Exponential Groups Podcast with Allen White

Mountainview Christian Church is a 53-year-old legacy church, which boomed in the 1990's, but has struggled ever since, even before COVID. Now as they emerge from COVID, Mountainview is launching groups in a big way. You can hear how Lead Pastor, Tom Santillanes, and Discipleship Pastor, Craig Ziese, are experiencing big results with small groups.

Larry Osborne shares about his start at North Coast Church and the innovations that have occurred over the last 40 years including video venues, sermon-based groups, and being "sticky." Larry gives insights on using culturally relevant group methods rather than imports from other countries. He also cautions pastors about preaching politics and become "Switzerland" in your church. Larry Osborne is a Teaching Pastor and Kingdom Ambassador at North Coast Church in Vista, CA, helping to oversee its growth from 128 to over 13,000 in weekend attendance with 7 local campuses. A sought-after trainer of pastors, leaders, and church planters, he has been acclaimed as one of the most influential and innovative pastors in America for pioneering such concepts as sermon-based small groups, pastoral teaching teams, video venues, and multisite churches. His fingerprints are found on churches throughout the world. Larry’s leadership books include: Lead Like A Shepherd, Sticky Church, Sticky Teams, Sticky Leaders, Mission Creep, and The Unity Factor. Larry holds both a Master of Divinity and Doctorate degree from Talbot Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Nancy, live in Oceanside, CA. They have three married children and eight grandchildren. For more information on Larry’s ministry, go to: larryosborne.com

In this episode, Lance and Allen discuss the relationship between numbers and success in ministry. For some Easter attendance was a disappointment, so what does that say about the pastor? Beyond that how do pastors stay healthy and motivated in ministry and avoid crashing and burning. Lance gives helpful advice on managing yourself and caring for your sole. Lance is the founder of REPLENISH ministries. Replenish is dedicated to helping people in ministry live and lead from a healthy soul. Along with speaking and consulting Lance does Life Plans, individual life coaching, and team development. Lance has a brand new book called Your ONE Life: Own it, Live it, Love it. He is also the author of Replenish and High Impact Teams. Lance served 20 years as a senior pastor before serving 7 years as an Executive/ Teaching pastor at Saddleback Church in Southern California. He led Saddleback’s Spiritual Growth Campaigns, such as 40 Days of Purpose and 40 Days of Community. Lance has been married to his wife Connie for 43 years and they have two married children and four beautiful granddaughters.

Michel Hendricks discusses a neurological and theological approach to becoming more like Christ. While not ignoring the rational, left side of the brain, Michel shares how the right side of the brain is where character develops through the four elements of joy, hesed, group identity, and healthy correction. The presence or absence of these elements also determines the ability of narcissism to heal or thrive in a Christian community. Michel Hendricks is the co-author with Dr. Jim Wilder of The Other Half of Church: Christian Community, Brain Science and Overcoming Spiritual Stagnation. He is the director of transformational consulting at Life Model Works. He is the former pastor of spiritual formation at Flatirons Community Church in Lafayette, CO. He has also served in Argentina, Bolivia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Kenya, South Sudan and Uganda. He and his wife have three adult children.

Heather Zempel, Discipleship Pastor and Ministries Director at National Community Church in Washington, DC, discusses recruiting and developing small group leaders, making disciples, and raising the value of groups with busy and important people. NCC is a highly transient culture. Heather gives tips on how to rapids identify and develop leaders. And, this episode was just a lot of fun! This episode also includes an Ask Allen Segment on creative ways to recruit group leaders.

In this fifth and final session, Allen White shares what is working and what is not working with starting small groups in the new normal. For more information about the Small Group Restart: https://allenwhite.org/restart

In Part 4, Allen White shares effective ways to connect people into small groups in the new normal of life and ministry. For more information about the Small Group Restart: https://allenwhite.org/restart

In Part 3 Allen White gives the principles for recruiting an unlimited number of new small group leaders. For more information on the Small Group Restart: https://allenwhite.org/restart

In Part 2, Allen White talks about how to get Senior Pastor buy-in for small groups. For more information on the Small Group Restart: https://allenwhite.org/restart

In this session, Allen White discusses the way forward for pastors and churches amid the pandemic. This video was recorded in the fall of 2021. For notes and links to the Small Group Restart, please visit https://allenwhite.org/restart

Allen White answers listeners' questions about getting new groups to continue, making coaching work, moving virtual groups to in-person groups, and casting vision for groups in your church.

Dr. Bill Donahue, author and executive coach, talks about the benefits of coaching for church leaders, corporate C level leaders, and small group leaders. Drawing from his years of experience in education, ministry, and executive coaching. Bill served Willow Creek Community Church and the Willow Creek Association for 18 years.

In this interview with Nick Lenzi, Community Director at Hoboken Grace Church in New Jersey, Nick explains how their church has created small groups within the context of the culture of their city. The small group methods originated from how people normally grouped together at dinner. He also shares about ministry in a transient community and his discoveries over the last two years of ministry during the pandemic.

Bill Willits from North Point Ministries discusses what's changed in small group ministry since the original release of Creating Communities in 2005, what's working and not working in 2021, and how North Point has innovated their ministry to connect and reach people now. Bill talks about recruiting leaders, connecting people into groups, and serving the community. He also shares some significant shifts in North Point's ministry.

In this episode, Phil Cooke, founder of the Cooke Media Group, an active producer in Hollywood, and and PhD in Theology, shares how pastors and churches can effectively impact lives through their online services, online groups, and social media.

In this episode, Carolyn Taketa shares about keeping the value of groups high in a church after 15 years of small group ministry there. She also focuses on the importance of acceptance and diversity in small groups. Carolyn talks about making every group, team, and ministry more groupish in the church, aligning a curriculum series across all age groups and departments within the church, and adapting for the post-pandemic world.

In this episode, you will hear Mark Richardson share on how the Rock Church is multiplying campuses online, in-person, and through microsites and multiplying small group leaders and groups! This starts with the church staff multiplying themselves, then investing in their leaders to become better group leaders, potential staff, and church planters.

This bonus episode is an extension of my conversation with Monica Lee from Episode 5. In this episode Monica and I discuss the unique challenges of raising children with special needs and it's impact on spiritual growth and ministry.

In this episode, Monica Lee, Radiant Church, Kalamazoo, Michigan, unpacks how their church intentionally makes disciples through small groups. She discusses the tools and environments they offer to help people become more like Jesus.

How do you multiply yourself? How do you multiply your church? Manna Church is well on the way to figuring that out. In this interview, Elliot Diaz, site pastor at Manna Church, explains how the church is multiplying churches across the U.S., multiplying campuses throughout their region, multiplying groups at each campus, multiplying small group leaders, and Elliot is multiplying himself at each campus to lead groups.