The Unstuck Church Podcast

Hosted by The Unstuck Group

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486

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Nov 2026

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About the show

With THE UNSTUCK CHURCH PODCAST, we invite you into the real-time conversations our team is having about church leadership every week. Hosted by Amy Anderson, this podcast explores common challenges in ministry and practical steps for tackling them. It's like getting to be a fly on the wall of our staff meetings. Tune in weekly for: Insights, observations and trends for church leaders from the Unstuck team. Benchmarks in church growth and health from The Unstuck Group's work serving hundreds churches across North America each year. Practical advice to help you lead your church towards sustained health. We think that after listening to The Unstuck Church Podcast, you'll want to start these discussions with your own team at your next staff meeting. Add your thoughts to the conversation on social media using #unstuckchurch.

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60 recent

November 11, 2026Episode 47431 min

Where We're Winning: Serving at ONE&ALL Church - Episode 474

There isn't a church we've talked to in the last several years that has said, " We have enough volunteers." Especially since the pandemic, most churches feel the pinch. But part of the challenge for churches might be their approach . They aren't highlighting the fact that serving is actually part of discipleship . It's more than something we need from people; it's something we want for them. Sean recently connected with Jesus Arriaga, the Executive Pastor at ONE&ALL Church in San Dimas, California, to talk about how they are winning in serving. We started working with ONE&ALL back in 2024. At the time, they were growing 21% year over year, and 88% of their church was serving. That's off the charts! In this episode, Sean and Jimmy discuss how ONE&ALL is approaching serving in a way that actually works. Serving as part of the discipleship pathway Simplifying the volunteer onboarding process Celebrating your volunteers This Episode is Sponsored by Planning Center Planning Center is software designed to help churches help people. With multiple tools in one connected platform, you can stay organized, communicate with your team, and create meaningful ways to connect with your congregation. Start for free at planningcenter.com —pay only for what you need, and cancel anytime. Join the Conversation on Social Media Follow us on X and on Instagram . Tag us at @theunstuckgroup or use #unstuckchurch.

November 4, 2026Episode 47335 min

Where We're Winning: Groups at The Table Church - Episode 473

We work with a lot of churches that are stuck. And because that's our world, we spend a lot of time on this podcast talking about the problems that churches are facing. This series is a little different. We're going to talk about where churches are winning because celebrating what's working matters just as much as fixing what isn't . Sean had the chance to talk with Christy Gibas , lead pastor of The Table Church in Pittsburgh, PA, about their groups strategy. The Table Church is so committed to being a church of groups (not just a church with groups) that they changed the name of their church . In this episode, Sean and Jimmy talk about how The Table Church is winning with their groups strategy and what you can learn from them. What's your revolution? Groups as a front door Raising up group leaders & multiplying groups This Episode is Sponsored by Planning Center Planning Center is software designed to help churches help people. With multiple tools in one connected platform, you can stay organized, communicate with your team, and create meaningful ways to connect with your congregation. Start for free at planningcenter.com —pay only for what you need, and cancel anytime. Join the Conversation on Social Media Follow us on X and on Instagram . Tag us at @theunstuckgroup or use #unstuckchurch.

October 28, 2026Episode 47230 min

Culture That Cascades From Staff to Congregation - Episode 472

Your staff culture shapes your congregation more than any set of values you've ever put on a wall. People absorb values from watching how the people leading them actually behave. And whatever they're seeing, they interpret as "the way we do it here." If culture development stops at your staff, you've only done part of the work. Because the culture on your staff team is going to shape your congregation , whether you push it out there on purpose or not. We're wrapping up our series by talking about what happens when you cascade your culture to your congregation . Sean and Paul cover what Sun Valley built, how it works and how it turned into their leadership pipeline. Investing in your culture Leadership cohorts for high-capacity volunteers Pushing your culture down This Episode is Sponsored by Tyndale House : If Jesus walked into your church right now, would people recognize him? We've created a personalized Savior who exists primarily to meet our needs, bless our lives, and guarantee our spots in heaven. But here's the problem. That Jesus would be unrecognizable. In the book The Missing Messiah, bestselling authors Kyle Idleman and Mark More will help your church rediscover the Jesus based on Scripture, not on culture. Plus, check out the six-session companion study guide with free access to streaming videos. Learn more at missingmessiah.com . Join the Conversation on Social Media Follow us on X and on Instagram . Tag us at @theunstuckgroup or use #unstuckchurch.

October 21, 2026Episode 47134 min

How to Hire & Manage for Your Church Culture - Episode 471

Every hire you make is a culture decision. You're either adding somebody who makes your team more like who you said you want to be or somebody who pulls it a little the other way. When you make your culture-shaping behaviors a normal part of your hiring, onboarding and staff evaluation process, you get better at hiring and managing. You'll see less turnover and more staff embracing and celebrating your culture alongside you. In this episode, we're talking interviews, onboarding and reviews . We'll also share a bit of how Sun Valley does this at their church and what it would take for you to get started. Assessing culture fit in the hiring process "Cultural Crash Course" in onboarding Culture conversations in staff reviews This Episode is Sponsored by Tyndale House : If Jesus walked into your church right now, would people recognize him? We've created a personalized Savior who exists primarily to meet our needs, bless our lives, and guarantee our spots in heaven. But here's the problem. That Jesus would be unrecognizable. In the book The Missing Messiah, bestselling authors Kyle Idleman and Mark More will help your church rediscover the Jesus based on Scripture, not on culture. Plus, check out the six-session companion study guide with free access to streaming videos. Learn more at missingmessiah.com . Join the Conversation on Social Media Follow us on X and on Instagram . Tag us at @theunstuckgroup or use #unstuckchurch.

October 14, 2026Episode 47032 min

You Get What You Tolerate - Episode 470

Defining your culture-shaping behaviors is a quick project. Embedding them into your team is a multi-year commitment—but that's the part that determines whether any of this changes how your team actually operates . What tends to happen is we come out of this meeting and return to the whirlwind of the rest of ministry. We put this list of behaviors on the wall or a desk calendar, and then go back to what we've always done. In this episode, Sean and Paul talk about what it takes to keep your culture alive . And they'll spend time talking about this idea: you will get what you tolerate . If you tolerate the status quo, you'll keep getting the status quo. Modeling culture-shaping behaviors Evaluating yourself on a regular rhythm What to do when a leader violates a behavior This Episode is Sponsored by Tyndale House : If Jesus walked into your church right now, would people recognize him? We've created a personalized Savior who exists primarily to meet our needs, bless our lives, and guarantee our spots in heaven. But here's the problem. That Jesus would be unrecognizable. In the book The Missing Messiah, bestselling authors Kyle Idleman and Mark More will help your church rediscover the Jesus based on Scripture, not on culture. Plus, check out the six-session companion study guide with free access to streaming videos. Learn more at missingmessiah.com . Join the Conversation on Social Media Follow us on X and on Instagram . Tag us at @theunstuckgroup or use #unstuckchurch.

October 7, 2026Episode 46938 min

Defining Your Church Culture - Episode 469

Culture is difficult to define but easy to feel … and it's hard to overestimate the role culture plays in your team's health and efficiency. A healthy culture can help turbocharge your vision and make progress toward the calling that God has for your church. But an unhealthy team culture will actually erode your vision and derail your strategy. We invited Paul Alexander, the executive pastor at Sun Valley Church in Phoenix, AZ and a consultant on our team, to join us for this new series: Getting Practical on Developing Culture . In this episode, we talk about actually defining your culture—getting those "unspoken rules" written down and implemented into your team—because you either define your culture or it gets defined for you. Values vs. culture-shaping behaviors An exercise to define your culture-shaping behaviors Interviewing, hiring and training for your culture This Episode is Sponsored by Tyndale House : If Jesus walked into your church right now, would people recognize him? We've created a personalized Savior who exists primarily to meet our needs, bless our lives, and guarantee our spots in heaven. But here's the problem. That Jesus would be unrecognizable. In the book The Missing Messiah, bestselling authors Kyle Idleman and Mark More will help your church rediscover the Jesus based on Scripture, not on culture. Plus, check out the six-session companion study guide with free access to streaming videos. Learn more at missingmessiah.com . Join the Conversation on Social Media Follow us on X and on Instagram . Tag us at @theunstuckgroup or use #unstuckchurch.

September 30, 2026Episode 46828 min

Mistakes Churches Make With Their Physical Space ft. Phil Taylor From PlainJoe Studios - Episode 468

The next time that you walk into your church lobby, pretend it's your very first time there. What does the room tell you about your church? Because it's telling people something. The question is whether it's the story that you meant to tell. Sean got the chance to sit down with Phil Taylor from PlainJoe Studios . Phil spent 20 years in lead pastor and executive pastor roles before joining PlainJoe, where he helps churches with building, design, branding, and web projects. In this episode, Phil and Sean talk through what telling your story through design actually means. Why your kids' spaces need numbers instead of animal names How often your main spaces need an update Phil & Sean's weirdest church lobby stories This Episode is Sponsored by Tyndale House : If Jesus walked into your church right now, would people recognize him? We've created a personalized Savior who exists primarily to meet our needs, bless our lives, and guarantee our spots in heaven. But here's the problem. That Jesus would be unrecognizable. In the book The Missing Messiah, bestselling authors Kyle Idleman and Mark More will help your church rediscover the Jesus based on Scripture, not on culture. Plus, check out the six-session companion study guide with free access to streaming videos. Learn more at missingmessiah.com . Join the Conversation on Social Media Follow us on X and on Instagram . Tag us at @theunstuckgroup or use #unstuckchurch.

September 23, 2026Episode 46737 min

How To Make Structural & Staffing Changes - Episode 467

People issues, especially people changes , can be incredibly divisive in a church. Suddenly, a staff member people love is no longer on the platform, and nobody's really sure why. Church leaders have had months to process the change, but the congregation and staff have to catch up in one conversation or announcement. And they rarely sit in that gap of information neutrally … they fill it with a story that's not about the decision but about the church itself. We're wrapping up Too Big to Run on Relationships , our series on getting your structure right as a large church. And we saved the hardest conversation for last— how do you make structural and staffing changes without blowing up your church? The Change Cycle Sequencing communication in the right order Developing a communication plan and a care plan This Episode is Sponsored by Tyndale House : If Jesus walked into your church right now, would people recognize him? We've created a personalized Savior who exists primarily to meet our needs, bless our lives, and guarantee our spots in heaven. But here's the problem. That Jesus would be unrecognizable. In the book The Missing Messiah, bestselling authors Kyle Idleman and Mark More will help your church rediscover the Jesus based on Scripture, not on culture. Plus, check out the six-session companion study guide with free access to streaming videos. Learn more at missingmessiah.com . Join the Conversation on Social Media Follow us on X and on Instagram . Tag us at @theunstuckgroup or use #unstuckchurch.

September 16, 2026Episode 46644 min

Are the Right People in the Right Seats? - Episode 466

You've got a structure on paper. You have clean reporting lanes, ownership and a healthy span of care. But the boxes that make up each role are still empty. How do you determine who goes in which seat? How do you know if someone has the leadership capacity a role requires? What happens when a role grows past the person in it? What do you do when the honest answer is that someone isn't in the right seat anymore? In this episode, the conversation shifts from charts to people, as Sean and Jonathan talk about getting the right people in the right seats. 10 years of The Unstuck Church Podcast! Clear is kind Evaluating character, chemistry & competency This Episode is Sponsored by Tyndale House : If Jesus walked into your church right now, would people recognize him? We've created a personalized Savior who exists primarily to meet our needs, bless our lives, and guarantee our spots in heaven. But here's the problem. That Jesus would be unrecognizable. In the book The Missing Messiah, bestselling authors Kyle Idleman and Mark More will help your church rediscover the Jesus based on Scripture, not on culture. Plus, check out the six-session companion study guide with free access to streaming videos. Learn more at missingmessiah.com . Join the Conversation on Social Media Follow us on X and on Instagram . Tag us at @theunstuckgroup or use #unstuckchurch.

September 9, 2026Episode 46539 min

Who Owns What? - Episode 465

Most churches build structure without ever naming what they're structuring around. Pastors want good structure for really good reasons. They want communication to work. They want to catch problems before they become a crisis. They want to know nothing's falling through the cracks. And honestly, most of them want their people cared for; they don't want anybody carrying more than they should. Those are pastoral instincts—great instincts. But here's where it can go wrong. A church feels the organizational pain, and they go straight to adjusting the org chart. They restructure without ever answering the question of what the structure was supposed to serve . In this episode, Sean and Jonathan talk about a key part of structuring your church staff: who owns what? Responsibility vs. accountability Structure to the strategy, not to the history Getting the SLT right T his Episode is Sponsored by Tyndale House : If Jesus walked into your church right now, would people recognize him? We've created a personalized Savior who exists primarily to meet our needs, bless our lives, and guarantee our spots in heaven. But here's the problem. That Jesus would be unrecognizable. In the book The Missing Messiah, bestselling authors Kyle Idleman and Mark More will help your church rediscover the Jesus based on Scripture, not on culture. Plus, check out the six-session companion study guide with free access to streaming videos. Learn more at missingmessiah.com . Join the Conversation on Social Media Follow us on X and on Instagram . Tag us at @theunstuckgroup or use #unstuckchurch.