The Urban Pastor Podcast

What do you do when you're doing everything you can to keep your church moving forward, but you still feel stuck?

For a lot of urban church planters, the problem isn't a lack of passion, commitment, or hustle. It's a lack of clarity about what needs attention next.

In Episode 5 of The Urban Pastor Podcast, Charlie Mitchell introduces the Urban Planter Journey and a practical coaching tool called the 4 Helpful Lists, designed to help pastors and ministry leaders move from chaos to clarity.

And this episode is a little different.

You'll hear part of a real coaching conversation with a church planter navigating the challenges of leading a young congregation: financial uncertainty, temporary meeting spaces, leadership gaps, and the feeling that every Sunday requires starting the engine all over again.

This isn't just teaching. It's a look inside the conversations urban pastors are actually having.

What You'll Learn

The 5 Stages of the Urban Planter Journey

1. The Dreamer — Developing the vision, discerning the calling, building relationships, and gathering support.
2. The Hustler — Launching, executing, solving problems, and making things happen with limited resources.
3. The Caregiver — Shepherding people, nurturing relationships, and developing leaders.
4. The Coach — Delegating responsibility, empowering others, and multiplying leadership.
5. The Catalyst — Moving beyond leading one initiative to creating opportunities, partnerships, and impact across a city.

The challenge? Too many urban church planters get stuck in the hustler phase.

They're still grinding years after launching, carrying responsibilities that were never meant to rest on one person's shoulders.

The 4 Helpful Lists: A Practical Tool for Clarity

When everything feels urgent, start by asking four questions:

1. What's going right?

Before you focus on everything that's broken, identify what's working. Celebrate progress, recognize God's faithfulness, and build from your strengths.

2. What's going wrong?

Get specific about the problems you're facing. Unnamed problems create anxiety. Clearly identified problems give you something you can begin to address.

3. What's missing?

Is it a leader? A system? A volunteer? A financial resource? A partnership?

Sometimes the problem isn't that something is failing. It's that something necessary isn't there yet.

4. What's confusing?

What keeps bothering you that you can't quite explain? What patterns, relationships, or challenges haven't made sense?

Give yourself and your team room to name the questions you haven't answered.

Inside the Coaching Conversation

You'll also hear an honest discussion about why church planting can still feel fragile several years after launch.

What happens when a church is growing but doesn't have a permanent home? When attendance fluctuates? When there aren't enough dependable leaders? When the pastor is still carrying the entrepreneurial weight of starting something new?

These are real challenges. And they're exactly why clarity, community, and coaching matter.

FREE RESOURCE: DOWNLOAD THE CHAOS CLARITY WORKSHEET

Don't just listen to this episode. Put it into practice.

Download the Maroon House Chaos Clarity Worksheet:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CsFfL_bKO8-OgudkvKPGsXHYV24p_xqO/view?usp=drivesdk

Print it, gather two or three people you trust, and work through the four questions together.

Use it with your church leadership team, ministry staff, spouse, or even in your personal life.

The goal isn't to solve everything in one meeting. It's to get a clearer picture of what you're actually carrying so you can identify your next steps.

The Bottom Line

You don't have to stay stuck in survival mode.

Sometimes the next breakthrough begins by getting what's in your head onto paper and inviting other people to help you see what you've been missing.

Connect and Explore

Explore Maroon House: https://bemaroon.com

Urban church planting resources: https://bemaroon.com/urban-church-planting

Connect with Charlie Mitchell: https://charliemitchell.me

About The Urban Pastor

The Urban Pastor explores faith, culture, cities, and real life through honest conversations about urban ministry, healthy leadership, and the communities we're called to serve.

Hosted by Charlie Mitchell.

No one changes a city alone.

The biggest lie a lot of church planters believe is that they have to figure everything out by themselves.

You don't. And you shouldn't.

In Episode 4 of The Urban Pastor Podcast, Charlie Mitchell shares why friendship isn't optional for church planters, pastors, and ministry leaders navigating the pressures of urban ministry.

It starts with an unexpected phone call from someone he met at a conference. Months after exchanging numbers, that person called him out for never reaching out.

That conversation became a lasting friendship—and a reminder that some of the most important relationships in ministry begin when someone decides to show up.

Drawing from his journey from Harlem Heights to Baltimore and back to Southwest Florida, Charlie shares the relationships that helped him clarify his calling, navigate disappointment, care for his soul, and keep going.

What You'll Learn

1. You need OGs who can tell you the truth.

Experienced leaders who understand the city, know its history, and aren't afraid to challenge your assumptions.

Charlie shares how seasoned pastors helped him think beyond his original church planting plans and how Matt Stephens challenged his understanding of Baltimore before taking him on a spiritual tour of the city.

2. You need friends who remind you to take care of yourself.

Church planting can consume your life if you let it.

After moving from Florida to Baltimore in the middle of winter, Charlie found himself questioning whether he'd made a mistake. Pastor Mike Crawford helped him recognize what he was experiencing and encouraged him to give himself time.

Sometimes the most spiritual thing a friend can do is ask how you're really doing.

3. You need friends who can laugh, cry, and get angry with you.

Not every relationship needs to be professional.

Charlie reflects on his friendship and partnership with Trevor, co-founder of Epiphany Baltimore, and why pastors need people who can be honest, advocate for one another, and share the everyday realities of ministry without pretending.

4. You need friends who have no skin in your game.

People who aren't depending on your church's attendance, budget, reputation, or success.

Friends who knew you before the titles. Friends who know your story, your family, your failures, and your humanity.

People who love you whether your ministry succeeds or struggles.

The Bigger Conversation

In this episode, Charlie also explores why the isolated-leader model can be damaging, how relationships help clarify a church planter's calling, and why Maroon House exists to create community, coaching, and care for urban ministry leaders.

The Bottom Line

You weren't called to figure everything out alone.

Find people who will challenge you, care for you, walk through the trenches with you, and remind you that you're a human being before you're a ministry leader.

Connect and Explore

Explore Maroon House:
https://bemaroon.com

Urban church planting resources:
https://bemaroon.com/urban-church-planting

Connect with Charlie Mitchell:
https://charliemitchell.me

About The Urban Pastor

The Urban Pastor explores faith, culture, cities, and real life through honest conversations about urban ministry, healthy leadership, and the communities we're called to serve.

Hosted by Charlie Mitchell.

No one changes a city alone.

Welcome to the Urban Pastor Podcast

Nobody told you it was going to cost this much. The Urban Pastor Podcast is for the pastor, church planter, and ministry leader doing the work in cities and wondering how much longer they can keep going. Hosted by Charlie Mitchell, founder of Maroon House and urban church planter with over 20 years in ministry, this show goes deep on soul care, church planting, life and ministry design, and the real cost of ministry in tough soil. No flinching. No performance. Just an honest conversation for the leaders nobody knows how to check on. New episode details at www.bemaroon.com.

Nobody’s going to put this on a conference brochure. But somebody needs to say it.

Here are 10 hard truths about urban church planting that most people don't tell you before you start.

In Episode 3 of The Urban Pastor Podcast, Charlie Mitchell shares the lessons he wishes someone had handed him before he moved to Baltimore, started raising money, and discovered what church planting actually costs.

This ain't about discouraging future church planters. We're leaving bread crumbs.

Every truth in this episode comes from the realities of planting, leading, and staying faithful when ministry doesn't go according to plan.

What You'll Learn

1. Not everyone gets funded. Don't count other people's pockets or assume the system is fair. Cast your vision, build relationships, and run your own race.

2. You only make some of your own rules. Church planters can shape style, expression, and format, but Scripture establishes non-negotiables.

3. Heart starts it. Resolve sustains it. Launching takes courage. Staying when things get difficult requires something deeper.

4. Success won't happen overnight. Maybe ever. Don't compare your beginning to someone else's well-resourced ministry. Pursue faithfulness and fruitfulness.

5. Fundraising works, but it takes work. One email or conversation won't fund your vision. Learn to communicate, follow up, and cultivate supporters.

6. Where you plant matters. The inner city, underserved neighborhoods, and economically disadvantaged communities present different financial realities. Understand your context and educate your donors.

7. You may need to surrender your dream outcome. The building, budget, salary, and timeline you imagined may not materialize. Learn to work faithfully with what God provides.

8. Church planting isn't always fun. It's not a crystal staircase. Think long-term: disciples made, lives transformed, and communities served.

9. You must learn to market your church. People can't connect with a ministry they don't know exists. Communicating your mission is part of the work.

10. You become a planter by planting. The title isn't what makes you a church planter. The process does. And some of God's most important work happens in the planter along the way.

The mindset behind it all: Think like a farmer.

Farmers understand that meaningful growth requires preparation, patience, persistence, and trust.

Memorable Quotes

“It takes a lot of heart to start a church. But it takes resolve to keep going after you started.”

“Where you start your church does matter. I’m going to say that again slow.”

“You become a planter by planting. Nobody is a planter when they show up. A planter becomes a planter through the process of planting.”

“The most important work that’s happening in the life of a church plant is what God is doing in the church planter himself.”

Watch and Explore

Watch this episode on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/enonyXbFQOY

Explore more urban church planting resources:
https://bemaroon.com/urban-church-planting

Connect with Charlie Mitchell:
https://charliemitchell.me

About The Urban Pastor

The Urban Pastor explores faith, culture, cities, and real life through honest conversations about urban ministry, healthy leadership, and the communities we're called to serve.

Hosted by Charlie Mitchell.

No one changes a city alone.

Before you plant, you need to know what's already planted.

The Black church isn't one thing. It never was.

In Episode 2 of The Urban Pastor Podcast, Charlie Mitchell explores four types of Black churches and the changing landscape of urban church planting.

This isn't an academic classification. It's a field guide for church planters, pastors, and ministry leaders who need to understand the communities they're called to serve.

Too often, we talk about “the Black church” as though every congregation shares the same history, culture, worship style, leadership approach, and ministry philosophy.

But the Black church ecosystem is far more diverse than that.

And if you enter an urban neighborhood without understanding the churches already present, you may spend years misunderstanding the people you're trying to reach.

The Four Types of Black Churches

1. The Traditional Church

The historic Black church expression many people associate with their parents' or grandparents' generation. Baptist, AME, and other established congregations with recognizable traditions, structures, worship practices, and pastoral leadership.

2. The New School Church

Traditional foundations with a more contemporary approach to connecting with people. Familiar preaching traditions and theological roots, combined with updated presentation, cultural engagement, and ministry programming.

3. The Contemporary Black Church

Churches emphasizing contemporary worship, production, cultural relevance, digital communication, and reaching younger or more diverse audiences. Often characterized by high-energy environments and a strong media presence.

4. The Outsiders

Churches and church plants shaped organically by hip-hop culture, urban neighborhoods, and different leadership formation pathways.

These aren't necessarily churches trying to look culturally relevant. Their leaders and communities are already products of the culture they're serving.

This is the world Charlie experienced through Epiphany and the broader network of urban church planters connected to Maroon House.

Why This Matters for Urban Church Planting

In this episode, we also explore:

• Why the decades following the Civil Rights Movement matter for understanding today's Black church landscape.
• How different generations have experienced and defined church.
• Why cultural familiarity doesn't automatically translate into community understanding.
• How to recognize the ministry expressions already present in your city.
• Why church planters need to understand their own identity and formation.

The takeaway: This isn't a ranking. It's a map.

All four expressions may exist in your city, often alongside even more diversity.

Know which expression you represent. Understand which churches are already there. And pay attention to the cultural and spiritual formation of the people you're called to serve.

Memorable Quotes

“We keep thinking about foot-stomping, hand-clapping church when we think of the Black church. And a lot of times people are referring back to their grandma’s church as if there hasn’t been a 30-year gap in between.”

“The Outsiders, they’re not putting on anything. They’re just themselves. Because they’ve been shaped by hip-hop and urban culture.”

“There’s even more diversity than what I just said. I just gave you a few. Keep your eye out.”

Watch and Explore

Watch this episode on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/celyNHcTQkU

Explore urban church planting resources:
https://bemaroon.com/urban-church-planting

Connect with Charlie Mitchell:
https://charliemitchell.me

About The Urban Pastor

The Urban Pastor explores faith, culture, cities, and real life through conversations about urban ministry, healthy leadership, and the communities we're called to serve.

Hosted by Charlie Mitchell.

No one changes a city alone.

The first episode of The Urban Pastor Podcast isn't a welcome speech. It's a mirror.

Do you have what it takes to plant a church? And what if the experiences you thought disqualified you are actually part of what prepared you?

In Episode 1, Charlie Mitchell draws from more than 20 years of ministry and church planting to challenge some of our assumptions about what a church planter is supposed to look like.

This conversation is for the person who feels called but isn't sure they're qualified. For the leader who grew up in the streets and wonders whether that past disqualifies them. And for anyone who has looked at the conventional image of a church planter and thought, That doesn't look like me.

Church planting requires more than a good sermon, a compelling vision, or the right connections.

It requires qualities that sometimes develop in unexpected places.

What You'll Learn

1. The ability to handle pressure

Church planting brings uncertainty, competing demands, difficult decisions, and constant challenges.

If your upbringing taught you how to navigate pressure, solve problems, and remain steady when circumstances are unpredictable, those experiences may have developed capacities that serve you in ministry.

2. Hustle and work ethic

Church planting isn't a predictable nine-to-five job.

It takes initiative, persistence, flexibility, and a willingness to do work that nobody else sees.

The ability to keep moving when resources are limited and circumstances are difficult matters.

3. The redemption of street skills

What happens when someone leaves a destructive lifestyle behind but carries forward the leadership capacities developed along the way?

Organizing people. Communicating vision. Building relationships. Managing pressure. Creating structure.

Those abilities can be redirected toward something life-giving.

The past doesn't need to be celebrated or repeated for God to redeem what was learned through it.

4. An entrepreneurial spirit

Church planters have to be willing to build something that doesn't exist yet.

That means taking initiative, solving problems, developing people, and moving forward without guarantees.

If you've always had a desire to build, organize, or create, that instinct may be worth paying attention to.

An Important Distinction

This episode isn't replacing the biblical qualifications for pastors and elders found in 1 Timothy and Titus.

Those qualifications matter.

Instead, we're exploring some of the practical characteristics and capacities that church planting demands.

The Bottom Line

Church planting isn't for the faint of heart.

But don't automatically disqualify yourself because your background, personality, or experiences don't match somebody else's picture of a church planter.

If God is calling you, it's worth exploring what He may have already developed in you.

Watch and Explore

Watch this episode on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/-0FQ0I1bhsA

Explore urban church planting resources:
https://bemaroon.com/urban-church-planting

Connect with Charlie Mitchell:
https://charliemitchell.me

About The Urban Pastor

The Urban Pastor explores faith, culture, cities, and real life through honest conversations about urban ministry, healthy leadership, and the communities we're called to serve.

Hosted by Charlie Mitchell.

No one changes a city alone.