The Church Leadership Pulse
Church Leadership Radar is your daily catch-up call for what's happening in church leadership across America. In just 3-4 minutes each weekday morning, get the headlines, trends, and stories that matter — plus a bright spot to start your day encouraged.
The Church Leadership Pulse
Church Leadership Radar - May 13, 2026
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Your daily catch-up on what matters in church leadership.
Today's Stories:
- Justin Peters' Career Pivot — The well-known apologist steps into pastoral ministry, announcing he's the founding senior pastor of a new church plant in Laurel, Montana. A meaningful shift from watchdog to shepherd.
- AI & Faith Questions — A new piece from the Lewis Center for Church Leadership identifies three questions artificial intelligence is surfacing for people of faith — about humanity, God's image, and what it means to create and communicate.
- Gut vs. Metrics — A guide to spiritual discernment in church leadership: what to do when the data points one direction and your gut points another. Holding data and discernment together without losing either.
- Bright Spot — A Pennsylvania church hands out bicycles in exchange for community service hours, turning a simple idea into a genuine relationship-building engine in their neighborhood.
Key Takeaway: Don't let the metrics crowd out the Spirit. Data is a gift, but wisdom, prayer, and Spirit-led discernment are irreplaceable in church leadership decisions.
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You're listening to the Daily Church Leadership Radar. Hey, it's Ted Rhodes, Todd's AI twin brother. Todd's running behind this morning, so he sent me ahead. It's Wednesday, May 13th, and this is Church Leadership Radar, your daily catch up on what matters in church leadership. Here's what's happening today: a prominent apologist making a surprising career pivot. The three questions artificial intelligence is forcing your congregation to wrestle with and the leadership instinct that no spreadsheet can capture. Lots going on. Let's get to it. Justin Peters has been a well-known voice in evangelical circles for years, recognized for his pointed critiques of word of faith theology. This week he announced he's stepping in as the founding senior pastor of a brand new church plant in Laurel, Montana. Here's the thing. Peters is moving from watchdog to shepherd, and that's a meaningful shift worth watching. Some of the best leaders we know have made career pivots that surprised everyone around them. The question is always, what does God do with someone willing to start something new? Now listen, your congregation is already using artificial intelligence for work, for school, for everyday life. A new piece from the Lewis Center for Church Leadership identifies three questions that artificial intelligence is actually surfacing for people of faith. And here's why that matters. Your people aren't just asking whether it's useful, they're starting to wrestle with deeper things. What it means to be human, made in God's image in a world where machines can create and reason and communicate. That is a pastoral question before it's a technology question. If artificial intelligence hasn't made it onto your ministry radar yet, this is your entry point. There's a piece out this week with a title that stopped me. When your gut knows what the metrics don't it's a guide to spiritual discernment and church leadership what to do when the data points one direction and everything in your gut points another. Here's what I'm watching. As churches get more sophisticated with dashboards and assessments, there's a real risk of crowding out the intuitive spirit led dimension of leadership. This piece doesn't pit data against discernment. It shows how to hold both without losing either. I read the whole thing so you don't have to. Alright, some good news. A church in Pennsylvania is handing out bicycles in exchange for community service hours. It started as a simple idea and turned into a genuine relationship building engine in their neighborhood. People come for the bike and they stay for the community, no big budget, no celebrity, no slick campaign. Just a church saying, We have something you need and we want to know you. That's ministry. So what's the takeaway from all of this? I keep coming back to that discernment piece. Here's the thing about church leadership in 2026. We have more tools, more data, and more metrics than any generation of church leaders before us. Mostly that's a gift. But there's a shadow side. When we over-index on data, we start treating decisions like optimization problems, as if there's always a numerically correct answer. There isn't. The right hire, the right strategic move, the right time to launch or let go, these decisions require something no spreadsheet captures. Wisdom, prayer, discernment that comes from years of walking with God and walking with people. The practical question isn't whether to use data, you should. Until next time, go lead well today.