In today’s rapidly changing world, understanding the trends in church attendance is crucial for effective Christian leadership. As society evolves, so do the dynamics of faith communities, and leaders must adapt to these shifts to remain relevant and impactful.
Carey Nieuwhof and Eric Bryant explore the future of the church in the context of modern challenges and opportunities.
With the rise of AI disruption, many wonder how technology will reshape religious practices and community engagement. The potential for AI to influence church operations and outreach is immense, yet it also presents unique challenges that require thoughtful navigation.
The interview delves into how Christian leadership can harness these changes to foster deeper connections and spiritual growth.
THE INNOVATIVE CHURCH LEADER PODCAST AND GIVEAWAYS:
We want to help pastors experience and bring renewal through Spirit-led innovation, reaching new people, and making disciples who make disciples.
Be sure to sign up for our email newsletter at innovativechurchleaders.org/join-us for a chance to win future book giveaways, retreats, cohorts, workshops, and assessments!
In today’s fast-paced world, many are searching for deeper meaning and connection, and Dr. Nijay Gupta joins us to explore how we can experience God’s presence in everyday life — examining the intersection of faith and culture, the transformative power of the Word, and the spiritual hunger evident in modern society.
Dr. Gupta unpacks the concept of “holy worldliness” and how the gospel’s holiness can transform the world into a place of beauty, goodness, truth, and love, while also shedding light on the exciting ways young people are engaging their faith and how Scripture can serve as a guide in these turbulent times.
THE INNOVATIVE CHURCH LEADER PODCAST AND GIVEAWAYS:
We want to help pastors experience and bring renewal through Spirit-led innovation, reaching new people, and making disciples who make disciples.
Be sure to sign up for our email newsletter at innovativechurchleaders.org/join-us for a chance to win future book giveaways, retreats, cohorts, workshops, and assessments!
What if our misunderstanding of forgiveness is actually causing more harm than good?
In this profound episode of the Innovative Church Leaders podcast, host Dr. Eric Bryant welcomes back world-renowned apologist and advocate Dr. Amy Orr-Ewing. Together, they tackle one of the most weaponized and misunderstood topics in the modern church: Forgiveness.
Dr. Orr-Ewing shares insights from her new book, Forgiveness: Reclaiming Its Power in a Culture of Outrage and Fear. She addresses the “identity politics” of grievance, the rise of “cancel culture,” and—most importantly—how the church has often used the teaching of forgiveness to silence victims of abuse. This isn’t just a theological discussion; it’s a vital framework for leaders who want to lead with both uncompromising grace and unwavering justice.
It’s time to stop minimizing harm and start discovering the cosmic power of the Cross to satisfy our deep hunger for justice.
THE INNOVATIVE CHURCH LEADER PODCAST AND GIVEAWAYS:
We want to help pastors experience and bring renewal through Spirit-led innovation, reaching new people, and making disciples who make disciples.
Be sure to sign up for our email newsletter at innovativechurchleaders.org/join-us for a chance to win future book giveaways, retreats, cohorts, workshops, and assessments!
After growing a church to 2,500 people, David realized that while the church was big, the discipleship was thin.
Discover the 5-3-2 Framework, an “operating system” for the church that moved from one pastor to generational disciple-making in 46 cities across five countries. Learn how to transition from “programming” your church to “releasing” a movement, why three is the perfect number for transformation, and how to use the “S.O.W.I.N.G.” method to turn daily scripture reading into an external mission.It’s time to move the cookies to the bottom shelf.
Stop discipling for information and start actually making disciples of Jesus.
THE INNOVATIVE CHURCH LEADER PODCAST AND GIVEAWAYS:
We want to help pastors experience and bring renewal through Spirit-led innovation, reaching new people, and making disciples who make disciples.
Be sure to sign up for our email newsletter at innovativechurchleaders.org/join-us for a chance to win future book giveaways, retreats, cohorts, workshops, and assessments!
What if the most polarized issue in our country is actually one of the oldest commandments in the Bible?
In this enlightening episode of the Innovative Church Leaders podcast, host Eric Bryant talks with Dr. Sandy Richter – Old Testament scholar, Westmont professor, and author of Stewards of Eden.
Discover how to move beyond partisanship and rediscover the biblical mandate to “tend and defend” the earth. Stewardship isn’t a political platform; it’s a Genesis commission.
Dr. Richter helps us understand the Old Testament in order to give the church its Bible back.
THE INNOVATIVE CHURCH LEADER PODCAST AND GIVEAWAYS:
We want to help pastors experience and bring renewal through Spirit-led innovation, reaching new people, and making disciples who make disciples.
Be sure to sign up for our email newsletter at innovativechurchleaders.org/join-us for a chance to win future book giveaways, retreats, cohorts, workshops, and assessments!
What if your church’s “welcome” is actually scaring people away?
In this eye-opening conversation, Richard Riccardi — author of The Wandering Worshipper—shares his radical social experiment: visiting 33 different houses of worship in a single year. From Hindu temples to black congregations, Richard moved from being an “irregular and uninspired” cradle Catholic to a passionate deacon in a church where he was the first white member.
Discover the “Goldilocks” of hospitality, why “Miss Cha Cha” (the church lady) almost scared him off, and the one thing churches do that immediately alienates newcomers. This isn’t just a travelogue; it’s a mirror for every pastor and church leader asking: Are we truly a place for everyone?
THE INNOVATIVE CHURCH LEADER PODCAST AND GIVEAWAYS:
We want to help pastors experience and bring renewal through Spirit-led innovation, reaching new people, and making disciples who make disciples.
Be sure to sign up for our email newsletter at innovativechurchleaders.org/join-us for a chance to win future book giveaways, retreats, cohorts, workshops, and assessments!
As we navigate a post-Christian landscape marked by political polarization and disaffiliation, Mulder and Martí offer a look at what happens when congregational life is mapped onto capitalism.
Discover why the “racism of 2026” is more sophisticated than ever, why the search for “predictable models” makes leaders susceptible to drift, and how to cultivate a spiritually responsive community rooted in the way of Jesus.
THE INNOVATIVE CHURCH LEADER PODCAST AND GIVEAWAYS:
We want to help pastors experience and bring renewal through Spirit-led innovation, reaching new people, and making disciples who make disciples.
Be sure to sign up for our email newsletter at innovativechurchleaders.org/join-us for a chance to win future book giveaways, retreats, cohorts, workshops, and assessments!
We have a bonus FREE workshop on Creating a Culture of Innovation with Tony Sheng. Tony works for a Fortune 10 Company and has some helpful insights! We will meet online at 1pm CST on April 30th.
“Innovation isn’t a department – it is a culture. Join us for a discussion about habits, structures and leadership practices from a household brand and innovation factory and how it relates to the apostolic in ministry contexts.”
Creating a Culture of Innovation Outline:
This is what we learned – we don’t want you to become like us
Earth’s most customer obsessed company
Customers woefully dissatisfied
Business strategy can be on many things – we chose to be focus on customers
Pillars
Culture
Mechanisms – lead out of sight line and help change stick
Architecture – structure and tools that support change
Organization – small empowered teams
Failure and invention
Other examples
Closing – handles that you might be able to grab and use
What if the question “How do I grow my church?” is keeping you from actual kingdom impact?
In this vision-casting conversation, Dave Ferguson – founder of Exponential and author of Multiplier – reveals why waking up asking “How do we multiply God’s kingdom?” changes everything, how churches with a vision to plant 10+ churches grow 10% faster annually (while non-planting churches are plateaued), and why half the seats in his pastor peer group are now empty because of drift.
Dave shares stories of movement-makers like a pastor in Zimbabwe (who helped overthrow a 30-year dictator through discipleship) and Mimi at Amazon (who planted 100 micro churches with a $0 budget).
Discover the four gauges (RPMS) that could save your ministry and marriage, why 16% of multiplying churches creates a tipping point, how Community Christian handed off leadership after 18 months of apprenticeship, and what a “dream hour” is (and why Dave regrets not doing it sooner).
THE INNOVATIVE CHURCH LEADER PODCAST AND GIVEAWAYS:
We want to help pastors experience and bring renewal through Spirit-led innovation, reaching new people, and making disciples who make disciples.
Be sure to sign up for our email newsletter at innovativechurchleaders.org/join-us for a chance to win future book giveaways, retreats, cohorts, workshops, and assessments!
Two-year program including four two-day workshops for pastors and their leadership teams, and weekly coaching session for pastors, to provide support, develop transformational leadership skills, and structure initiatives that increase missional impact.
Grounded and built on the “New Creation” Biblical perspective, empowered by the Spirit of God in our lives, our churches, and our world, utilizing state-of-the-art strategic methodologies and the insights of behavioral neuroscience, related to change (transformation), learning, and impact.
Four workshops include the following:
(1) Leading a mission-focused, perpetually-relevant church
(2) Leading an Invitational (Wide-Funnel) Church
(3) Leading a Transformational Church
(4) Leading a Vocational/Impactful Church.
This 2 hour informational meeting for the program starting in September 2026 will be held online on May 20.
Paul Feiler and Eric Bryant will share about our personal mission, and how God had worked in our lives to create this program, describe the program, and highlight the accomplishments of churches that have been through or are currently going through it, in diverse contexts of ministry.
“Every year we go to several pastor training and church development. conferences, where session leaders are pushing worn out ideas and trying to sell their books. In our experience, after 16 years of ministry, there is nothing like Damascus Road. It’s unique, transformative and innovative. Over the last 18 months, under the guidance of the workshops and weekly coaching sessions (which often are for both of us, the most important hours of the week), our church attendance has grown from 270 to over 1,100. More importantly, more than ever, we’re significantly impacting the lives individuals and families throughout our city, experiencing the joy of knowing God more deeply and helping those in need.”
Deven, Senior Pastor (12,000+ in worship)
“We’re done with consumeristic, narcissistic Christianity. Our city needs Jesus and the transformation He can bring to it. We want to be agents of the Gospel, transforming lives and bringing good out of evil. I have laid hold of the mission of Damascus Road—to create thriving churches that are centers for faith, transformation and impact…. The workshops were planned and delivered with care and passion. The team discussions guided our brainstorming, learning and planning. For our church and leadership team, and personally for me, your guidance has deepened our faith, got us focused on a much clearer purpose, helped us launch new initiatives, and significantly raised the level of joy and excitement throughout our church.”
Kory, Pastor (200 in worship)
“Including seminary and 20 years of pastoral ministry, also including the many conferences and continuing education classes I’ve attended, the Damascus Road program and coaching have provided the best training and personal support I’ve ever experienced. The impact on me and our church is profound.”
