New Churches Podcast

Hosts Vance Pitman and Noah Oldham join with small group guru, leadership expert, and church planter Spence Shelton to dissect the issues faced within small groups, specifically pertaining to men’s involvement. Tune in to learn more about engaging the men in your church plant and creating spaces for authenticity within your discipleship models.

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The Scriptures clearly taught that Paul wanted to make sure there were older men training up younger men in the church, pulling them aside and training them to walk as godly men. The same is true with older women needing to train up younger women. — Spence Shelton

If nothing else—just out of obedience to God’s Word—if you’re a man with no male influences helping you walk with the Lord, you have to turn, look at Scripture, and recognize the deficit you’re missing. — Spence Shelton

Men need to be in spaces with other men dealing with God’s Word. — Spence Shelton

What were the disciples but a small group of 12 men who Jesus did life with for three-and-a-half years, raising them up, multiplying them out, and pouring into them? — Vance Pitman

We want everybody to be involved in intentionally gospel-centered relationships. So, depending on our people’s demographics in life, we provide different groups because discipleship is what matters for us; it’s the product, not the methodology, to get there. — Noah Oldham

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Host Ed Stetzer meets with author, pastor, and leadership expert Eric Geiger to discuss the inevitability of change in church planting. Tune in to learn how Christ’s transformational power impacts us personally as believers as well as within our leadership roles.

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You must begin with a really careful diagnosis of what needs to be changed, not thinking that all change is created equal. — Eric Geiger

We’re talking about the body of Christ, the family of God, and the bride of Jesus. The images that Scripture gives us aren’t for just any organization; this is the church, so we want to approach change very carefully. — Eric Geiger

Sometimes, as a leader, the need for change is intuitive to you in ways that are not intuitive to everybody else. — Ed Stetzer

Change is part of what it means to be a Christian. We were changed when we became Christ’s, but we weren’t just once-and-for-all changed; we are being changed and transformed. — Eric Geiger

In a church plant, you tend to attract more change-attracted people. They want to be there, but you must learn how to pastor them well. — Ed Stetzer

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Hosts Vance Pitman and Noah Oldham spend some time with pastor, author, and discipleship consultant Spence Shelton to uncover the role community groups play in the life of the local church. Tune in to discover how you can cultivate more group-centric rhythms while furthering the gospel’s reach within your own community.

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Clarity creates confidence, so give leaders clarity on what their expectations are. That’s going to give them the confidence to carry it out. — Spence Shelton

We plant because healthy churches plant churches and healthy groups plant groups. — Spence Shelton

We want to keep reaching people with the gospel. So, whenever you want to make disciples and reach lost people, that’s when you plant community groups. — Spence Shelton

We have to think multiplication at every level, and that’s not just multiplication of churches. It’s multiplication of disciples, which means multiplication of groups. — Vance Pitman

It’s not driven just by a systematized approach; if we’re not careful, we can make this a math equation. This is the activity of God in making disciples and multiplying churches for the expansion of His kingdom. — Vance Pitman

That’s what we’re after: making disciples. The Lord is the One who gives the growth. We are just here to seed and water, and as we see the Lord growing, we harvest. — Spence Shelton

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Host Ed Stetzer meets with Lifeway’s Director of Leadership Todd Adkins to explore the relationship between the body of Christ—the church—and its next generation of young leaders. Tune in to discover so much more about the church’s responsibility in leading and serving its Gen Z counterparts.

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Gen Z seems to lack the confidence of older generations. They’re just as competent, smart, and bright, but they need more encouragement. They need to be brought along and encouraged to lead. — Todd Adkins

We are finding that the next generation is slower to commit to a local congregation, and part of that is their negative perception of the scandals and struggles of the church. — Ed Stetzer

Gen Z-ers don’t often see the church as a healthy place to exercise their spiritual growth, nor do they see it as a place to grow and develop as a leader. We have to seize that opportunity relationally, authentically, and in community. — Ed Stetzer

We’re coming from a completely different generation and perspective. We have to understand that they’re not going to take the same path we did and that the expectations they feel are different as well. — Todd Adkins

We need to be personal and patient with the next generation as we bring them along. If we’re not taking them anywhere, they’re not just going to show up anymore. — Todd Adkins

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Hosts Vance Pitman and Noah Oldham team back up with author, speaker, and church planting director Scott Thomas to dive even more deeply into the role that failure plays in leaders’ lives. Tune in to discover how you can be on guard against your sin and the havoc it wreaks in ministry.

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When you as a leader admit to making a mistake, it creates an atmosphere that allows others to know failure is okay and that we all make mistakes. — Vance Pitman

I think too often in the realm of spiritual leadership, we embrace the idea that we have to be Superman with the “S” on our chests. We don’t allow for the reality that we all make mistakes, fail, and hurt other people, but we have to be willing to admit that. — Vance Pitman

If you have built a culture of gospel and grace, you can freely put your mistakes forward, knowing that you’ll receive the gospel in return. It’s super important to build that out in your ministry. — Noah Oldham

The mistakes that disqualify leaders don’t happen overnight, and they’re not out of nowhere. There are often warning signs for months, if not years. — Noah Oldham

Pride is the complete anti-God state of mind. — Scott Thomas

To love your neighbors as yourself comes second, as opposed to what is first: To love the Lord your God. Even our ministries must come second to loving the Lord. — Scott Thomas

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Hosts Vance Pitman and Noah Oldham team up with pastor, author, and church planting director Scott Thomas to discuss the lessons they’ve learned throughout their years in ministry. Tune in to hear more about how prayer, desperation, and the health of your family can aid you in your calling to plant churches and make disciples.

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The biggest mistake we make comes from the natural tendency of our flesh to do something when Jesus has invited us be something so that He can do something through us. — Vance Pitman

The reason we don’t pray is because we aren’t desperate. We’re not desperate because we’re just comfortable. We’re comfortable because we’re not trying to attempt something huge for God that He can only accomplish, and we don’t do that because we know our insufficiency. — Scott Thomas

God has chosen in His sovereignty to limit His activity to the prayers of His people. I’m not saying that God needs us, but God has chosen sovereignly to work in response to His people’s prayers. — Vance Pitman

A gospel culture describes a church that teaches and lives the gospel of grace, love, honesty, vulnerability, joy, and forgiveness. — Scott Thomas

The apostle Paul said the church should be like a functional family coming together in love. — Scott Thomas

That which is unhealthy can’t reproduce that which is healthy, and one of the reasons a lot of churches are not healthy is because they’re not planted by healthy families. — Vance Pitman

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Host Ed Stetzer meets with leadership extraordinaire Todd Adkins to dive into the ways the pandemic has impacted our leaders’ discipleship and development. Tune in to learn how you can empower your people to better lead through intentional relationships.

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We’re living in a world where criticism is at a higher level. We’re also having to set different patterns and rhythms and are needing reservoirs of resilience at higher levels. — Ed Stetzer

People kept talking about a new normal, but it never came. The normalization is really inconsistency, not the predictability that we once had. — Todd Adkins

The challenges of leading in chaotic times mean that the levers you used to be able to pull to move things have shifted, so the structure and systems that were familiar to you and that you relied on are gone. — Todd Adkins

At the end of the day, it’s about relationship. I’m a result of good and godly people who couldn’t have asked you a good coaching question to save their lives. — Todd Adkins

The fruit of a volunteer is another volunteer; the fruit of a leader is another leader. — Todd Adkins

Men were Jesus’ method, and it really hasn’t changed that much. We think that we need to shift everything, but we just need to find a different way to do what we know has worked in the past. — Todd Adkins

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Host Ed Stetzer meets with writer, professor, and missionary Trevin Wax to discuss the responsibility of preachers and teachers to further the knowledge of their craft. Listen to learn why the congregation, culture, and context you shepherd deserve more of your intellectual attention.

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Spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and intellectually, there’s a workout required for preaching, so you must have the right calorie intake for the right kind of output. — Trevin Wax

An ongoing intellectual stimulation is helpful for anyone who is teaching and preaching God’s Word. — Ed Stetzer

Part of the learning process is having something to offer through reading and listening to other great preachers and podcasts, while also getting to know the people God has called you to teach and shepherd. — Trevin Wax

Do we want to be wise and experienced with sermons that are fresh, full of insight, marked by the fragrance of Jesus, and with truth beautifully expressed? If so, then we must take steps now. — Trevin Wax

Not everyone’s a missiologist, but we should all be missionary-minded and inclined. — Ed Stetzer

Just like we’ve got to take care of our bodies, we must take care of our minds. We may have to shuffle our priorities to make it happen, but if we want to be ever-learning, we will prioritize it. — Trevin Wax

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Hosts Vance Pitman and Noah Oldham join Brad Lomenick for the second installment of their discussion on humble, hungry, and hustle-driven leadership. Listen as they delve even further into the topic of church-planting leader development, especially through the lens of healthy hunger and how rest can take you further in your hustle.

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A lot of church planters assume they have to become pastors, but the reality is that Paul never pastored any of the churches he planted. He was the planter and apostolic missionary who raised up leaders. — Vance Pitman

When you ask a good question, you honor the person you’re asking, and you’re saying to them, “I’m really interested and want to know more.” — Brad Lomenick

Hunger doesn’t take skill or know-how, but it does take experience. It’s the mindset of walking into every environment with a posture of asking questions compared to just giving answers. — Brad Lomenick

Leadership is not sitting in a room with a whiteboard and dreaming up something great for God; it’s about living in dependence and in pursuit of Him, seeking what He’s doing in the world, and then leveraging our lives to get in on it. — Vance Pitman

Church planting requires hard work and a generation of leaders who are saying, “I’m willing to do the hard things.” — Noah Oldham

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