Articles + Podcast
How to Streamline Your Adult Discipleship Ministries
The Church Revitalization Podcast – Episode 291 – Streamlining adult discipleship ministries Your church has eighteen different groups, six Sunday school classes, four Bible studies, two men’s groups, three women’s ministries, and a handful of other gatherings that…
5 Overlooked Guest Experience Questions
The Church Revitalization Podcast – Episode 277 When a guest walks into your church for the first time, they’re carrying more than just a Bible or a coffee cup – they’re carrying questions. Lots of them. And while your weekend service might be excellent and your…
Top Church Volunteer Recruitment Hacks
The Church Revitalization Podcast – Episode 276 Every church leader knows the challenge: you need volunteers to run effective ministries, but finding and keeping those volunteers feels like an endless uphill battle. Whether you’re trying to staff your children’s…
Three Things Your Elders Should Never Do
The Church Revitalization Podcast – Episode 275 The role of church elder carries profound responsibilities and equally significant pitfalls. As someone who has spent years consulting with churches across the country, I’ve observed that even the most well-intentioned…
Eliminating Ministry Silos
The Church Revitalization Podcast – Episode 274 Ministry silos are a persistent challenge that affects churches of all sizes. These isolated pockets of ministry activity can develop gradually and often go unnoticed until their negative effects become apparent. Within…
Four Things your church consultant doesn’t want to hear you say.
The Church Revitalization Podcast – Episode 273 Church consultants often encounter certain phrases that reveal deeper issues within a congregation’s culture and mindset. Here are four common statements that raise red flags and why they deserve closer examination: 1….
The Great Commission vs The Comfortable Commission: Are We Playing It Too Safe?
The Church Revitalization Podcast – Episode 272 Many churches believe they’re faithfully living out the Great Commission while unknowingly drifting toward what could be called the “Comfortable Commission” – a state where maintaining the status quo takes priority over…
Top Church Leadership Mistakes of 2024
The Church Revitalization Podcast – Episode 271 As we reflect on 2024, a few things have emerged in church leadership that warrant careful consideration as we prepare to start the new year. It’s worthy of note that the things listed below would all be addressed at the…
Episode 270: Why the Early Church “Skipped” Worship Services
The Church Revitalization Podcast – Episode 270 In this enlightening episode of the Church Revitalization Podcast, hosts Scott Ball and AJ Mathieu are joined by Dr. Tom Wadsworth, a renowned expert in New Testament studies. Dr. Wadsworth shares groundbreaking insights…
5 Reasons People May Visit Your Church This Christmas
The Church Revitalization Podcast – Episode 269 An article in the Christian Post this week highlighted a surge in Bible sales as we move into the end of 2024. One suggested reason for this is that people are feeling anxiety for a variety of reasons and looking for…
The Best (& Worst) Times for Strategic Planning
The Church Revitalization Podcast – Episode 266 You’ve recognized the need for strategic planning in your organization. The vision feels fuzzy, alignment seems off, and there’s a gnawing sense that you’re not moving forward as effectively as you could be. But as you…
The Common Failure Point in Church Revitalization: Key Insights for Implementation Success
The Church Revitalization Podcast – Episode 233 – Why Church Revitalization Fails Although there are multiple points of church revitalization failure, the title is written in the singular because all the points below relate to one very important aspect of the…
An Epidemic of Apathetic Families: Curing “Sunday-Only” Faith
The Church Revitalization Podcast – Episode 205 In today’s fast-paced world, an epidemic of apathy towards faith has emerged among families. While busyness is often blamed, the end result remains the same – parents are disengaging from discipleship. The passing…
The Dark Side of Leadership: 5 Emotional Disorders
The Church Revitalization Podcast – Episode 183 Being elevated to a leadership position does not make anyone immune to being emotionally unhealthy. Likewise, leadership promotions should not be taken as an affirmation of a clean bill of emotional health. If so, we’d…
What Kind of Evangelical Are You?
The Church Revitalization Podcast – Episode 182 In this episode, Scott and I explore the diverse landscape of American evangelicalism by taking a quiz based on an article by Mere Orthodoxy called “The Six Way Fracturing of Evangelicalism.” Of the six categories…
Five Things You Need to Know About Moving to Two Services
The Church Revitalization Podcast – Episode 181 Being part of a growing church is a lot of fun. For many in ministry, this isn’t your experience. But by God’s grace, as your church pursues revitalization, you’ll have to deal with growing pains. One of the most common…
Five Sermon Series Ideas for Revitalizing Churches
The Church Revitalization Podcast – Episode 180 A common question that we as Malphurs Group Guides get from pastors that we work with is “Do you have any suggestions for sermon topics that will help with revitalization?” Generally, the answer is to preach through the…
The Difference Between Leading and Directing in Church Leadership
The Church Revitalization Podcast – Episode 179 Leading and directing are both crucial functions of effective church leadership, but they involve different approaches and goals. Just like a washing machine has access to both hot and cold water, as a pastor, you have…
What’s Happening at Asbury University?
The Church Revitalization Podcast – Episode 178 What does “revival” even mean? Is that what is happening at Asbury University? Subscribe below to never miss an episode. [podcast_subscribe id=”8838″] Last week, what would have been a typical chapel service at Asbury…
Get Things Done: How to Design an Action Plan That Works
The Church Revitalization Podcast – Episode 177 AAAAAAAND ACTION! If I had to choose one word that defines a church that thrives over a church that dies, it would be “action.” Dying churches are stagnant, and thriving churches are full of life. The difference is…
How Good Is an A.I. Sermon?
How Artificial Intelligence Will Shape the Church The Church Revitalization Podcast – Episode 176 The news has been filled with stories of the amazing things that artificial intelligence (AI) can do. In recent months, we’ve seen everything from digital images to whole…
Five Lies Churches Tell Themselves
The Church Revitalization Podcast – Episode 175 Honesty is always the best policy, and not just in our interactions with others. We need to be honest with ourselves. We certainly understand the motivations behind the list you’ll find below. Human nature often leads us…
How to Use Systems Thinking to Reach Your Vision
The Church Revitalization Podcast – Episode 174 More churches articulate a vision than reach one. In fact, the number of churches that actually make progress towards their goals are small. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by obstacles to change, the tyranny of the urgent,…
Expecting Revitalization: Showing Love
The Church Revitalization Podcast – Episode 171 “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” – John 15:13 Relatively speaking, few have done that or been put in the position to have to make that choice. Of course our Savior did…