Watermark's Church Leadership Podcast

At some point, most of us will end up working under someone we don't see eye-to-eye with. In this week’s Church Leadership Podcast, Watermark Resources Project Coordinator Ashley Lawrence breaks down how examining your motivation and mindset can empower you to take the right action steps. Actionable Steps:1. Be a champion, not a criticizer  - Are you gossiping and complaining or praying for your leadership and bringing solutions?  - Commit to put effort behind the decision that was made, even if it wasn't your first choice. 2. Receive and give feedback  - We need to be able to receive feedback before we can give it.  - It's important for leaders to have people in their corner who can tell them the hard truth. Be one of those people.  - When you have feedback, always ask "Can I ask you a question" or "Are you open to feedback?"  - It's not loving to withhold feedback from people you care about, if you love your leadership, help refine them.3. Assume the best about your leadership team  - If you consistently ne

The joy of the Lord is our strength, and lighthearted fun strengthens a team. In this week’s episode of the Church Leadership Podcast, Braun Brown and Sean Hill share the importance of not taking yourself too seriously and how church leaders can harness the power of fun to bring people together for effective Gospel work. The last of Watermark’s four staff values, having fun is one of our defining traits—and one we think any church can adopt. Watermark's Staff Values

Just like a finger won’t survive long if it’s severed from the hand, our spiritual health depends on connection to the rest of Christ’s body. We’re meant to function together, and without unity as one of our core values, our mission will fall apart. Caitlin Van Wagoner and David Penuel join this week’s Church Leadership Podcast to talk about how church staff can not only avoid gossip and division, but also pursue each other relationally and prioritize collaboration.  Watermark Staff Values - Download"Resolving Staff Conflict" - David and Caitlin's Talk from CLCConflict Roadmap - Download

Churches that do not encourage their staff to excel are missing an opportunity to honor God and inspire others. On the other hand, churches that pursue excellence for the wrong reasons have made an idol out of something that should be an offering. On this week’s Church Leadership Podcast, Watermark teaching pastor John Elmore joins John McGee to talk about faithfully executing our work to the best of our abilities without losing sight of our mission. Watermark Staff Values - Download

Too often, we assume that we don’t need to tell church staff to rely on God. But Christians routinely affirm spiritual dependency as a concept without living it out practically, valuing strategy over sensitivity to the Spirit. This week’s podcast covers why dependence on God is at the top of Watermark’s core values for its staff and what this looks like practically. Watermark's Staff Values - Download

Even in full-time ministry, when imperfect human beings work closely together, conflict is bound to arise. As leaders, we have the opportunity to reflect Christ in a uniquely tangible and powerful way through how we resolve conflict. In this talk, first given at CLC 2023, two of our veteran staff members walk through a conflict they personally experienced and how they were able to restore peace biblically.Conflict Roadmap PDFVideo Download

As fallible humans, anyone who serves in ministry for a significant length of time will have some regrets—opportunities they should have taken, relationships they should have invested more in, and words they should have said (or not said). In this week’s Church Leadership Podcast, Watermark Director of re:generation Dave Bruskas reflects on the things he would do differently if he could go back, and how other church leaders can minimize their own regrets.

The seeds you plant when your church is still young can grow into a life-giving, God-honoring community in the years to come. On this week’s episode, John McGee recalls the ideas that shaped the early days of Watermark Community Church, the fruit that’s come from them, and how you can identify the values that are most important to focus on in your church body. 

This week, John McGee broaches a topic that many church leaders grapple with but hesitate to speak about: feelings of discouragement and burnout in ministry. The weight of guiding a congregation, meeting expectations, and constantly pouring yourself out can sometimes be profoundly exhausting. If you've ever found yourself on the brink of giving up, you might need to be reminded of the truth we shared with thousands of church leaders at CLC 2023: "Don't quit - we're not home yet."  

Your team can be a place of gratitude, where people feel seen and celebrated--or a place of discouragement and drudgery. It largely comes down to what you cultivate. On this week’s Church Leadership Podcast, veteran Watermark leaders Braun Brown and Joey Tisdale discuss how to craft a vision for your staff’s culture and then nurture it into being.

God has clearly revealed his moral will to us in the Bible. But what about the “should I?” questions that leaders encounter every single day? How do we make decisions that aren’t morally black or white, but gray? Watermark Lead Pastor Blake Holmes spoke at CLC this year about a framework for godly decision-making. (Want more content like this? Don’t miss CLC 2024--early registration is open now.) Show Notes:Should I? PDF DownloadShould I? Sermon Series - Part 1Should I? Sermon Series - Part 2

Let’s be real: at times, ministry can leave us feeling stressed-out, overwhelmed, and out of control. Watermark teaching pastor Timothy Ateek has learned that when it's a struggle to shepherd others, it’s more important than ever to find our peace and identity in God’s identity as Shepherd.

On this episode of the Church Leader's Podcast, John McGee and Watermark's Senior Director of Community and Pastoral Care, David Dzina, sit down to discuss what it looks like to step into leadership on an underperforming team.

Could you be wasting your most valuable resource? On this week’s episode of the Church Leadership Podcast, special guest Jonathan “JP” Pokluda of Harris Creek Baptist Church shares how to maximize your ministry’s potential by building a healthy team. 

In our last Church Leadership Podcast, Watermark teaching pastors Timothy Ateek and John Elmore walked us through the ways they prepare messages. This week, we’re behind the curtain again to see how they continue to improve their actual sermon delivery. Understanding your audience, getting useful feedback, finding your own unique style—it's all here. 

In this episode of the Church Leader's Podcast, John McGee sits down with Watermark's teaching pastors Timothy "TA" Ateek and John Elmore to discuss their methods of planning when it comes to sermon preparation.

Before he led at Watermark’s Young Adult Ministry or preached at Harris Creek in Waco, Jonathan “JP” Pokluda was money-driven and success-obsessed. In this week’s Church Leadership Podcast, JP shares how he found himself in vocational ministry with no ladder to climb and had to rethink his whole approach to life.  

Last week, John McGee and Caitlin Van Wagoner shared some qualities that make people stand out on a team. Now they’re back with more habits of exceptional employees—like following through, challenging the status quo, and soliciting feedback—and how you can develop them. (You can find Part 1 here.)What Leaders Look For - Download 

Certain people stand out as exemplary teammates, and it can be hard to put your finger on why. In this week's Church Leadership Podcast, John McGee and Caitlin Van Wagoner examine the qualities that make these people so exceptional, how to use them to distinguish yourself on a team, and how leaders can cultivate them in an organization.

In many ways, the way you bring an employee or volunteer on board sets the tone for their experience going forward. It goes beyond just setting them up with a key card or a lanyard with a name tag; it’s a chance to introduce them to the culture they’re joining and communicate how valuable they are to the team. Special guests Josiah Jones and Lanie Eberhard joined this week’s Church Leadership Podcast to share their best practices for starting things on the right foot.   Onboarding Documents from Watermark's HR Department:Onboarding Document - Hosts and GuestsOnboarding Document - Events and MinistriesOnboarding Document - Contacting Facilites, IT and ProductionOnboarding Document - Writing Your Website BioRecommended Podcast Episodes for New Team Members:1. Views from the Porch “How to Work at Work”2. Views from the Porch “Becoming Unoffendable”3. Views from the Porch “Leading Up Part 1”4. Views from the Porch “Leading Up Part 2”5. Church Leaders Podcast “Giving and Receiving Feedback”6. Church Leaders Podcas