The Unstuck Church Podcast

The job of the senior pastor is enormous.  Prepare and deliver sermons. Ensure the spiritual health of the church. Model biblical priorities. And, roughly, 400 other items. Whether it's in the written job description or not, senior pastors have too much to do. And when everything is on your plate, everything feels equally urgent. But there's a handful of things that only the lead pastor can do. And the gap between that and everything else on the to-do list is where lead pastors get stuck.  In this episode, Sean and Jimmy break down the unique role of the senior pastor—what only they can do and how to delegate everything else.  Roles the senior pastor can't delegate What the senior pastor should delegate Protecting your calendar and what only you can do   This Episode is Sponsored by PlainJoe Studios Unlock the power of story in your worship space. The creative, passionate team at PlainJoe, a Storyland Studio, works with churches to create beautiful, engaging spaces that connect with your community. They're a team of architectural, design, and branding experts who transform worship spaces into attractive, engaging hubs for the community. Reach out to their team at PlainJoe.net and dream up the bright future of your church.    Join the Conversation on Social Media We use hashtag #unstuckchurch on X and on Instagram. 

You probably have people serving with more leadership capacity than you know, and you may have volunteers who have taken on more leadership than they actually have capacity for. Often, churches hand leadership responsibility to volunteers who don't have the capacity for it. Or they fail to develop the people who do have leadership capacity because they're spreading attention evenly across everyone instead of investing deeply in a few. The problem isn't a lack of leaders. It's a lack of a system to develop them. In this episode, Sean and Jonathan break down what it actually looks like to intentionally develop volunteer leaders through a pipeline: The evidences of leadership capacity  The three levels of volunteer leadership to have in your pipeline Auditing your volunteers and putting your framework into practice   This Episode is Sponsored by The Church Lawyers Every church needs trusted legal counsel, but finding attorneys who truly understand ministry can be challenging.  The Church Lawyers specialize in church and nonprofit law, serving thousands of organizations nationwide. From by-laws and governance, to IRS compliance and employment matters, The Church Lawyers provide the expertise you need with sound legal advice giving you peace of mind. Discover practical free resources and affordable membership options at TheChurchLawyers.com.   Join the Conversation on Social Media We use hashtag #unstuckchurch on X and on Instagram. 

You need great volunteers if you want to hire internally. But to develop volunteers, you need more great staff… It can feel like an endless cycle. But it doesn't have to be. Trying to find leaders as quickly as possible leads to high turnover and hard conversations. But when you develop leaders with a sustainable volunteer leadership pipeline, leaders are identified earlier and developed more intentionally, which ultimately results in a healthier, higher performing church team. In this new series, we'll share a practical, repeatable pathway for increasing leadership capacity. We'll talk through clear levels of leadership: strengthening your volunteer bench, developing volunteer leaders and equipping staff leaders. Today, we're starting at the foundation—the volunteer bench itself—because you have to know how to fill the bench and how to identify leadership capacity before you can develop great volunteer leaders.   This Episode is Sponsored by The Church Lawyers Every church needs trusted legal counsel, but finding attorneys who truly understand ministry can be challenging.  The Church Lawyers specialize in church and nonprofit law, serving thousands of organizations nationwide. From by-laws and governance, to IRS compliance and employment matters, The Church Lawyers provide the expertise you need with sound legal advice giving you peace of mind. Discover practical free resources and affordable membership options at TheChurchLawyers.com.   Join the Conversation on Social Media We use hashtag #unstuckchurch on X and on Instagram. 

We're back with another "Ask Anything" episode! Sean invited Ron Baum, a long-time consultant at The Unstuck Group and ministry leader who has served in the local church for over 30 years, to answer some questions that YOU, our listeners, have sent in.  We have some fun questions to address today—a few about space and adding service times and several about strategic planning and getting traction.  If you've got a question for the next "Ask Anything" episode, call our voicemail line at (615) 398-9171 or send us a message on social media.    This Episode is Sponsored by Planning Center:  Planning Center is software designed to help churches help people. With multiple tools in one connected platform, you can stay organized, communicate with your team and create meaningful ways to connect with your congregation. Start for free at planningcenter.com—pay only for what you need, and cancel anytime.   Join the Conversation on Social Media We use hashtag #unstuckchurch on X and on Instagram. 

For many years, one of the main reasons for stuckness in the Church was that churches lacked discipleship steps. Instead, they just had a lot of programs for church people to engage in.  Now, most churches have done the work of designing next steps for people. They've created a pathway instead of a program calendar. So, why is it still not working?  In this episode, Sean and Tiffany break down the most quietly misunderstood thing in church ministry: the Spiritual Engagement Journey.  Common gaps in the Spiritual Engagement Journey Why outcomes matter more than participation How to accurately measure spiritual catalysts   This Episode is Sponsored by Planning Center:  Planning Center is software designed to help churches help people. With multiple tools in one connected platform, you can stay organized, communicate with your team, and create meaningful ways to connect with your congregation. Start for free at planningcenter.com—pay only for what you need, and cancel anytime.   Join the Conversation on Social Media We use hashtag #unstuckchurch on X and on Instagram. 

Everyone has opinions about multisite.  Advice often gets shared like it's one-size-fits-all, but multisite is complex; what worked for one church in one city at one moment may not work for another church. There are best practices you can follow, but the truth is that multisite comes with a lot of nuance.  In this episode, we're continuing our "This Isn't Working Anymore" series by getting into the nuance that tends to get left out of conversations about multisite. "Acting your age" as a multisite church Launch, multi-stuck and adding locations: the phases of multisite Building your own multisite strategy   This Episode is Sponsored by Planning Center:  Planning Center is software designed to help churches help people. With multiple tools in one connected platform, you can stay organized, communicate with your team, and create meaningful ways to connect with your congregation. Start for free at planningcenter.com—pay only for what you need, and cancel anytime.   Join the Conversation on Social Media We use hashtag #unstuckchurch on X and on Instagram.