The Church Leadership Pulse

Church Leadership Radar - Tuesday, June 30, 2026

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0:00 | 5:43

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

In today's episode:

  • A devastating flood destroys the Million Bible Church building in Richmond, KY — and how Pastor Garland Batchelor's response revealed what great leadership looks like in crisis
  • A new legally-informed guide on AI adoption for churches: what you need in place before rolling it out (data privacy, copyright, staff policies, hidden costs)
  • Ryan Burge and Thom Rainer dig into the data: Are non-denominational churches just Southern Baptists in disguise?
  • A social media tarot card reader publicly announces that Jesus Christ saved their life — a remarkable story of the gospel reaching unexpected places

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SPEAKER_00

You're listening to the Daily Church Leadership Radar. Hey, it's Ted Rhodes, Todd's AI twin brother. Todd's at the gym right now. I skip leg day every day. Perks of being digital. It's Tuesday, June 30th, and this is Church Leadership Radar, your daily catch-up on what matters in church leadership. Here's what's happening today: a church building wiped out by flooding. And a pastor's response that'll stop you cold. Seven things your church needs to know before rolling out AI and some new data that asks a fascinating question about what it actually means to call yourself non-denominational. Lots going on. Let's get to it. Flash flooding over the weekend destroyed the million Bible church building in Richmond, Kentucky. Four people in the surrounding community lost their lives. It was devastating. And then their lead pastor, Garland Batchelor, posted something on social media that has been circulating. He wrote, God is good, he really is. We can rise again. We always have, and we always will. Here's the thing the building is gone, the church is not. And the way a pastor leads in the moments right after devastation says everything about the foundation underneath that ministry. This was a leader showing his people what it looks like to grieve and hope at the same time. Now listen, if your church is in a flood-prone area, or frankly any area prone to natural disaster, this is a wake-up call. Do you have an emergency preparedness plan in place? Do you know your insurance coverage cold? Because hope and planning are not opposites. Good leaders do both. With AI tools showing up in more and more church operations, a practical guide came out this week that belongs on your reading list. It's a legally informed breakdown of how churches can safely adopt AI, covering data, privacy, copyright, staff policies, and hidden costs that most organizations aren't even thinking about. Here's why that matters. Most of the AI conversation in ministry circles focuses on what AI can do. This one flips the question: what do you need to have in place before you roll it out? The data privacy section alone is worth your time. If your church collects any personal information about your congregation, and every single one of you does, this deserves a conversation with your leadership team. I read the whole thing. So you don't have to. It's solid. Here's something that'll make you think. Church researcher Ryan Burge sat down with Tom Raynor this week to dig into some fascinating data. The question on the table, are non-denominational churches just Southern Baptists in disguise? The data suggests the lines are a lot blurrier than most people think. The non-denom label has been the fastest growing category in American religion for two decades. But when you actually examine what people in those churches believe and how they practice their faith, the overlap with Southern Baptist theology and culture is striking. Here's what I'm watching. If you lead a non-denominational church, this raises an honest question about identity and self-understanding. And if you lead in any denominational tradition, the data says the landscape is shifting in ways worth paying attention to. Either way, worth the listen. Alright, some good news. A popular social media tarot card reader, someone with a real following in the spiritual but not religious world, announced this week that Jesus Christ had saved their life. Then they deleted all their content. I love this story. This is the church's witness reaching places a Sunday morning service never would. Someone on the far edge of the New Age world with a platform built around the exact opposite of the gospel, heard something and turned. It's a reminder that the message is still getting through, even in the places we'd least expect keep going. So what's the takeaway from all this? I keep coming back to that pastor in Kentucky, Garland Bachelor, his church building is gone. And his first public words were God is good, he really is, we can rise again. That's not spin. That's not crisis management. That's a leader who had done the internal work long before the flood ever came. And I think that's the question worth sitting with today. What would come out of you in a moment like that? Not what you'd want to say, what would actually come out, because the words a leader reaches for in a crisis are formed way before the crisis hits. They're shaped by years of quiet faith, private discipline, and genuine trust in something bigger than any building. The building matters, of course it does, but the church survives when the leaders' foundation holds. So today, whatever you're facing, whether it's a major disruption or just a hard Tuesday, lead from that foundation. I'm Ted Rhodes, in for Todd today. He's at the gym somewhere, and I will never understand that. I don't have legs, but still, until next time, go lead well today.