Welcome to the unSeminary podcast. Today we’re talking with Chad Bickley, the executive pastor at Skyline Church in California.

Is your church experiencing growth, but you’re struggling with how to maintain a healthy team culture? Wondering how to create a culture that drives growth while ensuring your staff remains aligned and healthy? In this episode of the unSeminary podcast Chad shares valuable insights on building a staff culture that defines how to achieve the church’s vision while maintaining health.

• Keep your team focused. // Skyline Church has been recognized as one of the fastest-growing churches in the U.S. and has ambitious goals under its 10/10/10 Vision—reaching 10,000 people in 10 years in 10 campuses or church plants. The growth of a church requires more people on the staff, but it’s critical to hire people who are the right fit. Fast growth with an unhealthy staff can be disastrous. Be intentional about clarity and health in your team in order to keep them focused on your church’s mission.
• Six core behaviors. // Churches often create vision statements but they don’t identify the behaviors required to achieve their vision. At Skyline Church there are six core behaviors that they look for in their staff and constantly drill into them. These are: attitude, commitment, work ethic, accountability, trust, and love. Skyline actively reinforces these behaviors through cultural spotlights in weekly staff meetings, hiring processes, and performance reviews.
• Start with the right attitude. // The number one core behavior Skyline’s staff focuses on is level one: attitude. The standards surrounding the right attitude are humility, gratitude, and being a teammate. A person’s attitude is foundational because it affects all of the other core behaviors.
• Your work ethic is like a traffic light. // The level three core behavior is work ethic. It emphasizes working more enthusiastically with grit and with a mindset of how you can be more efficient and better today than yesterday. Think of your work ethic as a traffic light with each color representing your mood. If you’re in the yellow, you’re getting frustrated and need to think about what is going on inside you. In the red? You need to step all the way back to level one and work on your attitude. Skyline emphasizes to start every day in the green.
• Pastor/director meetings to stay healthy. // To keep staff aligned and pulling in the same direction, Skyline Church has a weekly pastor/director meeting with about 20 staff. The meeting includes a cultural section, an awareness section, and a discussion section. The cultural portion involves cultural spotlights where team leaders highlight stories from the past Sunday. They also report “wins” as well as “stucks” which they are trying to work through. The awareness segment highlights what the team is hearing and seeing, and they wrap up with a discussion which covers any other items of note.

To learn more about Skyline Church and connect with Chad, visit www.skylinechurch.org. Plus, to see how Skyline uses its six core behaviors, download their core identity book here.

EXTRA CREDIT // 10-10-10 Vision Planning Retreat Overview

Do you want to inspire your leadership team to dream big and align around a unified church vision? The 10-10-10 Vision Planning Retreat Overview is your step-by-step guide for hosting a two-day retreat that will energize your staff and refine your ministry strategy. With actionable discussions, engaging team exercises, and prayerful worship moments, this resource will help you map out a bold 10-year plan broken into achievable steps over the next 10 quarters and 10 months.

Ready to take your learning to the next level? Access this resource now in unSeminary Extra Credit and bring clarity and focus to your church’s mission. Get it here.

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Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Risepointe

Do you feel like your church’s facility could be preventing growth, and are you frustrated or maybe even overwhelmed at the thought of a complicated or costly building project? Are the limitations of your church building becoming obstacles in the path of expanding your ministry? Have you ever felt that your church could reach more people if only the facility was better suited to the community’s needs?

Well, the team over at Risepointe has been there. As former ministry staff and church leaders, they understand how to prioritize and help lead your church to a place where the building is a ministry multiplier. Licensed all over North America, their team of architects, interior designers and project managers have the professional experience to help move YOUR mission forward.

Check them out at Risepointe.com/unseminary and while you’re there get their FREE resource “10 Things to Get Right Before You Build”.

Episode Transcript

Rich Birch — Hey friends, welcome to the unSeminary podcast. Super excited that you’ve decided to tune in. You know, today I’m really looking forward to today’s conversation because I know this is going to be one of those things that all of us can relate to and it can be really super applicable to our churches. Excited to have Chad Bickley with us. He is the executive pastor at Skyline Church in ah in California. It was founded in 1954 and has a rich history of growth and overcoming obstacles become one of the fastest growing churches in the country.

Rich Birch — Currently, if I’m counting correctly, Skyline has two locations in ah California, one in Arizona, and one in Tennessee, which is a fantastic story, as well as services online. Chad, welcome to the show. So glad you’re here today.

Chad Bickley — Thanks for having me.

Rich Birch — Why don’t you fill in the picture there? Kind of tell us a little bit about Skyline. You know, if we were to come this weekend, what we would experience, and and tell us a little bit about your role.

Chad Bickley — Yeah, I think Skyline, like you said, has a very rich history. We’re 70 years this year and only four pastors.

Rich Birch — That’s amazing.

Chad Bickley — And so, um you know, it started with Orville Butcher who launched the church and it and then John Maxwell was after him, who is who has taught us all a lot of leadership skills. And then it went to Jim Garlow and in that transition from um Maxwell to Garlow is when the campus moved to its current place. And that’s a that’s a huge story of of a miracle on the hill, to be honest. But those guys really battled through to to build this place. And then Jeremy um came on about six years ago. And actually, yeah, six years ago and has been the fourth pastor there.

Chad Bickley — And really, you can you can see God’s hand in each each four guys. And and Jeremy has ah as a major heart for the lost and and and so if you’d come on our campus it would it would be very um ah outreach focus…

Rich Birch — Love it.

Chad Bickley — …very he he he tailors his message that reaches a first time person but also people who’ve been there a long time. So he has a he has a great gift of of, you know, whoever you are in that message, you know, you walk away with, you know, being challenged and motivated to be able to, to move forward. We have a, our strategy is called OIKOS. And, uh, that, that strategy is it’s, it’s in the Bible and touch talks about it’s a relational network of 8 to 15 people.

Chad Bickley — So everybody, has a relational network of 8 to 15 people. And we provide cards that write those people down on your on the cards. We want you to pray for them. And that will give you an opportunity you know when it presents yourself that you know we always say an invite can change a life to invite them to church. And that’s our responsibility as Christians, right? And so we really drive that that strategy into our people um to you know to go out to their OIKOS. And it and it’s really taken off and it’s really been um you know put put, you know us as pastors, you know, we’re responsible as well. But it’s it’s it’s also everybody that’s in the church to be able to equip them with the things we reach their community as well. So.

Rich Birch — Nice.

Chad Bickley — Yeah.

Rich Birch — Love it. That’s so cool. I, that’s really got my attention. I’d love to drill into that. And we might get to some of that today ah because I think there’s a ton there around even just how do we make it make it visible in our people’s lives around who should we be inviting and who you know who are the people that we should that – I love that. That’s such a great, so great practical strategy there.

Rich Birch — You know, pulling back the curtain a little bit. We, you know, are often pursue people to come on the podcast because they end up on Outreach 100 fastest growing church list. And I loved when I saw Skyline bump up on this list this year, I think for the first time. And I was like, I’m pretty sure that was the church Maxwell was at. And then dug into your history a little bit. And I love this because oftentimes we see churches on that list that are like 10 years old or 12 years old. They’re like the the ripe old age of 15 years. But you know here’s a church founded in the 50s that is obviously experiencing um you know some great great things going on, which is is great to see.

Rich Birch — And I can imagine leading in that environment has been challenging that as an executive pastor, we we see the like, oh, it’s all positive and upside. But what have been some of the challenges that you’ve had to face as an executive pastor on the like, looking under the hood a little bit, stuff that you’ve had to kind of tackle in the midst of all that.

Chad Bickley — Yeah, I mean, I would say the biggest thing is just growing pains and what comes with that. You know, you’re your staff, I feel like, you know, we’re very culture-focused. We’re very, you know, we we have a a vision right now of 10/10/10, which is 10,000 people in 10 years in 10 campuses or plants.

Rich Birch — Love it.

Chad Bickley — And, um you know, as a part of that, our our church has bought in and and movin’ and and ah but but it also requires more more people. And to balance that in San Diego where the cost of living is super high…

Rich Birch — It’s so true.

Chad Bickley — …and to get the right people because that’s everything to us. And and really give them the clarity to move forward because ultimately we don’t want to get to 10,000 people and we have an unhealthy staff.

Rich Birch — No, that’s good.

Chad Bickley — And we really don’t you know we put out numbers for numbers sake because we we say every every name has a story, every uh every story matters to God. And well for us It is it is it is less about the numbers but it is definitely a target for us to go after. And then we get the process of how we got there, right? So so it’s really important for us that, that, you know, we have given God the results, like whatever you want, you take it. But are we doing our part that we’re a team and we’re driving in the right direction? And, you know, in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 is just a great illustration of roles and responsibilities and how that the body makes up the team. And and so we really, we really are intentional about health in our teams. And and so really, that is the focus. And and because we believe healthy things grow. So.

Rich Birch — Yeah. Well, let’s dig into that. Cause I think there’s, there’s lots of folks that would be leading their executive pastor of a, you know, maybe not a church as large as yours, 1,000, 1,500 people. And they would say, yeah, I want a healthy staff team as well, but I feel like we’re struggling on that front. What have you been able to do to try to keep your staff aligned, keep them healthy, keep them focused on, you know, where you’re going as a church?

Chad Bickley — Yeah, you know, just a quick, my background, Pastor Jeremy and I, um we actually we played college basketball together. He he he went his story is incredible when it come when he became a Christian. He was in professional baseball, didn’t know the Lord. And and then he came to Christian Heritage College where we met. And we played we played college basketball. Again, I went I went the route of administration and coaching. And he went into ministry. But we’re we’re very close.

Chad Bickley — Actually, my wife and I helped him start a church. And and which which has led to where we are now, which is kind of ironic. But I I my passion you know is more in teams, coaching. And so you know about 20 years ago, just really had a you know, when I was, ah I’ve been coaching for just a really long time. And, and, and so when, when I got, I don’t coach anymore. I gave it up two years ago, but in the midst of all of that, I’ve, I, I had this desire of just like, you know, what, what are the best doing?

Rich Birch — Oh, that’s good.

Chad Bickley — You know know they all had a a philosophy. And that philosophy comes out of, you know, you and and who you are. And and so we we implement that in a little little basketball team at a Christian school. And and really Patrick Lencioni has been a big influencer in my life as well.

Rich Birch — So true.

Chad Bickley — And he has six questions that you need to ask, answer. Why do we exist? How do we behave? What do we do? How will we succeed? What’s important now? And who does what?

Rich Birch — That’s good.

Chad Bickley — And the leaders are actually at the bottom pushing everybody back to the top. And and so when so when, I never wanted to come to Skyline, to be honest. [Inaudible] very close, I was very happy where I was.

Rich Birch — You’re like, no, it’s good. I’m good. Love it.

Chad Bickley — My family was, was my my wife teaches at the school, my kids went to the school. And so when when when this went through, it was definitely a a journey of, a I always tell people it was a 45 day journey that was nuts to me. But it was super, super, super clear in the direction that that God was calling me to do.

Chad Bickley — And I actually remember the day that I was going there and I was I was actually sad. Because I was just like, you know, what is this? But I know at the time, Skyline was going, you know, needed, you know, Jeremy was a perfect timing for this. He came in, um started to create, you know, culture. And when I came in, just help with this. You know, I think a lot of people, a lot of churches have vision. A lot of, you know, we created a vision statement, but we have a purpose statement. But I think the thing that’s missing is just how do we behave to reach that?

Rich Birch — Right, right.

Chad Bickley — I would say the number one thing that most organizations, you know, places, churches miss is they don’t define how we behave…

Rich Birch — Right.

Chad Bickley — …to reach the vision.

Rich Birch — Yes.

Chad Bickley — And then get the people, because every interview we look through and when we look for these six things in in the people that we hire and then we drill it. And it’s been amazing to watch how this has started to go deep into the roots of our teams. It’s starting to go into our volunteers and they’re starting to speak the language because culture is a language that you speak.

Rich Birch — Love it.

Chad Bickley — And all these phrases that we have, you know, are are embedded in the different situations that take place. And so, you know, we have a ah core identity book with six core behaviors that that we really drill into. We do our annual reviews on them. We do our six months reviews on them. We we do cultural spotlights on them. We just have every month we do something um like we drill it into our team to be like, I mean, this is how we behave. You have a conflict, that’s level four accountability.

Rich Birch — Right.

Chad Bickley — We don’t want drama, because drama slows us down. So you gotta attack that. You’re either water or gas in a situation. And so we really use these phrases to really end drama. And that’s where my trigger goes off, is when I see a little bit of drama, it’s like, okay, how are we handling this? Because that’s gonna slow us down, and the mission’s bigger than all of us, right?

Rich Birch — Yeah.

Chad Bickley — And so, the best part about being this job…

Rich Birch — Yes.

Chad Bickley — …is I can hire for my weaknesses. And so I had an awesome team that that really is is experts in their areas, and yet they’re not they’re they’re not siloing people. They’re bringing us together because we’re one team. And I think the biggest caution I would have in churches is you’re siloed. If your teams are siloed, and then then they’re not coming together. If we’re not celebrating, you know, youth had ah five baptisms and the worship department isn’t celebrating, like how can we help you even, you know, on on those days. And they’re helping them succeed and they’re, and all this. That’s health to me and that’s been very, very important. And really, that’s what we control. We control our attitudes and our effort.

Rich Birch — Yep.

Chad Bickley — So we control those things. And so that’s what we’re gonna control. We can’t control the numbers…

Rich Birch — Yes.

Chad Bickley — …but we can control the clarity…

Rich Birch — Yeah, what we do.

Chad Bickley — …in which we believe God’s vision that’s given to Pastor Jeremy can get going. I’d be kind of passionate about this stuff because I know it works and…

Rich Birch — Well, yeah, its well, there’s a bunch I want to dig into here. So the one of the insights I want to underline that you said you said is, yeah which I think is so true, why we exist. You know, at the end of the day, all churches exist for some combo of either the Great Commission or acts one go into all the world. Like we’re we’re, you know, we’re a combo of those things. Most churches, or we probably should be. That’s what Jesus told us to do. But how we do it, how we behave – I love that distinction of like, hey, we got to be super clear with our people. And we’ll provide a link to this, but you’ve given us this ah this playbook that really outlines these six um behaviors.

Rich Birch — And, you know, level one to level six: attitude, commitment, work ethic, accountability, trust, love. When you think about those six, maybe let’s dive in on one of them to start that is maybe where you see your team getting tripped up, where it’s like, hey, we’re having a lot of level three conversations or a lot of level four conversations. Or, you know, where is it that we’re, you know, we we kind of, you’re getting the kind of most, either resistance, or you’re getting the most traction on kind of but pushing towards the kind of culture you want to you want to create.

Chad Bickley — You know, when we first came in and you you you start to do a different culture per se than what was in the past, you have to clearly identify it. And I would say if if we received any resistance to that, it was probably in the beginning. But the great thing is with the clarity, some people are like, yeah, that that’s just not me. And it ended healthy.

Rich Birch — Yes.

Chad Bickley — Right? And so, but it also, what it also did, it took people that were in it that gave them clarity that they, they shined and they, they grew. But I would say the number one thing we focus on is level one attitude.

Rich Birch — Okay.

Chad Bickley — And there’s standards that we talk about is humility, gratitude, and being a teammate. And so those three things, and we just say it starts every day with that one. It’s not like you get to level three and um you go, you’re you’re there. No, it’s every day you start with level one. And if you’re struggling with your work ethic, go back to level one.

Rich Birch — Oh, that’s good.

Chad Bickley — Because you are thanking the good Lord for the things that he has brought your way and then all of a sudden it helps your commitment, it helps your work ethic, it helps your accountability and so forth.

Chad Bickley — So really that that foundational piece is so huge and really what these core behaviors are, are a mindset. And that mindset, the more you get people pulling in the same direction with the same mindset, the more you’re going to see God can take you know you to a whole new level.

Chad Bickley — I mean, we use the example of the Clydesdale horses we’re using it in staff meeting yesterday. It’s like one horse can pull 8,000 pounds, two horses, you know, that are working together can do three times their weight, can do 24,000 pounds. But two horses trained working together with the same mindset, they can do 32,000 pounds.

Rich Birch — Wow, wow.

Chad Bickley — And so, when you have that same mindset and we just talk about our mindsets, level six mindset. It’s those six things. And if we’re all doing that together, you’re going to see things like the fourth fastest growing church. And if that’s what God has in mind, right? And now we can’t walk around just being like, Oh no, we’re the fourth fastest. No, it’s like, man, thank, thank you guys. It’s all in our approach to him and our gratitude to him because it’s, he’s the one, you know?

Rich Birch — Love it.

Chad Bickley — And we can’t, it doesn’t make sense. You know, God can do immeasurably more what you ask or think. And that’s what he’s done. And now we’re like, okay, God, what do you have next that’s beyond our imagination. And so really that foundational level one attitude is just huge for us. Cause are you being humble? Are you grateful? Are you being a teammate or are you being a player on a team? Because those are two different things.

Rich Birch — Right. Yeah. Yeah. Very good. Very good. I love that. I love that Clydesdale horse example as well. I’m sure I know somewhere there’s pastors writing that down. They’re like, Oh, I’m going to rip that off. We’re going to use that in a team meeting next week, which is wonderful.

Rich Birch — Level three: work ethic. So this one, to be honest, stood out to me. I was like, it’s interesting to me. So level three: work ethic – work enthusiastically with grit and with a mindset of how you can be more efficient and better today ah ah than yesterday. So love this idea. I love that you’re calling this out. Sometimes the church is looked at as being like, Oh, that’s where people that don’t have good work ethics go to work. And you’re pushing against that here. Man, there’s like a lean in, Hey, we’re going to make stuff happen. Talk to me about what are some ways that this level kind of works itself out with your, with your team.

Chad Bickley — Yeah, I mean, sports background, my dad was a farmer in Wisconsin before we moved out to California. It’s just, there’s there’s things, you gotta get after it. I mean, you gotta to work hard, but there’s also this like, work ethic could be a um a negative thing, but we want to change it into a positive thing. And again, it builds on itself.

Rich Birch — Right. Yep.

Chad Bickley — So you you start with, I’m a team name, I’ll do whatever, you know,

Rich Birch — Yeah, I’ll do whatever for you. Yeah, I’m going to help you. We’re going to pull on this together.

Chad Bickley — We’re we’re in this together. I’m gonna be a teammate.

Rich Birch — Yep.

Chad Bickley — Worship’s gonna help youth. Youth’s gonna help worship. This is gonna, you know, and it’s like, you start with that. All of a sudden, your commitment level, we identify all the commitment levels, but when you get to work ethic, we identify it in, three three uh like a traffic light – green, yellow, red. So you can identify your mood, right? So if you’re in the yellow, you’re frustrated. You’re, you know, you’re you’re complacent, you know. And if you’re in the red, you’re you’re gone, right? And so you go back to level one you need to take a thankfulness walk. You need to do something to get back going, right?

Rich Birch — That’s good.

Chad Bickley — And so really that mindset, and this is how me personally so much, cuz it’s like when you walk into meeting it’s like, man, what color am I right now? Why is everybody in the yellow? Oh wait, I’m in the yellow. So I need to change…

Rich Birch — Sure.

Chad Bickley — …where I’m going with. And we always say, man, start your day in the green – win the morning. Because if you come to work in the green, it’s hard it’s it’s it’s harder to move forward it’s hard to go from yellow, red to green than it is from green to red. Because [inaudible] back to it rather quickly. So we we just talk about all this stuff. That’s that’s, you know, identify your mood, man. You’re in the yellow man and speak that language to people. Man, you’re in the yellow.

Rich Birch — Right.

Chad Bickley — And and really hold people accountable to the culture because we’ve all signed up for this.

Rich Birch — Right.

Chad Bickley — So if we signed up for this, this isn’t personal.

Rich Birch — Right.

Chad Bickley — This is actually like we’re trying to help people find and follow Jesus seven days a week. So if you’re in the yellow, that’s not going to help people find and follow Jesus seven days a week. And and I’ll be honest, it it it really has helped me.

Chad Bickley — I’m I’m more of an introvert for sure. I love the behind the scenes stuff. And so I’m really challenged every day, man, win that morning. Make sure you’re walking into that environment. Let’s go. And we’ve created such a fun environment too, because part of that’s don’t take yourself too seriously, but take the mission very seriously.

Rich Birch — Right, right. Yeah.

Chad Bickley — And so we have fun. We do fantasy football. We do, you know, we don’t take ourselves too seriously. But when it comes to people, you know, accepting Christ and starting that, that journey, that’s very serious to us.

Rich Birch — That’s a big deal. Yeah.

Chad Bickley — And that’s a very heavy, heavy mission that that we’ve all chosen to be a part of.

Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good. I I think this is fantastic. It’s, you know, I love your passion for it. I love the clarity. I love how you’re, you know, even in these tools you’ve created to try to make it super easy for your people to understand and to onboard new people. Obviously in a church like yours, you know, youre you’re onboarding new team members all the time. That’s an issue.

Rich Birch —You mentioned a couple of ways. I’m looping back on something you said earlier. You mentioned a couple of ways that you reinforce these levels – evaluations, team meetings. Is there, you know, maybe flesh that out a little bit more. What are some other ways, or maybe a surprising way, that you ah reinforce these levels with your people to keep them in front of people to keep defining, hey, this is how we work. This is how we work.

Chad Bickley — Yeah, I heard a story, um the Home Depot, there was a new guy that took over Home Depot and he and he completely changed the culture with with handwritten notes. And and he, and so for us, we have a we have a weekly meeting and we have a section every week that’s called cultural spotlights.

Chad Bickley — So within that cultural spotlight, we’ve created um the six levels and someone, and to embed this, someone, you know, hey I saw Johnny uh level one teammate and he identifies it. And we we really, and this is where it gets a little tricky because everybody wants to highlight the individual and we’re like, that’s great, but we’re highlighting the core behavior.

Rich Birch — The behavior.

Chad Bickley — Because Johnny, tomorrow, can not be a teammate. That’s in him. Today he was a teammate. But what that does is it it sends it sends a message to everybody it sends a message to everybody on the team of, that’s what a teammate is. Not Johnny, but what he did.

Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good.

Chad Bickley — And what that has done is iron sharpens iron. It is taking these six levels to a whole different level in our minds.

Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s cool.

Chad Bickley — That’s that’s been probably the biggest way. Now huddles are doing it in volunteers. You know, we’ve we’ve done a culture warrior award of the month. We’ve done those things at our all staff. And and so when you start it’s like I said culture is a language and you have to teach people to speak a language. It takes a while. And so…

Rich Birch — Yep. Yep. Yeah. It’s not overnight. It’s not one time. You know, you’re not just going to do this. I love the weekly meeting thing. That that’s incredible. Can you give us a flesh that a little bit more? What’s that look like? This is a behavior that we’ve seen time and again with prevailing churches that they are not leaving this kind of defining what is it that makes us us to like, uh, we’re going to do it once a year. It’s like, we’re repeating this time and again. And I love that you’re doing that on a weekly basis. So kind of pull pull that apart a little bit more. What’s that meeting look like? When is it, who you know, what’s other things happening at it, that sort of thing?

Chad Bickley — Yeah, so it’s a pastor/director meeting. There’s about 20 of us. And and we come in the meeting and we have a cultural section. We have a cultural section, we have an awareness section and we have a discussion section.

Rich Birch — Yep. Okay.

Chad Bickley — And so the cultural section is just, it’s basically, we we do win, stuck… or sorry, we do cultural spotlights. Does anybody have a spotlight? Then we say, does anybody have a story from this past Sunday?

Rich Birch — Right. Yep.

Chad Bickley — Which trains our pastors like, go find us a story, go talk to people.

Rich Birch — To be looking for it. Yeah, absolutely. For sure. Yep.

Chad Bickley — And, dude, some of the stories are just like, what?

Rich Birch — Yep.

Chad Bickley — Go ask them, how did you come to Skyline? And we want to know, we want that information. And then it’s we usually have one or two people give what we call our win/stuck priorities.

Chad Bickley — And they give their wins of what they had since their last one. They give their stucks. I’m stuck here, and this is what we’re doing, and this is my priority for the next you know few. So they give like a department update…

Rich Birch — Update. Yep.

Chad Bickley — …and we go into awareness. You know, What are you hearing? What are you seeing? um And then at the end if we have something, Pastor Jeremy has a section and then and then if there’s any other discussions that need to take place, we we take place in in that meeting. So that’s kind of how it’s structured.

Rich Birch — Love it. So good.

Chad Bickley — And you know, sometimes, man, this is when you know, you’re healthy when after 30 minutes you’re still on your cultural spotlights and win/stuck priority [inaudible] cultural spotlights and stories and you’re like, this is unbelievable. And it’s just rapid fire.

Rich Birch — Right. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Chad Bickley — You’re just like, this is, we’re healthy right now. And when you’re not getting any, then you’re like, okay…

Rich Birch — We’ve got to spend some more time. Focus on it. Yeah.

Chad Bickley — …we need bit a of challenge, a little bit of training and and the importance, but our people have, you know, and you have to create the environment where it’s, you know, where it’s okay.

Rich Birch — Love it.

Chad Bickley — So that’s the part that has been pretty cool.

Rich Birch — That’s so good. When you look to the future, ah you think about this whole area, you know what’s what’s in development? What are you thinking up over the horizon? Maybe questions you’re asking about how you can continue to, you know, expand this, continue to um you know push deeply the kind of cultural stuff. What what are your what are the questions you’re asking on this front?

Chad Bickley — Yeah, I think the at the the more you grow, the more it’s like, okay, how do we keep it in front of everybody…

Rich Birch — Right.

Chad Bickley — …and making sure they’re training? Because you can you know you can so you can say that the six, levels. Okay. That’s knowledge. Okay.

Rich Birch — Yes.

Chad Bickley — But you have to be able to incorporate those into your daily actions. But honestly, you know, in our interview process, it’s very intense. They have to go through several things. And really, it’s like, do they fit our culture?

Chad Bickley — Not can they do the job.

Rich Birch — Right.

Chad Bickley — They have to have those traits already instilled in them. Or they’re gonna be miserable, right? And so I think it’s exciting and and fearful of just like, okay as we grow, we have to stay healthy. Like that’s that’s the key.

Rich Birch — Yep.

Chad Bickley — You know when I when I first took this job I went to You know, I honestly when I came in Skyline it was like, oh my goodness, where is everybody? Like, why is everybody, we…

Rich Birch — Right.

Chad Bickley — …this, this isn’t working. And, and then, you know, I went to a conference and, and it was like, to listen to churches, big churches and kind of hear behind the doors. I’m like, man, they’re not healthy. And so honestly for me, and my drive and desire is that we have a healthy staff.

Rich Birch — Right. That’s good.

Chad Bickley — And and if you get unhealthy, we’ll work with you. Come on, let’s go. More clarity. But at the end of the day, you know if you’re coming in and you’re you’re gossiping and you’re causing, it’s like, and you’re not you’re not being a part of the mission, like this is not the right place for you, you know? And and I think it’s it’s kind of like, you know, we got to put our hard hats on and and be construction, be a farmer, let’s go. We have to get after it. And so that’s the biggest, you know, I guess to answer your question.

Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good. Well, yeah, that’s super encouraging. And and this has been a great conversation, super insightful. And obviously with your 10/10/10 vision, you know, you’re in in a lot of ways on the front end of what you believe God’s calling your church to do. Like you still got a long ways to go on expanding and new locations and, you know, more staff and all of that. So I’m excited to see how this develops in in the coming years. Any kind of final words as we wrap up today’s ah conversation? I’ve really appreciated this. It’s been a great conversation today, Chad.

Chad Bickley — Yeah, I mean I would just again, the phrase that comes into my mind is is healthy things grow. They just grow and and you have to weed them, you have to water them. You have to put effort into healthy things. If you want a healthy body, you have to exercise, you have to eat right. So it’s work

Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good.

Chad Bickley — But it pays off.

Rich Birch — That’s good. Thanks so much, Chad. Appreciate you being here. If people want to track with you or with the church, where do we want to send them online?

Chad Bickley — skylinechurch.org is our website. I mean, it has our staff, our emails are on there.

Rich Birch — Perfect.

Chad Bickley —  So if you want to connect, happy to yep.

Rich Birch — That’s great. Thanks so much Chad. Appreciate you being here today, sir.