『unSeminary Podcast』のカバーアート

unSeminary Podcast

unSeminary Podcast

著者： Rich Birch
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概要
 stuff you wish they taught in seminary.© unSeminary & Rich Birch キリスト教 スピリチュアリティ マネジメント マネジメント・リーダーシップ 経済学 聖職・福音主義
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  • 500 Volunteers in a Church of 1,300: How Community Did It with Lou Pizzichillo

    500 Volunteers in a Church of 1,300: How Community Did It with Lou Pizzichillo
    2026/11/12
    Welcome back to another episode of the unSeminary podcast. We’re talking with Lou Pizzichillo, Lead Pastor of Community Church in Babylon, New York. Today, Community Church welcomes roughly 1,200 to 1,300 people, with more than 500 actively serving on volunteer teams. Lou is also the founder of TeamFit, a volunteer placement tool that grew directly out of what Community Church has learned about helping people find meaningful places to serve. How do you create a volunteer culture where people genuinely want to serve? What if the key isn’t simply recruiting more people, but helping them feel known, appreciated, and connected to a shared mission? Tune in as Lou shares how Community Church builds strong volunteer teams, reinforces culture, and removes the mystery from serving. Unite people around a shared goal. // From the earliest days of Community Church, serving was part of the church’s DNA. Before launch, volunteers worked together to renovate an unexpected meeting space in just two weeks. After COVID, the church repeated the process while rebuilding its team. Lou discovered that working toward something meaningful together creates connection, ownership, and a sense that everyone is winning as one team.Define the win clearly. // Lou believes churches often assume volunteers understand what success looks like in their role. Community Church works hard to turn unspoken expectations into memorable language. Phrases such as “relational before spiritual” help volunteers understand how the church approaches people, while “black shirts stand shoulder to shoulder, not face to face” reminds guest services volunteers to remain open and attentive to newcomers.Repeat culture constantly. // Values are communicated through several rhythms. Lou sends monthly team updates that include church news and a featured value. Before every service, volunteers attend a 15-minute huddle where leaders reinforce values and tell stories. The church also uses Slack to share wins and celebrate examples of people living out the culture. Repetition turns values from slogans into everyday behavior.Celebrate what you want repeated. // Community Church intentionally highlights volunteer wins because what you celebrate, you’ll replicate. Stories are shared in huddles, online, and through fun recognition such as a rotating team member of the week award. Celebration gives volunteers concrete examples of what success looks like while reinforcing that their contribution matters.Lead with appreciation, not obligation. // One of Community Church’s strongest volunteer principles is to motivate through gratitude rather than guilt. Rather than using Scripture to pressure people into serving more, leaders focus on helping volunteers feel valued and genuinely wanted. If someone no longer wants to serve, the goal isn’t to push harder but to care for the person and protect the health of the team.Make the first serving day unforgettable. // New volunteers complete a “favorite things” form listing items such as their favorite snack, drink, and restaurant. When they arrive for their first day, they may find a personalized gift bag, favorite snack, team shirt, and name tag waiting for them. Lou compares it to walking into an NBA locker room and seeing your jersey already hanging. That intentional first impression communicates, “We’re glad you’re here.”Protect volunteers from burnout. // Community Church uses coaches to help leaders stay connected to individual volunteers and notice when someone is overextended. Lou would rather operate short-handed for a weekend than continually push someone toward burnout. The church also looks for opportunities to add encouragement and appreciation when energy begins to drop because investing in the team ultimately strengthens the entire church.Remove the mystery from volunteering. // TeamFit is a tool which Lou developed after repeatedly hearing volunteers say, “I wish I had signed up sooner. I just didn’t know what I was signing up for.” The tool uses a simple assessment to match people with potential serving roles while also giving them access to detailed descriptions of every available position. People can explore privately, understand expectations, and decide where they may thrive before making a commitment.Start with the person, not the church’s need. // Instead of asking, “Who can fill this empty role?” TeamFit asks, “Where will this person thrive?” That shift has helped Community Church uncover volunteers for roles it might never have promoted publicly—from sound engineers and photographers to painters and window cleaners. The philosophy is simple: serve the team well, and the team will serve the church well. To learn more about Community Church, visit communitychurch.net. To explore TeamFit and see how it can help people discover serving roles that fit them, visit myteamfit.net/unseminary. Lou is also offering unSeminary listeners the first three months free with...
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    1分未満
  • Everyone Says Young People Don’t Give. This Church Proves Otherwise with Brian Davis

    Everyone Says Young People Don’t Give. This Church Proves Otherwise with Brian Davis
    2026/11/05
    Welcome back to another episode of the unSeminary podcast. We’re talking with Brian Davis, lead pastor of Plaza Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. Plaza was replanted in 2021 with about 40 people and has since grown to roughly 400, with an average congregation age of 28. The church’s mission is to make disciples who share and show the gospel. Why do some churches struggle to develop generous people, especially among younger generations? What if generosity isn’t primarily a funding issue but a discipleship issue? Tune in as Brian shares how Plaza Church teaches generosity, creates rhythms of gratitude, and helps young believers put their faith into practice in tangible ways. Focus on obedience-based discipleship. // Spiritual maturity isn’t measured simply by how much someone knows but by how faithfully they obey what they know. Biblical knowledge matters, but information alone doesn’t produce transformation. At Plaza, discipleship focuses on putting truth into practice. Generosity becomes one tangible way believers learn to trust God and bring another area of their lives under the lordship of Jesus.Connect generosity to spiritual formation. // Money touches security, priorities, control, and future plans, which makes giving a powerful discipleship practice. At Plaza Church they communicate that Christians aren’t only concerned about their standard of living; they should also consider their standard of giving. Learning to give can counter selfishness and help believers practically trust God alongside real concerns such as rent, debt, careers, and housing.Tell stories instead of only sharing numbers. // Brian has found that younger generations respond strongly to stories showing what generosity actually accomplishes. He shares the story of buying a study Bible for a newly baptized single mother and then telling the congregation that their giving made it possible. Connecting generosity to changed lives helps people see that their giving is participating directly in ministry rather than simply filling a budget.Make generosity part of the regular diet. // Plaza doesn’t wait until the church is behind budget to talk about money. Generosity appears naturally in preaching whenever the biblical text creates an opportunity. During the church’s membership experience Brian teaches a simple framework: give, save, live. Christians give first to honor God, save to be wise, and live on the rest with contentment.End every service with gratitude. // Plaza closes each worship service with a giving moment, but it isn’t primarily an appeal for money. Instead, leaders celebrate what generosity accomplished that week—feeding neighbors, providing childcare, supporting ministries, or helping people take spiritual next steps. Brian wants the final words people hear before leaving to communicate celebration and gratitude: thank you for helping make this ministry possible.Create systems for finding the stories. // Finding 52 generosity stories each year requires intentionality. Plaza’s staff begins Monday meetings by asking, “What did God do yesterday?” Those conversations surface stories from baptisms, kids ministry, membership classes, outreach, and other areas. The giving moment is then planned intentionally in the service run sheet so it feels thoughtful rather than improvised.Remember that clarity is kindness. // Pastors sometimes become frustrated that people don’t give while never clearly inviting them to do so. Brian encourages leaders to own their responsibility rather than blaming the congregation. If generosity is genuinely part of discipleship, leaders should talk about it confidently and plainly. The goal is to want something for people, not simply something from them.Thank people when they give. // Brian sends a personal card to every first-time giver and personally calls people who make unusually large gifts. Rather than simply thanking them, he asks what God is doing in their heart that prompted the gift. Those conversations often reveal meaningful stories that can later encourage the wider church and deepen pastoral relationships.Use ongoing communication to reinforce generosity. // Plaza sends quarterly giving statements with a letter celebrating what God has done and casting vision for the coming quarter. Every church member receives one, even if their giving total is zero. Combined with weekly giving moments, these rhythms keep generosity connected to discipleship, accountability, vision, and gratitude rather than reducing it to an annual tax receipt. To learn more about Brian Davis and Plaza Church, visit plazachurch.org or connect with Brian on Instagram at @bdavis421. Thank You for Tuning In! There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds ...
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    40 分
  • A Former Witch, an Ex-Muslim, and an Atheist Walk Into a Baptism Tank with Jon Thompson

    A Former Witch, an Ex-Muslim, and an Atheist Walk Into a Baptism Tank with Jon Thompson
    2026/09/17
    Welcome back to another episode of the unSeminary podcast. We’re talking with Jon Thompson, senior pastor of Sanctus Church, a multisite church on the east side of Toronto. Jon has served at Sanctus for 25 years and has helped lead the church through seasons of growth, renewal, revival, and cultural change. In this conversation, he shares insights from his latest book, Presence: Resilient Witness in Times of Retreat and Revival, and explores how churches can faithfully witness in an increasingly post-Christian—and even re-paganized—culture. Learn to minister in a re-paganized culture. // Jon believes Canada offers a glimpse of where many parts of the United States may be heading. Churches are increasingly engaging people with little or no Christian memory alongside Muslims, Hindus, atheists, New Agers, nominal Christians, and people shaped by contemporary cultural movements. The challenge is not simply to defend Christian truth, but to communicate the gospel thoughtfully and winsomely to radically different audiences at the same time.Open the three evangelistic doors. // Historically, love, word, and power describe three ways people encounter God. Love demonstrates God’s character through hospitality and care. Word clarifies truth through preaching, apologetics, and teaching. Power reveals God’s presence through experiences such as healing, deliverance, dreams, and other supernatural encounters. Jon argues that churches need all three doors open because different people encounter Jesus through different pathways.Admit your church’s bias. // Most churches naturally lean toward one or two of these categories. Conservative evangelical churches often emphasize word. Other churches may prioritize love through compassion and justice, while still others focus heavily on supernatural experiences. Jon encourages leaders to honestly identify their bias and intentionally elevate the areas they tend to neglect. A healthy church needs all three working together rather than allowing one to dominate.Don’t let fear quench what God is doing. // Jon tells the story of a woman who came to faith out of Hinduism after experiencing visions, spiritual conflict, and encounters with Jesus. When her church removed those elements from her baptism testimony because leaders were uncomfortable with them, she felt that an essential part of her story had been denied. Jon warns that fear, theological bias, and lack of experience can cause churches to suppress genuine ways God may be working in people’s lives.Choose encounter and systems. // Jon believes churches often falsely pit spiritual encounter against organizational structure. Healthy churches need both. Leaders should build systems that support what God is doing without attempting to control it. As spiritual activity increases, churches may need to adjust volunteer processes, pastoral care systems, staff expectations, and leadership structures. The goal is not to eliminate order but to make the organization flexible enough to respond when circumstances change.Understand renewal, revival, and awakening. // Jon distinguishes between renewal, revival, and awakening. Renewal is the recovery of first love in individual believers. Revival is a sovereign move of God that He initiates and ends where sin is revealed and there’s widespread healing. Awakening happens when revival leads to widespread conversion. Leaders should not assume revival is guaranteed, but they should remain faithful and responsive whether God brings extraordinary renewal or simply calls them to steady obedience in an ordinary season.Start by refusing to resist God. // Before changing structures or launching new ministries, Jon believes leaders should begin with a simple posture: “Lord, whatever you want to do, I won’t fight you.” Many pastors love God but still struggle to trust Him when ministry becomes unpredictable. Jon encourages leaders to confront their fear, relinquish control, and remain open to correction, repentance, and change. To learn more about Jon Thompson and his books, including Convergence, Perseverance, Presence, and the upcoming re-release of Deliverance, visit jonthompsonresources.com or Amazon.com. Other Conversations with Jon Thompson Reflections on Christian Ministry at the Halfway Point with Jon Thompson // February 8, 2024What if John Stott, John Wimber, Dallas Willard & Andy Stanley Planted a Church with Jon Thompson? // March 14, 2019 Thank You for Tuning In! There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they’re extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally! Lastly, don...
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    47 分
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