A Conversation with Josh Howerton and Chris Kuti of Lakepointe Church

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Podcast Show Notes: The Future of Church Leadership with Josh Howerton and Chris Kuti

Guests: Josh Howerton (Senior Pastor) and Chris Kuti (Worship Pastor) from LakePoint Church
Hosts: Jake Gosselin and Matt Woltjer from Churchfront

Key Topics Discussed

AI in Ministry (00:02:15)

• Josh's approach: Uses ChatGPT weekly for sermon prep as a "high-powered research assistant"
• Prompt strategy: "Give me 20 interesting facts about [passage] that are historical, cultural, theological, archeological, linguistic, or biblical that most Christians wouldn't know"
• Chris's usage: Meeting organization, content creation, voice conversations during drives
• Key principle: Use AI as a tool that serves you, don't serve the tool
• Important caveat: Always fact-check AI outputs - they can be wrong up to 17% of the time

Church Technology Criticism (00:58:22)

• The "negative world" concept by Aaron Renn - cultural shift from positive to neutral to negative perception of Christianity
• Common criticisms: "Tax the churches," "Money should go to the poor"
• Biblical response: Only Judas complained about expensive things being used to honor Jesus
• Economic reality: Larger churches often spend lower percentages on tech than smaller churches due to economy of scale
• Technology costs: Modern equipment costs significantly less than in the early 2000s

Social Media Strategy (00:12:38)

• Initial resistance: Reformed background's "theologized cynicism" toward self-promotion
• The turning point: People spend 16-18 hours/week on social media hearing secular perspectives
• "Air war vs. Ground war": Ground war = traditional discipleship, Air war = cultural engagement
• Digital Areopagus: Social media as the modern equivalent of where Paul engaged culture in Athens
• Current following growth: From 20-40k to significantly larger audience through strategic content

Worship Pastor Turnover Crisis (01:26:06)

• Root causes identified:
  • Getting into ministry for wrong reasons (seeking bigger stages/record deals)
  • Senior pastors hiring for talent over pastoral gifting
  • Lack of pastoral development and broader leadership responsibilities
  • "Warm up the crowd" mentality rather than true pastoral partnership
• Solutions proposed:
  • Hire character first, develop competency
  • Give worship pastors genuine pastoral responsibilities
  • Focus on being pastors who happen to use music
  • Create long-term development paths

Hiring and Leadership Development (00:36:29)

• Key principle: "Always bet on leadership" over pure talent
• Character evaluation: Look at family life as indicator of leadership capacity
• "Hire slow, fire fast" - don't ignore red flags in interviews
• Vision alignment: Ensure worship leaders can come under senior pastor's vision
• Josh's story: Had to fire a worship leader after 5 weeks for vision misalignment

Succession Planning (00:45:13)

• LakePoint's success factors:
  • Outgoing pastor (Steve Stroop) "left campground clean" - addressed problems before transition
  • Incoming pastor honored what came before rather than dismissing it
  • 70% credit to predecessor, 30% to successor for smooth transition
• Key advice for incoming leaders:
  • Honor those who built what you inherited
  • Watch your pace in first year - observe more than you act
  • Win relationships and excel on stage
  • Don't make major changes without building equity first

Staying Humble While Growing (00:52:54)