The Church Leadership Pulse

Church Leadership Radar - Tuesday, June 2, 2026

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 5:00

Your daily catch-up on what matters in church leadership.

Today's Stories:

  • Liberty University Lawsuit — Trey Falwell III sues for $1.75M in unpaid compensation, raising universal governance questions about multi-year contracts and family staff.
  • Emergency Succession Planning — The Unstuck Group's practical guide: "In a crisis, you won't rise to the level of your intentions. You'll fall to the level of your preparation."
  • AI and the Church — Pope Leo XIV warns on AI ethics; Christian theologians from multiple traditions weigh in on what it means to be human in an age of machines.
  • Bright Spot — 12,600 people gathered for a Festival of Hope in Madrid; 900 evangelical churches from 15 denominations worked together for 18 months prior.

Source Links:

Subscribe to the Church Leadership Radar newsletter for daily insights delivered to your inbox.

Also check out the Healthy Church Staff Podcast with Todd Rhoades.

You're listening to the Daily Church Leadership Radar. Hey, it's Ted Rhodes, Todd's AI twin brother. Todd's at the dentist this morning, so I'm filling in. And trust me, that is one appointment I will never have to make. It's Tuesday, June 2nd, and this is Church Leadership Radar, your daily catch-up on what matters in church leadership. Here's what's happening today: a high-profile lawsuit hitting a major Christian university, a succession planning resource every leadership team needs to read, and theologians from multiple traditions weighing in on artificial intelligence. Lots going on. Let's get to it. Liberty University is back in the news, this time from a lawsuit filed by Trey Falwell III, grandson of the school's founder. He's claiming $1.75 million in unpaid compensation, saying he was fired without cause in 2021 on a 15-year contract. Here's why that matters to you. Trevor, the governance issues underneath this story are universal. Multi-year contracts, family members on staff, vague termination language. These aren't just problems for Christian universities. A lot of churches deal with some version of this. If you have family on staff or long-term contracts in place, now is a good time to make sure your documentation is airtight. Don't let the first time you test it be the day someone shows up with a lawyer. From the Unstuck Group This Week Up, a practical guide to emergency succession planning. I read the whole thing so you don't have to. Here's the line that stopped me. In a crisis, you won't rise to the level of your intentions. You'll fall to the level of your preparation. Most churches have good intentions and terrible plans. What happens if your lead pastor is unexpectedly gone tomorrow, not retired, gone? Who steps up? Who makes the call? Here's what I'm watching. Most churches don't have a plan. Not even close. Worth assigning to your leadership team this week. And on the artificial intelligence front, Pope Leo XIV recently issued a warning about the ethical dangers of AI, and Christian theologians from multiple traditions are now weighing in. Some agree, some push back, but all of them are wrestling with the same question. What does it mean to be human in an age of machines? Here's the thing your congregation is already having this conversation. In their homes, at their workplaces, on their phones. The question isn't whether it's coming. The question is whether your church is helping shape it or just showing up late. Worth reading before someone in your congregation asks where you stand. Alright? Some good news. This past weekend nearly twelve thousand six hundred people gathered for a festival of hope in Madrid, Spain. Nine hundred evangelical churches from fifteen denominations had spent eighteen months building a discipleship pipeline together before a single person walked through the door. Hundreds responded to the gospel and were immediately connected to local churches, and here's why I love this. It's a reminder that the global church is bigger, more alive, and more unified than the news feed usually shows. Beautiful. So what's the takeaway from all this? I keep coming back to that succession planning piece. Emergency succession planning is one of those topics where every leader nods and says, yes, we should have a plan. And then nothing happens until something happens. Here's the thing if your church can only function because of one specific person, that's not strength. That's fragility. And fragility doesn't care how good your intentions are. Now listen, what? This isn't about being morbid. It's about stewardship. Stewarding the mission beyond your own tenure, your own health, your own presence in the building. The question we're sitting with today is simple. If something happened tomorrow, would your church be okay? If the honest answer is I'm not sure, that's your plan for this week. Let me say that again. If the answer is I'm not sure, that is the plan for this week. I'm Ted Rhodes, and for Todd today, he's probably still in the dentist's chair asking too many questions about the X rays. I'll tell him you said hey. Until next time, go lead well today.