There’s a problem with spiritual formation in most churches – many think it’s a combination of faithful attendance and volunteerism. But is that the same thing as following Jesus? Today, we’re starting a series on how to approach spiritual formation in your church.

RL 338: The Problem with Discipleship (Spiritual Formation Series)

Did you know that most Christians only have 10 or less spiritual conversations a year? Maybe it’s a healthy sensitivity for others or maybe we just don’t teach them how to share Jesus through authentic relationship. Today we talk about 3 ways we can help our churches share their faith.

RL 343: Training Churches to Share Their Faith

Research shows that 65% of people are visual learners, but I think it’s safe to say that nearly 100% are visual engagers. Rethinking preaching for a visually-engaged culture – and hopefully having a greater impact. Jason will dive in to his process for preaching visually.

RL 344: Rethinking Preaching for a Visually-Engaged Culture

Today we start pastor appreciation month (I think pastors might be the only ones that know about it). But we are kicking off a few episodes interviewing pastors like you in the trenches – what they’re doing, learning, and how God is showing up. Today we have a great conversation with David Kling from Covenant Presbyterian Church

RL 359: Stories from the Trenches (Pastor David Kling)

Today we continue pastor appreciation month as we interview pastors (like you) in the trenches – what they’re doing, what they’re learning, and how God is showing up. In this episode, we have a great conversation with Pastor Robbie Ytterberg from Toms River NJ– as he talks about helping a church look forward instead of backward.

RL 361: Stories from the Trenches (Pastor Robbie Ytterberg)

As we near the end of pastor appreciation month, we distill what we learned from our pastor interviews.  While we walk away from October feeling very encouraged we also discovered 7 important truths from the trenches.  We’re share those with you AND giveaway our free month of coaching.

RL 362: 7 Important Truths We Learned From Pastor Interviews

Today we conclude pastor appreciation month as we interview pastors (like you) in the trenches – what they’re doing, what they’re learning, and how God is showing up. In this episode have a great conversation with Pastor Dave Burke as we talk about pastor self-care, avoiding burn out and more.

RL 363: Break the Cycle of Burnout - Build a Support System (with David Burke)

It’s Election Day and let’s just say “tensions are high Maverick.” This is a short episode about how we’re thinking about our congregations in the middle of all this: 4 thoughts to consider post-election

RL 364: Election Aftermath - 4 Thoughts for Navigating It

The department stores have all their Christmas stuff on display - and we should be close behind. Today we continue talking about strategic Christmas planning with Nathan Teegarden from Church Fuel. We cover common mistakes that churches make with Christmas as well as key elements that effective churches share.

RL 366: Multiplying Christmas Outreach with Nathan Teegarden

Today we start our series on Dreaming Big for 2025. How do you develop and launch a vision for your church? How do you discern together what God is calling you to do. Today we talk about the 2-sided vision approach.

RL 367: Dreaming Big for 2025 (Part 1: Vision)

We continue our series on Dreaming Big for 2025. How do you develop and launch a vision for your church? How do you discern together what God is calling you to do? Today we talk about how one of the best things you can do is simply get started (easier said than done).

RL 369: Dreaming Big for 2025 (Part 3: Get Started)

Today we continue our series on Dreaming Big for 2025. How do you develop and launch a vision for your church? One of the biggest challenges is overwhelm. There are so many possible targets, which one do we do first? How to prioritize the vision.

RL 370: Dreaming Big for 2025 (Part 4: Prioritizing the Work)

Merry Christmas everyone! If you’re listening in real time, it’s Christmas Eve. Right now we have a short episode talking about some last minute reminders and encouragement for this next week.

RL 371: A Quick Christmas Encouragement

Happy New Year everyone. It’s almost 2025 and before we look ahead, we have an annual tradition of looking back on our top 5 episodes of 2024.

RL 372: 2024 Year-End Special

It’s resolution season, and it’s the perfect time to do a little inventory before jumping into the new year. Cleaning out the garage – what are you holding onto, letting go of, and making room for? We’re talking about how to get a great start on New Year’s opportunity.

RL 373: A Fresh Start in 2025

One of the biggest challenges I hear from pastors (and that we are working through at my church) has to do with volunteers. Are we inviting, equipping, and appreciating them or do they leave feeling a little used and abused?

RL 374: Overcoming 5 Volunteer Obstacles

A lot of ministry challenges can afford to get put on the back burner. But, what happens when you have one that can’t wait? Today we walk through a challenge my church is facing so I can share the process we’ll be using to address it – so that you can apply that same process to whatever challenge you’re facing

RL 375: Attacking a Ministry Challenge Quickly

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.

RL 376: 3 Power Tools for Ministry Progress

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.

RL 377: 5 Questions to Help You Know When to Pivot

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.

RL 378: How Do You Measure Church Health?

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.

RL 379: 5 Steps to Better Reach Young Families

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.

RL 380: Helping the Next Gen Find Jesus

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.

RL 381: What Next Gen Leaders Are Seeing (with Lindsey Larkin)

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. 

RL 382: How to Have Greater Impact with Fewer Meetings

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. 

RL 383: 5 Moves to Cultivate a Healthy Elder Board

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.

RL:384 Getting Ready to Welcome Easter Guests (with Suzanne Duffy)

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. 

RL 385: 5 Key Decisions that Lead to Better Groups

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. 

RL 386: Asking the Right Questions (Part 1)

In this episode of The Reclaimed Leader, we chat with renowned author, speaker, and church consultant, Dr. Bob Whitesel about change, growth, and leadership.

Reclaimed Leader: Helping You Lead Change Without Losing Your Roots

RL 001: Navigating Change with Church Consultant Dr. Bob Whitesel

Today we talk with Pastor Langdon Palmer of Leverington Presbyterian Church, about the challenges of leadership, online church, and finding your way through it all.

www.reclaimedleader.com/episode133

The Reclaimed Leader Podcast: Helping You Lead Change Without Losing Your Roots

RL 133:  The Challenge of Leading Toward an Unknown Destination - with Pastor Langdon Palmer

Church health strategies from two pastors in the trenches

Reclaimed Leader

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