unSeminary Podcast

The coming months hold an unprecedented opportunity to see your church impact more people than ever before. As the country begins to shake off the shackles of COVID-19 and the ensuing economic calamity, we’re seeing new windows of opportunity. We must leverage this season for the message of Jesus. We can echo what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 6:9, “a great door for effective work has opened to me.” Let’s not miss this tremendous opportunity that is just around the corner! Fall 2021 is when your church must invite more people to be a part of your community. The difference between leading churches and languishing churches is that leading churches motivate their people to invite their friends to church. Whether it’s in-person or online, churches that make an impact consistently find new ways to encourage their people to invite their friends to be a part of the church. Typically, in the fall, we see growth opportunities as people reorient their lives and come up with new rhythms. It’s sort of like a “second new year”, particularly because many churches are trying to reach families and kids. The return to school drives how young families operate. This fall will be the first time that kids return to school and normal family life emerges from the haze of the pandemic that started in March 2020! Let’s not miss this opportunity, friends, and find ways to leverage this turning point to invite more friends than we ever have before. As I’ve watched churches in this season, I’ve noted a disturbing trend. Some churches are leveraging soft guilt with their people about how important it is for them to “return to the building.” Churches that obsess about getting people to the building will ultimately lose the bigger picture. It’s a small vision to just get people back into the buildings they were in before March 2020. Let’s cast a bigger vision and move beyond shame and motivating people to get into our boxes. I’ve heard too many churches leverage negative emotions to motivate people to return. Here are some lines that are being used: “We know there’s nothing like being in the room together.”“It’s time to return.”“Our forefathers fought for your right to attend church. You can fight the couch and join us.”“When the doors of the church are open, believers need to darken them!” I’ve even heard churches misquote passages like Psalm 122:1 [ref], which sets a dangerous precedent when we talk about our church buildings like the temple in the Old Testament. There’s a theological point to be made that one of the things Jesus undid on the cross was the limitation of where the spirit of God chooses to move.  On the cross, Jesus declared that he can move in any place and any season. This needs to drive our mission in reaching new people, not a hyper-obsession with getting people who used to sit inside our boxes to come and sit in them again. Let’s not miss this opportunity to encourage our people to invite their friends. As people reorient their lives, there are new opportunities for your church to invite people to be a part of your community, whether that’s online or in-person. There are all kinds of signs that travel will be at incredible levels over the summertime. As we approach Labor Day, it will begin to wane, and people will be looking to establish new patterns in their lives. Let’s create a positive community image with our people that will encourage them to come back and be a part of the good things that are happening in our churches. Here are a few ways that you can leverage this fall to reach more people. 5 Ways to Leverage Fall 2021 to Grow Your Church Growing churches consistently motivate their people to be a part of the mission. At a bare minimum, they move people to invite their friends to be a part of the good things that God’s doing in their lives. However, fall 2021 presents all kinds of opportunities for drawing people to church. Package it as a season. // Many churches will have individual series that may last for three to eight weeks. However, for communication purposes, I think churches should package fall 2021 as one branded season. String several series together to make a season with an informative title e.g., “Season of Hope”, “Changing Seasons for the Better”, or “Homecoming Season”. We know that nothing builds momentum in a church like something new and so repackaging the fall, from a communications point of view, will build anticipation. It will also be the kind of thing that sparks people’s curiosity and encourage them to invite their friends to be a part of it.Through studies, we know that varying levels of COVID hesitancy will continue in our culture. [ref] Thus, rather than trying to drive everyone back to a single Sunday or a single series, branding the entire season gives a lot of on-ramps for people to connect with your church when they are ready. Leverage all the “firsts” again. // There’s

Welcome to the unSeminary podcast. Today we’re talking with Dr. Steve Brown, President of Arrow Leadership and author of the book Jesus Centered: Focusing On Jesus In A Distracted World. Steve works to help leaders find clarity, community and confidence in their work as Jesus-centered leaders. He’s talking with us today about how to lead more like Jesus by loving your people well and encouraging them right where they are. Pray for and love others. // Jesus loved the disciples – not only with words, but also with time, actions, and by praying for them. Do we treat the people we are supervising with the same care and encouragement? Sometimes we can see people as vehicles for getting stuff done, or as obstacles to completing tasks, instead of praying for and loving them. Steve has created a chart for each month in which he has two people from his team who he prays for every day. This schedule can get you into the rhythm of thinking about the people you lead and praying for them regularly. Connect with people at work by pausing and asking more questions. Check in with your team members to see how they are doing in their lives outside of the office.Give encouragement. // As a senior leader, let your people know that you are thinking of and praying for them and are proud of them. Sometimes we overestimate how encouraging we really are, and underestimate how much people need encouragement. Some people like to be called out in public, other people like to receive a card, or be invited out to lunch – just begin and learn what means the most to your team members as you go.Jesus in leadership. // Steve’s book, Jesus Centered, talks about three important conversations to have with your team as you look to Christ as your model in leadership: How can we be led more by Jesus – individually, as a team, or as a church? How can we lead more like Jesus as a team and individually? And how can we lead more to Jesus? These are critical conversations and will yield a lot of good fruit on your staff and in your church.Safe, Stretch, and Stress. // As you prepare to help your team members grow, look at each person with three S words in mind: Safe, Stretch, and Stress. Where are your people in those categories? Is someone in a safe space and not challenged enough in their work? Lead them into the stretch zone with increased responsibilities. In the stretch zone they will need to learn to depend on God as they grow beyond what is merely safe. But if stretched too far, they can land in the stress zone and you’ll need to bring them back to a place where they are stretched but not stressed. Knowing where your people are helps you to discern the next developmental step for each team member.Tic Tac Toe. // Another tool that helps team members find their sweet spot is to have each person draw a Tic Tac Toe board. Then have them identify nine words or phrases that represent them when they are at their best professionally. Write these words into the squares of the Tic Tac Toe board. Next have them decide whether each box is red, yellow, or green. Red is for those things that aren’t happening, yellow are things that happen sometimes, and green are things that they do regularly. Use this tool to discover what is holding your team back from their best. Are people in the right spot in your organization? What can you do to help them?Jesus-centered development. // Arrow Leadership offers Jesus-centered programs, personal mentoring, organizational consulting and resources that develop you and your team to lead differently. The programs have different streams depending on if a leader is emerging or established, and each stream is highly personalized, highly intentional, and highly transformational. Participants will explore leadership, character, spiritual health, self-awareness, and more. And these programs also provide safe places where leaders can be vulnerable and real. You can also learn more about Arrow Leadership and their many resources at arrowleadership.org and find Steve’s book Jesus Centered on Amazon. Plus download the free resource Great Questions for Leading Well here. Thank You for Tuning In! There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they’re extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally! Lastly, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live! Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Chemistry Staffing It’s important for church leaders to pursue the right fit for the right position, which helps

Welcome to this week’s unSeminary podcast. Today we’re chatting with Jannet Morgan, the Executive Assistant (EA) to Lead Pastor, Tim Lucas, at Liquid Church in New Jersey. She’s with us today to talk about the role of the EA supporting leadership in the church and how to make the most out of that partnership. Be aware of the challenges. // Sometimes it’s difficult to establish a good working relationship between the executive and the executive assistant. In some cases hiring for the EA position is put on hold until budget allows for it, but by then the executive may be overwhelmed and overworked. It can be hard to find someone great to gear up quickly to support the pastor. There’s no manual for this sort of relationship and as a result executives may not know where they need the most help while EAs are trying to learn on the fly, but also struggle to discern what an executive or pastor really wants. Executives may not know how to manage their EA since they are trying to offload what they are doing.Where to begin? // At the beginning of the exec/EA relationship it’s common not to know where to start. People wonder what should the routine and workflow look like, and how should we work together? In the corporate world, the EA is often an entry level position whereas in the church it’s a high level position. Often a pastor’s EA is privy to sensitive information as they help the pastor with various issues such as staff, church finances, contracts, and so on. Jannet recommends having conversations early about priorities, goals, communication, and expectations.Get to know each other. // In the beginning of an EA’s employment, have a few meetings just to get to know each other and invite your EA to ask questions. If you can, try to allow for overlap between your new EA and old EA so your new hire can learn more quickly. Also, arrange for the EA to meet with other members of the team that you work closely with or who your EA will work closely with to understand roles and relationships. It’s helpful for your EA to know what your top goals are so that they have a better understanding of how they can support you well. Communication of expectations between you both should be clear. An EA needs to study the executive, understanding what he likes to do and anticipating what his needs are. Jannet often shadows the lead pastor, attending meetings with him so she can keep abreast of what’s happening on different projects and what problems are surfacing. As their partnership has grown, Jannet can now stand in the gap for the lead pastor when he’s not available and communicate with people who are coming to him for questions or approvals.Empower and grow the assistant. // As a leader, you can approach hiring an EA in two ways: Do you want someone who is purely an assistant—doing your expense reports, calendaring, and correspondence? Or do you want to go beyond that and leverage the skillset which you hired them for, pouring into them because they are so important to your work life? Think of ways you can empower them and grow their leadership skills to be a growing leader in your own organization.Five essential conversations. // Don’t miss the June 23rd workshop designed for executive church leaders and their assistants. This workshop will dive into five conversations that are essential for the executive and the EA to have. These include talking through priorities and goals, rules and filters, personal preferences, discussing the communication rhythm, and expectations for the EA role. You can reach out to Jannet via email and learn more about Liquid Church at liquidchurch.com. REGISTER TODAY: Executive & Assistant Live Workshop // HOW TO CREATE GREAT PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR EA 2 HOUR LIVE WORKSHOP // JUNE 23rd // 3pm (ET) or 12noon (PT) Thank You for Tuning In! There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they’re extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally! Lastly, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live! Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Risepointe Is your church ready? Are you re-opening? Ready to welcome MORE people to worship and grow with your church? Are you out of space or are your interiors dated and needing improvement? The architecture and design team at Risepointe want to help you align your facility with the mission and vision that God has given your church. That’s why Risepointe developed The Needs Analysis. The Needs An

Thanks for joining in for this week’s unSeminary podcast. We’re talking with Jenn Clauser, the Director of Communications at Coker United Methodist Church in San Antonio, Texas. She’s with us today to dig deeper into online church and how to integrate it as a core part of our mission to reaching people who are far from God. Optimize your website. // Before COVID, Coker felt led to make their online presence more robust. They partnered with Missional Marketing who rebuilt the church’s website for search engine optimization. By paying attention to what people are looking for in keyword searches online from month to month, a website can be made to do outreach for you. Coker layers these words into their website in an authentic way by using them in sermon series. Divorce, for example, is a high search term in the month of January, so Coker tends to lead into the year with a series about families. They might use phrases on their website such as: How do you avoid divorce? How do you care for someone who has been divorced? How do we strengthen marriage? By developing a strong online presence, you will be easily found by your community in their time of need.Create connections. // As online viewership increased during COVID, Coker began to ask how they could see the analytics as faces. These are real people looking for guidance and connections. Feed them where they are and offer them help and services online even if you can’t see them. Coker did this by connecting their online audience to meaningful community. A few steps they took included setting up a way where online guests could register their attendance and let you know their names and email addresses. They created a place for online prayer requests and a team responds to these requests in real time. Coker also offered people a free book in exchange for their email address, as well as one-off courses, like a simple marriage class. Have a connections expert who is in charge of reaching out to them see where their needs are.Launch classes online. // Within their online campus, Coker listed all of their courses online. Allowing all of your classes to be attended in that format opens the door to a new audience who may never have attended your church before. Coker has their classes set up similar to Google Classroom. People can get the class content, a Facebook group where they can connect during the week, the Zoom link, and other resources for attendees. Online classes provide a way to reach people that won’t walk through the doors of your church right away, but they feel comfortable being present in an online Zoom classroom. It gives them the chance to know others’ faces, and provides a bridge where they could feel comfortable attending church in person down the road. Don’t miss this mission field opportunity.Brainstorm new ideas. // Recognizing the opportunities that are provided by mixing online and in-person, Coker is brainstorming a lot of possible ideas right now. In the fall they are launching an intentional discipleship program where people take an online assessment, get their results, and then meet with a spiritual director who will guide their next steps. Depending on what the spiritual director recommends, people may then get involved in online classes to help them study the Bible better or dig deeper into prayer. Another new thing Coker is trying is assembling five community groups. Four of these will be in-person and one will be online. Each group will meet quarterly as a community gathering for things such as a BBQ, a study group, a monthly dinner, etc. Coker will see what organically grows from there.Listen well. // During this transitional phase it’s important for churches to be listening to what their community needs as well as how they want to connect with your church. Don’t be afraid to try new ideas and offer a mix of online and in-person services or events. Most of all, make space to listen to God. During the pandemic, God has shown Jenn that she needs to be intentional about her connection with Him. Pay particular attention to your sabbath, your time with God alone, and time with other people and how God might be speaking through them. Commit everything to prayer, and know who your Spirit-led experts are. Talk decisions out with other leaders at the church, but also don’t be afraid to use Google to research and learn! You can learn more about Coker United Methodist Church at www.coker.org and visit their online campus at Coker.org/cokeronline. Thank You for Tuning In! There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they’re extremely helpful when it

It’s clear that we’re entering a post-pandemic stress period in the life of the local church. All around us we see signs that our teams are stressed and not sure what to do next. Anecdotally, we’re hearing about huge turnover at churches, and we cannot ignore the rising anxiety in leaders across the country. Recently, Adam Grant wrote an article in the New York Times called, “There’s a Name For The Blah You’re Feeling: It’s Called Languishing”. This article has been passed around in many of my circles because it accurately captures where so many of our teams are at right now. The sense of blah that has come over many of our team members is impacting not only their mental health but the ability of our churches to push forward and make a difference in our communities. As executive pastors, we’re concerned and are wondering what we can do to help. Rather than being content with letting this problem roll over us, I want to provide some guidance to help you wrestle with actions you could take to help your team move forward. I believe that it’s possible to move from languishing to flourishing. In this season, we must help all our team members take steps away from languishing and toward flourishing. Ultimately, we need people to grow their relationship with Jesus because He anchors our forward-facing steps. Our friends at Medi-Share have released a particularly helpful study in light of the issues in Grant’s article. This study is called the “10 Things About Mental Health Every Pastor and Leader Should Know” and its findings can help us figure out a way forward for our teams. 3 Actions Your Church Can Take to Help Languishing Team Members Actively de-stigmatize counseling // One of the shocking statistics that stood out in the Medi-Share study was that 71% of pastors fear their congregation knowing that they’re getting counseling. Counseling has been an important part of my journey as a leader over the last 10 years. I have found it exceedingly helpful. In my marriage, it’s been a source of joy as we’ve taken time to slow down and draw from a trusted advisor who can help us wrestle through what God has to say about our relationship and help me think about thinking. Gone is the season where pastors and church leaders need to think about themselves as superhuman. This statistic made me sad to think that there are still many pastors out there who fear that people in the church may think less of them for seeking personal counsel. Because in fact, the opposite is true. Investing in your own mental health by seeking counsel is a sign of strength, not a sign of weakness. As a leadership team, we not only need to provide access to counseling as a way of helping our team grow but actively work at de-stigmatizing it. Casually talk about it in your leadership teams. Ensure that the way you speak about it from the stage is pro-counseling. Find ways to encourage your staff to connect with counseling. Medi-Share provides remote counseling to its member churches, which is incredible! Learn more about it here. I’ve found remote counseling to be immensely effective and easy to slot into my life during this season. It could be a perfect tool to offer your teammates as they navigate the post-pandemic period. What can you do to help remove any hesitation around getting counseling for your team? Help Your Team Make Professional Friends // According to the Medi-Share study, 75% of pastors said they felt isolated and alone, both personally and professionally. We all know that people who feel isolated present a real danger to their mental health and the mental health of those around them. The stereotype of the lone pastor sitting in their office, whittling away on their latest sermon while dealing with current church pressures has some truth to it. Ministry can be a lonely profession even for people serving on a team. We must turn this around for our people! Within your staff community, ensure that you are creating opportunities for people to connect. One of the most important things that people need to succeed in any job is a “work friend”. It is our responsibility to structure opportunities for friendships to develop and grow. Taking time out to do something social has always been important for our teams and is doubly important in this season. You could also provide opportunities for your people to develop friendships external to your church. Part of the reason why we run online coaching cohorts at unSeminary for executive pastors and team members is that we want people to develop friendships across the country. One of the amazing outcomes of the pandemic is that people are increasingly more comfortable with meeting and developing relationships online. These professional huddles are an important tool for people to develop friendships and not feel isolated. Sharing problems that you’re having at your church with others can be a breath of fresh air and you’ll realize