Video

Rick Warren’s Surprising Video On Church Size & Attendance

“Nobody likes a big church – except pastors.”

If you hadn’t already read the title of this post, you probably wouldn’t think that quote was from Rick Warren.

But it’s just one of several similar quotes in a short video in which Rick Warren shares some very helpful thoughts on our misperceptions about church size and attendance.

The video originally appeared on Thom Schultz’s When God Left the Building YouTube page. You can scroll down a little to watch it right here.

Here’s another quote from Warren:

“I think one of the things we need to do is change what we reward in churches today, because for the last 50 years denominations and organizations have rewarded size, attendance.”

I have no idea what those “rewards” would look like – I’m guessing Rick my not either – but he’s absolutely right that we need to change our thinking in that regard.

As he says in the last quote of the video, “Big isn’t better. Small isn’t automatically better. Healthy is better.”

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The Grasshopper Myth? On TBN? Really? (Video)

Since launching NewSmallChurch.com and publishing The Grasshopper Myth, I’ve found myself in some unusual places.

Ministering to US Military Chaplains in Germany and Small Church pastors in Croatia are some of the highlights. But, of all the places I never thought I’d be, the most surprising to me wasn’t on the other side of the world. It was a visit to a place less than five miles from my house – the TV studio of TBN.

A couple months ago, I appeared on their flagship Praise the Lord show, at the invitation of guest host, Phil Munsey.

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The First Step In Turning Your Small Church Around (Video)

In this video from the Small Church Pastors’ Workshop, Karl Vaters talks about the essential first step in becoming a great Small Church – learning to listen to God and each other.

This 33-minute video is Karl’s second solo talk from the workshop. It’s technically a sequel to Part 1 of Thinking Like a Great Small Church, which you can watch by clicking here. But they can be listened to in any order. Each stands well on its own.

Principles that are covered include:
The Acts 2 method for hearing God’s heart together
How to find God’s will by listening to each other
Finding the sweet spot for a healthy church turnaround
When to write a mission statement

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The Long-Term Value of Small Ministry (3 Videos)

Do Small Churches really have value? Thankfully, this isn’t the only ministry answering that question with a big YES!

The speakers in today’s videos, from the October 2013, Small Church Pastors’ Workshop, definitely agree about the value of Small Churches. And they make that argument in some very encouraging and practical ways.

Bob Kilpatrick – The Value of a Lean and Mean Church
Joel Kilpatrick – Small Doors Lead to Big Ministry
Frank Wooden – The Value of Pastoral Networking and Delegation

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Building a Strong Leadership Team in a Small Church (Video)

Today’s video, from the October 2013, Small Church Pastors’ Workshop, is a tag-team talk with me and my Youth Pastor, Gary Garcia.

Gary and I have spent 21 years together in ministry at our church. In an era where the average stay of a pastor is 7 months and the average stay of a lead pastor isn’t much better, we both feel very blessed. But it didn’t come easy. Gary and I are very different in almost every way.

In this 34-minute video, Gary and I talk candidly about our differences, our common ground and how we’ve used that relationship to teach and train volunteers, leaders and other church workers.

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Thinking Like a Great Small Church (Video)

A Small Church can be a great church. But how?

In October of 2013, NewSmallChurch.com held a Small Church Pastors Workshop to start addressing that issue. Today, the first teaching video from that Workshop is finally here!

This 32-minute video is the opening talk at the workshop. In it, Karl Vaters introduces the first step in becoming a great Small Church – starting to think like one. Then, he walks through a handful of starter ideas that virtually any church can implement to start making that happen.

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

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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