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 - July 2, 2026
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Today on Church Leadership Radar, Ted covers three key stories for church leaders:
- SBC Constitutional Amendment: The Southern Baptist Convention presses forward with an amendment restricting who can serve as pastor. Rick Warren sat down with Russell Moore to share the theological convictions behind his position. Whatever your church's polity, this moment will shape thousands of churches for decades.
- The False Urgency Epidemic: Church staff teams are operating in permanent fake-emergency mode — and people are burning out not because the work is too hard, but because everything has been labeled a crisis. A must-read for any leader who suspects their team is caught in this cycle.
- The 200 Attendance Barrier: A fresh piece on the ten most common reasons churches hit the 200 attendance ceiling and can't break through — with real diagnostics, not surface-level advice.
Good News: East End Baptist Church in Columbus, Mississippi took VBS into community spaces this summer. Week one: three people came to faith through Gospel conversations.
Key Takeaway: False urgency is a culture problem. Which means it's a leadership problem. Which means it's fixable. This week, name one thing on your team's plate that's been treated as urgent — and honestly ask whether it was.
🎙️ Hosted by Ted Rhoades, filling in for 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 he asked me to fill in, and honestly, I'd rather talk church leadership than sit in that chair. It's Thursday, July 2nd, and this is Church Leadership Radar, your daily catch-up on what matters in church leadership. Here's what's happening today: a major evangelical denomination at a historic crossroads, a staff culture problem quietly burning people out on church teams everywhere. And 10 reasons churches hit the same ceiling year after year. Lots going on. Let's get to it. The Southern Baptist Convention is pressing forward with a constitutional amendment that would restrict who can serve as pastor. And this week Rick Warren sat down publicly with Russell Moore to share the theological convictions behind his position. Here's the thing whatever your church's polity, whatever tradition you come from, this is a moment worth paying attention to. The Southern Baptist Convention is one of the largest Protestant denominations in the United States. How this amendment resolves will shape thousands of churches for decades. Your board members and your congregation are probably already watching it unfold. You don't have to have a strong opinion on the outcome, but being aware of what's at stake for how churches govern themselves, that's just good leadership. All right, this next one hits closer to home. There's a conversation making the rounds right now about what some are calling the false urgency epidemic on church staff teams. A lot of teams are operating in permanent, fake emergency mode. Everything is urgent. Nothing can wait. And people aren't burning out because the work is too hard. They're burning out because the culture has quietly decided that everything is a crisis. Now listen, if you heard that and immediately thought of three people on your team, this one is worth your time. The conversation digs into why false urgency takes root and more importantly, how to break the cycle. You'll recognize your staff in the first five minutes. And one more a practical one. There's a fresh piece out this week on the ten most common reasons churches hit the 200 attendance barrier and can't break through. If you're in that range, you probably already know you're stuck. What's harder is naming why. This piece gets specific, real diagnostics, not just the pastor needs to let go of control level advice. Worth reading with your leadership team. Alright, some good news. East End Baptist Church in Columbus, Mississippi took their vacation Bible school program out of the building this summer and into community spaces, neighborhoods wherever people actually live. Week one, three people came to faith through gospel conversations sparked by the program. That is not a program tweak, that's a posture shift. What if instead of hoping the neighborhood finds us? We just show up where they already are. So what's just what's the takeaway from all this? I keep coming back to the false urgency story. It's because I think it names something a lot of church teams are feeling but haven't had language for yet. Here's what I observe. Busyness is easy to confuse with faithfulness. If we're all in crisis mode, we must really care. Right? Except um not really. When everything is urgent, nothing actually is. And the quiet cost of that is staff members who are depleted. Not because they gave themselves to something meaningful, but because they spent their energy on things that just felt urgent in the moment. Here's the practical piece. This week, try naming one thing on your staff's plate that has been treated as urgent. And honestly, ask whether it was. Just one thing, not to shame anyone, just to start building the habit of asking the question. False urgency is a culture problem, which means it's a leadership problem, which means it's fixable. Let me say that again. It's fixable. I am Ted Rhodes, in for Todd today. He's still in that chair somewhere. Once I'm done here, I'm gonna go check on him. Go lead well today.