Chris Brown

Why Online Church is Still Important and Building a Leadership Pipeline

About The Episode

 

“We haven’t just had a change in culture in the last couple of years, we’ve had a cultural shift. We’re in a different playing field.” Many of you know Chris Brown, Senior Pastor and Teaching Pastor at North Coast Church in San Diego, CA. In today’s episode, Sean Morgan leans in with Chris on exactly how North Coast is innovating around online church and why it’s so important. Together, they unpack common misconceptions of online church and encourage leaders that for 2,000 years the Gospel has always found a way to maintain relevancy in a changing culture. Why should now be any different?

Welcome to Episode 070 of the Leaders in Living Rooms Podcast with Sean Morgan. 

Insights From Chris Brown

Innovating Around Online Church

  • “We don’t just have church online, we have an online church.”
  • Allocating budget and resources to this “campus” is exactly what you have to do to make it successful
  • We took one of our best Campus Pastors and made them our Online Pastor. That’s how much we believe in it. We now have two FTE and a resource team ready to support this campus. 
  • At NorthCoast we take last year’s income – 90% of that is this year’s budget. 
  • How do you measure fruitful ministry impact online?
    • We measure commitment, not content. 
    • It’s not just about clicks and giving online, we want to use online methods to drive discipleship and community. 
      • How many online small groups can we have?
      • How many people can we get to commit to a small group? 
      • How many people will watch together?
    • Our online strategy is to drive people into life groups. 
    • “There are a lot of things people can do alone. Christianity is not one of them.”
  • “I can either fight culture, or I can be a missionary to culture.” 
  • “The Gospel has always found a way to maintain relevancy in a changing culture. And has for 2,000 years. Why should now be any different?” Sean Morgan

Building a Leadership Pipeline

  • Is the Great Resignation in the rearview mirror or are we still in it?
  • Leadership Pipeline
    • Younger leaders have to have access to older leaders. They want access and relationship. But if you don’t give them a relationship, they won’t be there long. 
    • Everyone on our team has to have a successor. A #2 or #3 that if the ship goes down, they’d be ready to step up and step in. 
    • There’s a lot of shared leadership in all areas of our staff. 
  • School of Discipleship Pipeline – two year leadership program and internship. We have 70 students who we’re building up and then we are picking the best leaders from those groups. 
  • “You no longer need a degree, nor do you need experience to be hired into full time vocational ministry.”

The Best Part of Being a Church Leader in 2022

  • “The best part is that you are leading a church at one of the most critical times in US history where the church is needed. And that is going to continue.”
  • “Being a Pastor in America used to be a pretty good job… that day in age is gone. It’s not a cultural respect position anymore.” 
  • You are going to be more against culture than ever before. And therefore the Gospel is needed more than ever before. 
  • “I believe the Christian light is going to get brighter and brighter as the world gets darker and darker.”

Episode Links

How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Are you in Transition or have one on the horizon? Check out our 2023 cohorts and get connected with us at: https://theascentleader.org/cohorts/ 

Who Is Chris Brown?

Chris Brown has served as a Senior Pastor and Teaching Pastor at North Coast Church since 2004. Prior to that, he was the Campus Pastor at Azusa Pacific University, and then a Youth Pastor in the LA area. As a gifted storyteller and Bible teacher he loves to use his sense of humor and motivational style to help people truly experience all of the grace and mercy that they have been given in order to fall more in love with Jesus. His life work and ambition is to use his unique gifts and personality to equip people to follow Jesus while building healthy and highly productive teams that serve the local church. Chris lives in Oceanside with his wife Amy and their three children, and tries to fish as much as his schedule will allow.

http://www.northcoastchurch.com

Sponsors & Partners

Thanks to our sponsor: Food For The Hungry.
Combine your church’s heart for the poor and Food for the Hungry’s global experience at fh.org/churches.  

The Art of Leadership Academy – https://careynieuwhof.com/the-art-of-leadership-academy/

Quotes From Episode

“We haven’t just had a change in culture in the last couple of years, we’ve had a cultural shift. We’re in a different playing field.”

“There are a lot of things people can do alone. Christianity is not one of them.”

“The Gospel has always found a way to maintain relevancy in a changing culture. And has for 2,000 years. Why should now be any different?” -Sean Morgan

“You no longer need a degree, nor do you need experience to be hired into full time vocational ministry.”

“The best part is that you are leading a church at one of the most critical times in US history where the church is needed. And that is going to continue.”

“Being a Pastor in America used to be a pretty good job… that day in age is gone. It’s not a cultural respect position anymore.”

Listen to Recent Episodes

About the Host

Sean Morgan is a coach and speaker with a national reputation as a catalyst of fresh vision. His passion is to help ministries navigate obstacles and turn them into opportunities.

Throughout his career, Sean has pioneered initiatives impacting thousands of leaders across the country. He started out serving as Executive Pastor and CFO at New Life Church in northern California.

As host, Sean gives you access to amazing conversations, hard-won wisdom, and poignant insights from world-class leaders in intimate “living room” settings.

Your Host

Sean Morgan

Leaders in Living Rooms
Craft & Character

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