Ready Set Grow Podcast

If you want help building rhythms and strategies to pastor the high capacity leaders the Lord sends you, learn more about the Ready Set Grow Mastermind here: https://www.readysetgrowchurch.com/mastermind

Every pastor prays for high capacity people. Very few know what to do when one actually shows up.

Because when someone walks in with more money, more experience, or more influence than you have, the instinct isn't to pastor them. It's to manage them. You platform them too fast to keep them… or you stay at arm's length so they never find out what you don't know.

Both are insecurity. And insecurity is the ceiling on who God can send you next.

This conversation covers how to pastor leaders whose capacity exceeds your own — without treating them as a resource or shrinking back from the relationship.

Inside:
- Why the "silver bullet" leader rarely becomes what you hoped
- What happens to a church when you elevate someone too early
- How insecurity quietly disqualifies you from the relationships God is offering
- Why expertise in business says nothing about a man's marriage, family, or walk with God
- Starting with curiosity instead of an agenda
- Building the relationship through prayer, shared vision, and presence in their world

Be faithful with the one God already sent, and He'll trust you with more.

Timestamps:
00:00 – Ready Set Grow Mastermind 
01:00 – A high capacity couple shows up 
03:28 – Why the silver bullet approach backfires 
05:15 – Stop treating people as resources 
07:11 – The real hindrance is your insecurity 
07:50 – The Priscilla Shirer dinner story 
13:08 – If you can't pastor them, God limits you 
14:58 – Practical steps to build real friendship 
17:49 – Pray together and share the vision early 
22:12 – Be faithful with the one God sent

If you want help turning your best ideas into finished work instead of a graveyard of good starts, learn more about the Ready Set Grow Mastermind: https://www.readysetgrowchurch.com/mastermind

You're the big idea guy. It's your gift. It's part of why the church is where it is.

And it's the reason nothing gets finished.

Here's the trap. Somewhere between the launch and the messy middle, the idea stops being fun. People start asking detailed questions. The work gets complicated. And a brand new idea feels better than finishing the one you already started.

So you start over. Again. And your team learns to wait you out.

The trap is not that you have too many ideas. It's that you're chasing them out of boredom instead of inspiration — and your organization has become the playground where you go to feel something.

This conversation breaks down how to keep the gift without paying that price.

In this episode:
- Why idea-rich leaders chase new ideas out of boredom, not inspiration
- Dopamine leadership: why announcing an idea feels better than finishing one
- The empty-plate trap — your margin is not your team's margin
- Why your church ends up with a graveyard of half-finished initiatives
- Where your leftover innovative energy actually belongs — your marriage, your health, your writing, your content
- Why pastors funnel every idea into the work bucket, and what changes when your purpose is bigger than your job

Your work is not here to entertain your boredom.

Timestamps:
00:00 – Ready Set Grow Mastermind Invite 
01:00 – The One Leadership Lesson Question 
02:01 – When The Big Idea Guy Leads 
03:52 – Chasing Ideas Out Of Boredom 
06:02 – Dopamine Leadership Explained 
07:22 – The Empty Plate Problem 
09:15 – A System, Not A Person 
12:23 – The Boat, Tube, And Wake 
18:17 – Cycles And Cooldowns On The Calendar 
22:58 – Where Leftover Innovation Should Go 
26:04 – Your Work Isn't Your Entertainment

Download the CRM Checklist here:
https://www.readysetgrowchurch.com/crm-checklist

If you want help building the systems that let your team truly know and shepherd your people, learn more about the Ready Set Grow Mastermind: https://www.readysetgrowchurch.com/mastermind

Right now, someone on your team knows something important — and it's only in their head.

It's in a text thread. A sticky note. A hallway conversation nobody wrote down. When that person is out, on vacation, or moves on, the information goes with them.

Your church doesn't have an information problem. It has a scattered information problem. This episode breaks down how to build one central place — a system, not a person — so your whole team, and your lead pastor, can see exactly where every first-time guest stands.

In this episode:
- The five numbers a lead pastor should always be able to check: guests active in the system, connections overdue, connections due soon, connections gone cold, and how many finished the Fastest Path
- Why a live dashboard on a phone beats a report someone has to generate
- The eight relational milestones (not tasks) that make up a real guest pipeline — from first touch to Fastest Path completed to a graceful exit
- Why a graceful exit isn't a failure of your follow-up — you're a steward of the relationship, not the owner of the person
- The 10-element checklist to audit whether your current system (software, spreadsheet, or whiteboard) can actually answer what your lead pastor needs to know
- How to start with what you already have before you go shopping for something new

If it's not in one central place, it's not really known. It's just remembered — until it isn't.

If you want a way to actually measure and sustain a healthy volunteer culture — not just define one — learn more about the Ready Set Grow Mastermind: https://www.readysetgrowchurch.com/mastermind

Grab a copy of our Volunteer Culture Workshop here:
https://www.readysetgrowchurch.com/the-volunteer-culture-workshop

You can build the perfect volunteer framework and still have no idea if it's working.

Most churches define what a healthy culture should look like once… and then never check on it again. Nobody's asking the follow-up question: is this still true for our people right now?

That gap — between the framework and the follow-through — is where burnout quietly creeps back in.

This conversation is about closing that gap: building a rhythm that keeps testing whether your volunteer culture is actually healthy, not just well-defined.

In this episode:
- Why a great framework without a measurement rhythm quietly fails
- How to build a recurring check-in system instead of a one-time culture statement
- Why proximity and season-of-life awareness matter more than any program
- How to know if a role is still sustainable, suitable, and significant for the person - doing it
- What a healthy feedback loop with your volunteers actually looks like in practice
- Why growth depends on your people, not just your systems

A healthy volunteer culture isn't something you define once. It's something you keep measuring.

Download the sermon brief from this episode:
https://www.readysetgrowchurch.com/sermon-brief

If you want to build a sustainable, team-based rhythm for sermon prep instead of carrying every message alone, learn more about the Ready Set Grow Mastermind: https://www.readysetgrowchurch.com/mastermind

Sunday is coming. Again.

You're still recovering from last week's message, and the pressure to produce something powerful is already stacking up for next week. It never stops. It just keeps coming.

Most pastors carry this weight solo — writing alone, editing alone, walking on stage alone. It feels heroic for a while. Then it burns you out.

There's a better way to build the message, and it doesn't rest on one person's shoulders.

This conversation breaks down the exact weekly rhythm a teaching team uses to turn a rough idea into a Sunday-ready message — and how to give and receive feedback without it wrecking your identity.

In this episode:
- How to build a yearly preaching calendar and sermon series brief before you ever sit down to write
- The weekly cadence that moves a message from rough outline to finished manuscript to Sunday delivery
- The CRIBS framework (confusing, repeated, innovative, boring, slow) for feedback that actually sharpens a message
- Why separating the critique from your identity is the hardest — and most important — skill on a teaching team
- The three delivery "zones" (story, teaching, preaching) that turn a monotone communicator into a dynamic one
- How to receive feedback on a draft without treating it like a verdict on your worth

A sustainable Sunday isn't built by one person. It's built by a team.

Download the Preferred Profile Template here: https://www.readysetgrowchurch.com/preferred-profile

Grab the A-Team Workshop replay here: https://www.readysetgrowchurch.com/the-a-team-workshop

Your team needs a new hire... but can you actually describe who you're looking for?

Most pastors can't. You know you need help. You know the role needs to be filled. But ask what a win actually looks like in that seat, and it gets fuzzy fast.

That gap is where bad hires come from. You meet someone likable, your gut says yes, and before you know it you're building the job around the person instead of finding the person for the job.

This conversation breaks down the Preferred Profile — the exact framework used to define a role, spot red flags, and know a good fit before the interview ever starts.

In this episode:

Why you can't find "the right person" until you've defined what you're actually looking for
The difference between a church profile and a preferred profile — and why you need both
How to set clear expectations for the first 90 days and the first year
The six areas of responsibility every role needs, measured with a red-yellow-green standard
The red flags that predict a bad hire, and the green flags that predict a great one
Why Scott interviews last, and how a team "stoplight" system took his hiring success from 50% to 90%

A great hire isn't luck. It's clarity, defined before the interview ever starts.

If you want help building a healthy staff culture people want to be a part of for the long haul, learn more about the Ready Set Grow Mastermind: https://www.readysetgrowchurch.com/mastermind

Grab the A-Team Workshop replay here: https://www.readysetgrowchurch.com/the-a-team-workshop

You poured your heart into someone... and they left anyway.

Maybe it wasn't a culture problem. Maybe it was simply what God was calling them to next.

Either way, it's worth asking: is your staff culture healthy enough — attractive enough — that your team could stay for the long haul, if that's what the Lord calls them to do?

This conversation breaks down six specific, practical keys to building that kind of culture — one that's healthy enough for the right people to stay and grow together, for as long as God has them there.

In this episode:

• Why clear expectations are the foundation of a healthy team culture
• How to give feedback that celebrates wins instead of only flagging problems
• Why valuing your team's input changes how they see themselves — and their work
• What a sustainable schedule actually protects, and it's not just your calendar
• How to value your staff as people and family members, not just producers
• Why fair pay still matters, even when the culture is strong

You can't decide who the Lord calls to stay. But you can build a culture healthy enough that staying is possible when He does.

If you want help building systems that bring your team real clarity — not just more activity — learn more about our Ready Set Grow Mastermind here: https://www.readysetgrowchurch.com/mastermind

Your team is putting in the hours. Meetings are happening. Task lists are full. And yet growth still feels stuck.

That's not an activity problem. It's a productivity problem — and it traces back to clarity, not effort.

Most pastors respond to stalled growth by adding more activity: tighter meetings, stricter hours, another app to track who's doing what. But if your team is already working hard, more activity just burns them out without moving you any closer to where you're trying to go.

This conversation breaks down the Horizons of Focus — a six-level framework for finding exactly where clarity is breaking down between your church's purpose and what's on your team's to-do list today.

In this episode:

• Why "activity problems" are rare and "productivity problems" are common
• The six levels of clarity, from your church's purpose down to today's next task
• How a "double in three" vision forces real paradigm shifts instead of incremental ones
• The difference between an area of responsibility and a project
• How to find the exact level where you — or your team — are stuck
• Why alignment, not more meetings, is what creates real momentum

A leader's first job isn't to create more activity — it's to bring clarity.

If you want to lead with the future already in mind — raising up the leaders who'll carry your church beyond you — learn more about the Ready Set Grow Mastermind: https://www.readysetgrowchurch.com/mastermind

You don't have a plan for leaving. Most pastors don't.

It feels too far off to think about — until it isn't. And by the time you're ready to hand off the baton, the financial prep, the identity work, and the marriage prep all needed to have started years earlier.

Scott Wilson watched his dad's generation get stuck: no money saved, no identity outside the role, no next assignment to move toward. So when it was his turn, he built the system differently — starting in his 20s, decades before anyone was asking him to leave.

This conversation breaks down what Scott actually did across three decades to prepare his finances, his identity, and his marriage for the day he'd hand the church to someone else.

In this episode:
- Why succession has to start decades before you plan to leave
- The financial discipline that let him say yes the moment God said "hand it off"
- How to separate your identity from your title before it's forced on you
- Why 80% of failed successions come down to the spouse
- How to build other voices in your church so it isn't dependent on you alone
- Grooming a successor without ever naming one out loud

There is no true ministry success without succession going well.

If you want a clear, low-risk process for developing and promoting the right leaders on your team, learn more about the Ready Set Grow Mastermind: https://www.readysetgrowchurch.com/mastermind

You've got someone on your team who's killing it in their role... and you're wondering if they're actually ready to lead.

The hard part isn't spotting talent. It's knowing whether that talent translates into leadership — before you make it official and can't easily undo it.

Being a great doer and being a great leader require different skills. There's a real, low-risk way to test which one you're looking at before you ever say a word to them or the team.

This conversation breaks down the exact process for knowing if someone's ready to lead — before you announce a title change.

In this episode:

• The key signals that show someone's actually ready to lead, not just good at their job
• The real difference between a great doer and a great leader
• How to run a low-risk behavioral experiment before making it official
• The two qualities every leader needs: respect and relationship
• Why character, competency, time, and trust decide who's ready
• What to do when someone says they feel called to lead

Just because someone's killing it in their current role doesn't mean they're ready to lead at the next one.