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
Ep 099: Russ Taff, on Childhood Trauma, Church Hurt, Alcoholism, Fame, Redemption, and His New Album
Karl Vaters talks with Russ Taff. One of the great voices of Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) in the 1970s-90s, Russ won five Grammys, 13 Dove Awards, and was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame three times (with the Imperials, the Gaither Vocal Band, and as a solo artist).
He also spent decades struggling with alcoholism, church hurt, and shame, stemming from the severe trauma he experienced in the pastor's...
Alberto Bello is a church planter in Bakersfield CA, and he’s written one of those books everyone says they could write, Ten Things They Didn't Tell Me About Leadership.
Karl Vaters talks with Alberto about that book, the experiences that led to it, and the lessons to be learned from it.
Including:
- Knowing who you are in Jesus
- The Comparison Trap
- How failure is necessary for success
- How not to be people-pleasing leader
- And more
Mike Rubino is a pastor in the unique ministry environment of Long Island NY. He’s also the founder and director of Church Revitalize, which helps churches that need to revitalize their ministry, through cohorts, coaching, and more.
Karl Vaters talks with Mike about church revitalization, with a focus on Mike’s new workbook, The Revitalize Roadmap: Getting Your Church on the Road to Greater Health.
Subjects includ...
Every church should be open to everyone who wants to attend. So, we need to be more purposeful about making sure we're not unintentionally denying access without realizing it.
Barbara Stanley oversees Wonderful Works Ministry, which equips churches to serve families affected by disability. They have a large and growing set of resources to help churches of all types.
Karl Vaters talks with Barb about a variety of subjec...
A clergy sabbatical is not a luxury for the few, it’s an essential element in recalibrating your ministry and reestablishing healthy habits for ministry longevity.
Sabbaticals are having a moment right now. With the accelerated pace of life and ministry, we’re recognizing their value in a fresh, new way.
Sean Nemecek and the team at Pastor In Residence Ministries have been working with pastors for years, helping them get the mos...
Have you ever noticed that people don’t pay attention to sermons the way they used to? It may not be the fault of shorter attention spans (not exclusively, anyway). There’s a lot more happening — and we, as pastors and communicators can do something about it.
Karl Vaters talks with Payton Minzenmayer. He's a pastor, and the founder of ChristianStoryLab.com, a new website that offers great...
According to John’s vision in Revelation 7:9, heaven will be filled with people who are still recognized by their ethnicity (every nation, tribe, people, and language). So, if we want the church here and now to reflect that, Sunday mornings must stop being the most segregated time of the week.
That’s the premise of Karl Vaters’ conversation with Jamaal Williams and Timothy Paul Jones, the co-authors of In Church as It Is in Hea...
The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus changed everything. Not just for eternity, but for the world here and now.
According to Glen Scrivener, the author of The Air We Breathe, How We All Came to Believe In Freedom, Kindness, Progress, and Equality, most of what we now consider to be self-evident human values were not so evident or common before Jesus.
In this conversation, Karl and Glen talk about:
- How so many principles ...
Karl Vaters talks with Scot McKnight about what we can learn from those who are deconstructing their faith.
This conversation is based on the content of Scot’s new book (co-written with Tommy Preson Phillips), Invisible Jesus: A Book about Leaving the Church and Looking for Christ.
This is a challenging book and a challenging conversation, especially if you are to the right of center theologically and politically (like Scot...
Karl Vaters interviews Matt Lucas about starting your congregation on the road to spiritual maturity through increasing their Bible reading. Specifically, how reading the Bible at least four times a week is so powerful, it's been called "The Power of Four."
Matt is the CEO of Our Daily Bread (known for their quarterly devotionals) and The Center for Bible Engagement.
Karl and Matt talk about:
- What is The Power of Four?
- Why does rea...
Retirement isn’t what it used to be. In the U.S. military, retirement is mandatory at 62 years of age, but U.S. Army Garrison Chaplain (MAJ) Lisa A. Northway is an exception to that. Lisa, who’s currently stationed in Fort Sill, OK, has been called the “Grandma Moses” of the Army Chaplaincy. She recently received permission to extend her chaplaincy for a few more years.
In this podcast, Karl Vaters talks with Lisa about how to have ...
Small churches aren’t a problem to fix, they’re a unique part of the body of Christ that has gifts we need to embrace.
Karl Vaters talks with Allen T. Stanton about the importance of embracing what’s right about small churches, not in spite of being small, but because they’re small, in a conversation based on the content of Allen's book, The Gift of Small: Embracing Your Church’s Vocation.
Some of the subjects they cover include...
Working a side hustle is no longer the exception for pastors, it’s the norm. Embracing it might answer a lot of your (and your church’s) needs.
Karl Vaters talks with Jon Sanders about the rise in covocational pastoring and why it’s something more pastors, especially small-church pastors, should take seriously. Jon is the co-host of the EntrePastors Podcast and the co-founder of EntrePastors.com (with Les Hughes).
The cultu...
Why would a young church planter choose to do ministry in the poorest neighborhood of a city in crisis?
Many churches are fleeing the inner cities. Grand old church buildings with deep histories sit empty. But Tim Walker and Restored Church are facing these realities head-on in Wilkes-Barre PA.
Karl Vaters talks with Tim about subjects like:
- Their church’s Hub for Movement strategy
- Their decision to do mini...
Karl Vaters talks with Chase Replogle about one of the most controversial, but unavoidable topics today—living with offense without being offended. This material comes from his just-released book, A Sharp Compassion: 7 Hard Words to Heal Our Insecurities and Free Us from Offense.
Karl and Chase talk about why offense is a necessary part of life, how to use it well, and deal with it properly.
Subjects include:
- How Jesus i...
In September and October over 1.2 million people will search online for “Trunk-or-Treat near me.” Here’s how to be one of the churches they find.
Karl Vaters talks with Darrell Stetler about practical steps to help churches of any size put on a high-quality, gospel-centered Trunk-or-Treat event. Darrell is a small-church pastor in Oklahoma City and he has created a free 23-page guide called Trunk-orTreat Planning for Churches: ...
Karl Vaters talks with Brad Roth about the content from his new book, Flyover Church: How Jesus’ Ministry in Rural Places Is Good News Everywhere, for which Karl wrote the foreword.
Topics include:
- How the rural church is different from the city and suburban church, not just in scale, but in type
- How metrics are very different in the rural church
- The lure of strategy
- The radically different pace of rural ministry
- And more
Sometimes pastors are our own worst enemy, so we need to recognize that God chose us for this work.
There’s probably not a single pastor (at least not a long-term pastor) who can’t relate to the title of Craig T Owens’ latest book, When Sheep Bite: Help for Shepherd Leaders Who May Have Felt the Painful Bites.
In this conversation, Karl Vaters talks with Craig about what those bites mean, where they come from and what to do...
Karl Vaters talks with Frank Wooden about Microchurches. Frank has been a church planter for decades, but is now concentrating on the Microchurch model as a valid, healthy alternative in a changing cultural landscape.
Karl and Frank talk about:
- What Microchurch is
- Why it’s so appealing right now
- Some cautions to be aware of
- Three reasons the Microchurch model can work for a church of any size
- How the Microchurch model might be the an...
Karl Vaters talks with Laurie Acker about the changing face of small church ministry, especially as it relates to recruiting, training, and relying on the volunteers who are so essential in helping small churches survive and thrive in a changing world.
Laurie runs SmallChurchMinistry.com, an online ministry that provides resources and support for volunteers and ministry leaders in smaller churches. Ministries like this are so i...
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