the Church Revitalization Podcast
Show Notes
Boosting Your Emotional Intelligence
Cool. Calm. Collected. Unemotional. For the longest time, seminaries have tried to churn out pastors who embody those words. The assumption is that if we can simply preach the Bible as it is, exegete a text, people will change. This is all that is required to lead a...
Managing Ministry in the Messy Middle
Remember the simple days of March 2020 when we all knew church couldn't happen in-person, and online was all we had? Now every church's social standing is "It's Complicated". Are we meeting again? How many? Who? What are the protocols? Churches all across the country...
Balancing Physical and Digital Ministry
Special Guest: Greg Atkinson This week, we talked with Greg Atkinson about how we can continue to engage with our congregations online even as some of our churches have begun meeting in-person again. Greg spoke about the disappointment of finding his own church...
Leading Your Church Through Racial Tension
You have an unprecedented opportunity to let 2020 be the most pivotal year for positive change your church has ever seen. The Internet is filled with memes that joke about how 2020 is one long disaster story. In many ways it's true. We started the year with an...
Three Church Insights from COVID-19 Studies
Our world is constantly inundating you with statistics, data, and reports. Cutting through the clutter can be difficult when all you want to do is get the most relevant information you need to make informed decisions. Our team has been sorting through the studies for...
Working the Wait
How to Work the Wait with Special Guest: Jason Burns This week we were joined by Jason Burns, founder of Radiant Printing and pastor of Access Church in Lakeland, Florida. Our theme this week came from a concept that Jason created for Radiant known as "Work the Wait"...
Leading with Humble Courage in a Crisis
Special Guest: Michael Anthony This week we were joined by Michael Anthony, author of A Call For Courage and founder of Courage Matters. Michael unpacked for us the term "courageous humility", and we had a great discussion about leading our churches with courage. You...
Preparing Your Volunteer Teams for Reopening
The phased reopening of your church will only be successful with good volunteer planning. In this week's episode of the Church Revitalization Podcast, Scott and I talked through some basic steps to ensure you'll have thought through your volunteer teams and will be...
Roadmap to Reopening
Your church campus closed virtually overnight--but it will reopen in phases. This is the simple truth. Fortunately, the White House has issued guidelines for a phased reopening of the economy. Around the Internet and social media, many have suggested that churches...
Easter Field Report
In this special post-Easter episode, Scott Ball & A.J. Mathieu interview three North American pastors to get an Easter Field Report. Hear the wins and challenges of Easter 2020, and learn what's on the horizon for churches like yours. Be blessed by Scott &...
Developing a Virtual Guest Assimilation Process
Are you ready for the hundreds of Easter guests that will "attend" your church online this weekend? Do you have a clear plan for following up with them? Are you confident you can connect them into the life of your church beyond streaming your services on Sunday? On...
Building a Virtual Small Groups Strategy
All of us want to be known and loved. The COVID-19 crisis has exposed humanity's deep need for relational connection. Now more than ever, your church's success will be defined by the depth of the relationships you can build--not by the quality of your Sunday live...
Leading Through The Lockdown
The Global Church is in uncharted waters. True, past generations have encountered hardship. But the COVID-19 pandemic is the first truly global health crisis of this century. Every church leader is experiencing something brand-new, and it is natural for it to feel a...
How to Navigate a Culture Change
When you hear the word "culture," do you first think of the world or your church? Most church leaders would probably think of the world first since that’s what we hear about most often across various forms of media. Terms like “culture shift,” “culture change,” and...
5 Tactics to Win the Implementation Battle
The number one barrier to a successful revitalization process is implementation. It is easy to become a slave to the urgent. Sunday comes every seven days, and so there is always a sermon to prepare. People get sick and need prayer and visitation. Marriages need...
Developing a Crisis Logistics Plan
Note: This week’s episode is unique. Earlier in the week, A.J. and I hosted a webinar on Crisis Logistics in the church. Given the rapidly evolving situation with the coronavirus, we wanted to release the full, unedited audio of that webinar on our podcast to help...
Consequences of Rejecting Revitalization
If you know what your church should do, and you don’t do it, there are potential adverse effects. Here are three consequences that churches may find when faced with the opportunity to head towards the Promised Land, but choose to stay in Egypt.
5 Risks Your Church Should Take
This article is not about taking a chance on building a massive facility, saddling your congregation with decades of debt. It’s about risks. The ones worth taking. The risks your church should take.
15 Reasons Why Committed Christians Do Not Attend Church
Many genuine believers are shifting their church attendance patterns. The purpose of this article is to address 15 common reasons committed Christians provide for why they do not attend church services.
When Is the Best Time of Year for a Strategic Planning Process?
One of the most common questions we get at The Malphurs Group is, “When is the best time of year to start a strategic planning process?” The answer is both complicated and straightforward.
The Revitalized Church
A revitalized church is a powerful force. Before a church is revitalized, its life dwindles, and death looms. These churches have a fading view of a once bright past, and it gives way to robotic monotony, apathy, and stress. In Revelation 2:2-5, the Lord...
How to Know if You’re Ready to Lead a Revitalization Process
Leading a church through revitalization is not for the faint of heart. I’ve had the privilege of walking many churches through the process of revitalization as Lead Guide with The Malphurs Group. One of the things our team looks for first when we start a partnership...
Three Most Common Revitalization Mistakes
Author's Note: January 15, 2020 marks the launch of Church Revitalization University--an online, guided process for your church to engage in our Strategic Envisioning process. To get you started in the right direction, this week's article and blog are intended to make...