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Ep 103: Helping Small Churches Win Guests, with Desmond Barrett
Episode 10322nd May 2025 • The Church Lobby • Karl Vaters
00:00:00 01:01:35

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Karl Vaters interviews Desmond Barrett about how small churches can do a better job at reaching, welcoming, and keeping guests.

Desmond is the author of Helping Small Churches Win Guests: Preparing to Increase Attendance, which is a short, but very practical book that pastors will find great benefit in.

Karl and Desmond talk about:

  • How to reimagine the church facility from the parking lot to the pew
  • Why sharing updates about facility improvements is attractive to guests
  • Why so many pastors and church leaders resist doing what needs to be done
  • Why “we just need to attract young families” is never the answer
  • The good news that new Christians are not looking for programs, they’re wanting to live on mission

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Bonus video

5 Options When a Church Property is Too Big for the Congregation, with Desmond Barrett

Karl Vaters talks with Desmond Barrett, the author of Helping Small Churches Win Guests: Preparing to Increase Attendanceabout a subject that is a challenge for a growing number of congregations. What can you do when a church facility that was built to hold hundreds of people has just a handful or worshipers left?

The five options they discuss are:

  1. Do Nothing
  2. Share the Property
  3. Rent the Property
  4. Sell the Property
  5. Recreate the Property

Links: Helping Small Churches Win Guests: Preparing to Increase Attendance

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