Church for the Rest of Us Podcast

4.9 (76)
CHRISTIANITY
UPDATED SEMIMONTHLY

A place for leaders to find principles, strategies, and ideas that you can implement right now with the resources you have.

1 DAY AGO

CFTROU 207: Kids: Leading Preschool Kids Worship | Preschool

CFTROU 0207: Leading Preschool Kids Worship | Preschool Today’s topic of conversation centers around preschool worship, what we refer to as Heartland at Family Church, and is something that’s near and dear to Pastor Jimmy’s heart! We are fortunate to have the masterminds of Heartland joining us on the show today, Zack Rickards and Janelle Bannister. Join us as we dive into a typical morning at Heartland! Janelle breaks down the Gospel Project curriculum and we explain the what and why of preschool worship. We also share what our team’s work week looks like in preparation for Sundays, express the pivotal role of volunteers in making Heartland happen, and delve into our use, production, and the behind-the-scenes of our Heartland videos. Key Points From This Episode: A typical morning at Preschool church. Janelle gives us a breakdown of The Gospel Project curriculum. What it would look like at a smaller church, with a smaller number of preschoolers. We dive into the what and why of preschool worship or Heartland worship. More details about our Heartland program: ages, time frames, and format. The pivotal role of volunteers in making Heartland happen. CFTROU 207: Kids: Leading Preschool Kids Worship | PreschoolClick To Tweet that we want to give kids a faith that they can grow into, not a faith that they grow out of. -Zack Rickards]CFTROU 207: Kids: Leading Preschool Kids Worship | PreschoolClick To Tweet curriculum, you make it as engaging and as intriguing as you can because, at the end of the day, you’re trying to help these little minds grown in their knowledge and love for the Lord." -Janelle Bannister] Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: Jimmy on X Leslee on X Family Church Network Family Church on Facebook Family Church on Instagram Family Church Heartland Church for the Rest of Us Conference Church for the Rest of Us on X Get podcast updates delivered to your inbox. Subscribe for free and never miss out on an episode of Church for the Rest of Us. Subscribe via Email iTunes Google Play Stitcher RSS If you like us, rate us or leave a comment below. Hopefully, this episode has given you principles, strategies, and ideas that you can implement right now with the resources you have. If so, can you let others know? The best way to do that is to rate the podcast on iTunes or Stitcher and leave us a brief positive review! This will help us place the podcast in front of more pastors and ministry leaders. It also lets us learn from you. Thank you for taking the time to get the word out about Church for the Rest of Us.

28 min
JAN 21

CFTROU 206: Kids: Keeping Kids Safe | Child Safety Meeting

CFTROU 206: Kids: Keeping Kids Safe | Child Safety Meeting Child safety is important for any church, not just ours, and we are thrilled to be joined by Family Church Kid’s Ministry Pastor Zach Rickards and Wendi Serna, who walk us through the best practices for child safety on church grounds. We begin by explaining why child safety is such an important issue before learning why it sits at number one on Kid’s Ministry’s list of objectives. Then, we unpack the traits that make up the perfect Kid’s Ministry volunteer, how we find and enlist them, other policies worth mentioning about child safety at Family Church, and why we hold an annual child safety meeting for the parents in our congregation. We end with helpful advice for improving child safety at your church, and Leslee shares her perspective on what parents look out for when bringing their kids to church for the first time. Key Points From This Episode: Understanding why safety is number one on the Kid’s Ministry’s list of priorities. The characteristics that define the perfect Kid’s Ministry volunteer. Kid’s Ministry’s protocol for finding and enlisting volunteers. How to start improving child safety at your church. Background checks and other non-negotiables for child safety on church grounds. What parents view as important when taking their kids to church for the first time. We need to be as vigilant; careful; and as aggressive as we can about creating a safe environment for the kids.Click To Tweet Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: Jimmy on X Leslee on X Church for the Rest of us Conference 2025 Family Church Kids Elementary Family Church Kids Preschool Family Church Network Family Church on Facebook Family Church on Instagram Get podcast updates delivered to your inbox. Subscribe for free and never miss out on an episode of Church for the Rest of Us. Subscribe via Email iTunes Google Play Stitcher RSS If you like us, rate us or leave a comment below. Hopefully, this episode has given you principles, strategies, and ideas that you can implement right now with the resources you have. If so, can you let others know? The best way to do that is to rate the podcast on iTunes or Stitcher and leave us a brief positive review! This will help us place the podcast in front of more pastors and ministry leaders. It also lets us learn from you. Thank you for taking the time to get the word out about Church for the Rest of Us.

30 min
JAN 7

CFTROU 205: Kids: How We Engage Kids | Theology, Philosophy, Methodology

CFTROU 0205: Kids: How We Engage Kids | Theology, Philosophy, Methodology Family is a big deal to God; it’s a big thing in The Bible, and it’s a big thing here at Family Church! So, we love to spend our time having intentional conversations about how we pass our faith on to the next generation. Today, we are joined by Family Church Kids Pastors Zach Rickards and Keenan Casteel to walk us through the theology, philosophy, and methodology of our kid’s ministry. We discover why kid’s ministry is a number one priority at Family Church before learning about how we show up for our youth, how we serve our kids through the kid’s ministry mission statement, the role of parents in bringing their kids close to God, and how our theology impacts our philosophy and methodology. We also unpack how The Bible is communicated to our kids at Family Church, what it means to have childlike faith, and how we ensure that our kids are always having fun as they learn about Biblical foundational truths. Key Points From This Episode: Understanding why kid’s ministry is so important to Family Church. Our kid’s ministry mission statement and how we serve them. The role of parents in raising God-fearing kids. Exploring the way our theology impacts our methodology. How the way Family Church communicates The Bible to kids differs from others. What it means to have childlike faith. How we generate fun each week for our kids at Family Church. Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: Jimmy on X Leslee on X Keenen Casteel on Instagram Zachary Rickards on Instagram Family Church Network Family Church on Facebook Family Church on Instagram Family Church Kids Preschool Family Church Kids Elementary Church for the Rest of Us Conference 2025 Church for the Rest of Us on X Get podcast updates delivered to your inbox. Subscribe for free and never miss out on an episode of Church for the Rest of Us. Subscribe via Email iTunes Google Play Stitcher RSS If you like us, rate us or leave a comment below. Hopefully, this episode has given you principles, strategies, and ideas that you can implement right now with the resources you have. If so, can you let others know? The best way to do that is to rate the podcast on iTunes or Stitcher and leave us a brief positive review! This will help us place the podcast in front of more pastors and ministry leaders. It also lets us learn from you. Thank you for taking the time to get the word out about Church for the Rest of Us.

28 min
12/24/2024

CFTROU 0204: Students: Celebrating Life’s Moments | Milestones

CFTROU 0204: Students: Celebrating Life's Milestone Moments | Milestones As our children move through different stages of life, it’s essential to give them tools that help them make sense of life and keep following Christ through it all. Today on the show, we’re wrapping up the first half of this season, focused on Student and Kids Ministries at Family Church. This episode concludes the Student Ministry part of our series, and in our next episode, we’ll shift our focus to Kids Ministry. In this conversation, we’re exploring how to celebrate life’s milestone moments, joined by Pastors John MacTaggart, Derek Simpson, and Todd Thomas. We’ll talk about why we emphasize these milestone moments, what our current milestone path looks like, the impact of long-term commitment to these moments, and how they’re adapted over time to meet our community needs and culture changes. Celebrating life’s milestone moments is a valuable tool we use at Family Church, so tune in to learn more. Key Points From This Episode: Why we emphasize milestone moments at Family Church. We unpack what our milestone path currently looks like. A look at what our 6th-grade milestone looks like and what we do there. Pastor Todd shares his experience as a dad who took part in the 6th-grade milestone. Pastor John breaks down what our senior milestone includes. Why these milestones tend to adapt and change over time, and factors that influence them. The benefits that flow out from celebrating these milestones. We share stories of how our student milestones have impacted families. Milestones are a way that we celebrate an accomplishment. It’s where we celebrate the changing of a season of life. It’s where we celebrate a new season of growing up with our kids and with our families. And we’ve found this to be…Click To TweetOne of my favorite things about these milestones is that they help our kids celebrate good holy, wholesome, righteous things as they follow God’s design. It’s good that they’re getting to choose over what the world has to offer.Click To Tweet Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: Todd Thomas on X Jimmy Scroggins on X Leslee Bennett on X John MacTaggart on X Derek Simpson on X Church for the Rest of Us Conference Family Church Network Family Church on Facebook Family Church on Instagram Church for the Rest of Us on X Get podcast updates delivered to your inbox. Subscribe for free and never miss out on an episode of Church for the Rest of Us. Subscribe via Email iTunes Google Play Stitcher RSS If you like us, rate us or leave a comment below. Hopefully, this episode has given you principles, strategies, and ideas that you can implement right now with the resources you have. If so, can you let others know? The best way to do that is to rate the podcast on iTunes or Stitcher and leave us a brief positive review! This will help us place the podcast in front of more pastors and ministry leaders. It also lets us learn from you. Thank you for taking the time to get the word out about Church for the Rest of Us.

24 min
12/10/2024

CFTROU 0203: Students: Finding the Right Volunteers | Recruiting & Training Adult Volunteers

CFTROU 0203: Students: Finding the Right Volunteers | Recruiting & Training Adult Volunteers Today, we’re continuing our discussion on student ministry at Family Church by diving into practical matters—like how to recruit the right volunteers. Joining us on the podcast are Pastor John MacTaggart and Pastor Brian Stebbins to unpack our approach to recruiting and training adult volunteers, focusing on finding and retaining significant adults. As you tune in, you’ll hear why we prioritize recruiting and training the right volunteers, what we look for in people to serve in student ministry, and the critical role significant adults play. We’ll also share practical insights into our onboarding booklet, our seven-step process, and intentional training methods for our adult volunteers. Key Points From This Episode: Why recruiting and training student volunteers is so important. The value and priority of retaining significant adults: setting high expectations. We talk about our onboarding booklet and the seven-step process. Basic steps churches of any size can take to recruit and onboard student ministry volunteers. The importance of giving parents access to small group leaders and allowing them to get to know the person investing in their child’s life. How we do intentional training with our adult volunteers. “IfClick To Tweet“EveryClick To Tweet“IClick To Tweet Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: Jimmy on X Leslee on X John on X Brain on X Church for the Rest of Us Conference Family Church Network Family Church on Facebook Family Church on Instagram Church for the Rest of Us on X Get podcast updates delivered to your inbox. Subscribe for free and never miss out on an episode of Church for the Rest of Us. Subscribe via Email iTunes Google Play Stitcher RSS If you like us, rate us or leave a comment below. Hopefully, this episode has given you principles, strategies, and ideas that you can implement right now with the resources you have. If so, can you let others know? The best way to do that is to rate the podcast on iTunes or Stitcher and leave us a brief positive review! This will help us place the podcast in front of more pastors and ministry leaders. It also lets us learn from you. Thank you for taking the time to get the word out about Church for the Rest of Us.

25 min
11/26/2024

CFTROU 0202: Students: Sundays First | Strategy of Sunday Morning

CFTROU 0202: Students: Sundays First | Strategy of Sunday Morning If your goal is long-term family formation and raising disciples, consider cultivating a student ministry that fully integrates students into the larger life of the church, and that starts with Sunday mornings. In this episode, we continue our series on how we at Family Church approach Student Ministry, focusing on our philosophy of putting Sundays first. Join Pastor Jimmy Scroggins and his co-host Leslee Bennett as they chat with Pastor John MacTaggart; who leads our Student Ministry across our network of churches, and Pastor Tyler Core; the campus pastor at Family Church Gardens and our former student pastor. In this episode, we dive into our 'Sunday's First' philosophy in Student Ministry, discuss how Pastor John applies this approach, the importance of integrating students into the broader church life, and the role of parents in this journey. We also touch on how this philosophy plays out across our campuses and unpack the purpose of our mid-week activities in supporting our students' spiritual growth. Key Points From This Episode: What we mean by our 'Sunday's First' philosophy in our Student Ministry. How the Student Ministry team plans their week with a focus on Sunday mornings. How we work out our Sunday morning philosophy throughout all our campuses. Why it’s crucial to integrate our students into the life of the larger church. Our goal with mid-week activities. Leslee shares her perspective as a mom who has raised teenagers and the value of Sunday mornings. One word of advice to pastors and leaders to change their course and focus to Sunday mornings. If you want to build families, the center of the target has to be Sunday mornings.Click To Tweet Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: Jimmy Scroggins on X Leslee Bennett on X John MacTaggart on X Tyler Core on X Church for the Rest of Us Conference 2025 Family Church Network Family Church on Facebook Family Church on Instagram Church for the Rest of Us on X Get podcast updates delivered to your inbox. Subscribe for free and never miss out on an episode of Church for the Rest of Us. Subscribe via Email iTunes Google Play Stitcher RSS If you like us, rate us or leave a comment below. Hopefully, this episode has given you principles, strategies, and ideas that you can implement right now with the resources you have. If so, can you let others know? The best way to do that is to rate the podcast on iTunes or Stitcher and leave us a brief positive review! This will help us place the podcast in front of more pastors and ministry leaders. It also lets us learn from you. Thank you for taking the time to get the word out about Church for the Rest of Us.

25 min
11/12/2024

CFTROU 0201: Students- Spiritual Habits

CFTROU 0201: Students- Spiritual Habits Today, we continue our conversation on Student Ministry, focusing on the fourth leg of our Student Ministry philosophy at Family Church: Spiritual Habits. Although it’s the last talked-about leg, it’s certainly not the least important. Joining us are Pastor John MacTaggart, Pastor to Students and Families, and Tommy Lea, our Middle School Minister, both from Family Church Downtown. Tune in to hear about the essential spiritual habits we emphasize, why this aspect is so crucial to our Student Ministry, and the practical ways we help students build these habits. Key Points From This Episode: Tommy shares the spiritual habits we emphasize in our Student Ministry. John’s thoughts on forming spiritual habits in students. Practical ways we help students form spiritual habits. We share anecdotal stories about students who have gone through programs and the fruit we’ve seen. Advice on where to start to weave spiritual habits into your student ministries. Spiritual habits are going to create the opportunity for people to become life-long self-feeding disciples of Jesus Christ.Click To TweetI do think the impact on parents is huge. And our goal is always to partner with parents — I do think the ways we challenge our students is so encouraging to parentsClick To Tweet Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: Jimmy on X Leslee on X John MacTaggart on X Church for the Rest of Us Conference 2025 Family Church Network Family Church on Facebook Family Church on Instagram Church for the Rest of Us on Twitter Get podcast updates delivered to your inbox. Subscribe for free and never miss out on an episode of Church for the Rest of Us. Subscribe via Email iTunes Google Play Stitcher RSS If you like us, rate us or leave a comment below. Hopefully, this episode has given you principles, strategies, and ideas that you can implement right now with the resources you have. If so, can you let others know? The best way to do that is to rate the podcast on iTunes or Stitcher and leave us a brief positive review! This will help us place the podcast in front of more pastors and ministry leaders. It also lets us learn from you. Thank you for taking the time to get the word out about Church for the Rest of Us.

21 min
10/29/2024

CFTROU 0200: Students- Challenging Spiritual Experiences

CFTROU 0200: Students- Challenging Spiritual Experiences This season is all about our student ministry philosophy, and today, we unpack the third leg of our four-legged stool that serves as the sturdy base of truth we’d like to pass onto our student leaders: challenging spiritual experiences. Jimmy and Leslee are joined by Pastors John MacTaggart and Jake Kimbrell to explore how we at Family Church instigate challenging spiritual experiences for our students. We begin with why it’s important to provoke our students spiritually, the three main events that serve as great foundations for this purpose, and how we ensure that our entire congregation is engaged and actively involved. We end with how adversity breeds success, confirming why we need to constantly challenge our students on a spiritual level, and our guests share some helpful resources for cultivating the right mindset in student ministries. Join us to discover how to create challenging spiritual experiences that foster growth in your students and empower your ministry to inspire the next generation! Key Points: How we create challenging spiritual scenarios for our students at Family Church. Unpacking our biggest three annual events: ADVANCE, Camp, and Block Party. Understanding what motivates students to grow in their faith and share The Gospel. How adversity breeds success and why we should be challenging our students at church. Success stories from when we challenged our students spiritually. Helpful resources for provoking challenging spiritual experiences. Challenging spiritual experiences are the most unique thing that a student ministry has to offer.Click To Tweet What we’re doing is we’re saying to the students, ‘We believe you’re not just the church of tomorrow; we believe you’re the church of today.’Click To Tweet Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: Jimmy on X Leslee on X John MacTaggart on X John MacTaggart on Instagram Family Church Network Family Church on Facebook Family Church on Instagram Church for the Rest of Us on Twitter Get podcast updates delivered to your inbox. Subscribe for free and never miss out on an episode of Church for the Rest of Us. Subscribe via Email iTunes Google Play Stitcher RSS If you like us, rate us or leave a comment below. Hopefully, this episode has given you principles, strategies, and ideas that you can implement right now with the resources you have. If so, can you let others know? The best way to do that is to rate the podcast on iTunes or Stitcher and leave us a brief positive review! This will help us place the podcast in front of more pastors and ministry leaders. It also lets us learn from you. Thank you for taking the time to get the word out about Church for the Rest of Us.

27 min

See All (212)

4.9

out of 5

76 Ratings

Awesome

02/10/2022

glwith

This is one of the best podcasts on church leadership I know. We need more Family Churches in our world for the sake of the gospel.
Practical, applicable and biblically faithful

09/29/2021

Shea 1win

Really enjoy listening to the podcast. You all always provide something practical that I am able to apply personally and at my church.
A+

02/10/2022

Peaceful Chick

Love this podcast for moms.
Top 5 Podcast for Leaders

09/15/2021

jimmyp18!!!

It gets to the point and gives practical application. Most podcasts are boring and long, but not this one. I love that the principles can be used for church or business and always look forward to the next episode. Plus, the intro is the best. Every time I hear it, I think of a classic WWF entrance. Disclaimer: I love that my family is part of Family Church.