The Morning After Ministry Show

It was one of those weekends where Tim and Andrew got to do all the pastor things. Between the two of them there were three funerals and a wedding, which meant a lot of time in suits, a lot of time behind microphones, and a lot of pastoral care packed into a few days.

Andrew also added a brand-new ministry experience to the list by blessing a fire truck. We’re pretty sure that one wasn’t covered in seminary, but at this point the City of Safety Harbor knows who to call when something needs prayed over.

In preaching news, apparently both guys had too much to say this week. Tim had to speed up a recording of his own sermon just to listen back to it, while Andrew realized in real time that he needed to land the plane and cut an entire page from his manuscript while preaching. Sometimes sermon editing happens on Thursday. Sometimes it happens in front of the congregation.

Behind the scenes, Lakeview is in the middle of annual staff reviews, which always makes for some interesting conversations about ministry, expectations, and leadership. Safety Harbor has a different personnel problem: people who aren’t actually coming to church keep using the church parking lot, and Andrew is learning the delicate pastoral art of telling people, lovingly, to move their cars.

It’s funerals, a wedding, a fire truck, long sermons, annual reviews, and parking lot enforcement. Basically, all the things they told us pastoral ministry would be.

Lakeview is apparently trying to fit an entire year of ministry milestones into a couple of weeks. Last Sunday they sent out Cross & Crown Church, and this Sunday they broke ground on a brand-new children’s building. Tim is riding a pretty incredible wave of momentum, although at this point the wave may be mostly caffeine and exhaustion.

Meanwhile, Andrew has somehow become the official prayer guy for the City of Safety Harbor. If there’s a microphone, a city official, and something happening downtown, apparently somebody has Andrew’s number.

Tim is also discovering one of the realities of preaching verse by verse through Exodus: eventually you have to preach the parts nobody puts on a coffee mug. We’re talking about what to do when the next passage is important, inspired, and, if we’re being fair, a little boring.

And a few weeks after Safety Harbor paid off its mortgage, Andrew finally gets to tell the story of the actual mortgage burning, complete with flash paper and his brief career as an amateur magician. Because apparently simply saying, “We paid off the building” wasn’t dramatic enough.

It’s groundbreaking, church planting, civic prayers, difficult texts, and lighting things on fire in church. Just another couple of weeks in ministry.

Tim was there for a big milestone yesterday as Cross & Crown Church held its very first Sunday service. After watching the church move from an idea, to a launch team, to being commissioned and sent out from Lakeview, they are officially gathering as a church.

At Safety Harbor, Andrew made a slight adjustment to the sermon calendar. After spending eight weeks covering the major covenants of Scripture, the church is now slowing things WAY down and spending ten weeks in a single chapter. Apparently pacing is relative.

Tim also got stood up for a lunch meeting this week, and Andrew is trying very hard to be sympathetic. Unfortunately, Tim has flaked on Andrew enough times that this mostly feels like justice.

That leads into some ministry shop talk about preaching. How do you adapt a sermon when you love the idea, but the original style is not yours and the context is a bit different? And how do senior pastors intentionally make room in the preaching calendar for other voices without feeling like they have to preach every Sunday themselves?

It's church planting milestones, radically different sermon pacing, missed lunches, and learning that sometimes good ministry means adjusting the plan and giving someone else the microphone.

Football season is officially here, and apparently both of our churches decided to celebrate with big Sundays.

Safety Harbor held its annual fantasy football draft after church, and this year's turnout was the biggest yet. What started as a fun little church league has turned into multiple leagues, a packed fellowship hall, plenty of football food, and way too many people convinced they can draft a championship roster.

Over at Lakeview, they had a big Sunday of their own with a record-breaking new members class. Tim also managed to have what we're calling a 20,000-word Sunday, between preaching, teaching, meetings, and everything else pastors somehow agree to put on the same day. At some point, your vocal cords should qualify for overtime pay.

And we're officially entering full-blown sports dad season. Practices, games, coaching, driving kids everywhere, and trying to figure out how all of that fits alongside an already full ministry calendar.

It's fantasy football, new members, marathon Sundays, and the annual realization that the fall calendar has absolutely no respect for your free time.

We’re piggybacking on last week’s “Mergers and Acquisitions” conversation because apparently the story isn’t done with us yet. The church that recently bought another local church for several million dollars showed up in a YouTube ad when Andrew was just trying to pull up Safety Harbor’s livestream. Nothing says “welcome to church” quite like another church buying an ad before your church.

That leads us into some of the things pastors notice from the platform. People falling asleep, people checking their phones, people getting up at exactly the wrong moment, and all the other things you can’t not see while you’re trying to preach. How distracting is it, and how much should a preacher actually care?

At Lakeview, Tim shared the pulpit with Frank for a significant Sunday as the church officially commissioned and sent out Cross & Crown Church. After months of talking about the church plant, launch teams, storage units, coffee shop parties, and everything else that goes into starting a church, it’s finally time to send them out.

Meanwhile, Safety Harbor held its annual Back to School Pool Party, and once again it proved to be one of those wonderfully easy ministry wins. People showed up, families had fun, nobody needed an elaborate program, and Andrew was reminded that sometimes the best church events are the ones you don’t overthink.

It’s YouTube ads, sleeping congregants, sending out a church plant, and squeezing in one last pool party before everyone officially admits that summer is over.

Apparently church growth now includes mergers and acquisitions.

A large church in our area just spent several million dollars to acquire another church property and turn it into its newest campus. We’re talking about what happened, what it means for the local church landscape, and why the whole thing feels just a little weird.

Meanwhile, Safety Harbor suddenly has a LOT of empty space now that the preschool has moved out. And, as you might expect, everyone has an idea for what to do with it. Offices? Classrooms? Community space? New ministries? Pickleball courts? Okay, hopefully not pickleball courts. Andrew is learning that empty rooms don't stay hypothetical for very long when church people know they exist.

Over at Lakeview, it was Move Up Sunday as kids and students moved into their new classes and ministries, officially signaling that summer is basically over.

Both churches are now in full-on back-to-school mode. Calendars are filling, ministries are restarting, families are finding their routines again, and pastors everywhere are pretending they’re ready for fall.

It’s mergers, acquisitions, empty buildings, moving kids, and figuring out what to do with the space God gives you, whether you paid several million dollars for it or just unexpectedly got the keys back.

This week, both churches found themselves in Exodus... just from different angles. Tim was back in the pulpit at Lakeview, preaching in the church's Exodus series for the first time in a while. Meanwhile, Andrew also found himself in Exodus as part of Safety Harbor's Kingdom Come series, proving that sometimes the lectionary and sermon calendars accidentally become best friends.

It was Baptism Sunday at Lakeview, one of the best kinds of Sundays, as the church celebrated new life in Christ and watched people publicly declare their faith.

Over at Safety Harbor, a new chapter is beginning as the preschool prepares to move out. That leaves a lot of empty space and a lot of questions. How should the church use it? More classrooms? Ministry space? Offices? A pastor-sized coffee shop? We talk through the opportunities and challenges that come with suddenly having room to dream.

We also spend some time discussing the practical side of communion. How often should churches celebrate it? What details matter? What traditions are worth preserving, and where is there room for flexibility?

And with summer quickly winding down, we're looking ahead to another school year and another busy ministry season. Fall is almost here, and pastors everywhere know what that means. The calendar is about to fill up fast.

It's another week of preaching, planning, baptizing, and trying to make the most of the spaces and seasons God has entrusted to us.

After about a month away from the microphones, we're finally back! Between vacations, travel, and ministry, we've managed to cover a good portion of the country and more than a few time zones.

Tim spent part of his summer fly fishing in the mountains of Montana, while Andrew headed to Arkansas for a little redneck therapy involving four-wheelers, family, and enough sweet tea to qualify as hydration.

Back at church, ministry didn't take the summer off. Yesterday was Lakeview's annual Vision Sunday, looking ahead to where God is leading the church in the coming year. At Safety Harbor, a few unexpected announcements reminded everyone that ministry has a way of keeping pastors on their toes.

Both churches have also welcomed new staff members over the past few weeks, bringing fresh faces, fresh energy, and the usual learning curve that comes with new ministry teams.

We're catching up on everything we've missed, sharing stories from the road, and settling back into the rhythm of ministry... at least until one of us leaves town again.

Summer ministry is in full swing, and apparently so is summer travel.

Andrew got back from celebrating his parents' 50th anniversary on a cruise, where he managed to lose his wedding ring, just in time to officiate a funeral, preach on Sunday, and help examine and ordain Tim later that evening. No easing back into the schedule around here.

Congratulations are in order for Tim, who was officially ordained by Lakeview Church last night. It was a meaningful service, a fitting celebration of God's call on his life, and a reminder that faithful ministry is always worth recognizing. Lakeview also welcomed its new associate pastor, marking another exciting milestone for the church.

Meanwhile, Andrew's week got even more eventful when he was rear ended on the way to an escape room... with four youth group students in the car. Everyone is okay, but it definitely made for a more memorable youth outing than anyone had planned.

This time of year always feels like a blur. Tim recently enjoyed a family vacation in Orlando and is already looking forward to a fly fishing trip out west in a few weeks. Andrew is unpacking from one trip only to repack for two weeks in Arkansas.

We'll catch up on all of it, celebrate a huge milestone in Tim's ministry, and officially take our annual summer pause.

We'll be back at the end of July... because we never miss a week.

...Unless we do.

It’s a week of transitions as both Lakeview and Safety Harbor are saying goodbye to staff members. We talk about the often-overlooked art of offboarding well, celebrating people for their service, blessing them on their way out, and remembering that healthy ministry includes healthy endings.

Tim had one of those marathon ministry Sundays that remind you why pastors sleep on Mondays. Three services in the morning, a new members class in the evening, and just enough caffeine to make it all happen. Somehow, he survived.

Meanwhile, Andrew took what felt like half of Safety Harbor Community Church to a ballgame. It turned out to be one of those rare church events that required almost no convincing, no complicated logistics, and left everyone asking when the next one would be.

The conversation also turns to baptism. When should a baptism happen publicly in front of the congregation? Are there situations where a private baptism is appropriate? What are the pastoral considerations that go into making that decision?

It’s a conversation about transitions, long Sundays, easy ministry wins, and helping people take their next step of faith.