Podcast

The Karl Vaters / Carey Nieuwhof Podcast: Bridging the Big/Small Church Divide

/ 2 minutes of reading

Carey Nieuwhof is a name that is rising fast in the Christian blogosphere.

Seven years ago, Carey founded the fast-growing, multi-site Connexus Church (about 1,500 people) in the small city of Barrie, Ontario, Canada (population 128,000).

His primary blogging topic? Church growth.

I, on the other hand, have been pastoring Cornerstone Christian Fellowship (about 200 people) for 22 years in Orange County, California (population 3.1 million).

My primary blogging topic? Small Churches.

We were bound to butt heads, right?

If all you knew about us were the mini-bios I just gave you, it would be obvious where that butting of heads would take place. He should see me as a sad underachiever who needed his condescending help, while I would be looking at him with jealousy and/or ridicule for putting numbers first.

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Can A Small Church Also Be A Great Church? (Podcast)

/ 2 minutes of reading

What does a great Small Church look like?

Since launching NewSmallChurch.com, that’s been the question I’ve been asked more than any other.

Isn’t that strange? 90% of the churches in the world are under 200, but we don’t know how to do Small Church well? Or even that small can be great?

The truth is that size has nothing to do with greatness. Especially in the kingdom of God.

Too many of us have been told – or have told ourselves – that a Small Church cannot be a great church. So how can a church be great if the pastor and leadership don’t even believe that is possible?

In this podcast, with Jeff and Jonny from 200Churches.com, we talk about the content of my post, It’s Time For Small Churches To Become Great Churches.

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We Love Megachurches, Too! (Podcast)

/ 3 minutes of reading

The body of Christ needs house churches, megachurches and every size in between. Unfortunately, not everyone thinks so.

In today’s podcast, with Jeff and Jonny from 200Churches.com, we talk about the content of one of my earliest posts, “Hi, I’m Karl and I’m NOT a Megachurch Basher”, and why I had to write it.

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Small Church Pastors Should Stand Tall (Podcast)

/ 3 minutes of reading

There’s a big gap in our pastoral leadership training. If you want advice and training about how to grow a big church, you have lots of great material to choose from. But do you want to know how to pastor your current Small Church well? You’re pretty much on your own.

To make matters worse, there don’t seem to be a lot of church leaders expressing concern about this massive oversight.

In today’s podcast, Jeff and Jonny of 200Churches.com interview me about that gap. Plus, we address the importance of connecting with other Small Church pastors, equipping Small Church leaders with the tools that work for their size, and why Small Churches are ideally suited to be the innovators in the body of Christ.

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Your Church Is Big Enough (Podcast)

/ 2 minutes of reading

In today’s podcast, Jeff and Jonny of 200Churches.com interview Karl about the content of his previous post, “Your Church Is Big Enough”.

It starts with Jeff’s question “How can you say your church is big enough as long as there are still people in your community who need Jesus?”

Then it gets fun.

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Help! We’re Small Church Pastors! (Podcast)

/ 2 minutes of reading

Are you a pastor? Is your church small? Congratulations! You’re a Small Church pastor! This podcast, with Jeff Keady and Jonny Craig of 200Churches.com, presents the ideas from my post, “I Am a Small Church Pastor, and I Am Not a Failure,” which is taken from the first chapter of The Grasshopper Myth. In this podcast, I share how I discovered that it’s possible for a church to be both great and small. There’s some straight talk and a lot of laughs here, too. (Episode 51 – 34:36 run time)

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When Small Is Your Only Option (A Video and a Podcast)

/ 3 minutes of reading

There are a lot of reasons healthy Small Churches stay small that have nothing to do with lack of faith, wrong principles, laziness, settling for less or incompetence. I’ve written about some of those reasons here already. Here’s another reason. Sometimes churches stay small because small is their only option. Today, I’m presenting two posts

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