The Church Lobby

Oct 24 2024 92 ep. 44 mins 72
The Church Lobby Podcast artwork

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.

  Religion & Spirituality
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Ep 088: The Gift of Small: Embracing Your Church’s Vocation, with Allen T. Stanton

Oct 24 2024 46 mins  
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 You

Ep 087: Covocational Pastoring: What It Is, And Why You Should Consider It (with Jon Sanders)

Oct 10 2024 46 mins  
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

Ep 086: Vibrant Ministry From A Traditional Building In A Difficult City, with Tim Walker

Sep 26 2024 60 mins  
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 fo

Ep 085: The Necessity of Being Offended by Jesus, with Chase Replogle

Sep 12 2024 45 mins  
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 d

Ep 084: How To Do A Great Trunk-or-Treat At Your Church, with Darrell Stetler

Aug 29 2024 47 mins  
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-pag

Ep 083: ​Flyover Church: Jesus' Ministry in Rural Places, with Brad Roth

Aug 15 2024 45 mins  
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 typeHow metrics are very different in the rural churchThe lure of strategyThe radically dif

Ep 082: Pastoring Difficult People, with Craig T. Owens

Aug 01 2024 55 mins  
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 w

Ep 081: Should Your Church Consider the Microchurch Model?, with Frank Wooden

Jul 18 2024 49 mins  
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 ch

Ep 080: Practical Ideas that Work In Small Churches, with Laurie Acker

Jul 04 2024 33 mins  
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

Ep 079: Church Collaboration and Killing Consumerism in a Post-Christian Context, with Dan Nichols

Jun 20 2024 49 mins  
Pastoring in a post-Christian context is different. The more counter-cultural our faith becomes, the more important it is to understand that Christian consumerism is deadly and church cooperation is essential. Karl Vaters talks with Dan Nichols about these subjects, including: Negotiating a cultural shift in a longstanding church Partnering with other churches Bridging the big/s