Intentional Churches Podcast

This week on The Intentional Churches podcast, Doug and Erin sit down with Mission Church’s Sarah Cole. Sarah serves as the Ventura, CA church’s welcome team lead—focusing on creating a volunteer culture that welcomes in everyone and anyone. Why is creating that culture of hospitality important to The Great Commission? How do we recruit and inspire leaders with the “why” behind welcoming new people? The three dive into these questions and more in today’s conversation! In her time at Mission, Sarah has seen her volunteer team grow from the low numbers of the COVID-19 pandemic to over 200 individuals passionate about serving those new to the church. Together, Erin and Doug invite Sarah to share the biggest challenges—and biggest victories—behind leading such a large volunteer team, how she communicates the “why” behind the work they’re doing on a Sunday morning, and how creating that welcoming environment has led to more and more people coming to know Christ. Hospitality in our church environments and on our welcome teams may not seem like a huge priority to some, but in reality it’s essential to inviting in and continuing to build a relationship with those who don’t know Jesus. Don’t miss this super practical, encouraging episode! Download Intentional Churches’ FREE e-book on radical alignment here: https://www.intentionalchurches.com/podcast. New to Intentional Churches? Start here: https://assessment.intentionalchurches.com/churchosWebsite: https://intentionalchurches.com            The Book: https://a.co/d/hFlz17C         The Blog: https://intentionalchurches.com/blog/    YouTube: www.youtube.com/@IntentionalChurches         Facebook: https://facebook.com/intentionalchurches          LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/intentional-churches/mycompany/         Instagram: https://instagram.com/IntentionalChurches          X/Twitter: https://x.com/intentchurches   CHAPTERS00:00 Introduction to Radical Alignment02:55 Sarah Cole's Journey and Context06:12 Mobilizing Teams for the Great Commission12:00 Recruitment Strategies and Team Care18:03 Creating a Welcoming Environment24:00 Building a Welcoming Culture30:02 Conclusion and Key Takeaways

Reaching the next generation is a concern for any institution, especially the church. With Gen-Z leaving traditional religion in droves, how do we disciple this next generation and build up faithful, fruitful leaders? Today on The Intentional Churches podcast, Doug and Erin chat with THINQ’S Next Gen director, Grant Skeldon, to break down how exactly to reach young people for Jesus. As a young leader himself, Grant is on the front lines when it comes to discipling the next generation. Together Doug and Erin ask Grant to outline how Gen-Z is coming to Jesus, the different ways they’re responding to the Gospel, and how to inspire and equip this generation to make disciples. The three conclude their conversation by sharing strategies church leaders can implement today to reach and inspire this generation for Christ. Learn more about Grant and THINQ here: https://www.grantskeldon.com/. Download Intentional Churches’ FREE e-book on radical alignment here: https://www.intentionalchurches.com/podcast. New to Intentional Churches? Start here: https://assessment.intentionalchurches.com/churchosWebsite: https://intentionalchurches.com            The Book: https://a.co/d/hFlz17C         The Blog: https://intentionalchurches.com/blog/    YouTube: www.youtube.com/@IntentionalChurches         Facebook: https://facebook.com/intentionalchurches          LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/intentional-churches/mycompany/         Instagram: https://instagram.com/IntentionalChurches          X/Twitter: https://x.com/intentchurches   CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction to Intentional Churches Podcast03:03 Understanding Gen Z's Relationship with Faith05:57 The Role of Prophetic Voices in Reaching Gen Z09:11 Contrasting Generational Approaches to Evangelism11:49 The Shift from Experience to Identity in Faith15:05 Discipleship: The Key to Reaching the Next Generation17:54 Equipping Gen Z for Evangelism and Discipleship21:01 Practical Steps for Church Leaders23:53 Conclusion and Resources for Further Learning

First Orlando’s Haley Malone never envisioned herself in ministry, but little did this former math teacher and volleyball coach know, she was already doing ministry just by building relationships with those around her. Now Haley serves as First Orlando’s groups director, overseeing all adult groups at the 150 year-old church. Doug sits down with Haley today to talk about how her passion for building authentic relationships translates to mobilizing group leaders, and how anyone—no matter your church size or position—can work to activate your people to make disciples. During her three years at First Orlando, Haley has personally seen how investing in relationships and living out The Great Commission has led to moments of life-change. Doug invites Haley to share some of those stories on today’s episode, and together they also break down how going first in initiating relationships can inspire your leaders to do the same, why outlining what you’re activating your people toward is so important, and some encouragement for those of us who tend to want to do it all. Download Intentional Churches’ FREE e-book on radical alignment here: https://www.intentionalchurches.com/podcast. New to Intentional Churches? Start here: https://assessment.intentionalchurches.com/churchosWebsite: https://intentionalchurches.com            The Book: https://a.co/d/hFlz17C         The Blog: https://intentionalchurches.com/blog/    YouTube: www.youtube.com/@IntentionalChurches         Facebook: https://facebook.com/intentionalchurches          LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/intentional-churches/mycompany/         Instagram: https://instagram.com/IntentionalChurches          X/Twitter: https://x.com/intentchurches   CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction to Haley Malone and Her Journey02:53 Haley's Role at First Orlando and Community Building06:07 Personal Application of the Great Commission08:53 Stories of Relational Evangelism11:47 Mobilizing and Activating Church Leaders15:13 Building Relationships in the Neighborhood18:03 Tools for Group Leaders and Community Engagement20:52 The Importance of Relationships in Ministry24:08 Encouragement for Church Leaders26:56 Conclusion and Resources for Listeners

Radical alignment with The Great Commission is a great goal to shoot for, but how do we actually take discipleship and make it personal? On this week’s episode of The Intentional Churches podcast, Doug sits down with Calvary Chapel’s executive pastor, Duane Roberts, to talk about authentic relationship-building, organizational alignment in a multi-campus church, and co-creation among teams. As a 10-campus church in ethnically diverse South Florida, leading Calvary Chapel has its own unique challenges. Together Duane and Doug hit on how Duane and his team promote alignment given these inherent complexities, why co-creation has become key to building up leaders and fostering trust amongst teams, and how Duane’s personal conviction to live out The Great Commission has translated to how he leads his teams. The episode concludes with the fruit Duane has seen from his team’s commitment to personal disciple-making and its transformation of Calvary Chapel from the inside out. Download Intentional Churches’ FREE e-book on radical alignment here: https://www.intentionalchurches.com/podcast. New to Intentional Churches? Start here: https://assessment.intentionalchurches.com/churchosWebsite: https://intentionalchurches.com            The Book: https://a.co/d/hFlz17C         The Blog: https://intentionalchurches.com/blog/    YouTube: www.youtube.com/@IntentionalChurches         Facebook: https://facebook.com/intentionalchurches          LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/intentional-churches/mycompany/         Instagram: https://instagram.com/IntentionalChurches          X/Twitter: https://x.com/intentchurches   

For this week’s episode of The Intentional Churches podcast, Doug sits down with Chris Palmer, dean of ministry and theology at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida, to talk all things Christian consumerism. Doug and Chris have both witnessed the church’s slow evolution towards a more consumeristic, programmatic institution in recent decades. But how can we as church leaders combat that tendency to simply give people another thing they want rather than what they need—the cross of Christ—in our ministries? Together Doug and Chris break down the indicators that your church is leaning consumeristic, look at how to combat those tendencies, and analyze how service, reflection, and emphasizing imperfection can lead us back towards radical alignment with The Great Commission. New to Intentional Churches? Start here: https://assessment.intentionalchurches.com/churchosWebsite: https://intentionalchurches.com            The Book: https://a.co/d/hFlz17C         The Blog: https://intentionalchurches.com/blog/    YouTube: www.youtube.com/@IntentionalChurches         Facebook: https://facebook.com/intentionalchurches          LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/intentional-churches/mycompany/         Instagram: https://instagram.com/IntentionalChurches          X/Twitter: https://x.com/intentchurches   CHAPTERS 

A church can be considered an “institution” but that doesn’t mean our churches should have institutional mindsets focused on programs over people. For today’s conversation on radical alignment with The Great Commission Erin and Doug sit down with Chad Booher, the community engagement minister at his local church and an individual passionate about inviting, discipling, and empowering God’s people. During their conversation Erin and Doug ask Chad to outline how he went from being a consumer in the church to a chief disciple-maker, how that heart change affected his leadership, and the problems he’s seen with an institutional mindset in churches. Erin and Doug also offer their expertise and perspective—challenging listeners to ask themselves if the churches they’re leading in or the ways they’re discipling others are more consumeristic or focused on individual heart change. Don’t forget to grab your discounted ticket for The Intentional Churches Conference 2025 here: www.intentionalchurches.com/podcast. New to Intentional Churches? Start here: https://assessment.intentionalchurches.com/churchosWebsite: https://intentionalchurches.com            The Book: https://a.co/d/hFlz17C         The Blog: https://intentionalchurches.com/blog/    YouTube: www.youtube.com/@IntentionalChurches         Facebook: https://facebook.com/intentionalchurches          LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/intentional-churches/mycompany/         Instagram: https://instagram.com/IntentionalChurches          X/Twitter: https://x.com/intentchurches   CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction and Personal Journey04:19 Breaking Free from the Institutional Mindset09:59 Living Out the Great Commission Personally14:15 Shifting the Focus: From Programs to Disciple-Making19:01 Challenges and Changes in the Church25:38 Practical Strategies for Breaking the Institutional Mindset32:36 Conclusion and Call to Action

Erin and Doug are back for this week’s episode of The Intentional Churches podcast, sitting down with executive pastor Rodney Elliot to talk radical alignment with The Great Commission. Rodney serves as the executive pastor of Pathway Church in Wichita, Kansas, and during his time in that role he’s worked to align the church’s elder board with the core mission of reaching the one far away from Jesus. On this second episode of season five, Erin and Doug invite Rodney to share his experience with church and leadership misalignment—the three diving into how Rodney worked to promote radical unity around The Great Commission, the growth Doug has witnessed as part of IC’s partnership with Pathway Church, and the fruit Rodney’s seen as the church and board became aligned toward one mission. As someone who grew up on a family farm, Rodney leaves listeners with some encouragement only a true farmer could give: if we tend to the soil well, 90% of the work of growth has been done already, the rest is in God’s hands. Don’t forget to snag your early-bird pricing discount for The Intentional Churches Conference 2025! Purchase tickets and learn more here: https://www.intentionalchurches.com/podcast. New to Intentional Churches? Start here: https://assessment.intentionalchurches.com/churchosWebsite: https://intentionalchurches.com            The Book: https://a.co/d/hFlz17C         The Blog: https://intentionalchurches.com/blog/    YouTube: www.youtube.com/@IntentionalChurches         Facebook: https://facebook.com/intentionalchurches          LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/intentional-churches/mycompany/         Instagram: https://instagram.com/IntentionalChurches          X/Twitter: https://x.com/intentchurches   CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction and Season Theme: Radical Alignment03:29 Misalignment in the Church: Resistance to the Great Commission06:19 Catalyst for Alignment: Reaching a Breaking Point08:01 Aligning the Elder Board: Personal Great Commission10:18 Alignment Down to Staff and Key Leaders18:19 Counterintuitive Approach: Back to Basics23:35 Farming Analogy: Preparing the Soil for Growth29:45 Practical Advice: Start with the Great Commission32:02 Conclusion and Invitation to Intentional Churches Conference

Welcome to season 5 of The Intentional Churches podcast! This season we’re talking all about how to radically align our churches and leaders around the promises of Scripture and the truths of The Great Commission. Luke Lezon is our featured guest today—a young lead pastor who’s faced his fair share of misalignment challenges while stepping into a lead pastor role after a major church split. On today’s episode Erin and Doug invite Luke to share his story, which he does with candor and honesty. Though Luke had to experience the battles of church misalignment firsthand, his experiences gave him the wisdom needed to take on his new leadership role and help shepherd his church into a steadier and more faith-filled future. Together Luke, Erin, and Doug discuss signs of church misalignment, how to turn the ship back toward scriptural alignment, and some practical ways to keep your team and people aligned and pulling in the same direction. Luke leaves listeners with some practical pieces of advice for anyone who’s facing misalignment in their church. This is going to be a powerful, practical, and relatable season of the show for so many of us in church leadership—don’t miss it! Follow Luke on Instagram at @lukaslezon and check out LifeBridge Orlando on their website: https://lifebridgeorlando.com/ Grab your discounted tickets for The Intentional Churches Conference in April of 2025 here: https://www.intentionalchurchesconference.com/ New to Intentional Churches? Start here: https://assessment.intentionalchurches.com/churchosWebsite: https://intentionalchurches.com            The Book: https://a.co/d/hFlz17C         The Blog: https://intentionalchurches.com/blog/    YouTube: www.youtube.com/@IntentionalChurches         Facebook: https://facebook.com/intentionalchurches          LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/intentional-churches/mycompany/         Instagram: https://instagram.com/IntentionalChurches          X/Twitter: https://x.com/intentchurches   CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction and the Importance of Clarity03:16 Misalignment and the Challenges Faced by Church Leaders08:45 Alignment as an Ongoing Process21:24 Navigating Misalignment and Transition25:07 Asking Questions and Engaging in Healthy Discussions27:02 The Role of Leadership in Alignment29:08 Conclusion and Announcement of Intentional Churches Conference

To close up season 4 of The Intentional Churches podcast, we’re releasing another bonus episode from our Intentional Churches Conference 2024, this time featuring our opening session with lead pastor Clint Nolder. Clint leads Foundation Church in Newnan, GA, and during his time with our conference attendees Clint shared on the faithfulness of God in the midst of life’s many battles. A ministry leader and parent, Clint has encountered his own fair share of battles, but no matter what he’s faced God has remained faithful. Using the story of Elisha and the Armeneans from 2 Kings chapter 6 to show that God will never leave or forsake us, Clint encourages us with practical ways to walk through any battle—leaning on community, viewing our battles as testimony, and choosing vulnerability to declare victory in Christ every time. Don’t miss out on The Intentional Churches Conference 2025! Claim your discounted rate today: https://www.intentionalchurchesconference.com/ New to Intentional Churches? Start here: https://assessment.intentionalchurches.com/churchosWebsite: https://intentionalchurches.com            The Book: https://a.co/d/hFlz17C         The Blog: https://intentionalchurches.com/blog/    YouTube: www.youtube.com/@IntentionalChurches         Facebook: https://facebook.com/intentionalchurches          LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/intentional-churches/mycompany/         Instagram: https://instagram.com/IntentionalChurches          X/Twitter: https://x.com/intentchurches   CHAPTERS00:00 Introduction: Facing Battles and Finding Strength20:32 Seeing Battles as Opportunities29:26 The Importance of Learning from Others32:40 Conclusion: Thankfulness and Praise

We’re wrapping up season 4 of the Intentional Churches podcast with a few bonus episodes from the 2024 Intentional Churches Conference! This first bonus episode comes from the One Aware panel we did interviewing non-Christians on their thoughts on Jesus, the church, and how they’d ideally want to be approached by Christians. It’s an eye-opening, and convicting, conversation. A word of caution: this type of conversation is not a casual, one-off conversation to be replicated in any type of context, instead our team conducted this panel as a way to inspire and train the 99 in relational evangelism. We always want to be intentional about what kind of ambassadors for Christ we are in the world, and this was the perfect setting to do just that. We’re offering a special, early bird rate for the Intentional Churches Conference 2025! Here's the link:https://www.intentionalchurchesconference.com/New to Intentional Churches? Start here: https://assessment.intentionalchurches.com/churchosWebsite: https://intentionalchurches.com            The Book: https://a.co/d/hFlz17C         The Blog: https://intentionalchurches.com/blog/    YouTube: www.youtube.com/@IntentionalChurches         Facebook: https://facebook.com/intentionalchurches          LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/intentional-churches/mycompany/         Instagram: https://instagram.com/IntentionalChurches          X/Twitter: https://x.com/intentchurches   CHAPTERS00:00 Introduction and Caution01:35 Setting the Stage for Spiritual Conversations03:30 Exploring Non-Christians' Beliefs06:05 Panelists' Introductions and Backgrounds13:13 Opinions on the Bible15:05 Perspectives on Jesus Christ19:15 Beliefs about the Resurrection23:16 Thoughts on Life After Death27:08 Confidence in Beliefs and Openness to Spiritual Conversations31:22 Past Experiences Attending Church Services31:51 Childhood Church Experiences and Sense of Community35:02 Desire for Understanding and Respect in Spiritual Conversations37:50 Building Trust and Friendship Before Discussing Spirituality40:41 Questions for God about Purpose and Impact55:05 Continuing Conversations in a Casual and Accepting Environment