BreakThru Churches Podcast

The impact of the scandal due to sexual misconduct claims against the iconic pastor of Willow Creek Community Church, Bill Hybels, and the allegations of mishandling his investigation by the church board may not be known for years. However, in this episode, Chris explores an issue that not only Willow Creek, but most churches and pastors struggle with: a culture that discourages leaders from addressing issues in their lives when they first begin.

Pastors talk a lot about the need for change. A ton of energy and resources are often dedicated to bring change in people’s lives, their community, and in the churches they lead. In this episode, Chris discusses the #1 skill that every leader must develop in order to lead change: Consistency.

Pastors typically either listen to too many people or not enough. Either approach will cause problems and, in this episode, Chris shares why this is a problem and how every pastor can know who to share with and give access to speak into their life and ministry.

In every human interaction we have, we only see a sliver of what is fully going on in the other person’s life. This episode focuses on how church leaders should see the behaviors and reactions of those they lead so they can minister to them more effectively.

To accomplish what God has called you to do, you must expand. Expansion cannot occur without true authenticity. In this episode, Chris explains WHY, for pastors, this true authenticity cannot be found within the church that they lead, but HOW & WHERE this can be found.

Finding great leaders to build Strong Teams is a very difficult challenge for any church leader. In this episode, Chris interviews Russ Minary, Founder of On Purpose Enterprises, and an expert on hiring great team members and he shares the steps leaders must take to hire great team members and the right and wrong tools to use in this process.

Church leaders are constantly faced with tough decisions. Often, the number of options seem limited. In this episode, Chris talks to Jonathan Malm, author of the book “The Hidden Option.” They discuss how church leaders can creatively develop more options to the daily challenges they face, along with a number of topics related to Jonathan’s book, “UnWelcome.”

Based on a recent event where his 7-year-old son hid from him in a stack of tires, Chris explains what can go wrong when leaders don’t recognize mistakes that are made and have the strength to stand up and admit the problem.

Easter is complete and hopefully, your church had an incredible weekend, but what do you do now to connect with the guests that visited your church? In this episode, Chris shares a strategy on how to effectively reach out to each guest to help them see that your church can minister to the areas of pain in their life.

On this Wednesday prior to Easter, Chris addresses leaders preparing for leading upcoming Easter Services. Although this is a busy week of preparation for most church leaders, he challenges them on how they should prepare their own hearts for Easter so they can lead their churches well this weekend.