The Church Lobby
Karl Vaters interviews church leaders about the important issues of faith and ministry. It's called The Church Lobby because: The church lobby is where the church meets and does ministry. The church lobby moves conversations from the stage to the floor. The church lobby is a good place to take the temperature of a church’s health. Karl Vaters is the author of several books, including Small Church Essentials and The Grasshopper Myth. Formerly known as Can This Work In a Small Church?, this podcast primarily looks at church leadership from a small church perspective.
Episodes
November 30, 2023 • 44 mins
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 showing up is not the end game, it’s t...
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November 16, 2023 • 56 mins
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 about what causes ministry stress, and how to start relieving that stress by doing ...
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November 2, 2023 • 56 mins
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 to New Life: Biblical prayers to resurrec...
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October 19, 2023 • 41 mins
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 unbiblical, it’s causing great harm to boar...
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October 5, 2023 • 40 mins
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:
Why church size matters— but not in th...
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September 21, 2023 • 33 mins
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 (Available to Patreon supporters and newsletter subscribers on our Youtube channel)
How We Found Great Churches On Our Sabb...
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September 7, 2023 • 63 mins
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, Brady uses his technical skills f...
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August 24, 2023 • 54 mins
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 family and choose kindness instead. Plus, he answers several...
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August 3, 2023 • 50 mins
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 foundation they’re building on. It may even reframe t...
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July 14, 2023 • 34 mins
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 speaks to us through its pages
How to r...
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June 22, 2023 • 25 mins
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 most out of a sabbatical
Links:
PastorSoul.com
The DREAM Guide
Bonu...
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June 8, 2023 • 50 mins
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 creating
Creating videos that answer the...
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May 18, 2023 • 40 mins
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 resignations hasn’t happened
What to do in...
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May 4, 2023 • 44 mins
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 shoulders he was standing on.
His vulnerabili...
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April 20, 2023 • 51 mins
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 defeated, but as people God loves and who c...
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April 6, 2023 • 45 mins
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 struggling with is burnout?
How do I take ste...
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March 23, 2023 • 50 mins
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 metrics of demographics and at...
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March 9, 2023 • 53 mins
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 lead based in confidence or humility
The essen...
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February 23, 2023 • 52 mins
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 can be) so helpful is now causing sign...
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February 9, 2023 • 56 mins
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 great hopefulness of solo-past...
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