Welcome to this week’s episode of the unSeminary podcast. I’m excited to have Eric Smith back on the podcast today.

Eric has served in several areas of ministry from pastoring churches to church planting. He also helped start the 242 Network which exists to train and equip leaders to plant multiplying churches. But it was at the 242 Conference, which Eric helped run, where the Lord spoke to him about helping established churches go to the next level. He now works in this area, consulting and training churches to help them take their next steps toward growth.

Eric is with us today to talk about what steps a church can take and what disciplines it can develop in order to stay healthy.

* Culture and life. // The churches that are willing to do what’s hard and healthy are the ones that grow. Once you devote yourself to do what’s healthy: remove divisiveness, choose to be positive and focus on the wins, and do the right thing for your church and leadership, it becomes part of the culture and life of the church. * Team dynamic. // Church leadership is a team, no matter how big or small it is. But if there is no team dynamic, it doesn’t matter what size it is. Eric uses Patrick Lencioni’s The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable. He first looks at the senior leadership and makes sure they are united and have a healthy team. After that, go through every level of leadership and evaluate if it also is a healthy team.* Put the right systems in place. // To keep the momentum going at your church, you need the right systems to continue to methodically move toward the end zone and also the right system to cultivate the right culture. Additionally as new people move into the church, you have to make sure you have the right systems to assimilate them into the church’s culture and communicate the church’s vision.* Evaluate your situation. // Are there some unhealthy things that are creating barriers and keeping you from gaining momentum? How do you remove them? Eric believes that a lot of it has to do with the absence of trust in your foundation. He works to help church leaders shift the level of trust toward a healthier foundation. On his website MomentumSwing.net he has a culture audit to help you evaluate your teams.* Step-by-step. // Eric has released a book Momentum: A Step-By-Step System For Growing A Healthy Church. His book focuses on three specific areas: to help your team get clarity of vision to make sure everyone knows where you’re going, to build relational trust in the leaders, and to assist the team in cultivating a healthy culture for sustained growth.

You can find out more about Eric at the website MomentumSwing.net or connect with him at his email [email protected].

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