unSeminary Podcast

Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] //  [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Every spring church leaders from around the world who are concerned about the next generation make a pilgrimage to Atlanta, Georgia for the Orange Conference. This conference is a "must attend event" from my perspective for leaders looking for inspiration and information to help their ministry go further. In today's episode we talk with two veterans of the Orange movement - Carey Nieuwhof and Elle Campbell - about their tips for getting the most out of this conference. Even if you aren't attending this conference ... this podcast is packed full with all kinds of help for church leaders planning to be a part of any upcoming conference. [Click here to download the Orange Conference Brochure.] Carey Nieuwhof // [Website]  [twitter] Elle Campbell // [Website]  [twitter] Interview Highlights // 00:27 // An unSeminary first! 00:59 // Elle is in middle school ministry, has a resource website and has joined the Orange team 01: 30 // Carey is the lead pastor of Connexus Church and helps with the senior leader track at Orange 02:40 // Rich challenges senior leaders to not leave the work of the next generation to the youth and children's leaders 03:45 // Elle shares how she plans before she attends a conference 04:50 // Carey shares how he prepares his team when a large number of them are attending 05:40 // As a way to reflect, Carey's conference goers all prepare a report 06:37 // Both guests talk about how their churches handle conference finances 08:32 // Elle talks about how to meet up with like minded people at conferences 09:27 // Carey reflects on his experience meeting up with blog readers 11:09 // Carey and Elle's packing list:  Orange clothes, giveaways and electronics 13:35 // Orange Hash Tags:  #oc14, #thinkorange 14:14 // Elle's tutorial on how to follow a hash tag 15:58 // Check out theorangeconference.com for live stream details 15:50 // Orange is fun! Interview Transcript // Rich - Welcome to the unSeminary Podcast. I'm Rich Birch, the host around these parts. So glad that you have decided to spend a day with us. Today is a first for the unSeminary Podcast. We have repeat guests on the phone today. We have Carey Nieuwhof and Elle Campbell. Super happy to have them. We are talking about the Orange Conference, which for me is a must attend conference for church leaders, and also for any conference, how we can get the most out of conferences. Carey and Elle, welcome to the show! Elle - Thank you. Carey - Great to be back. Rich - So glad you are here. So Elle, why don't you tell us a little about who you are. Give us a sense of your context, your ministry, that sort of thing before we jump into the rest of today. Elle - Sure. So I have a few things going on right now so I will tell you about all of them. So the first thing: I work at a church in Buffalo, NY. I do middle school ministry. I also have a resource site that I do with my husband Kenny. We do middle school ministry together, we also do the site together. Stuffyoucanuse.org. And I just joined the team at Orange back in October. So I am working with them on some small group stuff. Rich - Nice. That's great! Carey, why don't you tell us about your ministry. And actually, why don't you give us an overview of what the Orange Conference is all about for people who might be listening who don't know about it. Carey - Happy to do it! I serve as a full time Lead Pastor at Connexus Church, north of Toronto, Canada. We are a North Point strategic partner. Planted the church about 6 years ago. And I also help out at Orange. I don't even have a title like Elle does. I just… Elle - I don't think I have one either, actually. Carey - But I help out with projects and communicate, and writing and speak and lead the Senior Leader Track for Orange. Orange Conference is an incredibly fun gather.

Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] //  [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Tim Day is the Senior Pastor of The Meeting House, one of Canada’s largest churches, and author of the book, God Enters Stage Left. An engaging speaker and active writer, Tim along with Teaching Pastor Bruxy Cavey, lead a dedicated staff and church family in helping communicate the irreligious message of Jesus to those who may have given up on God or are simply asking spiritual questions. In this episode Tim talks about why his church has given away nearly 30,000 copies of his latest book. He digs into the philosophy and strategy of FREE and how it's impacting his thinking. If you are pastor looking to spread your message this episode is for you! Tim Day // [Website]  [twitter] [Download an ePUB version of God Enters Stage Left for FREE] Interview Highlights // 00:30 // Rich welcomes his friend and former boss, Tim Day 00:57 // Tim gives a history of The Meeting House 02:45 // Tim released his new book 'God Enters Stage Left' in December 2013 04:11 // Book was birthed out if his desire to distill down the narrative of the Bible for the average person 06:20 // Tim shares stories of people whose lives have been changed in a few short months 08:19 // This book helps accomplish one of TMH's goals to invite 100,000 people to the message of Jesus 09:30 // The church has since printed 30,000 copies, given them away and invited people to contribute to the printing cost 11:04 // Books are the new business card 11:54 // Tim explains why he didn't want to charge for the book 15:20 // The Meeting House has generously offered to allow other churches use it as a resource, even reprint them with a new forward by your pastor 17:11 // Pens, books, marketing and evangelism 19:19 // Tim encourages listeners to keep dreaming about how to create points of contact conversations Lightning Round Highlights Helpful Tech Tools // Bible Web App, NET Bible Book Worth Reading // Innovation's Dirty Little Secret by Larry Osborne, God in My Everything by Ken Shigematsu Inspiring Ministries // EastLake Church Inspiring Leader // Larry Page, CEO Google What does he do for fun? // Basketball, running Interview Transcript // Rich - Alright well,  welcome to the unSeminary Podcast.  Happy Thursday.  Hope you are having a great week as we get ready for this weekend at your church.  I am super excited about this podcast.  I have a friend, my former boss, great guy.  Excited to have him.  We've got Tim Day from The Meeting House.  Hey Tim, welcome to the show! Tim - Hey, it's great to be here Rich.  Thanks for having me. Rich - For folks who don't know, The Meeting House is a network of churches all across Canada, or really around Ontario.  Tim, why don't you tell us a bit about The Meeting House, tell us about your church.  Give us a sense of your ministry. Tim - Sure.  The Meeting House has been around, well was planted as a seeker focussed church back in the mid 80's but it really started to take off just before the year 2000.  So it's grown up over the last 16 years let's say from about 200 people to about 5500 on a typical  weekend.  We have 14 locations as you said, around Ontario where our hub is the Toronto area and we spread out from there.  You were a huge part of that.  You helped us launch into multisite.  That's how we've grown.  Our theological stream, we come out of the radical side of the reformation, so the renewal movements, you think of sort of the Anabaptists with messages around peace, community, personal discipleship, radical, Jesus focused discipleship.  But also influenced by people like John Wesley and again real focus on evangelism, discipleship, piotus movements.  Anything that get's people fired up for Jesus.  Get them out doing something to change the world.  That's our little stream that we come from, are the people that are jazzed about that.

Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] //  [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Mike Linch is the senior pastor at NorthStar Church and you need to get to know him and his church! So many church leaders dream of making an impact in the community they are place in ... Mike's church is taking action towards it! Every year the church volunteers thousands of hours in various community programs. They also open up their building to be a blessing to the community. Listen in as Mike talks through how NorthStar is looking for ways to connect with their community! Mike Linch// [Website]  [twitter] Interview Highlights // 01:32 // Mike serves at NorthStar Church in Kennesaw, Georgia 01:01 // 17 years ago NorthStar began as a church for people who didn't go to church 01:40 // Rich was attracted to NorthStar because of their heart to serve the community 02:25 // NorthStar volunteers meet community needs 03:30 // Serving in the community is great first step into church involvement 04:38 // NorthStar staff initiate the relationship with organizations and seek out needs 05:00 // The goal is to make what the community is doing better, not compete with it 06:55 // NorthStar uses the facility to serve the community - 150 events of 250 or more people just last year. 07:25 // Get more people from the community in the building so they return when 'life hits the wall.' 08:50 // 'We want to serve others until they ask why.' 09:45 // First step is to ask questions of community leaders 12:10 // 'We want to be the church that the community can't do without.' 13:10 // Rich tells of a campus pastor and mayor from Liquid Church Lightning Round Highlights Helpful Tech Tools // unSeminary.com, Evernote Book Worth Reading // Spiritual Leadership by Richard and Henry Blackaby Inspiring Ministries // North Point Community Church Inspiring Leader // Dr. (Billy) Graham What does he do for fun? // Football chaplain, baseball pitching coach Interview Transcript // Rich - Well, good morning. Welcome to the unSeminary Podcast. My name's Rich Birch, your host. Thanks for tuning in! We hope you are having a great week as you lead up to this weekend. Today we've got Mike Linch on the phone. Super excited to have him join us on the show today. He's from NorthStar Church in Kennesaw, Georgia. Mike's a great guy, fantastic leader and I'm really looking forward to having you on the show today, Mike. Thanks for being here. Mike - Great to be here Rich. Glad to be with you guys and look forward to what's ahead! Rich - Nice. Well, this is fantastic. I love your church. I love what you guys are doing. Why don't we start with…just give us a sense of what you are doing. Kind of tell us a little bit of the NorthStar story. Mike - Absolutely. We began 17 years ago. We turned 17 this past January. We began, like a lot of other churches, as a church for people who didn't go to church. We were sort of pioneers. There was one other church start in our community back then. It made it a little easier. I think we didn't face a lot of struggles church plants face today because there are so many other churches like them. But we had a heart, what separated us, was we had a heart to serve and reach our community. And that was probably still today the thing that separates us the most. It's been a pretty amazing ride over the last 17 years. A lot of people coming and a lot of influence we've been able to gain in our community. Rich - Ya, this is the thing that really attracted me. I leaned forward and I said 'You do what at your church?" I think a lot of churches talk about serving their community. That sounds great. Who's going to be the person that puts up their hand and says 'Ya, we don't want to serve our community"? Why don't you give us a sense of some of the ways that NorthStar does that. Mike - Absolutely. Really it's a 365 day a year deal.

Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] //  [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Warren Bird is the head of research at Leadership Network. This week he published the Leadership Network/Generis Multisite Church Scorecard ... the largest study of the multisite movement ever done. This report is full of fascinating insights into this explosive part of the body of Christ. It's a free download ... you should pick it up! Today I'm honored to have Warren on the show giving you some insights into and beyond the numbers. Warren Bird // [Website]  [twitter] [email] Interview Highlights // 00:30 // Warren is the Director of Research and Intellectual Capital at the Leadership Network 01:04 // The Leadership Network/Generis Multisite Church Scorecard is the largest ever survey of multisite churches 01:45 // Rich and others contributed to generating the questions asked in the report 02:30 // Warren's biggest surprise was that 87% of multisite churches saw an increase in lay involvement when they launched. 03:10 // Rich has experienced that the launching of a campus is the best way to mobilize people into service 03:30 // 85% of multisite churches are growing at a rate of 14% per year 04:40 // Multisite is no longer a movement of only mega churches 06:23 // The average church has been multisite for 4 years 08:09 // Size of core group / launch team depends on church size and scale 09:25 // Vast majority of Campus Pastors are hired internally 12:55 // Rich's question was answered: 57% of multisite plan to launch again in the next 12 months. 13:25 // Email your potential survey questions to research@leadnet.org Interview Transcript // Rich - Alright, good morning! Happy Thursday everybody. Hope you are having a great week. You have reached the unSeminary Podcast. My name's Rich Birch, the host around here. Today we have a real treat. We've got Warren Bird on the line. Warren is the Director of Research and Intellectual Property. I believe that's your title, isn't it Warren? Warren - Ya, Intellectual Capital, whatever sounds good, I'll take. Rich - Nice. At Leadership Network. And this week you might have heard around the web, there was a report that's super important. I think every church leader should take a look at this. The Leadership Network Generis Multisite Score Card. And so Warren why don't we start by you telling us, what is the Score Card? Warren - Well, we did the largest ever survey of multisite churches. The vast majority were in the United States, then Canada after that, then Europe after that and so forth. And we pulled it all together, then we have the naming sponsorship of Generis, which is why their name gets in the title. And also they did a section later in the report on funding because the money question, probably better the stewardship question, the generosity question is a big part of how do we make multisite work. So they landed in on that part and it's a great report. It's got over 25, at least I thought there were 25 big discoveries of 'Wow!' We came up with most of the questions by asking people, actually Rich you were among the different ones. We said 'Hey, what are people wanting to know out there?' Of course we asked a bunch of multisite leaders themselves and then we built that into the survey. Rich - Absolutely. Now, like you said, there's 25 of these kind of surprises, what are one or two of them that, to you as the author, were particularly surprising? That kind of jump to the top for you. Because this isn't the first time that you have done a report like this. This is the second or third time that you've done a report on multisite. What were the things that kind of jumped out this time for you? Warren - Well, actually one of the few questions we asked a second time, because it was my biggest surprise that we did in the last round in 2010, was about lay involvement. It was a simple question,

Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] //  [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Late last year I bumped into Sarah and her book Jesus Feminist. I took some time to read through her book and I found myself drawn in by her writing, her stories and how she was challenging me. Today I'm honored to have Sarah on the podcast with us as she talks about her own journey and provides some help for church leaders looking to ensure that women in our churches have a voice and aren't invisible. Take some time to listen in to Sarah and buy her book to continue the conversation. Have you heard about the IF:Gathering conference that happened a few weeks ago? If you interested in exploring this topic more ... I'd recommend you track with that team. I'm encouraged by what I see happening in that movement. There is a fair amount of Canadian content on today's podcast ... like a good Canadian living in America I need say that I'm sorry if I've offend you for talking about my home and native land. :) Sarah Bessey // [Website]  [twitter] Interview Highlights 00:38 // Rich just finished reading Sarah Bessey's book 'Jesus Feminist' 00:50 // Fellow Canadians talk about the Winter Olympics 02:03 // Sarah is a wife, mom, writer, blogger, story teller 03:12 // Sarah grew up in a 'post-Christian' context 03:59 // Rich encourages leaders to look at Canadian ministries and learn where America is headed culturally 06:25 // Rich gives a strong recommendation for 'Jesus Feminist' 06:50 // Sarah's relationship with Jesus made her a feminist 10:20 // In some church contexts saying you are a feminist is like saying you are a terrorist 11:53 // Sarah talks about what it was about Jesus that changed her thinking 14:17 // Sarah talks to leaders about what they can do to engage women in leadership in the church 15:26 // First step is to Repent. 'It's hard to have hope when you haven't fully recognized the disappear.' 16:50 // Second Step is to ask if women are invisible in the community 16:57 // Rich won't ever be a part of a movement where his daughter is considered a second class spiritual citizen 19:00 // Rich recalls former BIC Bishop Darryl Winger actively responding to the visibility of women. Sarah calls it 'embodying the better' 22:02 // Is it really the Gospel if it is not true for everyone? 23:17 // Your view of scripture is being shaped by culture 24:21 // www.sarahbessey.com Interview Transcript // Rich - Alright, well welcome to the unSeminary Podcast. Thanks so much for tuning in. You know this is the podcast where we try to provide some non-traditional training for people trying to war it out, live it out in the real world. I am super happy to have Sarah Bessey on the line today. Over Christmas time I read her book and actually just finished it a couple days ago. It's called "Jesus Feminist'. I don't know if you can even see that. The problem when you read on an iPad. Super excited to have her on the phone. Thanks so much for being on the show today Sarah! Sarah - Thank you for having me. Rich - The other great thing about Sarah is that she is Canadian! Sarah - That is a great thing! Rich - That is a great thing. We are recording this during the Winter Olympics and we are currently on top which makes me feel happy on the inside. Sarah - I know. We will enjoy it while it lasts. As long as it does. I completely bust into tears when Alex Bilodeau won yesterday. I have a lot of feelings when it comes to the Winter Olympics. This is my favorite Olympics so I am really overdosing on it. Rich - Absolutely! It's true you know. I had to figure out how to get the Canadian feed here in America, through some grey market technology. But this is a place of grace, love and acceptance so that's ok. Sarah - Absolutely. Rich - But the last time, 4 years ago at the Winter Olympics, we had to watch the American feed which wasn't very good. Sarah - No. I had to do that.

Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] //  [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] At it's core every church has unique DNA that defines what it's going to be like and the impact it's going to have on it's community. On today's episode small group expert, Alan Danielson gives us some really helpful handles to understand our church's DNA and the impact it has on our small group ministry. Alan challenges us to build a small group ministry that is custom tailored to our DNA rather than just "copy and pasting" from another church. It's a great episode packed with lots of help for church's looking to improve their small group ministry. Alan Danielson // [Website]  [twitter] Interview Highlights 00:52 // Alan describes his role at New Life Bible Church and former role at LifeChurch.tv 02:34 // Alan explains the biggest reason churches have a a hard time getting people into groups. 03:25 // 'A Cheetah does not hunt like an eagle.' 04:39 // Ways churches can understand their DNA 05:06 // 1. Growth or Control Bias 08:29 // How Newton's Cradle relates to small group ministry 09:50 // Saddleback leans to the growth side and cleans up messes 12:14 // 2. Understanding the Senior Pastor 13:14 // If the Small Group Pastor is aligned with the Senior Pastor the ministry can explode 14:07 // 3. Understanding the Church's Traditions 15:47 // Every church has traditions even if it is only a year old - anything you do consistently 17:32 // 4. Picking your Problems 17:55 // Err on the side of Growth Control Bias that has the problems you are best equipped to deal with 22:21 // Do the hard work of discovering your DNA Lightning Round Highlights Helpful Tech Tools // churchleaders.com, Basecamp, churchteams.com Book Worth Reading // David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell Inspiring Ministries // Lifechurch.tv, Seacoast Church, East Lake Church Inspiring Leader // Rick Warren What does he do for fun? // Star Wars addiction [info about next Star Wars movie!] Interview Transcript // Rich - Well welcome to the unSeminary Podcast everybody. My name's Rich Birch, the host around these parts. Today we have Alan Danielson on the line. I'm super excited to have him. This is one of those interviews I have been waiting for a while…it's a privilege to have Alan on the show. Thanks for being here today, Alan. Alan - Thank very much Rich. I really appreciate it. It's an honor to be here, man. Rich - Nice. I'm looking forward to today's conversation because I'm looking forward to leaning in and learning from you Alan. Why don't you give us a sense of your background. What church are you at now? A bit about your background. Who is Alan? Alan - Well, right now I am at New Life Bible Church in Norman Oklahoma, which is smaller church. We are kind of rebooting some things. It's a church in transition and I've been there for about three years. We have more than doubled in size in three years running just over 300 people now. Some exciting things going on in the life of our church. Prior to that I was on staff at LIfeChurch.tv in Edmond, Oklahoma where I was in charge of small groups in all of their campuses and that was an insane ride. When I started at LifeChurch we had about 9000 people on the weekends, 5 campuses. When I left we were running about 28000 people on the weekends, and we had 13 campuses. I learned so much during that time about leadership and small groups and about delegating and working with people over vast geographical areas, about multisite ministry. It was like drinking from a fire hydrant for four years straight. One of the best experiences of my life. Prior to that, I have been in ministry, well, since I graduated high school. About 2 weeks after I graduated high school, I moved out of my parents home and moved to another state to intern at a church and I've never looked back. I've been working at churches now for 24 years. Rich - Nice, that's a great thing.

Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] //  [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Today's episode offers an insightful and fresh look into how your church can partner with other ministries around the world to make a different. Christa is one of the sharpest leaders I know on the area of global compassion and offers up a gracious challenge for us to think different about the role of "missions" in our local church. Recently Christa was named as one of the most influential Christian leaders in Canada and my hope is more people get exposure to her here in this country. You church needs to be working globally and this episode provides some great direction for you to consider when framing this experience for your people. Production Note: I had some problems with my audio in this episode ... so sorry! Christa sounds great ... which is really what matters most. Christa Hesselink // [Website]  [twitter] Interview Highlights 01:18 // Christa gives a history of The Meeting House (TMH) 02:00 // Rich talks about TMH as in the top 1% of multi-site churches 02:55 // Christa's explains some of the compassion work at TMH 04:00 // Mission Goals: raise funds and build meaningful relationships with partners in Southern Africa 04:39 // TMH seeks to establish relationships that are mutually transformative 06:20 // Three ways TMH seek to establish relationship with people in the 'Global South' 07:20 // TMH partners with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) and World Vision 08:45 // The 'Discernment Process' 10:45 // Over 1800 children have been sponsored in Malawi 11:20 // Rich reflects on the Discernment Process' from his point of view when on staff at TMH 14:03 // "If we are really serious about repositioning the church and mission we need to understand that we are not experts…" - Christa 14:30 // Christa explains 'Learning Teams' 17:08 // Christa explains 'Exchange' …the reverse of "Learning Teams' 19:54 // Through 'Exchange' TMH learned they needed to give space for visiting leaders to share prophetically and words of affirmation 23:11 // Trying to schedule more breathing space during 'Exchange' that includes more of the TMH community 24:35 // Live Simply, Give Generously Lightning Round Highlights Helpful Tech Tools // Christa went paperless with Evernote and Producteev Book Worth Reading // Icarus Deception by Seth Godin Inspiring Ministries // Eastlake Church Inspiring Leader // Donald Miller What does he do for fun? // Hiking, cooking, reading, hanging out with friends Did you see this? // Onion News Network has a way of using humor to get at truth. Like this article: 6-Day Visit To Rural African Village Completely Changes Woman’s Facebook Profile Picture {Ouch}

Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] //  [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] On today's episode of the unSeminary Podcast we're taking questions from listeners about Church Communications. We cover a wide variety of topics that I hope will help your ministry. Are you wondering how to keep your growing and complex ministry aligned? Thinking about upping your Facebook game at your church? Want to implement some communications systems to help you grow? Wondering how to communicate with so many different types of people at your church? Today's episode should have something for every church leader looking to improve their communications internally and externally at their church. Anthony Milas [church website] [twitter] Bobby Williams [church website] [twitter] Carey Nieuwhof [church website] [twitter] G. Laine Robinson [church website] [twitter] Episode Highlights 01:01 // Right People, Right Message, Right Time. 02:38 // A question about keeping your multisite church aligned. 24:21 // Facebook or Frustrating Book? 40:23 // Advice on getting ready for growth. 49:45 // How to communicate to many different type of people in your church. 59:39 // Want to be on the next Q&A episode? speakpipe.com/richbirch

Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] //  [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] Today's podcast is from the "Lost Episodes File" ... literally! I recorded this episode back in August 2013 but then it was lost on my hard drive ... so I was so glad when I got a chance to recover it and present it to you today. John Gibson is a part of the team at Cove Church in North Carolina. In this episode he talks about something pretty innovative that they are doing to create groups that are larger than a small group but smaller than a regional campus. He talks about how their Neighborhood Campus strategy has grown over the years and the impact that it's having in their community today. Listen in to be challenge about a different way to think about growing community in your church!  

Subscribe to the unSeminary Podcast: [iTunes] [RSS] [Stitcher] [TuneIn] //  [VIDEO iTunes] [VIDEO RSS] On today's episode we talk with the Small Groups Pastor from Long Hollow Baptist Church, Ben Reed. The conversation covers a wide variety of topics around getting people connected to groups, training leaders and ensuring that groups stay healthy and strong. This episode is full of insights to help you think through how you can take your small group ministry to the next level. Ben Reed // [Website]  [twitter] [Starting Small: The Ultimate Small Group Blueprint] Interview Highlights 00:53 // Ben explains his role at Long Hollow 02:00 // About Long Hollow's split 17 years ago, and more recent growth 04:27 // Ben explains Long Hollow's assimilation strategy 07:40 // Jesus took risks on leaders the church wouldn't invite into leadership 08:40 // Long Hollow's Leadership Development process 10:04 // 5-1 hour seminars called 101 through 501 11:50 // Rich explains that adult learning requires 'walk out knowledge' 12:40 // Information Transfer versus Relational leadership development 14:40 // Churches need a unified vision of what a small group is 16:39 // Churches need to define what a healthy group looks like 17:29 // First step to get groups off the ground: start your own at your home Lightning Round Highlights Helpful Tech Tools // Evernote, Wunderlist, Google Drive Book Worth Reading // Brand Against the Machine by John Morgan Inspiring Ministries // Northpoint Ministries Inspiring Leader // Bill Willits What does he do for fun? // CrossFit with his wife Interview Transcript // Rich - Well, happy Thursday everybody. Welcome to the unSeminary Podcast. Thanks so much for tuning in. This is the podcast where we talk about stuff that you know what, just normally isn't talked about in traditional ministry training environments. So today we have a real treat! A great guest on the line. I am super excited to have Ben Reed from Long Hollow Baptist Church, just outside of Nashville in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Thanks so much Ben for being on the show. Ben - Thanks Rich. Thanks for having me out, man. Rich - Now why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, your ministry, about Long Hollow. Ben - I oversee all of our groups at 5 different campuses that we have at Long Hollow. I've been hear a little over a year. Before this we transitioned from a church plant where I had been on staff for about 5 years. So I have done the church plant world where we set up in a school every single week, and it felt very much like manual labor every single week, and…actually we were multi-campus, in two different schools, did that for 5 years and now I am in more of a traditional church, doing very similar things. Trying to get groups going, investing in group leaders, investing in the current health that we have and then trying to expand it. Been here a little over a year and loving the spot where we are at. We love middle Tennessee. We specifically love Nashville. It's a great area to live, and to raise our family. Ya, we love it here at Long Hollow. Rich - Nice. Now why don't you give us a bit of the history of Long Hollow. Give us kind of a flavor of your church. Ben - Let me get my dates right, so 15 years ago the church split and went through, actually, 17 years ago the church split, kind of a nasty thing for a while. Numbers dropped off obviously, drastically.Two years after that the pastor that is still the pastor at Long Hollow came in. His name is David Landrith, they were at a couple hundred at the time. If you have ever seen him communicate, he's just a very conversational kind of guy. We have grow from a couple hundred, now we are 5 campuses and we run about 8000 on Sunday mornings. I know it's been 15 years which sounds like a long time but really that's rapid growth in a short amount of time. That has obviously growing pains that go with it.

Rich Villodas on Spiritual Disciplines for Real World Ministry Leadership

Kevin Bordeaux on turning a church around from 20 people to 300 in 16 months!

Jason Curlee on How Campus Pastors Gain Influence

Greg Atkinson on 4 Keys to Creating an Irresistible Church

Frank Bealer on Ensuring Alignment in Multisite Churches