Unsolicited Comments from Attendees

Platinum Sponsors

Gold Sponsors

For the fourteenth 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.

For the eleventh year, we welcome the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. With its mission of Enhancing Trust, ECFA now accredits over 2,700 Christ-centered churches and ministries based on its high standards in financial management, governance and gift administration. ECFA is also a leading provider of church resources, including the free ChurchEXCEL subscription.

For the third 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. 4Sight will provide you with their proven LeadCulture framework to take your leadership and the culture of your organization to the next level.

For the second year, we welcome Pastoral Transitions. When a church faces the difficult decision to let a pastor or ministry leader go, the risk of hurt and misunderstanding can escalate significantly. Pastoral Transitions serves ministry leadership by offering compassionate care for departing leaders and their families. They provide a comprehensive roadmap to navigate ministry terminations and transitions gracefully, focusing on career guidance, coaching, and counseling. Their mission is to help outgoing leaders find their next path, upholding the church’s core mission to multiply unity, not divide, even in times of change.

For the second year, we welcome Soul Shepherding, led by Dr’s Bill and Kristi Gaultiere. Since 2009 they’ve been equipping pastors and leaders to go deeper with Jesus in emotional health and loving leadership. Their Healthy Pastor Care program offers retreats, spiritual, direction, and leadership coaching at a discount.

Silver Sponsors

We welcome GuideStone as a sponsor for the nineteenth year. Guidestone® is one of the leading providers of retirement, property and casualty, medical, life and disability coverage, investment management and executive planning services to the evangelical Christian community. For more than 100 years, they have worked to enhance the financial security of those they serve—which today includes more than 200,000 individuals and 36,000 churches, mission-sending agencies, hospitals, educational institutions and related ministries across the globe.

For the twelfth 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 eighth 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.

We welcome Cass Bank for the seventh 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.

For the seventh 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 MinistrySafe as a sponsor for the third year. Gregory Love and Kimberlee Norris have a nationwide sexual abuse litigation practice representing victims of sexual abuse throughout the country. In addition, Love & Norris provide consulting services to secular and ministry organizations providing services to children. Representative clients include the United States Olympic Committee, Awana International, Church of the Nazarene, the North Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church, Gladney Center for Adoption, and many church and para-church schools, camps and ministries. Love and Norris serve as directors of MinistrySafe, a consulting organization designed to help churches, Christian ministries and camps understand and address child safety risks related to sexual abuse.

Highlights

Getting Ready for the Giving Shift. Understanding the Evolving Church-Giving Landscape from the Executive Pastor Seat with Brad Leeper. Few know more about generosity and church culture than Brad. He has been a key mover 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.

Short Ride with JB Bowling. Listen to a fresh interview on some tough questions with JB and Fletch. 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.

Managing Your Adrenaline with Bill and Kristi Gaultiere. They founded Soul Shepherding in 2009, a ministry to help pastors and churches go deeper with Jesus in emotional health and loving leadership. They oversee 20 operations staff and over 40 contractors. Bill is a psychologist (Ph.D.), ordained pastor, and spiritual director. Kristi is a marriage and family therapist (Psy.D.) and spiritual director.

Stop Apologizing About Your Space: Completing Projects to Communicate Vision with John Lindsey. Your physical space tells a story—what is yours saying? Too often, leaders apologize for outdated, uninspiring environments that fail to reflect their vision. With over 10 years’ experience as the Creative Director for a multi-campus church, John’s passion for providing the highest level of concierge service can be seen in his strategic and structured approach to each project. John is the Director of Enviropop.

Management’s Perspective: Where Are We Headed in 2025 and Beyond? with Fred Johnson. He will share a broad perspective on the church market from a lender’s perspective. The Full breakfast is sponsored by Thrivent Church Financing. Thrivent has been serving churches for 120 years with over 6,000 churches served, and many lessons learned. Fred Johnson is the Managing Director, Church and Institution Financing, at Thrivent.

Estate Planning in the Church—7 Compelling Reasons with Dave Hess. Dave is a 22-year veteran of the United States Air Force. He served two congregations over a 12-year period as pastor of education, pastor of worship, and executive pastor. For the past twelve years Dave has served with Financial Planning Ministry. As Vice President of Training & Development, his role is to assist in the training and management of a team of 40 professionals who provide education on estate planning processes while assisting individuals and families with their specific planning needs.

Yes … Internal Control Is Boring and Annoying … Until It Isn’t with Mike Batts. Mike Batts is the managing partner of Batts Morrison Wales & Lee, a national CPA firm dedicated exclusively to serving nonprofit organizations and their affiliates across the United States. Mike has more than 30 years of experience serving nonprofit organizations in a variety of ways. He has served on and chaired the boards of nonprofit organizations – both nationally and locally. He advises nonprofit organizations on matters related to board governance, financial oversight, tax compliance and strategy, risk management, corporate structure, international activities, and other related topics. Mike has authored several books and has actively engaged in nonprofit legislative matters at the federal and state levels. Mike leads BMWL’s national headquarters office in Orlando as well as its Dallas office.

The Future of the Large Church with Fletch & Warren Bird. Warren is the SVP of Research 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 over 30 books including Hero Maker with Dave Ferguson, How to Break Growth Barriers with Carl George and Unleashing the Word with Max McLean.

Watch Out For Your Church Staff! with Bryan Stine. Are there risks or gaps when it comes to the financial well-being of you and your staff? Find out how to help save costs and increase the value of your employee benefits and avoid risks such as payroll tax errors and penalties plus other critical information to best serve your church and your valuable staff. Bryan Stine, a Director with Brotherhood Mutual, will present information to help you avoid pitfalls and find a better way to do things to help your church staff. While many companies are moving away from the church or at least not focusing on ministries, Brotherhood Mutual is forming Brotherhood Works to serve church staffs with critical cost savings on employee and health benefits, payroll and tax services and much more. Bryan will also share the heart behind this new venture.

Compensation with Fletch. This is always a hot topic. How much should we pay our staff? Where do we get solid data and how do we use the data that we get? Fletch with walk through specific salaries from XPastor’s $2.3 billion of church salaries in the Salary Forecaster.

Top Financial Matters for a Church’s XP to Navigate with Mark Yoder & Ken Tan. Learn insights into the top financial matters XPs should be navigating as they oversee their church’s finances. Topics will include technology, board matters, financial management, internal controls, and other considerations for churches of all sizes. Whether you’re a seasoned XP or new to the role, we’ll share practical, actionable ideas to help you lead your church well.

Legal Landmines for Your Ministry—How to Avoid Them and Thrive with David Middlebrook. The times are full of public storms which are best navigated when churches and ministries are prepared for the unexpected. Moral failures, donation refunds, and bad PR are just some of the many landmines that can be worked through with a good crisis management plan. We’ll discuss some ways in which your church can prepare itself now for the inevitable.

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.

Networking Lunch. Use this time to meet new colleagues and network with friends.

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.

Special Dessert Array
As we say in Texas, these are “ta’ die for.”

How AI is Drastically Changing the Landscape of Church Communications, Sermons, and Operations 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.

Lessons from Catering and the Church with Tim Badal. Since 1995 I have had the privilege to serve as General Manager of 5-B’s Catering Service, a business my parents started in 1979. This time has enabled me to serve Christ in so many ways by being a light to my employees and customers. My bi-vocational work also allows me to be an example to the rest of the church that ministry doesn’t just happen when we are pastors but through every Christian using their vocation to glorify God. In 2003, I began to transition from an active lay leader to an interim preacher at Village Bible Church. Then in early 2004, I took on the role of Lead Pastor across all VBC campuses. I also enjoy helping to lead our church staff, writing small group material and leadership training as well as dreaming about what God may have next for us as a church.

The Elephant In The Room: How to Help Your Church Grow by Taking Advantage of the Opportunity It Doesn’t Know It Has with Dave Rhodes & Stan Endicott. We see them every week but who are they? Should we pay attention to them? They are the 55+ age demographic in your church! They’re like customers who frequent a store who are welcome to enter and browse but there’s really nothing in the store that piques their interest. Lots of smiles, hellos, but no conversations. The elephant in the room surprise was, this important 55+ topic was simply either overlooked or not a priority. Regardless of church size, those 55 and older represent 35% of the attendance.

The Parable of the Boss & Brother with Matt Davis. With 25+ years in faith-based executive leadership, Matt Davis knows the wins, the losses, and everything in between. As Executive Pastor, he led a team of 140+, tackling the challenges that come with big vision and real impact. As President of Pastoral Transitions, he guides churches through tough leadership changes. Matt and his wife, Marilee, host the Life After Ministry Podcast, where they dive into real talk with former pastors who’ve found their kingdom assignment beyond church walls—unfiltered stories of grit, growth, and God’s purpose beyond the pulpit.

Church Design Nightmares: 5 Fatal Mistakes and How to Fix Them (Before It’s Too Late) with Dave Milam. Your church building might be a masterpiece—or it might be a ticking time bomb. From outdated, awkward layouts to spaces that don’t match your church’s vision, church design failures can be costly—and they’re more common than you think. Dave is the Chief Strategy Officer at Visioneering Studios. Dave 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.

People Are the Point: Building an Operating System to Steward Your Greatest Resource 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.

Two Keynote with 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. He lives in Fort Worth, Texas and has three children.

What You Need to Know about Being a Coaching Leader with Nathan Baxter. Dr. Baxter has been coaching leaders for over 30 years—as a youth pastor, Executive Pastor, Senior Pastor, and for the past 15 years as a professional coach with Lead Self Lead Others, which he founded in 2009. Nathan and his wife Dianne have successfully coached over 5,000 leaders, issued over 3,500 Birkman® assessments and 360 performance evaluations, and designed and conducted hundreds of individual, church and corporate surveys. In 2020, they co-authored Real Coaching Success to encourage and equip coaches by sharing their best practices. They also share their coaching secrets on the monthly podcast, Real Coaching Sips & Tips. Nathan earned a M.Div. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a D.Min. from Dallas Theological Seminary.

Unsolicited Comments from Prior Attendees

Highlights

XP Leadership and Stewardship with Brad Leeper. 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.

Short Ride with JB Bowling. Listen to a fresh interview on some tough questions with JB and Fletch. 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.

Sexual Abuse Risk—Learning from the Mistakes of Others with Kimberlee Norris, JD. As a national leader in sexual abuse crisis management, Kimberlee works non-stop to help ministry organizations navigate child sexual abuse issues. She explains predictable patterns in sexual abuse crises: ministry leaders cannot commit the same errors and expect different outcomes. Kimberlee describes frequent legal obstacles, how ministry leaders are stumbling, and offers guidance to avoid the most common mistakes.

Documents To Die For a Short Ride with 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.

Busy ≠ Productive: 5 Productivity Hacks To Accomplish More & Juggle Less with Ryan Fitzgerald. Productivity isn’t just about task completion; it’s about optimizing all your resources. If you’re feeling lost or overwhelmed trying to grow your ministry’s impact while keeping up with the demands of church leadership, pastoral care, and your personal life, it may be time for a productivity overhaul. During this keynote, learn how to identify some of your roadblocks and explore strategies that harness—and maximize—productivity for your church. Before becoming the Director of Marketing 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.

Unsolicited Comments from Prior Attendees

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.

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

Last year’s XP-Seminar was a significant milestone for us. We decided to initiate my succession over the next seven years. I would never have started this process had I not attended the conference.

The outstanding workshops made me realize that the best way I can ensure the legacy of the church I planted is to skillfully and intentionally pass the baton to those who will lead in the next generation.

Workshops

6 Critical Conversations and 5 Core Principles That Set Up A Successful Senior Leadership Succession

You know there is a day coming where you will “hand off the baton.” But in the months and years before that baton moment, what do you need to do in order to experience a successful senior leadership succession / transition? In this session, we will unpack 6 very practical succession related tools that have been used successfully with hundreds of church teams. These are powerful tools that lead to conversations that any senior leader or board member can use to prepare proactively for a transition season … we’ll also share the 5 core principles we learnt from our own succession story at Slingshot Group.

Tim Foot has nearly 30 years of experience as a leader, pastor, coach, speaker, musician, and presenter in Australia and North America. He brings a diverse background in church, nonprofit and for-profit environments to his role as CEO of Slingshot Group. During his time at Slingshot, he and the teams he has led have placed and coached well over a thousand churches, organizations, and leaders. For Tim, this work is a perfect combination of strategic leadership and relational connection allowing him to invest in teams together with serving leaders. He believes; “When the mission of the leader and the mission of the organization line up – that’s when the magic happens! Alignment is everything and the best investment you’ll ever make is in your leaders.”

Todd Clark is a Senior Associate in Senior Leadership at Slingshot Group and he brings 25 years of ministry experience in churches sized between 400 and 23,000. Todd is a creative, socially-savvy, team-focused, results-driven leader with a unique blend of ministry experience. He served as a youth pastor at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky and a founding and lead pastor at Discovery Church in Simi Valley, California. Todd has most recently been a teaching pastor at Christ’s Church of the Valley in Arizona. Christ’s Church of the Valley (CCV) has nine locations and over 28,000 in weekly attendance.

The 7 Most Misunderstood Tax Issues for Churches and Clergy

Do you ever have second thoughts about that friendly advice you got about unrelated business activity and sales tax? Were you aware that selling debt-financed property can generate a big tax bill in some situations? Have you been intimidated into avoiding making grants to foreign churches or ministries because you think tax compliance is too complex? Has someone told you that allowing a local piano teacher to offer lessons in your church without paying rent for the space is private inurement? Do you wonder if love offerings taken up for a visiting speaker are taxable income to the speaker? If any of these questions apply to you, join us as we address The 7 Most Misunderstood Tax Issues for Churches and Clergy. We will be myth-busting with respect to issues related to: Unrelated business income, debt-financed property, foreign grant-making, love offerings, private inurement, private benefit and who qualifies as a minister for tax purposes.

Kaylyn Varnum is a CPA, partner, and the assistant national director of tax services for Batts Morrison Wales & Lee. Kaylyn’s primary responsibilities include performing research and analysis related to technical tax issues at the federal, state, and local levels; providing tax advisory services related to exempt organization corporate structure planning; obtaining and maintaining federal, state, and local tax exemptions; and evaluating exempt organizations’ tax compliance. She has been a conference speaker on nonprofit taxation issues at both the local and national levels.

7 Numbers Every XP Should Know

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 eight years Dave has served as an estate consultant with Financial Planning Ministry. His role is to provide education on estate planning processes while assisting individuals and families with their specific planning needs.

10 Landmines Every XP Should Know About Your Financial and Giving World in the Next 10 Months to Finish the Year Exceeding Budget

Even though giving is stable now, what variables loom ahead that could disrupt your financial world to diminish your church mission? Explore the trends around inflation, crypto-currency, major giver patterns, new giver patterns, leveraging your digital giving platform and other speed bumps that could give you huge headaches. Or, give you massive wins to break from the crowd of those not prepared.

Brad Leeper is the President and Principal 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.

10 Things Every Successful Hybrid Church Leader Should Know

It’s estimated that by the end of this year, 53% of the U.S. workforce will be remote. For comparison and perspective, just five years ago in 2017, roughly 5.2% of the workforce was remote. We moved an entire decimal place in just five years. Moreover, businesses and churches alike are discovering that traditional staffing models are becoming less effective—and that a remote workforce can staff churches for greater impact.

In order for pastors to focus on what really only they can do, they need high-caliber resources at their discretion. Put simply: We have yet to meet a pastor who went to seminary to learn how to do QuickBooks. So nearly 11 years ago, we saw an opportunity for us to serve church leaders buried in administrative things that they didn’t need to do—and that they weren’t called to do. Here, we’ll share how successful church leaders can evolve from “how things have always been done” to “this is now how things get done.”

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.

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.

Changing Church Metrics

As we emerge from the pandemic, how we “do church” has changed. And that means we need to change what we measure. This session will explore the new ways churches are measuring their financial and operational health.

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

The Church and Its 5 Real Estate Choices:
Tested Strategies for Extending Your Churches Kingdom Reach

Mapping out where the Church is headed in the foreseeable future is not for the faint at heart! Many leaders are implementing strategies in ministry that could significantly remedy the inefficiencies of existing church facilities, as well as impact the design of new builds and commercial buildouts into the foreseeable future. It’s about community impact! A church only has five real estate options to create a presence in a new community. In this session we will have a conversation outlining the pros and cons of each of those options, and strategies that effective and growing churches across the country are implementing with great success.

Jeffrey Beachum, in his role with Portable Church® as the Multiplication Specialist, comes alongside church leaders who are engaged in multisite and planting strategies. His primary purpose is to help churches determine strategies for choosing new communities to launch in, choosing the right property/facilities, preparing a timeline for launching, and developing a balanced affordable portfolio of real estate. He brings a rich background to his current role with Portable Church®. Armed with a business and marketing degree, Jeff worked in the commercial real estate appraisal profession both before and after serving more than a decade as a pastor in the local church. Following service on a denominational leadership team, Jeff led the Indiana Commercial Board of Realtors for several years as a Certified Association Executive. Using this cacophony of opportunities he is now helping church leaders build and grow the momentum of their multisite and planting strategies toward Kingdom Advancement.

Church Design Trends for 2022

Well, it’s happened – just when you felt like you were getting the hang of 2021, it became 2022. With the new year taking shape, we’ll take a deep dive into how car dealerships, Uber Eats, and the Metaverse will all collide in 2022 to drive trends in church design that will define our ministries for years to come.

Danae Dougherty is Managing Principal at Visioneering. Wanting to understand the holistic relationship between interior, building, and site design, Danae pursued an undergraduate degree in Interior Architecture and a Masters Degree in Architecture from UCLA. Her national project experience includes concept design to construction administration and everything in between. Project experience includes healthcare, commercial, education, retail, hospitality, non-profit and faith-based.

Nathan Elder is Director of Strategic Design with Visioneering. He is an innovative thinker and creative leader with a heart for the local church. From serving in rural to mega churches, Nathan understands the struggles facing churches today. With a background in creative arts and executive leadership, Nathan brings years of experience to help churches bridge the gap between ministry and design

ChurchLaw&Tax Roundtable Forums
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 2022, 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.

Matthew Branaugh is an attorney and content editor for Christianity Today’s ChurchLaw&Tax. Matthew helps lead an award-winning team of editors and designers with the planning, creation, and publishing of ChurchLawAndTax, numerous print and digital resources, and two free newsletters. In 2015, he earned first place from the Evangelical Press Association’s “Higher Goals in Christian Journalism” for his article examining church budgeting priorities and practices. More recently, he researched and wrote a comprehensive report evaluating the effects of local, state, and federal public accommodations laws on local churches. Matthew earned his law degree with honors from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, where he also served as an associate editor for Denver Law Review and had his article detailing the potential nationwide effects of the #MeToo movement on abuse-reporting laws selected for online publication. Matthew grew up in the Evangelical Covenant Church. One of Matthew’s favorite parts of his job is the opportunity to meet and network with local church pastors and leaders across the country.

Church Mergers & Acquisitions … Do’s And Don’ts

Ministries all over the country are expanding their reach, “building their city” by way of mergers and acquisitions. A cost effective way to propel growth, however, it involves some definite do’s and don’ts. Whether you are buying the assets, absorbing debt or being gifted the real estate … each scenario requires different considerations. Join us to learn and share your experiences.

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.

Church Risk Management—Just Do It

In many churches, risk management can become an after-thought as the tasks and needs of day-to-day operations take center stage. But such an environment opens the door to unnecessary risk – an avoidable accident, allegation, or other misstep can occur, causing pain and draining energy, money, and resources. Even worse, if circumstances warrant, the church may be held liable, and staff members and board members may be held personally liable. After this 60-minute session, participants will be able to: Identify the significant risks churches and board members face, define the structure needed for effective risk management, recognize the roles staff and board members must fill, discover the process for effectively managing risk and apply the specific steps that can be taken now to do it.

Mike Batts 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 co-author of Church Finance, 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.

Creating a Healthy Culture of Feedback

According to Gallup, only 26% of employees strongly agree that the feedback they receive helps them do better work. Why is that? Because many churches don’t provide enough feedback or they provide feedback in unproductive ways. 
In this workshop, you’ll learn how to lead effective feedback conversations, create feedback loops through your organization, and cultivate a healthy culture where every team member is engaged and growing.

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.

Dream Stream

Bob Nahrstadt is Senior Design Engineer at Clark. As a teenager, Bob became interested in AV, taking used stereo and speaker components and building his own hi-fi system in his parents’ basement. After college, Bob worked for over 10 years in high technology sales, specifically Fortune 500 business software sales. For five of those years, he was a volunteer technical director at a small church in Chicago, where he was introduced to Clark. Bob has had many roles since joining the team in 2004. He started out as a Business Development Manager from Clark’s Chicago office, then moved to Atlanta to head up the engineering department. Today he continues to provide the entire engineering team with support, but he specializes in the front-end design of our video systems, and travels to project sites for final commissioning and training.

Financing for Growth

Growing ministries utilize debt as an instrument to fulfill their vision, but understanding all the different options and best structure to meet the church’s objectives can be challenging. In this workshop we will be discussing commercial loans, general qualifying criteria and common pitfalls of financing. Join us to learn and share your experiences.

Teresa Loker is the Director of Church Loan Underwriting at Thrivent Church Financing. Teresa has been helping ministries nationwide with their financing needs for the last 25 years. She was previously with Bank of the West in their Religious Institution Lending Division. As the Managing Director of Credit, she oversaw a $1.3 billion church loan portfolio with direct management of the underwriting team. During her tenure, she was also a relationship manager and played a key role in business development. Her career experience also includes jobs in retail banking, commercial real estate and asset based lending. She is also fluent in Spanish.

David Lee is a Sr. 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.

Fraud Prevention

Whether in an urban setting or rural, your church needs to prevent against fraud. Nine percent of all fraud is in nonprofits. The median loss is $75,000 over 16 months. There is double loss when under 100 staff and double the loss with longterm employees engage in the fraud.

Ken Tan serves as a Partner at CapinCrouse. He joined the firm in 2019 and has more than 11 years of public accounting and large nonprofit experience providing both advisory and assurance services to various nonprofit entities, churches, and mission organizations. Ken managed the audits of public Fortune 100 and private multi-billion dollar companies for a Big 4 accounting firm before shifting his focus towards providing advisory and strategic planning for churches, nonprofits, and small to medium-sized businesses. In recent years, he has also served as the controller and corporate officer for a large faith-based multi-national mission agency. Ken is known for his relationship-based consulting and management style and his personal attention to client needs.

Funding Your Church Mission: 2022 Complexities

How will you make sure you have ample and growing financial resources for 2022 and beyond? What happens if the current stable giving tanks? If the stock market goes way down? What if inflation saps your budget? The workshop will cover: new patterns in major givers, engaging new givers, keeping your core givers and ending the year with more financial resources than you thought.

Brad Leeper is the President and Principal 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.

Hiring For Things That You Don’t See On A Resume

It can be easy for a candidate to look good on paper, however most times, a resume just scratches the surface. A resume can reflect more of a candidate’s ability to reflect themselves in a flattering light but won’t always show you if they are a cultural fit or the actual value they provide. In order to make a good hire, it is important to look beyond the resume. In this workshop, William Vanderbloemen, CEO & Founder of Vanderbloemen will share the importance of hiring beyond a resume and how you can do that.

William Vanderbloemen is an entrepreneur, pastor, speaker, author, and CEO/Founder of Vanderbloemen. He is a regular contributor to both Forbes and Fortune. William has combined over 15 years of 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. Vanderbloemen has completed over 1,500 staffing assignments since its founding ten years ago, and has won several company culture awards from Forbes, Entrepreneur, Houston Business Journal, and Houstonia Magazine. William 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).

How to Budget your Next Project

Most projects start with a vision, idea, or dream and then quickly run into reality – specifically, the question of, “How are we going to pay for all of this?” We’ll talk through different models of funding, what hidden costs to expect, how to leverage a master plan for future growth, and the Growth Funding™ potential you may have hidden in your empty land. This practical workshop will help you develop a realistic next phase project budget.

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.

John Parker is the President of Visioneering Studios. As a Walt Disney Imagineer, John worked on award-winning projects—including California Adventures’ Soarin’ Over California. Today, John brings that same passion for creativity and immersive story to every Visioneering project.

How to Prevent the Senior Pastor from Falling

What specifically can be done to help leaders avoid moral failure? ECFA (the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability) is exploring a series of action steps that staff and church boards could take in the areas of accountability and soul care to help minimize the risk of the senior pastor morally falling. How can the subject be addressed without being legalistic? What are the legal limits on elements that can be built into a written, specific plan of accountability and soulcare for a pastor? Join in a healthy discussion of six specific ideas led by Warren Bird and Matt Branaugh.

Warren Bird is the Vice President for 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.

Matthew Branaugh is an attorney and content editor for Christianity Today’s ChurchLaw&Tax. Matthew helps lead an award-winning team of editors and designers with the planning, creation, and publishing of ChurchLawAndTax, numerous print and digital resources, and two free newsletters. In 2015, he earned first place from the Evangelical Press Association’s “Higher Goals in Christian Journalism” for his article examining church budgeting priorities and practices.

Leading the Next Generation & Why Leadership Development is Critical Now

Take a quick mental inventory of your staff. What does the generational breakdown look like? According to Gallup, 46% of the workforce is now made up of Millenials and Gen Z. During this workshop we’ll break down the generational differences and how we’ll need to do better to develop this next generation into church leaders.

Holly Tate is the SVP of Growth at Leadr. She joined the Leadr team after spending 9 years helping churches hire and build their best teams at Vanderbloemen. Holly is driven by the relentless pursuit of growth in herself and inspiring others to discover their full potential in their personal and professional lives, achieving more than they thought they could. As SVP of Growth at Leadr, Holly’s passion for developing others is brought to life as she pours into the growth of the Leadr staff and shares the value of people development with organizations around the country. Holly is also a contributor for The Forbes Communications Council and Co-Founder of Statesman Beverage Co.

Making Peace With & Finding Opportunity In The Unknown

The Church has been forced to manage significant changes in the past three years. These recent events have highlighted the need to be adaptable and nimble—all the while the mission remains the same. Utilizing the experiences from BELAY, this workshop will challenge your thinking on embracing the unknown.

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.

Marketing Beyond Belief

Are you stumped beyond belief when people just don’t turn up? The parable of the great banquet showed us that even the invitees didn’t attend though the feast was ready. You are looking to spread the Gospel but can’t get enough people in seats or fill (Zoom and regular) rooms. Before you throw more mud on the wall and hope it sticks, join this highly interactive workshop to know how to command compelling belief.

Kurian Babykutty is the CEO of 40 Parables, a strategic MarTech partner for ministries, and is thrilled to help ministries rethink their marketing! Importantly, start your workshop experience today by dropping your website’s URL here to get a free audit on how believable your church’s website messaging is.

Need to Borrow Money Post-Pandemic?

Is your church considering a renovation, expansion, or property acquisition post-pandemic? This workshop will discuss how you can use a few simple financial metrics to find that delicate balance between faith and prudence. This includes the possibility that your church may only need a short-term line of credit instead of a long-term building loan. The workshop will also examine the possibility of an increase in interest rates in 2022 and how that may impact borrowing costs. Steve will present these topics and address other banking related questions.

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.

Morgan Mudge is the Founder of Gyve. He coaches on generosity with a focus on increasing first time givers, understanding giving trends and helping the church take its 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.

New Church HR Issues that Keep You Up at Night: “We are not in Kansas Anymore”

Once upon a time, the biggest issues facing churches were whether to allow staff to wear jeans on Sundays and if cran-grape juice was suitable for communion. In 2022, the church HR concerns and trends are a whole different ballgame for ministry leaders to scale. Some of the areas we will be talking about include: Covid mandates, LGBTQ+ & the gender movement, harassment training, mental wellness & coaching vs. final exams (putting staff first).

HR Ministry Solutions was founded in 2016 by Tiffany Henning, a 15 year veteran in Human Resources and ministry. She realized that in ministry when it came to staff, the way we were working isn’t working and sought to create a better solution. This faith-based 501c3 organization was launched with the mission of helping churches be as passionate about protecting and providing for their staff as they are for the people they are reaching. Since founding HR Ministry Solutions, Tiffany and her team of HR Pros have helped many ministries with HR compliance, labor law, and staff issues. They continue to expand their reach across the US with services and resources including workshops, conferences, webinars, and online learning modules for Church HR People and Ministry Managers.

The New Gold Standards of Retaining Your Staff

We are seeing significant changes in staff retention. As younger generations have entered the workforce, people have become less likely to spend a lifetime in one job and employees are more prone to change jobs than ever. Retaining that top talent is going to be more challenging and vital with the continuation of this trend. So how do you retain good people and key talent? In this workshop, Sarah Robins, VP of Sales and Client Relations at Vanderbloemen will share the new gold standards of retaining your staff.

Sarah Robins is the Vice President of Sales and Client Relations at Vanderbloemen. Prior to her time at Vanderbloemen, Sarah was a sales consultant for one of Houston’s largest homebuilders. In her role as Vice President of Sales & Client Relations, Sarah walks prospective clients through the Vanderbloemen process to help them discern next steps in their ministry’s search. She helps educate and equip pastors, church leaders, and lay leaders about how using Vanderbloemen’s executive search process can help them steward their time and resources during their pastoral search.

The Numbers Game—9 Church Metrics to Improve Retention

The shepherd doesn’t say, “I have around 100 sheep.” He knows he has exactly 100, and that is why he goes looking for the lost sheep when he only counts 99. Numbers matter because they represent lives. There are nine different dimensions to The Numbers Game that—when properly measured and tracked—offer you valuable intelligence about the health and vitality of your church’s community-building efforts. If you’ve never tracked these before, you’ll see why numbers are a valuable tool in making strategic ministry decisions.

David Coons, is a seasoned ChMS Sales Engineer, grew up in the church and has over two decades of service in the church, including Men’s Ministry, Video Ministry, Missions and Drama. In addition to being in Church leadership as a Deacon, Elder and Connections Pastor, he has been consulting with churches for the last 15 years with a focus on data and discipleship management. His wealth of knowledge both as a church leader and data professional will bring insights and experience to help you see your church metrics through an enhanced lens for your leadership team.

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.

Planning for Growth with Your Campus—Expectations Moving Forward

Adaptability is about the powerful difference between adapting to cope and adapting to succeed—Max McKeown. It’s important to be clear on the journey we are asking people to take with us. Maintaining focus on the why, the eternal mission of reaching future generations for Christ, not the what, buildings or specific programs, is what allows you to adapt without losing your missional focus. Ecclesiastes 3:1 gives us the guidance, For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.

The message today seems to be a constant welcome to the new normal. It infers what was is no longer applicable, when in truth trends which were already in motion just accelerated. People are still looking for community, still hunger for the Gospel. There is still need for space to gather. We will discuss several of these accelerated trends and see their application in how we design space to encourage engagement within our communities and foster new growth within your church body.

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 30 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 Association. He is an active member of Texas Society of Architects, American Institute of Architects Dallas Chapter, and the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards.

Mark R. Ashcraft, is a senior associate of HH Architects. He serves as the Director of Design Strategy for the firm and has been blessed to work with many ministries during his 20 year tenure. He is passionate about sharing the strategic thinking behind faith-based design, how it shapes the user experience, and the importance of being ministry driven in those efforts.

Real Coaching Success with Your Staff and Volunteers

Coaching your staff and volunteers can be a very rewarding investment but it doesn’t always yield a return on your time investment. This workshop will give you an overview of the best practices and principles contained in Dr. Baxter’s new book, Real Coaching Success (Amazon).

“I have put in my 10,000 hours of coaching others and a bunch of those hours didn’t go so well. If I can offer my colleagues a summary of what I learned over the last 30 years then I would love to help them avoid some of the wasted hours I experienced.”

Nathan Baxter is a former XP and SP and now is an Executive Leadership Coach and founder of RealCoachingSuccess, a company dedicated to encourage and equip coaches and mentors. Every month Nathan and his wife Dianne devote time training others to improve in their coaching and mentoring skills. They have successfully helped launch 22 coaching businesses and ministries and are working to launch a podcast to share their knowledge and experience with other coaches.

Reaching Your Community

As culture and community have pivoted during this long pandemic season, the Church’s call remains the same. Today more than ever, the church has the opportunity to use technology to connect with people. National advertising campaigns are spending millions of dollars to reach people exploring faith or looking for practical help. By understanding needs, churches can bring hope and healing to those outside of the walls of the church.

Kristy Shotwell serves Strategic and Network partners at Gloo.  She has supported churches and ministries in the technology space for ten years.

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.

At GuideStone, Scott Charbonneau leads a team of experienced insurance professionals who are each dedicated to meeting your employee benefit needs by providing your ministry with quality, affordable health coverage options. Under Scott’s leadership, the Health Benefits team will help you craft the right plan and provide continued support that makes your job easier. Scott has served at GuideStone® since 2002. Scott has served in multiple capacities at GuideStone, giving him a vast knowledge of the retirement, property and casualty, and insurance solutions for your ministry. In addition to helping clients, Scott serves as a deacon and life connection teacher at First Baptist Church, Hurst, Texas, where his wife, Kellie, is the preschool minister. He is past president of the Hurst Heritage Foundation and a board member of StrongMarriages. He has served on mission teams, sharing God’s love in North Dakota, West Africa and East Asia.

Art Tennille is GuideStone’s Regional Relationship Manager based in Nashville, Tennessee. Formerly Art served as National Field Director for the former LifeWay Christian Stores. Art is a trusted mentor and servant leader who loves helping ministries and their teams steward their financial resources well and prepare wisely for their financial outcomes in retirement. He thrives on helping people see the practical steps they can take to positively impact their futures.

Time with Fletch

This is an open session to bring any question, any topic. Have a discussion with Fletch. There is no formal agenda, just a chance to raise questions for a round table discussion.

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.

Top 5 Legal Issues for Churches

Churches routinely have various legal problems, but which are the most common ones? Dustin Gaines and Mark Juba from The Church Lawyers will walk through the five most common issues for churches. Working on these issues will be your first step to keeping your church out of court.

Mark Juba’s practice at The Church Lawyers, Middlebrook | Goodspeed, PLLC, includes general nonprofit, corporate, corporate transactions, compliance, corporate governance, healthcare, privacy, internal and external investigations, government inquiries, mergers and acquisitions, employment, human resources, administrative law, litigation, and related matters.

Dustin Gaines is a trial lawyer who focuses his practice on litigation matters related to churches, schools, and non-profit organizations. He has a diverse practice that focuses on general civil litigation matters and constitutional/religious liberties matters. As both an attorney and pastor, Dustin relates with pastors and will guide you to a resolution of your legal challenge from a pastor/attorney’s perspective.

What Does Everyone Tend to Miss in Leadership Succession?

This workshop covers the potholes that many fall into in leadership succession. Three simple diagrams, and understanding them, will help you miss the potholes. One is the iceberg drawing. Always tell the cruise captain—Don’t hit the iceberg! After working with over 130 large churches in this area of succession and advising several nonprofits, he shares these central ideas that get overlooked to the organization’s peril. Come learn the drawings to share with your team.

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.