The Church Lobby
by Karl Vaters
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
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Ep 139: Overcoming Narcissism: Chuck DeGroat on the Slow, Courageous Work of Cultivating Character
“If we are to see a recovery of trust and integrity, it will demand a radical reorientation in how we form leaders, how we imagine success, and how we live our lives before God and one another.” That’s a quote from Chuck DeGroat’s new book, Who You're Becoming: The Slow and Courageous Work of...
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Ep 138: The Renewed Pastor: Dale Sellers on How to Stay Healthy When Ministry Demands Keep Changing
Karl Vaters and Dale Sellers have good news and bad news for you. The good news is that pastors are staying in their churches longer than ever before. The bad news is that pastors are aging and there aren’t as many young pastors coming in. This makes pastoral and church renewal more important…
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Ep 137: Magnify Your Ministry Voice: Ed Stetzer and Corey Alderin on Using Tech to Reach Your Community
What if you could use the hard work for the sermon you’ve already done, then leverage it for an even greater online impact? Well, you can. And it doesn’t take technical wizardry to pull it off. Karl Vaters interviews Ed Stetzer and Corey Alderin about how tech has become so user-friendly that it...
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Ep 136: The Cost of the Camera: Karl Vaters on Why I Changed My Mind About Church Live Streaming
Is online church, real church? I used to say online church is real church, it’s just not enough church. But I’ve changed my mind. Live streaming came into our lives in a big way in 2020, and now after living with it for six years, we can look at it with a little more wisdom and objectivity. In…
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Ep 135: Afraid of God? Ryan Lokkesmoe on How Paganism Has Invaded The Church (And A Way Out)
Karl Vaters interviews pastor Ryan Lokkesmoe about a problem many pastors are facing in their churches, even if they haven’t been able to identify it yet. Many of our church members are accidental pagans. Karl and Ryan talk about how so many ancient pagan practices have made their way into many…
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Ep 134: More than Money: Nathan Meador & Heath R. Curtis on Stewardship for the Care of Souls
Karl Vaters talks with Nathan Meador and Heath R. Curtis about how to take a more Bible-based and holistic approach to stewardship in the church. It’s not a plea for finances, it’s a basis for a healthy church, life, and ministry. Based on Nathan and Heath’s book, Stewardship: For the Care of...
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Ep 133: The Octogenarian YouTube Pastor: Mike Bayer on Building an Online Brand, Senior Ministry, and More
How do you start a YouTube channel at the age of 81, and reach 25K subscribers in less than 6 months? That’s what pastor Mike Bayer did. Now he’s at over 44K subscribers, and it’s providing him with a second source of income in his later years of ministry. Karl Vaters talks with Mike about how he...
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Ep 132: An Insider's Critique: Todd Wilson Examines 70 Years of the Church Growth Movement
Karl Vaters interviews Todd Wilson about some of the lessons that we need to learn when we look back at the Church Growth Movement. Todd is the co-founder and founding CEO of Exponential, so he critiques the Church Growth Movement as one of its leaders. This gives him a unique perspective we need...
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Ep 131: The Normal Church Song: Thomas Austin Sings About Why You Shouldn’t Try to be a Megachurch
“What's wrong with being just a normal church?” That’s the question at the center of Thomas Austin’s song, Normal Church. In this episode, Karl Vaters interviews Thomas Austin about the content of his song, including where the idea for it came from, some of the criticism he’s received for it, and...
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Ep 130: Overcoming Discontent: Chris Maxwell on Finding Contentment in Life and Ministry
Discontent is a tricky monster. It’s so easy to spot it in others, but easy to overlook in ourselves. Karl Vaters interviews pastor Chris Maxwell about what contentment is not (laziness or mediocrity), what it is (an inner peace), what causes so much discontentment, why contentment is essential…
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Ep 129: Run to the Brokenness: Kevin Foster on How Your Church Can Stand Out by Serving
Kevin Foster is the founding pastor of LifeBridge Community Church in Fresno, CA, a church that made a radical shift in emphasis several years ago when the brokenness of the people in their lower income city led them to run to the brokenness. Karl and Kevin talk about: Redefining success in...
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Ep 128: The Aging Pastorate: Sam Rainer on the Looming Pastoral Retirement Crunch
Karl Vaters talks with Sam Rainer about some massive changes that are happening, and how the looming pastoral shortage will affect everything about the way churches function in the next generation or two. Based on Sam’s article, The Coming Massive Wave of Retiring Pastors and Church Staff, this...
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Ep 127: Effective Small-Church Prayer Strategies, with Chris Paavola
Prayer is a foundation of a healthy Christian life and church. Karl Vaters talks with Chris Paavola about four strategic ways his church prays that can help any church lay a more solid foundation for health. The foundation of this conversation is a talk Chris gives to pastors, titled 4 Ways Small...
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Ep 126: Creating Margin in Ministry Through a Side Hustle and Travel Hacking, with Tim Walker
Karl Vaters talks with Tim Walker about three important subjects: First, they talk about the new world of the “side hustle” culture, and why it can be an answer for pastors and churches to do more ministry with less stress. Second, the importance of creating margin in our life, our finances, our...
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Ep 125: How People of Faith Can Help Solve the Mental Health Crisis, with Shaunti Feldhahn & James N. Sells
Karl Vaters talks with Dr. Shaunti Feldhahn and Dr. James N. Sells about the state of mental and emotional care in our culture, and how churches are uniquely situated to alleviate these needs in healthy, life-giving ways. The conversation focuses on the CARE strategy (Coordinated Attention,...
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Ep 124: The Art and Science of Making Disciples, with Peyton Jones
Karl Vaters talks with Peyton Jones about the severe need for our churches to become better at the main command Jesus gave His church: making disciples. Peyton is the author of several books, including the newly released, Discipology: The Art and Science of Making Disciples, which is the basis…
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Ep 123: Six Things I’d Do Differently If I Was a Young Pastor Today, with Darryl Dash
Karl Vaters interviews Darryl Dash, a long-time pastor in Toronto, Canada. Darryl recently wrote the article, Advice to New and Aspiring Pastors, for The Gospel Coalition, Canada in which raised several issues that are helpful, not just for younger pastors, but for anyone who wants to be a better...
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Ep 122: Philip Yancey, Shattered Trust, and Rebuilding Your Integrity, with Kurt Bubna
Karl Vaters talks with Kurt W. Bubna about what to do if you’re a Christian leader who has betrayed people and broken trust. This conversation was sparked by the Facebook post, An Open Letter to Philip Yancey Regarding His Extramarital Affair, that Bubna wrote in early January. So many have…
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Ep 121: Six Big Shifts In How People Volunteer—And How To Respond, with Laurie Graham
Karl Vaters talks to Laurie Graham about some of the big ways volunteerism has changed, and how we, as church leaders, can respond to these trends. Laurie runs smallchurchministry.com, an online ministry that provides resources and support for volunteers and ministry leaders in smaller churches....
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Ep 120: Experiencing Scripture Like Dallas Willard, with Dave Ripper
Karl Vaters talks through some helpful guidelines with Dave Ripper about how to read, meditate, and teach from the Bible in a richer, deeper way. Dave is the lead pastor of Crossway Christian Church, a multicongregational church in southern New Hampshire, focused on spiritual formation, and is…
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Ep 119: Pushing Back Against The Lie Of Fast Church Growth, with Jeff Hoglen
Have you ever gone to a church growth conference and been told “all healthy things grow?” Karl Vaters talks with Jeff Hoglen about what’s happening behind that idea, and why it can be a problem for a lot of pastors and churches. The conversation is based on an article Jeff wrote, called “The…
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Ep 118: Why the Body of Christ Still Matters, with Brad Edwards
Karl Vaters talks with Brad Edwards about the shift that’s happened over the last decade or so in how people perceive institutions, especially the institutional church. In this conversation they talk about how the rise of radical individualism has replaced once-trusted institutions, why a…
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Ep 117: The Growing Problem of Gambling Addiction in the Church, with Dr. Donald Lichi
Do you know how to spot if someone in your congregation has a gambling problem? Once it’s been spotted or confessed, do you know what to do? Karl Vaters talks with Dr. Don Lichi about one of the fastest-growing addictions in the world, including: How is gambling defined? Why does it have such a...
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Ep 116: How Your Church Can Help People Recover from Grief, with Jeff Forrey
Karl Vaters talks with Dr. Jeff Forrey about grief, recovery, and how your church can help people, both inside and outside the congregation, deal with grief in healthy ways. Grief has no rules, but there are healthy ways through it. And churches—small churches especially—are uniquely suited to...
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Ep 115: Church, Parachurch, and Missio Dei, with Dr. Angie Ward
In recent decades, parachurch organizations have carved out an important space in church life and ministry. Karl Vaters talks with Dr. Angie Ward about why it’s important for ministers to take a closer look at what the church is, what parachurch organizations bring to the mix, and how we can move...
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Ep 114: The Art of Writing and Living a Sermon, with Austin Carty
If you’re a preaching pastor, you know what it means to feel the burden and the joy of preparing and preaching a sermon every Sunday. No matter how many years we’ve done it, we can always use a little more help to do it better. Karl Vaters talks with Austin Carty about the craft of writing and...
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Ep 113: What I Found on the Other Side of Church Growth, with Paul Dazet
What happens when all the church growth principles that were working in your church, suddenly stop working when you need them the most? Karl Vaters interviews Paul Dazet about what happened to him, as the pastor of a fast-growing church shortly after he was diagnosed with cancer. Over 100 members...
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Ep 112: Making Room for Loss and Grief In Life and Ministry, with Leanne Friesen
Karl Vaters interviews Leanne Friesen about grief. Specifically, how pastors, family members, and other caring people can help give people the room to process their grief when they go through a profound loss. Karl and Leanne also talk about how to process those feelings ourselves. Leanne is a...
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Ep 111: Using AI To Find Great Sermon Illustrations, with Darrell Stetler
Karl Vaters talks with Darrell Stetler about a new AI program Darrell has created, called Sermon Illustrator. After a short introduction to what AI is, and some of the advantages and dangers of using it, they narrow in on this tool that helps pastors with a very specific task – finding...
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Ep 110: Healthy Goal-setting and Helping The Big Church Feel Small, with Luke Simmons
Karl Vaters talks with Luke Simmons, the pastor of Ironwood Church in Mesa, AZ. Recently, Luke and his church elders decided to pursue a very ambitious goal with the aim of helping their large, growing congregation feel smaller and more connected. As a big-church pastor, Luke is not a typical...
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Ep 109: The Future is Bivocational, with Andrew Hamilton
Over the last few months, several of our podcasts have been about bivo/covocationality, side hustles for pastors, and so on. And more are on the way. Why? Because the future of the church is bivocational. In this episode, Karl Vaters talks to Andrew Hamilton about the content from his book, The...
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Ep 108: Creating an Environment for Discipleship to Thrive and Multiply, with Bryan Sims
*ATTENTION NEEDED* Help us get to Malaysia by going to KarlVaters.com/support Anything you can give will be appreciated. Karl Vaters interviews Bryan Sims about creating an environment for discipleship to thrive, from his book, Creating Space: Cultivating Environments for Disciples of Jesus to...
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Ep 107: Optimizing Your Church Website for Three Key Types of Visitors, with Derek Maxson
Karl Vaters interviews Derek Maxson about some simple ways to make sure your church website is reaching the three kinds of people who are most likely to use it. Derek runs Spiffy.Church, an online ministry that specializes in helping smaller churches get the most from their websites, using…
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Ep 106: Segregation, Affinity Spaces, and How the Gospel Defeats Racism, with Mika Edmondson
Karl Vaters interviews Mike Edmondson about the hot-button topics of racial segregation in the American church, why affinity spaces matter, and how the gospel defeats racism – even the racism that has sometimes been promoted within the institutional church. Mika speaks with experience, wisdom,...
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Ep 105: Recovering from Sexually Related Trauma, with Rachel Bren
Rachel Bren is a survivor of sexually related trauma, and now she serves with SRTServices.org, which helps people recover from their trauma, and can help you and your church. She’s also the co-host of the Grace & Grenades podcast. Karl Vaters interviews Rachel about what sexual related trauma is,...
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Ep 104: What Is the Minimum for a Church to be Viable? with Sam Peters
Karl Vaters interviews Sam Peters about the microchurch model, and more specifically, what are the minimum aspects that need to be in place for a church to be a church? If you’re serving a small church that’s considering if you have a viable path forward, the microchurch model is worth…
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Ep 103: Helping Small Churches Win Guests, with Desmond Barrett
Karl Vaters interviews Desmond Barrett about how small churches can do a better job at reaching, welcoming, and keeping guests. Desmond is the author of Helping Small Churches Win Guests: Preparing to Increase Attendance, which is a short, but very practical book that pastors will find great...
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Ep 102: Five Trends In Technology and the Church, with Brad Hill
Karl Vaters interviews Brad Hill about some of the latest findings concerning the church and technology. Brad is the Chief Solutions Officer at Gloo, an organization that came out of nowhere a few years ago, and now seems to be everywhere. After clarifying Karl’s curiosity about who/what Gloo...
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Ep 101: Ministry Sustainability without Money Stress, with Eric Hoke
Eric Hoke is known as the “I Help Pastors Get Jobs” Guy. Karl Vaters talks with Eric about how to build long-term sustainable ministry, reduce financial stress, and create value in the marketplace by becoming an intentionally covocational pastor. Eric’s new book, Market Street Pastor: Ministry...
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Ep 100: The Pastor, the Bible, and Growing Up In a Pastor’s Home (with Albert Vaters)
For Episode 100, Karl Vaters has a very special conversation with his father, Albert Vaters, about the pastor’s relationship with God’s Word, the Bible. In addition to each of them spending 40 years as pastors (over 80 years of combined pastoral ministry!), they were also both raised as…
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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…
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Ep 098: Ten Things They Didn't Tell Me About Leadership, with Alberto Bello
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.…
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EP 097: Getting Your Church on the Road to Greater Health, with Mike Rubino
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...
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Ep 096: Disability Inclusion In the Church, with Barb Stanley
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...
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Ep 95: The Clergy Sabbatical Toolkit, with Sean Nemecek
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,...
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Ep 94: Using Storytelling Techniques to Make Your Message Stick, with Payton Minzenmayer
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...
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Ep 93: Cultivating a Multiethnic Kingdom Culture, with Jamaal Williams and Timothy Paul Jones
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....
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Ep 92: How Christianity Became The Air We All Breathe, with Glen Scrivener
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...
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Ep 91: The Prophetic Voice of Deconstruction, with Scot McKnight
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...
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Ep 90: How Bible Reading Can Jumpstart Your Church’s Discipleship, with Matt Lucas
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…
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About this show
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.
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Karl Vaters
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