Today on Church Leadership Radar: More than 45 congregations are weighing a split from the Evangelical Presbyterian Church to form a new group, the Westminster Association of Churches. Federal prosecutors have arrested someone in connection with an arson at a historic Brooklyn church. Plus, a piece asking who's actually checking on your pastor's wellbeing, and a good-news story: a Lexington, Kentucky church has built a congregation-wide "adoption culture" mobilizing families to foster and adopt kids.

Sources & Links:

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Church Leadership Radar — Wednesday, August 5, 2026

Ted Rhoades fills in for Todd today with a roundup of stories every church leader should know about:

• The Arizona Supreme Court's unanimous ruling that clergy can't be forced to report abuse disclosed during confession — a First Amendment ruling with implications for every tradition with confidential pastoral disclosure.
• An evangelist removed from an Alaska Airlines flight for in-flight preaching, and the growing conversation about boldness vs. being a bad witness in public spaces.
• Why letting go of a beloved but ineffective staff member, done well, protects both the person and the team.
• Good news: North Carolina Baptists on Mission volunteers doing flood recovery and church repair work in West Virginia — with several people coming to faith along the way.

Takeaway: keeping someone in a role they can't do well isn't kindness — it's avoidance dressed up as kindness. As Craig Groeschel has said, people would rather follow a leader who's always real than one who's always right.

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Today on Church Leadership Radar: Ted Rhoades (Todd's AI twin) fills in while Todd takes a day off. In this episode:

The takeaway: are you evaluating character and calling, or just whether someone fits an unexamined mental picture?

Sources:

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Today on Church Leadership Radar, Ted Rhoades reflects on Andy Stanley's call to do the hard thing first—and why healthy church cultures make room for questions that test a leader's assumptions.

Takeaway: The health of your culture is measured not only by how smoothly things run when everyone agrees, but by whether people can raise a thoughtful concern without fear of being dismissed.

• Andy Stanley — self-leadership, working from strengths, and cultures that welcome difficult questions

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It's the Saturday deep-dive. Ted (Todd's AI twin) walks through the four biggest church leadership stories of the week and what they mean for the trust your church is building with its people.

Every story this week comes back to trust. The churches earning trust over the next decade won't be the ones with the cleanest story — they'll be the ones willing to tell the real one, even when nobody's forcing them to.

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Today on Church Leadership Radar: Elevation Church in Matthews, N.C. quietly withdraws from the Southern Baptist Convention without explanation. A new Barna survey shows AI-assisted sermon writing has nearly doubled since 2024, even as most pastors admit some hesitation about the technology. Plus, why being a "friendly church" isn't the differentiator it used to be, and a good-news story: a Kentucky church finishes a nearly 20-year plan to offer free showers and laundry for the homeless and disaster victims.

Sources & Links:

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Today on Church Leadership Radar, Ted Rhoades covers Tavner Smith's new church-plant fundraising after Venue Church's bankruptcy; the Baptist General Convention of Texas staff realignment; the Southern Baptist Convention's new disability-ministry framework; and a Loveland, Colorado church that made a local movie theater its worship home.

Today's takeaway: Trust is not rebuilt with a great pitch. It is rebuilt with open books, real oversight, and consistent transparency over time.

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It's Wednesday, and Ted Rhoades (Todd's AI twin) fills in with today's Church Leadership Radar: a federal account freeze at Greg Locke's Global Vision Bible Church in Mount Juliet, TN, an Arizona church treasurer charged with embezzling roughly $67,000, a 40-year pastoral transition at Hunter Street Baptist Church in Alabama as Wes George succeeds David Whitt, a leadership piece on staying steady under pressure, and a story of Wisconsin's Calvary Bible Church mobilizing to help tornado-hit neighbors in the Fox Valley.

Today's takeaway: financial trouble in a church rarely starts with a dramatic villain — it starts small. Build systems (dual signatures, regular audits, outside eyes on the books) that don't rely on trust alone.

Sources:

• Global Vision Bible Church / Greg Locke federal account freeze
• Arizona church treasurer embezzlement case (~$67,000)
• Hunter Street Baptist Church pastoral succession (Wes George / David Whitt)
• Dan Reiland, "The Unshakeable Leader"
• Calvary Bible Church tornado relief efforts, Fox Valley, Wisconsin

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Today's Stories:

Key Takeaway: Trust isn't rebuilt by time passing — it's rebuilt by what you're willing to say out loud when it would be easier to stay quiet. That applies whether you're planting a church, hiring staff, or being honest with your team about a mistake.

Resources & Links:

Church Leadership Radar is your daily catch-up on what matters in church leadership. Hosted by Todd Rhoades.

Ministry Week in Review – July 25, 2026. Ted Rhoades (Todd's AI twin) steps back from the week's headlines to look at the bigger story underneath them: three high-profile ministry leaders — Jim Daly (Focus on the Family), Rick Melson (incoming Moody Bible Institute president), and Chuck Swindoll (Stonebriar Community Church) — all planning graceful exits instead of being forced into one.

Also covered: new Barna/Gloo research showing pastoral vocational satisfaction has dropped to 52% (down from 72% a decade ago) even as calling-confidence rises; an AI deepfake hoax targeting SBC pastors Willy Rice and Jack Graham; a Texas court clearing Second Baptist Church of Houston's governance restructuring; Dan Reiland's piece "The Unshakeable Leader"; and a good-news story of Bethany United Methodist Church volunteers rebuilding a stroke survivor's home in Summerville, SC through the Salkehatchie ministry.

Note: this recap draws on the week's church leadership headlines. Specific source links for each story were not available for this episode's show notes.

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