church planting, but mostly about how most of our common perceptions of church planting are built on a fault...

An interview with Jason Moore about how to blend online & in-person worship. Jason is the founder of the Both/And seminars which helps churches of all sizes create a better worship experience for both the online audience and the in-person congregation. In this conversation, Karl Vaters talks to Jason about how a church of any size can use online and in-person church to make each a better exper...

Karl Vaters interviews Matt Branaugh about the important subjects of law, tax and finances in the church. Matt is an Attorney at Law and Content Editor for Church Law & Tax. In this conversation, Karl and Matt talk about some of the biggest recent issues in these important areas – you know, the things we hate to deal with, but need to take care of. Thankfully, Matt knows how to talk about them...

Karl Vaters interviews Bob Roberts Jr., a pastor, author, global strategist and more. Bob has a heart for Jesus, for the Gospel, for all kinds of people, and for the role of the small congregation in fulfilling God’s mission.   Karl and Bob have a free-wheeling conversation that touches on many subjects, all of which can help every church and every church leader. Links from this episode: My P...

My podcast guest this week is Gary Garcia — again. This time we talk about Pastoral Transition from a unique perspective. I was Gary’s lead pastor for 25 years, then Gary became the lead pastor, while I stayed on the pastoral staff with him. In this episode Gary and I talk about Why that happened How we did it How it’s been going since Some key points about making a successful pastoral transition...