19th Annual XP-Seminar
ChurchLaw&Tax Top Conference
Limited to 200 people: 2017-23 Seminars were sold out

Unsolicited Comments from Prior Attendees

Already have plans to come back next year Lord willing. My trip report is 4 pages for just my top 3 takeaways. Without a doubt, this was the most beneficial conference I’ve attended to date. In all I took 18 pages of notes for my 13th XP-Seminar.

DP

Thank you for such an amazing conference. I have been to a lot of conferences over the last 20 years and most are not worth the time, but this one was.

JS

You two are the poster children for how to run a conference well … and how to communicate well … and how to be timely in all you do.

WB

Thanks again for a great XP event! It was informative and inspiring.

BH

Thank you for the uniquely profound ministry of the XPastor Seminar. There is something beautiful and enriching about the design and format of the conference that fosters connection and shared learning. The size, the meals, the round tables, etc. all make it very special and meaningful. I had a great experience listening, learning and making connections. Fletch has a unique gift of interacting with the presenters and the audience in a remarkable way that engages people in conversation and reflection.

GL

As usual, it was well worth the time and done with excellence. There was much to learn, much to experience, and relationships were built.

BT

The information, networking, and interaction was great! I learned a lot from each speaker. Still going through material and trying to digest it. I look forward to next year!  Already suggested to our SP and Elders that they should come.

WD

The conference was another home run. As much as I enjoyed and learned in prior years, this round I walked away with more actionable ideas.  This was both good for my soul and a great investment for my church.

MW

The XP Seminar is always my favorite conference for so many reasons.

Sponsor

Again, the XP-Seminar both met and exceeded expectations. What continues to impress me about is that each presenter brings forth fresh and creative approaches to ministry with humility and conviction. Everything is actionable. There’s never empty hype. Each presentation is rooted in reality, and it’s an encouraging reality that God is good, and the body of Christ has avenues for flourishing. Well done!

Senior Pastor

It was another excellent conference.

SB

You did a magnificent job organizing the XP-Seminar. It was my first time there and I’m sure you’ve evolved your protocols over the years—and it shows. Every time I asked a question of you, and there were several, you had the answer and you were so very helpful. God bless you on your path as you fulfill God’s calling on your life.

KD

Am grateful for the conference last week.  God has used your ministry to XPs to help me greatly.  Glad to have now attended for three years.

MW

Thank you for another power-packed conference.  Your ministry is needed more than ever as XPs are getting bombarded by the enemy from all sides regardless of church size.  The relationships you have with all the keynote and workshop speakers and their willingness to share ideas to strength the body of Christ is so much appreciated.

DM

This is my favorite conference of the year.

Sponsor

This was a good reminder of how much we don’t know that we don’t know. I’ve been working through my notes and creating key takeaways for the past few hours. Much to think through to boil it down to 2-3 actionable items that could help us move our mission forward.

JS

The seminar was extremely beneficial. 100% relevant and applicable to my role. Tons of takeaways. Looking forward to the keynote videos being posted. Glad I attended!

DW

I am watching online and am so glad to have found a place and a people that I can relate to and be encouraged by. I pray to be able to attend in person next year and participate in the workshop discussions.

JD

You guys are amazing. Thank you for an awesome event last week. It really is a tribe and not a town. The chance to connect with so many church leaders and run into them repeatedly over three days was amazing. I can tell you that it was an amazing event and I was thrilled to be a part of it.

Sponsor

This was the best XP-Seminar ever.

Sponsor

Featured Speakers

David Kinnaman

David Kinnaman is the CEO of Barna. He is the author of the bestselling books Faith For Exiles, Good Faith, You Lost Me and unChristian. He is CEO of Barna Group, a leading research and communications company that works with churches, nonprofits, and businesses ranging from film studios to financial services. Since 1995, David has directed interviews with more than two million individuals and overseen thousands of U.S. and global research studies.

Lessons Learned in Leaving a Large Church

Todd Wagner is the founding pastor of Watermark Community Church and author of the book Come and See. After 22 years Todd stepped away from the leadership of the church he founded to pursue building and serving a network of leaders in business, ministry, public service, media and other areas of strategic influence. Todd will also have Q&A ask a part of his talk.

He is the President of Unhindered Ministries and the founder of the 1613Project which exists to encourage, equip and empower leaders and their organizations to remain steadfast in the face of ever increasing cultural pressure to compromise on the values and principles essential to the enduring health of civilization. Todd has been a keynote speaker at numerous national and international leadership conferences and a guest contributor to the Dallas Morning News, The Gospel Coalition, Fox News and other media outlets. His previously produced video podcast, Real Truth Real Quick, continues to be a favorite resource for tens of thousands on YouTube. Todd and his wife, Alex, alongside their six children and ever increasing number of grandchildren, live, laugh, and serve together in Dallas, Texas.

Why Diversity?

Dr. David Anderson, founder and President of Gracism Global, is one of the world’s leading authorities on bridging the deep divides of race, faith, culture, and wealth. Known as the bridge-building voice in the Nation’s Capital, Anderson hosts the daily radio talk show “Real Talk with Dr. David Anderson” on WAVA (105.1 FM) – the most listened to Christian talk station on the East Coast. As the founder and senior pastor of Bridgeway Community Church, Dr. Anderson reaches a multicultural congregation of over 10,000 weekly attendees from more than 60 nations, viewed online in over 100 countries, with locations in Columbia and Owings Mills, Maryland.

Dr. Anderson is the author of Letters Across the Divide, Multicultural Ministry, the award-winning Gracism: The Art of Inclusion, and I Forgrace You: Doing Good to Those Who Have Hurt You. He co-authored the acclaimed Multicultural Ministry Handbook: Creatively Connecting to a Diverse World and his newest book is, How to Think Like a Gracist. See EmbraceGracism.com.

Inspiring Keynotes from National Leaders in 2023

Mike Batts, Managing Partner, BMWL

Jenni Catron
Founder, 4Sight Group

Rob Faulk
Partner, CapinCrouse

Ryan Fitzgerald
Senior Marketing Manager, BELAY

Jason Hamrock
CEO, Missional Marketing

David Lee
Senior Relationship Manager, Thrivent Church Financing

Brad Leeper
President, Generis

Chris Lewis
Senior Relationship Manager, Thrivent Church Financing

Dave Milam
Vice President of Strategic Design, Visioneering Studios

Holly Tate
SVP of Growth @ Leadr

William Vanderbloemen
CEO & Founder, Vanderbloemen

Bruce Woody
President, HH Architects

Short Rides

Kurian Babykutty
CEO, 40 Parables

Warren Bird
SVP of Research and Equipping, ECFA

JB Bowling
JB Bowling, Vice President, Clark

Dave Hess
Vice President of Consultant Development
Financial Planning Ministry

David Middlebrook
Founding Attorney, The Church Lawyers

What Attendees Say

The most important part to me is the ability to ‘network.’ I loved being able to ask questions, probe and encourage the other folks I spent time with outside of the scheduled events.

Enrich your life and ministry here!

I love that the conference is small. I liked the clarity I received regarding, ‘What I should do as a new XP?’

Thank you so much for the obvious work that was put into the conference. It was my first time attending and it was very beneficial. The Open Forum Workshop was great. It’s so helpful to dialogue and process out loud with other XPs.

—attendance limited to 200 people—

On our flight home, my XP said to me, ‘So was the conference worth it for you?’ I answered, ‘Yes it was.’ He agreed as well.

I appreciated hearing from two Senior Pastors regarding their partnerships with their XPs. And, it was great to hear from David, Mike and Paul about navigating challenges. Those kinds of stories are unique in seminars where typically it’s all success.

Thank you for continuing to offer this most wonderful vehicle for growing, learning and stretching in service to Him!

A few of the beneficial things for me: The structure of the conference. The speakers are accessible. The large room is comfortable. The free material is amazing. Chatting between speakers.

Highlights

Brad Leeper, on XP Leadership and Stewardship in 2023: Danger Zone, Maintenance Mode or Prime Moment? As the local church shifts in how ministry is done, how are financial resources limiting or accelerating your mission?Few know more about generosity and church culture than Brad. He and the Generis team were key movers in instigating a “culture of generosity” in the church landscape. Brad earned a Masters in Theology degree from Dallas Seminary and a B.S. in Economics from West Virginia University. He has diverse experience in church risk management, human resources, financial analysis, adult education, cross-cultural missions and strategic planning.

Two Hard Questions about LED Walls and Cinematic Cameras with JB Bowling. Listen to a fresh interview on some tough questions with JB and Fletch, touching on two questions that your tech teams are or will be talking with you about. JB is the Vice President of Clark and leads the Design & Business Development teams. George and Houston Clark first met JB 25 years ago, while working at his home church. JB went on to work for a few large churches, including Shadow Mountain Community Church as Production Director and Turning Point’s television broadcast. He was the Global Arts Director at LibertyLive.Church, leading the worship, production, and creative teams across three campuses.

Thriving as a Team with Ryan Fitzgerald. Before becoming the Senior Marketing Manager at BELAY, a modern staffing company, Ryan Fitzgerald worked for North Point Ministries in Atlanta for 15 years. He also helped launch Decatur City Church, North Point’s sixth Atlanta-area location. While there, Ryan built the creative, communications, and operations teams and served as the lead pastor’s chief advisor and strategist.

Leading and Developing a High Impact Team by Holly Tate. Holly is SVP of Growth at Leadr. She is a growth strategist, entrepreneur, speaker, and member of the Forbes Communication Council. Before joining Leadr, Holly was a marketing and business development executive at Vanderbloemen, a global executive search firm for 8.5 years, most recently as the Vice President of Business Development & Marketing.

Planned Giving: A Funding Tool for the Church by Dave Hess. Dave is a 22-year veteran of the United States Air Force, then served as an executive pastor. Now as Vice-President of Consultant Development with Financial Planning Ministry, his role is to help train and manage a team of 40 professionals who provide education on estate planning processes while assisting individuals and families with their specific planning needs.

Some Things Have Changed but Some Things Remain Constant with Chris Lewis and David Lee. Full breakfast with Thrivent. Chris Lewis and David Lee are the East Coast and West Coast Senior Relationship Managers at Thrivent Church Financing. Together, they share more than 40 years of experience serving the local church. Thrivent has been serving churches for over 100 years with over 6,000 churches served, and many lessons learned.

David Kinnaman. David is the author of the bestselling books Faith For Exiles, Good Faith, You Lost Me and unChristian. He is CEO of Barna Group, a leading research and communications company that works with churches, nonprofits, and businesses ranging from film studios to financial services. Since 1995, David has directed interviews with more than two million individuals and overseen thousands of U.S. and global research studies.

How Engagement Drives Attendance Post Covid with Cary Yocum. Over the past 15 years Cary has been helping organizations build a complete and scalable customer journey to support growth. After 5 years as a Youth Pastor and 25 years as a worship pastor, Cary knows exactly what you’re going through. And as Pushpay’s VP of Sales, he knows how to guide growth for ministries at any stage.

Looking Forward with Warren Bird, SVP of Research and Equipping at the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. Warren is an award-winning writer and researcher. His background includes pastoring and seminary teaching, and a 13-year run as research director at Leadership Network. Warren has authored or co-authored 30 books including Hero Maker with Dave Ferguson, How to Break Growth Barriers with Carl George and Unleashing the Word with Max McLean.

How to protect your church from some of the biggest risks and pitfalls in 2023 with Kurt Hetherington. Kurt started his career with James Greene & Associates in 1994 and serves as President. He is also the Agency Director for American Church Group of Texas. The agency alliance is one of the largest independent agencies in America, serving the insurance and risk management needs of churches and related ministries. Both agencies represent Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company. Kurt earned his CIC (Certified Insurance Counselor) and CRM (Certified Risk Manager) designations, as well as CPIA (Certified Professional Insurance Agent). He is a past board member and president of Professional Insurance Agents of Arkansas (PIAAR). He served on the board of the Arkansas Insurance Hall of Fame, and currently serves on the board of the Association of Christian Childcare Administrators. In 2013, he was the recipient of the Randy Henry Excellence in Service Award from the PIA of AR.

Key Steps to Good Church Governance with Rob Faulk. Effective church boards play a vital role in ensuring their ministry’s overall health. Learn how to help your board set effective goals, define their responsibility, address accountability, and identify and approach key issues. Rob has more than 40 years of financial leadership experience in serving both for-profit and nonprofit entities, as well as more than eight years of direct ministry experience as Executive Pastor and CFO of large churches. He serves some of the largest churches in the United States as well as denominations, colleges, universities and seminaries, rescue missions, and other nonprofits.

Discussion with Fletch, Dan Mikes & Morgan Mudge. Dan is a Sr. Relationship Manager in the Church and Ministries Division of Cass Commercial Bank with experience in more than $5.5 billion in church loans. Morgan is the Founder of Gyve and currently serves on the leadership team at Touchpoint as the Director of Advancement. He coaches on generosity with increasing first time givers, understanding giving trends and helping take next steps in generosity.

Legal Issues with David Middlebrook. David is one of the country’s leading practitioners in the area of religious nonprofit organizations. His clients include high-profile charitable and religious organizations, both domestic and international. He has an in-depth knowledge of risk management for charities, religious organizations, private schools, and universities. David is the founding shareholder of churchlawyers.com

Architecture and Design with Bruce Woody. Bruce is President & CEO for HH Architects and a frequent speaker on both large and small-scale church/faith-based campus planning projects. Since joining the firm in 1990, he has served as Design Lead or Principal-in-Charge on the vast majority of the firm’s large-scale projects, many of which are award winning. Bruce is best known for his creative problem-solving skills and the passion he has for design, which is evident in each long-standing partnership he has developed through his 33 years with the firm. He currently serves on the boards of Sunny Glen Children’s Home and the University of Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design Dean’s Advisory Council. He is an active member of Texas Society of Architects, American Institute of Architects Dallas Chapter, and the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards.

Take an XP/SP friend to dinner! Schedule it early with someone from your state or similar-sized church. We see scores of people do this every year.

Overcoming Pain Points with your Communications Department with Jason Hamrock. As CEO of Missional Marketing, Jason guides the vision for how Missional Marketing best serves church partners and strives to help churches digitally to capture attention, engage, educate, and persuade people to take action. He was a Communications Director for 11 years at Central Christian Church of Arizona. He hosts the Missional Marketing podcast, which just passed 100 episodes and has thousands of downloads.

Building a Culture that Attracts and Retains the Best Talent with Jenni Catron. Jenni is the founder of The 4Sight Group, a consulting group focused on developing healthy leaders and thriving organizations. Jenni’s passion is to lead well and to inspire, equip and encourage others to do the same. Jenni is the author of several books including Clout: Discover and Unleash Your God-Given Influence and The 4 Dimensions of Extraordinary Leadership. She has served on the executive leadership teams of Menlo Church in Menlo Park, California and Cross Point Church in Nashville, Tennessee.

Lessons Learned in Leaving a Large Church with Todd Wagner. Todd is the founding pastor of Watermark Community Church and author of the book Come and See. After 22 years Todd stepped away from the leadership of the church he founded to pursue building and serving a network of leaders in business, ministry, public service, media and other areas of strategic influence. Todd will also have Q&A as a part of his talk

6 Secrets for Building in a Recession with Dave Milam. A shaky economy can often stall growth and block progress, especially when a big building project is on the line. These 6 secrets will help you safely navigate the perilous road of building during uncertain economic times and reveal the path to moving forward. Dave is the Vice President of Strategic Design at Visioneering Studios. He stands firmly at the intersection of ministry, design, and visual storytelling. Having served in the church for over 20 years, Dave has a heart for guiding pastors through unique challenges of ministry to awaken the beauty that God has placed within them and their facilities. His writing has been featured in LifeWay, Outreach Magazine, Influence, Christian Standard and other national periodicals.

Align Teams Awesomely Toward Action with Kurian Babykutty. Kurian is the CEO of 40 Parables. A Drucker-driven neuro-marketer, Kurian is a software engineer with an MBA in marketing and entrepreneurship from Babson College, Boston. For over a decade, he has leveraged his marketing background to help several ministry and church leaders with their messaging clarity and marketing campaigns. His life goal is to help the Church embrace change so that it can embrace Christ.

Your Staff Wants a Coaching Leader with Nathan Baxter. Dr. Baxter was an XP and SP for 28 years. Now Nathan is an executive leadership coach. He is fully engaged each week coaching executives and ministry leaders all across the country through Lead Self Lead Others. He and his coaches work with leaders to help them create a personal and professional growth strategy. He loves to follow up with each person to help keep them on track. He is now devoting more time to encouraging and equipping those who want to be more effective in coaching others through Real Coaching Success.

With All Your Heart with Mike Batts, Managing Partner of BMWL. What does it mean to do something with all your heart? We’ll talk about that … From his wealth of experience and many books, Mike brings great insight into current and upcoming trends in church financial leadership. Mike has more than 30 years of experience serving nonprofit organizations in a variety of ways. Mike actively engages in nonprofit legislative matters at the federal and state levels. He has served on and chaired the boards of nonprofit organizations, such as the ECFA and the Commission on Accountability and Policy for Religious Organizations. In 2013, Mike was inducted into the National Association of Church Business Administration Hall of Fame. He is author of Church Finance, Nonprofit Financial Oversight—The Concise and Complete Guide for Boards and Finance Committees and Board Member Orientation.

Why Diversity? by David Anderson. Dr. David Anderson, founder and President of Gracism Global, is one of the world’s leading authorities on bridging the deep divides of race, faith, culture, and wealth. Known as the bridge-building voice in the Nation’s Capital, Anderson hosts the daily radio talk show “Real Talk with Dr. David Anderson” on WAVA (105.1 FM) – the most listened to Christian talk station on the East Coast. As the founder and senior pastor of Bridgeway Community Church, Dr. Anderson reaches a multicultural congregation of over 10,000 weekly attendees from more than 60 nations, viewed online in over 100 countries, with locations in Columbia and Owings Mills, Maryland.

Seamless Succession Planning with William Vanderbloemen. Pastoral Succession has been a taboo topic for far too long, but the truth is that every pastor is an interim pastor. Whether you are ready or not, succession is going to happen. Will you be ready for it? William was a pastor for 15 years and is now CEO & Founder of Vanderbloemen, an executive search firm. William started Vanderbloemen because he understands that when your team isn’t whole it disrupts your mission. He has written: Next: Pastoral Succession That Works (2014), Search : The Pastor Search Committee Handbook (2016) and Culture Wins: The Roadmap to an Irresistible Workplace (2018).

6 Workshop Sessions

“I’m truly excited about the excellence of this seminar.”

Platinum Sponsors

We want to thank Generis for their nineteenth year as a sponsor. Brad Leeper has served in church leadership roles and has real-life experience to offer far beyond that of most industry consultants.

Generis is a church consulting firm passionate about helping ministries of all sizes bridge the gap between vision and resources by engaging the hearts of givers and accelerating generosity. Generis has served over 13,500 churches, helping them raise more than $13.5 billion for Kingdom expansion.

For the thirteenth year as a sponsor, we welcome HH Architects. For 51 years, HH Architects has had the privilege of working with and planning campuses for many of the fastest-growing and top-attended churches and private Christian schools across America.

HH Architects has worked with a broad range of churches and schools on a wide variety of facilities, from first-unit buildings to 7,000+ seat Worship Centers, providing Strategic Positioning, Master Planning, Architectural, and Interior Design services for nearly all aspects of religious facility projects.

For the twelfth year, we welcome CapinCrouse. As a national full-service CPA and consulting firm devoted to serving nonprofit organizations, CapinCrouse provides professional solutions to organizations whose outcomes are measured in lives changed.

Since 1972, the firm has served domestic and international outreach organizations, universities and seminaries, foundations, media ministries, rescue missions, relief and development organizations, churches and denominations, and many others by providing support in the key areas of financial integrity and security. With a network of offices across the nation, CapinCrouse has the resources of a large firm and the personal touch of a local firm. CapinCrouse is an independent member of the BDO Alliance USA. Learn more at CapinCrouse.com

We welcome for the eighth year, Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company. Brotherhood Mutual is a national property and casualty insurance company with a heart for helping Christian ministries thrive. As a leader in the industry, Brotherhood Mutual provides innovative insurance coverage and risk management resources, specifically designed for ministries, to help them operate safely and effectively.

The company looks toward the future, working with and anticipating the unique needs of more than 65,000 churches, Christian schools, colleges, camps, missions, non-profits, and related ministries. Additionally, Brotherhood Mutual provides access to payroll and tax filing services, employee health benefits, commercial auto insurance, worker’s compensation insurance, and mission travel insurance.

We welcome for the seventh year, Batts Morrison Wales & Lee. Batts Morrison Wales & Lee (BMWL) is a national CPA firm exclusively serving churches, ministries, and other nonprofit organizations through audit & assurance, tax, and strategic advisory services. BMWL understands that you want to protect the financial health and reputation of your church. Their service model is built around that very idea.

BMWL will help your church protect your mission, maintain strong donor trust and confidence, produce highly effective financial reports, strategically budget for improved financial condition, improve overall risk management, maximize tax exemption, protect your exempt status, provide board member governance orientation and training, simplify your financial administration, and be better informed. Please visit nonprofitcpa.com to learn more.

For the sixth year, we welcome Vanderbloemen Search Group. Vanderbloemen helps churches and ministries build great teams by finding their key staff. Vanderbloemen is an industry leader in executive search for the church, having worked with ministries in nearly every state and several countries. God has uniquely called and positioned your church to do what only you can do, and having the right team members in the right roles is vital to fulfilling that calling.

From finding the right worship leaders to children’s ministers and senior pastors, Vanderbloemen helps discover your church’s DNA and then conducts a nationwide search for whom God is calling to your church. Whether you’re planning your next hire, reorganizing your staff, analyzing your compensation structure, or need help with succession planning, build your best ministry team with Vanderbloemen.

For the sixth year, we welcome Visioneering Studios. They are the only nationally-licensed, faith-based design-build firm that specializes in commercial, nonprofit and worship environments. Visioneering is not just developers, designers, architects, and builders—they are storytellers. They come alongside partners, who lead movements and organizations that have unique stories crafted by a unique people, place, and passion, to be trusted stewards of their story and space.

Visioneering’s beliefs positively impact the relational nature and integrity of their work. Visioneering Studios’ “look to launch” services include: Real Estate and Development Advisory Services (Visioneering Studios Real Estate), Master Planning, Architecture and Interior Design (Visioneering Studios Architecture), National Construction and Construction Services (Visioneering Studios Construction).

For the fifth year, we welcome Thrivent Church Financing. For more than 115 years, Thrivent Church Financing has provided ministries with flexible financing solutions coupled with dedicated service. In our history, we have helped over 6,000 Christian churches achieve their missions, grow their ministries and meet their financial stewardship through mortgage loans for refinancing, new construction, renovation or capital improvement.

Thrivent Church Financing is part of Thrivent, a membership-owned fraternal benefit society of Christians and a holistic financial services organization that helps guide individuals, churches and non-profits to make the most of all God has given them. Known for our financial strength and stability, as well as our approach to helping Christians connect their financial decisions with their faith, Thrivent blends faith, finances and generosity to improve lives and build stronger families and communities.

For the fifth year, we welcome Pushpay. Pushpay builds world-class giving and engagement solutions to help organizations grow their communities. We deliver a donor management system, including donor tools, finance tools and a custom community app, to help the faith sector connect with their congregation. Pushpay recently acquired Church Community Builder, the industry-leading church management software. Together, they serve more than 10,000 customers.

We welcome Missional Marketing for the fourth year. Missional Marketing is a church-focused agency that brings a variety of communications solutions. Our ultimate goal is to help every church we partner with bring people to the church so they may hear the Good News. The strategy we use is to leverage content to capture attention, engage, educate, and persuade people to take action. The solutions we bring revolve around offering: Communications consulting and outsourcing (yes, we get hired to be your Communications Director): Communications Project Management: Social Media strategy and management: Digital advertising with Google, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube: Website building and SEO for websites, Local (your church building), and YouTube: Leveraging the content that you create and the content we have created: Implement our sermon flywheel to connect with more people.

We welcome Leadr for the third year. Leadr is a people development software designed to help you engage and grow every person on your team. The leadership development pipeline is one of the biggest challenges organizations face and with Leadr, you can develop leaders at every level of your organization through Leadership Development, CoreHR, and LeadrHealth Plans. Leadr is the tool that empowers managers to transform people management into people development because people want to be led and developed, not managed. Since launching in May 2020, Leadr has partnered with nearly 500 churches across the United States and they’re just getting started.

For the third year, we welcome BELAY, the incredible organization revolutionizing productivity with their virtual assistant, bookkeeping, social media manager, and website specialist services for growing churches. Their first client was a pastor, so their ministry-minded, servant-hearted team knows how to help busy pastors and their growing churches with modern staffing that grows their teams without having to do everything on their own. Get the right help for your church so you can focus on your Kingdom work—and let BELAY handle the rest.

For the third year, we welcome Gloo. We aspire to enable the church to benefit from its collective might. Our mission is to serve the champion, help them scale and power their purposes with a great platform & marketplaces. Our purpose is to release globally the passion in every person to champion the growth of another … so they can both be all they were born to be.

For the first year, we are excited to welcome The 4Sight Group. 4Sight is committed to and passionate about cultivating healthy leaders to lead thriving organizations. Their mission is to come alongside you and your team to provide the tools and resources you need to accomplish your purpose with clarity and confidence. Culture matters and The 4Sight Group brings the culture conversation to a practical level while providing a pathway and process to help leaders and their teams succeed together. With a unique approach of leadership coaching and strategic consulting, 4Sight will provide you with a proven framework to take your leadership and the culture of your organization to the next level.

Gold Sponsors

For the thirteenth year, we welcome Middlebrook | Group, The Church Lawyers. They are dedicated to providing outstanding and practical legal services to churches, ministries, and schools of all sizes across the nation with their Church Lawyers Team program. Their team of attorneys and paralegals have transactional, tax and litigation experience and are attuned to the unique legal needs specific to religious nonprofits.

They handle everything from a new church-plant to complex and contested litigation matters, and provide services to organizations of all sizes. “Whether you are just starting out and want the proper foundation, need to stay on track and legally compliant or require an advocate in the courtroom, we are on your legal team.”

For the twelfth year, we welcome Clark. Clark is the leading provider of custom audio, video, lighting (AVL) solutions for churches. Clark’s mission is to help you communicate your story, personally connect with your audience and inspire change.

Twenty years of experience enables Clark to partner with your organization, transforming your environment into a space that uniquely reflects your core values.

We welcome Cass Bank for the fifth year. The Word says, Where there is no counsel, the people fall. But in the multitude of counselors there is safety (Proverbs 11:14). Cass Bank provides counsel to churches and ministries nationwide in the realm of financing and day-to-day banking needs. Our Kingdom-oriented services also include ministry credit cards, an online generosity platform called TouchPoint Giving and a best-in-class church management software solution called Touchpoint. At Cass, our great desire is to help churches thrive through sound counsel and tailored financial solutions in a highly relational context.

We welcome Financial Planning Ministry for the third year. FPM is a trusted name in estate planning and strategic planned giving. Since 1982 more than 37,000 families and individuals have benefitted from their unique ministry efforts. They provide turnkey solutions for planned giving to over 130 ministry partners across the country.

Through the promotion of Christ-centered stewardship and estate planning, millions of dollars have been saved from probate while directing over $1.8 billion to Christian charities worldwide.

We welcome Bleat for the second year. Church leader, how good is your church at making decisions? Because a decision-making church is a disciple-making church!

Powered by 40 Parables, Bleat is a decision-making platform that helps church leaders listen to their sheep clearly and make better decisions faster.

Silver Sponsors

We welcome GuideStone as a sponsor for the seventeenth year. GuideStone was founded more than 100 years ago to meet the financial needs of retired pastors, their families and, in many cases, their widows. Today, we serve more than 50,000 churches and ministries and 250,000 individuals, including pastors, ministers, church workers, missionaries, hospital employees, university and seminary staff, and countless others serving in ministry organizations around the world.

For the tenth year, we welcome Slingshot Group. Slingshot Group builds remarkable teams through staffing and coaching. Founded in 2007, Slingshot’s team of ministry practitioners is what sets them apart. Every one of Slingshot Group’s 60+ nationwide associates has ministry experience. They know exactly what it takes to hire and develop great staff for the local church and ministry-minded nonprofits.

We welcome for the sixth year Portable Church®. For more than 25 years, Portable Church® has helped thousands of churches launch strong and thrive in a mobile setting. We design custom solutions that fit each budget, vision, and venue.

Everything you need to launch a mobile church—an experiential worship space, engaging kids ministry areas, inviting welcome spaces, timesaving storage cases, etc.—all in a system refined to make it fast and easy for the weekly volunteer teams.

Media Sponsor

We welcome Christianity Today’s ChurchLaw&Tax for the tenth year. ChurchLaw&Tax, founded in the late 1980s by attorney Richard Hammar and James Cobble, publishes award-winning print and digital content, plus provides webinars, training, and a podcast that help church leaders lead their ministries with confidence.

Hammar, ChurchLaw&Tax’s senior editor, is a Harvard Law School graduate, CPA, and author of more than 100 books (including the annual Church & Clergy Tax Guide; Pastor, Church & Law, Fifth Edition; and Church Governance). He is joined by Matthew Branaugh, who has served as ChurchLaw&Tax’s content editor since 2008 and became an attorney in 2020. ChurchLaw&Tax is also led by an esteemed group of senior editorial advisors, including CPA Michael Batts, attorney and CPA Frank Sommerville, attorney Erika Cole, and CPAs Elaine Sommerville and Vonna Laue, as well as several distinguished advisors-at-large, including attorneys Sally Wagenmaker and Theresa Sidebotham, executive pastors Nicholas Smith and Tim Samuel, and XPastor’s founder, David Fletcher.

Workshops

5 Budget Busting Spaces You Think You Need, But Really Don’t

Wasting money on spaces that really don’t matter is one of the most dangerous pitfalls that a church can fall into. The truth is, anyone can justify why they need room for a specific ministry need, even placing the blame on God. When you step back and look, the ROI just isn’t there for the long haul, leaving you with spaces that become ineffective over time. It’s time to climb out of the pit and learn how to maximize your facilities without breaking the bank.

With over 20 years of experience serving rural to mega-churches, Nathan understands the struggles facing churches today. He has an extensive background in creative arts as well as executive pastoral leadership. As the Director of Strategic Design at Visioneering Studios, Nathan serves churches across the country, helping them bridge the gap between ministry and building design.

Nathan Elder, Director of Strategic Design, Visioneering Studios

5 Common AVL and Integration Questions Answered

When it comes to Audio-Visual-Lighting and integration, there are at least five frequently asked questions. The answers can be expensive or not as expensive, so you want to know the issues! We heard two huge questions on Tuesday night with JB and Fletch, ones about LED Walls and Cinematic Cameras. You need to be up to date on major changes and issues in the AVL world. Sometime in the next one to ten years, you will need to make some major decisions in this area. You may also have AVL questions: are you unable to get a straight answer from your team? Bring those questions and we can talk through them.

JB Bowling is Vice President at Clark. He leads the Design & Business Development teams at Clark. JB has a background in Church production and leadership. George and Houston Clark first met JB over 25 years ago, while working at his home church. JB went on to work for a few large churches, including Shadow Mountain Community Church, where he was the Production Director, overseeing the in-house production needs for Turning Point’s television broadcast. He was most recently the Global Arts Director at LibertyLive.Church, where he led the worship, production, and creative teams across three campuses. JB also has an established career in freelance audio.

JB Bowling, Vice President, Clark

6 Steps of Biblical Fundraising:
Applying Biblical Truths to Modern Day Fundraising

From Moses and David to Paul and Jesus. How people in the Bible funded their mission and how can we use these principles in the modern-day church to close the gap between your budget and your vision.

Morgan Mudge is the Founder of Gyve and currently serves on the leadership team at Touchpoint as the Director of Advancement. He coaches on generosity with increasing first time givers, understanding giving trends and helping take next steps in generosity. Morgan helps the church close the gap between their funding and their vision. He is active in his home church 2/42 Community in Brighton, Michigan and enjoys hunting and woodworking.

Morgan Mudge, Founder, Gyve

The 6 Tensions of an Executive Leader:
Practical Tools to Serve Fully and Stay Healthy

So often, the job of an executive leader in the church feels like an impossible one! We are called to pastor, to be church strategy experts, to run the business of the church, to manage the entire organization with excellence, to lead up with wisdom, and to lead ourselves with humility. Our job descriptions are ambiguous, and the expectation for our effectiveness is high. There are few books written or classes taught that cover these responsibilities, and even fewer sources for practical tools that we can use each week to get better. In this workshop, we will dive into each broad aspect of our job. We’ll talk about the scriptural imperative of what we are called to do, and we’ll drill down into some simple, practical tools that you can use next week as you lead your team.

For over 20 years, Matt has served in local churches in roles ranging from Worship/Creative Arts Pastor, Executive Pastor, and Lead Pastor. After working in the marketplace, Matt began vocational ministry in church leadership with a natural passion for focusing every effort of the church on the Great Commission with intentional leadership, careful shepherding, and effective strategic planning. Most recently, Matt served as the Executive Pastor at Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago. Before his role as XP, he launched and was the Lead Pastor for Willow Creek’s South Lake Campus and the Executive Pastor for Willow Creek’s North Shore campus. In addition, he has coached many churches and nonprofits across multiple denominations, both in the US and abroad. These combine to give Matt a broad experience base that he loves to utilize to help individuals and churches find their sweet spot between the way God created them and the work he is calling them to do (Ephesians 2:10). He relishes every opportunity to help build remarkable teams that move churches forward. Matt brings all this passion, excitement, and experience to his role as Vice President of Slingshot’s Senior Leadership division. This world-class team serves churches across the country in all areas of senior leadership, including Lead Pastors, Executives, Campus Pastors, Teaching Pastors, Discipleship Pastors, and more.

Matt Wright, Vice President, Senior Leadership division, Slingshot

For over 15 years, Brian Taylor has served and equipped the local church. His background spans a broad spectrum of denominations, cultures, church sizes, and settings. As a worship pastor, he loves creating worship environments that are intentional, engaging, and Spirit-empowered. As a member of senior leadership teams, his mission has been to help clarify vision and strategy, cultivate healthy team culture, and develop strong leaders. He is also passionate about resourcing churches and leaders called to multicultural and multiethnic ministry, helping them embrace and empower diverse teams.

Brian brings all of this to his role as Vice President of Slingshot’s Worship & Creative Arts division, leading a stellar team serving churches around the country in the areas of Worship, Production, and Digital/Communications. He and his wife Lauren live just north of Dallas, Texas, with their two beautiful kids (four if you count their two dogs as Brian does). You will find him with a notebook and a good cup of coffee always nearby.

Brian Taylor, VP of Worship & Creative Arts, Slingshot

The 6 Traits Every New Leader Needs to Succeed

Leadership can be frustrating when you feel ill-equipped to face the daily challenges of leading yourself and leading a team. The pressure on leaders has only grown more acute with staff transitions, waning morale, and record levels of burnout. Leaders are feeling enormous pressure to lead and manage well. In this session, 4Sight coaches, Genea Browne and Jenni Catron will share the unique challenges that leaders are facing and six essential traits that you and your team need to succeed. You’ll be equipped with practical, hands-on tools to help you learn how to lead well on your journey to becoming an extraordinary leader.

Jenni Catron is the founder of The 4Sight Group, a consulting group focused on developing healthy leaders and thriving organizations through coaching, consulting and culture workshops. She is also a writer, speaker, and leadership expert committed to helping others lead from their extraordinary best. Jenni’s passion is to lead well and to inspire, equip and encourage others to do the same. She speaks at conferences and churches nationwide, seeking to help others develop their leadership gifts and lead confidently in the different spheres of influence God has granted them. Jenni is the author of several books including Clout: Discover and Unleash Your God-Given Influence and The 4 Dimensions of Extraordinary Leadership. Jenni blogs here and contributes to a number of other online publications as well. Outreach Magazine has recognized Jenni as one of the 30 emerging influencers reshaping church leadership. She has served on the executive leadership teams of Menlo Church in Menlo Park, California and Cross Point Church in Nashville, Tennessee. Prior to ministry leadership, she worked as Artist Development Director in the Christian music industry.

Jenni Catron, Founder, 4Sight

Genea Browne is an engaging executive coach with over 20 years of both ministry and marketplace experience. She is most passionate about guiding individuals and organizations to achieve alignment, growth, and excellence. She achieves this through intentional coaching on mission, vision, values, purpose and goals. In her most recent role as Executive Team Lead for Community Christian, a multi-site church in the Bay Area, she focused on leadership development, team culture and care, led the Community Group ministry for all locations, as well as developed and executed Human Resource strategies and systems. Genea’s career has also included developing and leading volunteer teams and working as the Director of Coaching for a leadership organization where she coached executive pastors and leaders nationwide. Genea has experience with both sides of ministry working as a staff member and also serving two consecutive terms on an elected Board at a large multi-site church in the Chicago area.

Genea Browne, Coach, 4Sight

7 Common HR Misses that Every Church Should Know

Welcome to the most practical church HR workshop you will ever attend! We won’t give you a general overview of ministry HR, but instead, we will teach you about the 7 most commonly missed things in church HR. From employee classification to handling of I-9s, we will give you the tools to fix the gaps in compliance and best practices.

Justin Romine is the SVP of Strategy at HR Ministry Solutions and has spent over 20 years as a pastor, consultant and as an executive in the corporate ranks serving Fortune 100 companies. He is passionate about providing solutions that inspire church health and coaching people towards their heart and God given purpose. He holds both a Masters and Bachelor’s degree in Organizational Leadership from Biola University and has contributed his writings to a variety of publications. He currently resides outside of Boise, Idaho with his wife and his two children.

Justin Romine, SVP of Strategy, HR Ministry Solutions

Aggressive Church Multiplication:
New Launch Strategies from the Best!

Within the Church, there are a group of aggressive and innovative leaders who are obsessed with a God-sized vision to take new ground for The Kingdom. It is so real they can taste it! They build their leadership teams around it, ensuring the vision becomes a reality with stealth-like execution!

Les McKeown shares that predictable success happens when there is harmony and balance between the visionary leader and the operational leader. Together they bring alignment to amazing strategies for creating new seats in new communities for the hearing of the Gospel!

In this breakout, Jeff Beachum will share several key elements on how effective church leaders are taking new ground and advancing the gospel with new venues. He will discuss capacity and real estate issues all churches face. Also, you will explore the difference between loving and hating the idea of engaging portable strategies, and how incredible environments can be created in portable settings!

Jeffrey Beachum, in his role with Portable Church Industries as the Multiplication Specialist, comes alongside church leaders who are engaged in launching new expressions of their church (plants and multisites) in new communities and neighborhoods. His primary purpose is to help decision makers in the church determine strategies for choosing new communities, appropriate property and facilities, preparing a timeline for launching, and developing a balanced affordable portfolio of real estate. Jeff has been married to Aleta for 37+ years and enjoys hanging out with their 3 adult children, their spouses, and their grand-twins … and  of course Parker, their English Cream Golden Retriever!

Aligning Your Sr. Pastor & Staff Teams toward Action

Most XPs know what to do. So what then is the problem? Getting their own team members aligned around an agreeable and actionable solution! But what if XPs and senior church leaders had a tool that could align their teams awesomely toward action, with minimal effort or follow up? Join this interactive session (be ready to engage with your mobile devices) to see examples of how church leaders are replacing the struggle of awareness with the success of alignment. Will you ride the tide of alignment or be left behind?

Kurian Babykutty is the Chief Evangelistic Officer at 40 Parables, a strategic MarTech partner for ministries. Kurian has been serving the ministry world since his early days as the Marketing Director at Generis and also later on as the Director of Innovation at OneHope. A Drucker-driven neuro-marketer, Kurian is a software engineer with an MBA in marketing and entrepreneurship from Babson College, Boston. For over a decade, he has leveraged his marketing background to help several ministry and church leaders with their messaging clarity and marketing campaigns. His life goal is to help the Church embrace change so that it can embrace Christ. To this effect he and his team at 40 Parables have created strategic marketing and engagement products such as CornerStone, Bleat etc. to help churches message and market as our Messiah did. Kurian lives in Dallas with his wife and two kids and his favorite parable is one about the foolish and the wise virgins. What’s yours?

Kurian Babykutty, Chief Evangelistic Officer, 40 Parables

The Basics of Estate Planning:
Leaving a Legacy

We can’t predict the future, but we can plan for it. Financial Planning Ministry (FPM) takes the mystery out of estate planning, guiding you and your family through a straightforward process allowing you to design a legacy plan that blesses your family and honors God. Take this opportunity to make decisions, pass on your values AND your valuables, and start planning for your future. Learn more about wills, trusts, guardianship, and health care directives as you work to create your own customized estate plan with FPM at no out-of-pocket cost to you and your family.

Dave Hess is a 22-year veteran of the United States Air Force. Following his retirement from the Air Force, Dave served two different congregations over a 12-year period as pastor of education, pastor of worship, and executive pastor. For the past ten years Dave has served with Financial Planning Ministry. As Vice-President of Consultant Development, his role is to help train and manage a team of 40 professionals who provide education on estate planning processes while assisting individuals and families with their specific planning needs.

Dave Hess, Vice-President of Consultant Development, Financial Planning Ministry

Church Communications as Evangelism, Outreach, and Church Growth

Your church is on a mission to make and grow disciples. In this workshop, we will provide a practical flywheel strategy for how you can leverage your church’s sermon content and digital presence to reach more people in your community resulting in more disciples and a growing church.

Bart is the Lead Coach with Missional Marketing.

Bart Blair, Lead Coach, Missional Marketing

Church Financing 101

Financing is not a topic that most of us enjoy talking about. But your job may involve applying, negotiating and procuring a commercial loan. Chris and David plan on providing some very practical and relevant pointers that will assist you in your planning and facilitate your interaction with potential lenders. Chris Lewis @ Thrivent and David Lee @ Thrivent are both Senior Relationship Managers, providing growing ministries nationally with the capital for construction, expansion, acquisition and refinancing. Together, they have more than 40 years serving the local church, providing competitive financing solutions.

Chris Lewis is a Senior Relationship Manager at Thrivent Church Financing. Born in Brazil, where his parents served as missionaries, Chris learned 3 languages: Spanish, Portuguese and English. In 2006, after assisting the church he was attending with a capital campaign, Chris discovered that there was a need for lenders to work with growing ministries. Over the years, Chris has worked with growing ministries by providing sustainable financing solutions for construction, acquisition and refinancing.

Chris Lewis, Senior Relationship Manager, Thrivent Church Financing

David Lee is a Senior Relationship Manager at Thrivent Church Financing. David has over 30 years of banking experience in serving non-profit ministries (churches, Christian schools and parachurch ministries) with a focus on financing and treasury services. He’s served 25 years on pastoral staff at churches as well as on boards of non-profit organizations, seeing the unique challenges and needs of balancing ministry and business. Prior to joining Thrivent, he served 5 years as Director with Bank of the West in their Religious Institution Lending Division and 25 years with Evangelical Christian Credit Union in their Ministry Lending Division.

David Lee, Senior Relationship Manager, Thrivent Church Financing

ChurchLaw&Tax Roundtable Forum
Invitation only

Christianity Today’s ChurchLaw&Tax again joins the XP-Seminar for a series of invitation-only roundtable forums with executive pastors and business administrators. The forums spur great conversations regarding legal, tax, financial, and risk management issues confronting churches in 2023, and help identify topic ideas and trends for ChurchLaw&Tax to cover in the future. The forums also offer networking and fellowship among the participants, including helpful tips and ideas for solving ministry-related problems.

Rick Spruill is managing editor for Christianity Today’s ChurchLaw&Tax, where he serves an award-winning team of editors, designers and content providers in creating and publishing ChurchLaw&Tax.com’s numerous digital resources, products and e-newsletters. A longtime journalist and editor, it has been Rick’s pleasure to create—and help others create—award-winning content for both print and broadcast audiences. A native Texan, Rick was raised Southern Baptist but has spent most of his adult life in non-denominational settings. Serving those who serve the Church is the most humbling, and rewarding, part of his job.

Rick Spruill, Managing Editor, Christianity Today’s ChurchLaw&Tax

Church Splits and Staff Infections

During this session, David Middlebrook will explore both church splits and staff infections. What can you do before, during and after one of these happens in your church?

David is one of the country’s leading practitioners in the area of religious nonprofit organizations. His clients include high-profile charitable and religious organizations, both domestic and international. He has an in-depth knowledge of risk management for charities, religious organizations, private schools, and universities. David is the founding shareholder of churchlawyers.com

David Middlebrook, Attorney, The Church Lawyers, Middlebrook | Group

Delegate to Elevate

Ryan and Melissa will share how to have the most practical conversation about delegation. It always sounds so simple, “just delegate it.” But, what does that really mean? What does it include and what does it exclude? Whether your team in all in-person, all online, or a hybrid, you can maximize your team with effective delegation. That effectiveness is tied to evaluation!

Melissa Tidwell has been part of the BELAY team since 2011 serving as part of the Solutions Team. She has over 20 years of church experience with a focus on finance and ministry team leadership. Melissa has been part of several church launch teams and has held a number of staff and volunteer positions at various churches. Her passion is to equip leaders with the right information and resources to make strong decisions that further the Kingdom.

Melissa Tidwell, Solutions Team, BELAY

Before becoming the Senior Marketing Manager at BELAY, a modern staffing company, Ryan Fitzgerald worked for North Point Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia, for nearly 15 years. After six years advising and developing pastors around the world, he helped launch Decatur City Church, North Point’s sixth Atlanta-area location. While there, Ryan built the creative, communications, and operations teams and served as the lead pastor’s chief advisor and strategist. His experience at North Point has positioned him perfectly to help churches find the modern staffing solutions that help them go further faster with BELAY.

Ryan Fitzgerald, Senior Marketing Manager, BELAY

Developing the Next Generation of Church Leadership

Have you experienced frustration in trying to lead your Gen-Z team members? It’s one of the biggest challenges our leaders today are facing. Gen-Z is changing the game in workplace norms and expectations. They currently make up ¼ of the workforce in the US, and by 2025, that percentage will double. It’s our job as leaders to step up and develop this new generation as future leaders. When we look at the data of what motivates Gen-Z team members, it boils down to connection, engagement, and growth opportunities. So how do we practically meet these needs and prepare this generation to take on leadership roles? Leadr’s SVP of Growth, Holly Tate is passionate about helping this new generation harness their growth potential and wants to share her insights from research, experience, and countless development conversations with Gen-Z employees. Attend this workshop to learn: The latest data on what drives Gen-Z employees in the workplace; Practical tips for engaging and developing Gen-Z team members; How to prepare well for the future of your organization, beginning with pouring into Gen-Z.

Holly Tate is SVP of Growth at Leadr. She is a growth strategist, entrepreneur, speaker, and member of the Forbes Communication Council. Before joining Leadr, Holly was a marketing and business development executive at Vanderbloemen, a global executive search firm for 8.5 years, most recently as the Vice President of Business Development & Marketing, where she led partnerships, brand growth, demand and lead generation, sales and marketing alignment, and new industry initiatives for the company.

Holly is founder of performance marketing agency, The Ready Network, and an international speaker on marketing, communications, brand growth, leadership development, and workplace culture. She has spoken at conferences including Pushpay Summit, Texas Ministry Conference, Engage, Northwest Ministry Conference, That Church Conference, and ICMA (India).

As a member of the Forbes Communications Council, Holly contributes thought leadership on marketing and communications to Forbes online where her advice has been featured in 40+ articles.

Holly Tate, SVP of Growth. Leadr

The Donor Journey:
How to Engage Donors At Every Stage

It’s no secret that generosity is a journey. The challenge is keeping track of where all your members are on that journey, and developing an effective plan—specific to each stage—which will encourage givers to take the next step. Pushpay’s VP of Sales, Cary Yocum and Gibson Brueher will discuss the importance of tailoring your approach to nurturing at different stages, and how the latest digital tools and features can make supporting donors along their individual journey easier than ever.

Over the past 15 years Cary Yocum has been helping organizations build a complete and scalable customer journey to support growth. After 5 years as a Youth Pastor and 25 years as a worship pastor, Cary knows exactly what you’re going through. And as Pushpay’s VP of Sales, he knows how to guide growth for ministries at any stage.

Cary Yocum, VP of Sales, Pushpay

Gibson Brueher was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. He and his wife attend Church of the City in Nashville, Tennessee, where they serve in the Kids Ministry. He and his wife had their first baby, Oliver, in 2022 and have been blessed to be first time parents. Gibson serves at Pushpay as an Enterprise Account Executive. He is passionate about helping ministries equip their staff with tools to allow them to focus on ministry, and helping congregations more easily get connected to their church.

Gibson Brueher, Enterprise Account Executive, Pushpay

Field Guide to Leading a Building Project in 2023

A church-building project can be both sobering and terrifying. So whether you’re a well-seasoned contractor or an Executive Pastor who doesn’t know a hammer from a wrench (and went to seminary), this workshop will help you understand the nuts and bolts to lead a church building project in 2023. Plus, you’ll discover how to lay the groundwork to set your project up for success.

Dave Milam is the Vice President of Strategic Design at Visioneering Studios. He stands firmly at the intersection of ministry, design, and visual storytelling. Dave served in the church for over 20 years. Dave has a heart for guiding pastors through unique challenges of ministry to awaken the beauty that God has placed within them and their facilities. His writing has been featured in LifeWay, Outreach Magazine, Influence, Christian Standard and other national periodicals.

Dave Milam, Vice President of Strategic Design, Visioneering Studios

Good Stewardship Through People Development

According to Gallup’s recent State of the Global Workplace report, 85% of employees are disengaged in their work, costing organizations huge sums of money in wasted payroll every year. This is painful in every organization but especially in the Church where good stewardship of people and resources is not just a good practice, but a calling and obligation. But just how does People Development help you steward the resources you have better, and how do you measure it? Matt Tresidder will walk you through team development and just how you can measure its financial impact on your Church.

Attend this workshop to learn: The latest data on the true costs of disengagement in your church: How you can use people development to engage and grow your team: How better engagement of church employees impact the over all bottom line and how to measure it.

Matt Tresidder is Co-founder & Chief Revenue Officer at Leadr, the first people development software built for churches. Matt joined Leadr after six years at Pushpay, serving most recently as the VP of Sales. Born in New Zealand, Matt moved to Seattle with the Pushpay team where he met his wife Kiasa. Matt studied at Life Leadership College in Auckland, and is a recent graduate of Seth Godin’s altMBA and the Wharton Business School Executive program. Matt is passionate about helping churches engage and grow leaders at every level of their organization.

Matt Tresidder, Co-founder & Chief Revenue Officer, Leadr

How to Destroy a Church Financially Without Really Trying

Have you been amazed to see what seemed like highly successful churches or ministries suddenly go down in flames financially or otherwise? You might think someone had to really work at it to cause a church or ministry to fail as spectacularly as some have. In reality, it is the opposite. The lack of diligence by church leaders and board members is typically at the root of church failures. We will discuss some examples and talk about what could or should have been done to prevent or mitigate the incredible damage.

Mike is the managing partner of Batts Morrison Wales & Lee. He has more than 30 years of experience serving nonprofit organizations in a variety of ways. Mike actively engages in nonprofit legislative matters at the federal and state levels. He has served on and chaired the boards of nonprofit organizations, both nationally and locally, such as the ECFA and the Commission on Accountability and Policy for Religious Organizations.

In 2013, Mike was inducted into the National Association of Church Business Administration Hall of Fame for his significant contributions to the church community. Mike is author of Church Finance—The Church Leader’s Guide to Financial Operations, a go-to reference that provides practical guidance for church and nonprofit financial administration; and Nonprofit Financial Oversight—The Concise and Complete Guide for Boards and Finance Committees; and Board Member Orientation—The Concise and Complete Guide to Nonprofit Board Service.

Mike Batts, Managing Partner, Batts Morrison Wales & Lee

How to Evaluate & Improve Your Culture

How healthy is your staff culture? Building a contagious culture will drive sustainable growth and innovation for any organization. Christa Neidig, Manager of Marketing and Business Development shares how you can stop losing employees, grow your team, and build a contagious company culture that will outlast the competition. Vanderbloemen serves teams with a greater purpose by aligning their people solutions for growth through executive search, compensation, succession, and diversity consulting. For over a decade, they have helped Christian organizations of all sizes and types find their key staff.

Christa Neidig is the Manager of Marketing and Business Development at Vanderbloemen. Vanderbloemen serves teams with a greater purpose by aligning their people solutions for growth through executive search, compensation, succession, and diversity consulting.

Christa Neidig, Manager of Marketing and Business Development, Vanderbloemen

How to Effectively Engage and Pastor Your Online Church

More and more churches are discovering the advantages of streaming their services online. This rush to online proved successful in providing an alternative to in-person services, but could be refined to produce an even bigger impact on the Kingdom. In this session, Pushpay leadership will dig into the current state of online churches and discuss practical tips to better pastor this new community. We will also discuss how to engage those in your online community that will likely never attend in person.

Over the past 15 years Cary Yocum has been helping organizations build a complete and scalable customer journey to support growth. After 5 years as a Youth Pastor and 25 years as a worship pastor, Cary knows exactly what you’re going through. And as Pushpay’s VP of Sales, he knows how to guide growth for ministries at any stage.

Cary Yocum, VP of Sales, Pushpay

Scott Bolin is a Mid Market Account Executive and has been in leadership at large churches for over 10 years. He brings unique experience combining higher education with local church contexts and has consulted institutions globally. He is a co-founder of Theos Seminary, an online theology school serving students in over 20 countries. He is also the founder of Celebration Leadership Institute in Austin, Texas, where he serves as a board member and faculty member. Scott has been married to his wife Caitlyn for 7 years and they have 3 children: Remi, age 2 and Rocky and Rowan, twins who are 4 months old.

Scott Bolin, Mid Market Account Executive, Pushpay

How to Successfully Build a Communications Team Using Outside Help

When your communications team is in disarray or you do not have a clear and structured communications strategy, everybody feels that pain. In this workshop, we will unpack a helpful approach to building a communications team that is aligned with your church goals without being overwhelmed or frustrated. We will share real examples of what other churches, large and small, have done to shore up their communications team to thrive, stay healthy, and be successful. You will walk away with a strategy you can implement.

Jason is the CEO of Missional Marketing. He guides the vision for how Missional Marketing can best serve our church partners as we strive to help churches digitally capture attention, engage, educate, and persuade people to take action. He leads our coaching team and has met with and consulted hundreds of churches all over the country. He was a Communications Director for 11 years at Central Christian Church of Arizona. He speaks at conferences throughout the year and hosts the Missional Marketing podcast, which just passed 100 episodes and has thousands of downloads. He joined Missional Marketing in 2015 and was named CEO in July 2017.

Jason Hamrock, CEO, Missional Marketing

Leading Models to Fund a New Church or Campus

ECFA recently conducted the nation’s largest study of new churches including ones that are multisite. This workshop will look at the financial and governance implications: what are the most common ways to fund a new church or a new multisite campus? How can you predict what the costs will be? What growth patterns are most common? How does race factor into a new church’s or campus’s trajectory? Drawing findings from “The New Faces of Church Planting and Multisiting,” we’ll explore these findings and more. Workshop leader is Warren Bird, Ph.D., senior vice president of research and equipping at ECFA (Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability), and co-author of 33 books for church leaders.

Warren Bird is the SVP of Research and Equipping at the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. Warren is an award-winning writer and researcher. His background includes pastoring and seminary teaching, and a 13-year run as research director at Leadership Network. Warren has authored or co-authored 30 books including Hero Maker with Dave Ferguson, How to Break Growth Barriers with Carl George and Unleashing the Word with Max McLean.

Warren Bird, SVP of Research and Equipping, Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability

Lender’s Forum

Chris Lewis and David Lee @ Thrivent and Steve Hron and Dan Mikes @ Cass Bank have spent many years working with ministries by providing funding solutions for acquisition, construction, retrofitting and refinancing. They will be joining forces during this workshop for a Lender’s Forum, during which time they plan on discussing real life scenarios that are impacting ministries across the country. You won’t want to miss this open Q&A session, so come out and join us.

Steve Hron is a Vice President in the Faith and Ministry Financial Services division of Cass Commercial Bank. He has been serving churches, schools, and other nonprofits on a national basis for over 30 years. Cass Commercial Bank is headquartered in St. Louis. Steve offices out of the bank’s Colorado Springs location.

Steve Hron, Vice President in the Faith and Ministry Financial Services, Cass Commercial Bank

David Lee is a Senior Relationship Manager at Thrivent Church Financing. David has over 30 years of banking experience in serving non-profit ministries (churches, Christian schools and parachurch ministries) with a focus on financing and treasury services. He’s served 25 years on pastoral staff at churches as well as on boards of non-profit organizations, seeing the unique challenges and needs of balancing ministry and business. Prior to joining Thrivent, he served 5 years as Director with Bank of the West in their Religious Institution Lending Division and 25 years with Evangelical Christian Credit Union in their Ministry Lending Division.

David Lee, Senior Relationship Manager, Thrivent Church Financing

Chris Lewis is a Senior Relationship Manager at Thrivent Church Financing. Born in Brazil, where his parents served as missionaries, Chris learned 3 languages: Spanish, Portuguese and English. In 2006, after assisting the church he was attending with a capital campaign, Chris discovered that there was a need for lenders to work with growing ministries. Over the years, Chris has worked with growing ministries by providing sustainable financing solutions for construction, acquisition and refinancing.

Chris Lewis, Senior Relationship Manager, Thrivent Church Financing

Dan is a Sr. Relationship Manager in the Church and Ministries Division of Cass Commercial Bank. He has extensive experience in Religious Institution Banking with more than $5.5 billion in loans to churches nationwide over 31 years. Prior to coming to Cass Bank, Dan served as the National Manager of the Religious Institution Banking Division at Bank of the West where he supervised all aspects of a nation-wide, Faith Based banking practice including business development, credit underwriting, loan administration, and marketing. 
Dan is known nationally as a leading Faith Based banking expert and has been interviewed and quoted by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Bloomberg, CNN, and San Francisco Chronicle, among others. He has also been published numerous times in religious periodicals including Your Church, Church Executive, and Christianity Today. Dan has a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree with a minor in Biblical Literature from Oral Roberts University and resides in the Dallas area.

Dan Mikes, Senior Relationship Manager, Cass Bank

Lessons Learned During and After the Pandemic Relating to Your Church Facility

Our discussion will focus on how lessons learned from the pandemic influenced church facility design. As churches have returned over the past year and a half to worship in their church facility, the design needs and expectations of both members and guests have influenced changes in today’s uses of spaces. Let’s take a fresh look at these influences that shape how churches can create flexibility and adaptability for a happier, healthier, and more meaningful experience. The topic will specifically address the importance facilities play in effectively communicating your message, and how HHArchitects has helped churches with innovative ideas and creating spaces for multi-uses to serve the church and community.

Bruce Woody is President & CEO for HH Architects and a frequent speaker on both large and small-scale church/faith-based campus planning projects. Since joining the firm in 1990, he has served as Design Lead or Principal-in-Charge on the vast majority of the firm’s large-scale projects, many of which are award winning. Bruce is best known for his creative problem-solving skills and the passion he has for design, which is evident in each long-standing partnership he has developed through his 33 years with the firm. He currently serves on the boards of Sunny Glen Children’s Home and the University of Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design Dean’s Advisory Council. He is an active member of Texas Society of Architects, American Institute of Architects Dallas Chapter, and the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards.

Bruce Woody, President & CEO, HH Architects

Optimizing Your Connected Ministry

Here’s the challenge, how can your ministry become more connected. Connected to other leaders, trends, ministries and more opportunities to serve our communities for GOOD! Where is the innovation? Come learn how other XP’s are using new ideas, talents and in market happenings to reach their community! Are you connected? Come plug in!

Christopher Nelson is Head of Strategic Partnerships at Gloo. He is a graduate of Dallas Christian College who has dedicated the last 12+ years of his career to helping social good organizations to use technology to better serve their communities. Christopher has been with Gloo for almost four years helping frontline champions to better use data, research and technology to help good take over in local communities.

Christopher Nelson, Head of Strategic Partnerships, Gloo

Org Charts that Work: Designing an Organization Chart that Aligns, Empowers, and Unlocks Your Team

Building a team that is aligned and achieving mission together is one of the greatest joys of leadership. How do you effectively design the team to support the needs of the organization as well as cater to the unique gifts of each team member?  How do you honor the commitment of current staff while expanding the team to meet the demands of the future? A well-designed organizational chart is not a necessary evil of organizational life; it is rather, a life-giving tool for clarity, alignment, good decision-making, and the engine for accomplishing mission. In this workshop, Jenni Catron will walk you through the anatomy of an effective org chart and give you the next steps for structuring a healthy team.

Jenni Catron is the founder of The 4Sight Group, a consulting group focused on developing healthy leaders and thriving organizations through coaching, consulting and culture workshops. She is also a writer, speaker, and leadership expert committed to helping others lead from their extraordinary best. Jenni’s passion is to lead well and to inspire, equip and encourage others to do the same. She speaks at conferences and churches nationwide, seeking to help others develop their leadership gifts and lead confidently in the different spheres of influence God has granted them. Jenni is the author of several books including Clout: Discover and Unleash Your God-Given Influence and The 4 Dimensions of Extraordinary Leadership. Jenni blogs here and contributes to a number of other online publications as well. Outreach Magazine has recognized Jenni as one of the 30 emerging influencers reshaping church leadership. She has served on the executive leadership teams of Menlo Church in Menlo Park, California and Cross Point Church in Nashville, Tennessee. Prior to ministry leadership, she worked as Artist Development Director in the Christian music industry.

Jenni Catron, Founder, The 4Sight Group

The Secrets to Senior Pastor Smart Succession:
18 Insider Keys to Navigating This Critical, Liminal Stage

Dave Travis has now helped over 180 large churches navigate succession seasons. Executive Pastors are critical helpers in this process. On reflection, Dave has boiled down to 18 key understandings to help you whether you are 10 years away, 5 years away, or it’s happening this year. Learn how you, as an Executive Pastor, can use these to help your Senior Pastor and Church as you think about this coming season. Attendees will also get a few bonus freebies, and Dave always has some stories to tell of disasters which, as long as they happened to someone else, are fun to hear! If you are a Senior Pastor, you can come as well. Last year Dave had to move clients to a waiting list for consultation due to demand. So come listen in to get a head start for your church whenever this season starts.

Dave Travis is the Director of Strategic Counsel to Pastors and Church Boards at Generis. Dave has a wealth of experience from pastoral ministry and the business world. He has worked as a pastor as well as consulted with many churches in different contexts. Through Leadership Network he has had the privilege of learning from many esteemed mentors. His involvement in this network has taken him all over the country to work with various ministries and with some of the country’s leading pastors. Dave earned a Masters of Divinity in Pastoral Ministry from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a B.S. in Management from Georgia Tech. He also did a short course at the Harvard Business School in Strategic Perspectives for Nonprofit Management. These accomplishments combined help Dave to offer a unique perspective for the churches with which he consults. Dave is the author of three published books and is a noted speaker and consultant to megachurches across the country.

Dave Travis, Director of Strategic Counsel to Pastors and Church Boards, Generis

Start Your People Off Right: Onboarding and Retention

Have you found it difficult to hold on to your people? It is no secret that retention has changed over the years, yet it is more important than ever. William Vanderbloemen shares what he has learned about onboarding new employees and retaining key staff to make for a great workplace. Don’t miss out on these tips for onboarding and retaining staff that will lead to long-term success. Vanderbloemen serves teams with a greater purpose by aligning their people solutions for growth through executive search, compensation, succession, and diversity consulting. For over a decade, they have helped Christian organizations of all sizes and types find their key staff.

William Vanderbloemen was a pastor for 15 years and is now CEO & Founder of Vanderbloemen, an executive search firm. William started Vanderbloemen because he understands that when your team isn’t whole it disrupts your mission. He has combined his ministry experience as a Senior Pastor with the best practices of executive search to provide churches with a unique offering: a deep understanding of local church work with the very best knowledge and practices of professional executive search to complete your team. Vanderbloemen has staffed over 2,500 missions of faith.

William is the author of Next: Pastoral Succession That Works, Search: The Pastoral Search Committee Handbook, and Culture Wins: The Roadmap to an Irresistible Workplace. He is also a regular contributor to several major publications including Forbes where he covers topics about having a strong faith and building a business, Fortune, and Outreach Magazine. He has also been published through Fast Company, Entrepreneur, and Inc.

William Vanderbloemen, CEO & Founder, Vanderbloemen

Stewarding Your Ministry Benefits

Choosing a benefit strategy that fits your ministry comes with many choices, but we belong to a higher Kingdom calling to steward our resources and people well. Learn and apply out-of-the-box ministry benefit strategies.

Dixie Beard had been with GuideStone Financial Resources for over 30 years. She is a daughter of a Southern Baptist Minister and truly understands the work as well as the ministry involved with churches. Her work and ministry at GuideStone allows her to work with churches, para-church ministries, Christian schools and other Christian institutions to establish employee benefits primarily focusing on retirement planning.  Her passion and desire are to help employees of evangelical organizations prepare financially for their retirement years. She speaks at women’s conferences, state convention meetings as well as state and local associational meetings. Dixie attended Howard Payne University and Dallas Baptist University and has her Series 6 & 63 Investment license along with the Charted Planning Retirement Counselor, CRPC®, certification.

Dixie Beard, Senior Business Development Manager, GuideStone

Travis Pry, Senior Insurance Sales Consultant, GuideStone

Sustainability Factors for Long-Term Success

The rapidly changing church landscape requires church leaders to be more adaptive than ever. One key area for XPs to address is sustainability: the long-term viability and growth of the church. We’ll examine several important sustainability factors for your church to assess and consider, including differences in generational giving, online giving and fundraising, budgeting and forecasting, benchmarks, and alternative sources of income.

Ken Tan serves as a Partner at CapinCrouse. Ken has more than 13 years of public accounting and large nonprofit experience, providing both advisory and assurance services to various nonprofit entities, churches, and mission organizations. Prior to joining the firm, he managed the audits of public Fortune 100 and private multi-billion dollar companies for a Big 4 accounting firm, provided advisory and strategic planning for churches, nonprofits, and small to medium-sized businesses, and served as the controller and corporate officer for a large faith-based multi-national mission agency.

Ken Tan, Partner, CapinCrouse

The XP’s Role in Good Church Governance

Take a deeper dive into church governance as we expand on concepts and best practices discussed during the keynote session. We’ll discuss the XP’s role in helping to ensure good church governance, with best practices and practical steps you can take back to your church board.

Rob Faulk is a Partner and Church and Denomination Services Director at CapinCrouse. Rob has more than 40 years of financial leadership experience in serving both for-profit and nonprofit entities, as well as more than eight years of direct ministry experience as Executive Pastor and CFO of large churches. He serves some of the largest churches in the United States as well as denominations, colleges, universities and seminaries, rescue missions, and other nonprofits. Rob holds an MA in Ministry Management from Azusa Pacific University Graduate School of Theology and is a frequent conference speaker and author of articles on nonprofit financial matters.

Rob Faulk, Partner and Church and Denomination Services Director, CapinCrouse

You Must Win!

Fletch goes for the jugular vein! To succeed in ministry, you must have personal wins that keep your body and spirit alive. This isn’t about crushing others but about establishing success in your soul. Your toes may get stepped on, so this workshop isn’t for the faint hearted. Establish a legacy that keeps you alive while fighting a spiritual war.

Dr. David Fletcher is often called The Dean of Executive Pastors. Fletch was a pastor for 35 years in churches from 1,000-8,000 members, single and multisite, churches with mergers, camps, schools, apartments and cafes. He founded XPastor in 2003 and its free articles from hundreds of authors have become a principal resource for leaders in a complex church world. With degrees from Dallas Seminary and executive education at the Kellogg School of Management and the Harvard Business School, he brings an objective perspective, vast experience, biblical principles and best practices. He teaches Doctor of Ministry students at Dallas Seminary and ETS India, and has written books and scores of articles for national publications.

David Fletcher, Founder, XPastor

Your XP Leadership in Building Financial Strength for Your Church Mission

As 2023 unfolds in an ever-changing church environment, financial stewardship will allow your mission to flourish or limit what you can do. Your church giving will give you headaches and sleepless nights, an uneasy sense of this cannot keep up, or a thriving expression of your church mission through financial strength.

What are the core functions of an Executive Pastor in 2023 and 2024 giving patterns? What are the patterns of XPs that thrive in creating a stewardship culture? How does the XP have a greater voice in giving income than any other church leader?

Brad Leeper is the Executive Vice-President of Generis Partners. His unique approach allows him to serve larger and growing churches with significant funding requirements. Brad has a strong understanding of the multi-site church strategy and other pioneering church movements. He is drawn to larger, innovative, growing churches and the challenges of helping them expand in the area of generosity practically and spiritually.

Brad Leeper, Executive Vice-President, Generis Partners

Pre-Seminar Workshops

Cultivate an Extraordinary Team Culture with Jenni Catron

Do you wish your team was more aligned and working effectively together? Do you find yourself frustrated because staff are not making decisions based upon vision and values? Is your leadership development strategy disjointed and inconsistent? Research tells us that a strong and healthy culture leads to greater employee engagement and more growth for your organization. And yet, while 90% of leaders believe that an engagement strategy will have an impact on their success, only 25% of them actually have a plan. In this pre-seminar workshop, you will be equipped to evaluate, design and develop the building blocks for an extraordinary culture and you will leave with a step-by-step process and tools that enable you to create a strategy that allows your organization to thrive. In our time together, you will: Begin to evaluate and define your team values. Identify habits that influence behaviors. Build a plan to implement values throughout the organization. Learn how to create a values-based framework for leadership development.

New XPs with David Fletcher

The first year for an XP is critical. Some XPs had prior roles at the church for many years and others are new to that culture. The key is learning your new role and responding to the dynamics of that role: Working with the Senior Pastor Working with staff leaders and the entire staff Working with the congregation Your time at church is limited each week, so where should you invest it? It sounds like a simple question but the answers are diverse. How do you keep a handle on finances, facilities, legal, HR, staff dynamics, board issues, emergencies, critical but not urgent issues, staff handbooks and policies and running meetings? If this wasn’t enough, you want to lead in your own style, but do a careful dance with the SP to reflect his leadership and vision for the church. This workshop will be an interactive discussion, led by Fletch. Bring your questions and issues. There will be a vital agenda of items that Fletch will present, coupled with discussion of how to make the role work for you. Fletch brings a perspective from 35 years of ministry and working with hundreds of XPs from around the country.

Real Coaching Success with Nathan Baxter

Churches that coach their leaders and volunteers discover that their investment pays off. Research continues to show that people want coaching. Your staff wants to know how to be more effective in their jobs and ministries. Here’s a fantastic opportunity to be with a gifted and national-level coach and trainer. XPastor has partnered with Dr. Nathan Baxter to bring his Real Coaching Success workshop to the XP-Seminar. Coaches from around the country gather annually in Tulsa, Oklahoma to participate in his training and now we are bringing the workshop to Dallas. What you will learn: Best practices to help your coaching be more effective. Key components that must be in your church culture for coaching success. How to create customized coaching templates to fit your ministry culture. Importance of calibrating your coaching Best practices for holding leaders accountable. And How to use his 5 most popular Coaching Tools; ‘Win-Plan Conversations’, Coaching Gap, Timeline exercise, M&M principle, Birkman® and other assessments. Before the workshop Participants will complete a short survey to identify specific needs related to improving as a coach. Also, they will be required to read Real Coaching Success by Nathan & Dianne Baxter.