Coaching For Interims

How the Interim Minister Set Me Up for Success with My New Congregation - Rev. Heidi Johnston. Episode 96

As an Interim Minister, have you ever wondered about the rest of the story? You know – feedback about the impact of your ministry on the congregation after you left? In this episode, settled ELCA pastor, Rev. Heidi Johnston, expresses her gratitude to the Intentional Interim Minister who preceded her, including specifics of how the IM set her up for success.
Particular things the IM did to set me up for success –
The IM expressed clear boundaries about the number of hours/week she would work & equipped laity to negotiate the use of pastoral time and energy - focusing and prioritizing;
IM didn’t work beyond her stated limit of working hours when temped to do so – and helped the congregation understand why and adapt;
Two, she led leadership through honest sometimes hard conversations about their current reality – and its implications for calling next pastor;
IM presented new limitations as opportunities, not losses, which led to a new joy in opportunities for more hands-on ministry for lay people.
Three - The transition conversations nudged people beyond all the ways the past was more abundant – celebrate the wonderful things of the past, and also name past hurts and conflicts – helped me not to get blindsided by issues the congregation may be sweeping under the rug.
For a transcript of this episode, please visit the Coachingforinterims.com website. In addition, subscribe to this podcast series if you want to be notified when additional podcasts are available.

The Work of the People: Telling the Story of the Congregation Through Worship - Rev. Anna Tew. Episode 95

Have you found your church caught in a pattern where worship is seen as a show performed by the pastor with the congregation being the audience? If so, you have a lot of company. The good news, however, is that worship services can be created that have that added spiritual crackle and energy that often results when more people are involved in leading worship. In this episode, Rev. Anna Tew shares some specifics of how her congregation has intentionally evolved in this direction.  
Examples of how creative worship components can resonate with the particularities a congregation;
Shifting from worship as just clergy-led to really being the work of the people;
Thinking about worship structurally as individual “Sundays” or “Seasons”;
Examples that tie the sacrament of Baptism and worship services to your own locale;
For a transcript of this episode, please visit the Coachingforinterims.com website. In addition, subscribe to this podcast series if you want to be notified when additional podcasts are available.

How My Part-Time CrossFit Coaching Job Made Me a Better Pastor - Rev. Anna Tew. Episode 94

As a pastor, having a part-time secular job on the side can bring added joy and satisfaction to your life. It can also provide an economic buffer in a changing church world. But where to start looking? What skills does a pastor have that would be valued in a secular job? In this episode, ELCA pastor Rev. Anna Tew tells how she came into a part-time coaching job at her CrossFit gym that is blessing her, and them, on multiple fronts!
For a transcript of this episode, please visit the Coachingforinterims.com website. In addition, subscribe to this podcast series if you want to be notified when additional podcasts are available.

How I Used the Flexibility of Pastoral Ministry to Alleviate My Burnout - Rev. Anna Tew. Episode 93

As pastor, does it sometimes feel like everyone in the congregation is your boss? Are you struggling to get back more time for yourself and feeling pretty exhausted? If so, you are not alone. Listen here as Rev. Anna Tew tells how she recovered from such a place by using the flexibility of pastoral ministry to her advantage.
For a transcript of this episode, please visit the Coachingforinterims.com website. In addition, subscribe to this podcast series if you want to be notified when additional podcasts are available.

Your Church Property Has a Mission Too - Rev. Dr. Shelly Stackhouse. Episode 92

Does your church have more property than it needs? Is much of your building unused most of the time? If so, you have lots of company! Many churches have significant real estate that’s fallow – unused – and yet they continue to pay for its upkeep. Of course, no one likes this situation or planned for this reality, yet churches often have difficulty moving forward. Put differently, churches often struggle to incorporate their property into a realistic understanding of their current mission and purpose as a faith community. Rev. Dr. Shelly Stackhouse, a long-experienced interim minister and now the Senior Director of Programs for the non-profit, “Partners for Sacred Places,” offers some key questions and a process to help such churches move forward in this episode titled, “Your Church Property Has a Mission Too.”
Does Your Church Have a Mission Statement for Its Property?
Interim ministers have the opportunity (obligation?) to help a congregation begin to assess their situation with their property:
How is our property being used?
How often?
Who’s using it?
What spaces could be used more fully?
What property should we offload? How and to whom?
Developing a mission statement for your property;
Understanding property as part of your mission – start by going room to room…
There are people in the wider community who are stakeholders in your property;
Honoring the grief in letting go of unused property;
It’s in the telling of stories that people come to feel the past has been honored, and then are open to a different future;

Learning to Be Community As a Spiritual Discipline - Rev. Dr. thom bower. Episode 91

The word “community” is used a lot when talking about church life, yet it’s often a vague notion. But if we frame it as a spiritual discipline – that is, creating community as a spiritual disciple – we get much more traction: What does it mean to be a community now? What does it mean to create community as a Jesus follower? What does it mean to be a Jesus follower in this congregation? At this time and in this neighborhood? How do we keep what is essential and yet lean into the future where things are changing for us? Rev. Dr. thom bower speaks to these questions and more in this episode titled, “Learning to Be Community As a Spiritual Discipline.”
“What does it mean for you to be a community?” – essential question for a congregation;
What does it mean to have a spiritual discipline?
What does that look like as a community activity? (Community as a verb)
Community as the content of faith formation, as the process of faith formation and as the outcome of faith formation;
What does it mean to be a community now? In our context?
Four questions –
What are the issues you’re facing?
What do you see are the qualities of community?
What are the main actions of being community in this congregation?
Who facilitates it and what’s their role?
For a transcript of this podcast, please visit the CoachingforInterims.com website. In addition, subscribe to this podcast series if you want to be notified when additional podcasts are available.

Transforming the Work of Committees for Faith Formation - Rev. Dr. thom bower. Episode 90

When thom said that committee work can be an essential means of faith formation, it gave me pause. After all, serving on committees is what many people try to avoid. But what he said made sense: when committees practice intentional reflection on their work, it can be faith forming. Put differently, committee work is faith forming when it builds up the beloved community by probing and affirming shared values, purpose and goals. Rev. Dr. thom bower elaborates on this concept and offers a simple 5-step process to guide committee work in this episode titled, “Transforming the Work of Committees for Faith Formation.”
Need to approach committee work in a way that recognizes that management itself is faith formation;
A 5-step process to make committee work a community building practice;
What? (the event)
What was it? (the debriefing)
What about it? (getting more info)
So what? (with that info, what do we change?
What’s next? (Preparing for the next thing)
For a transcript of this podcast, please visit the CoachingforInterims.com website. In addition, subscribe to this podcast series if you want to be notified when additional podcasts are available.

Music Ministry - Shifting from Expert Musician to a Collaborative Format that Promotes Congregational Participation - Rev. Joe Graumann. Episode 89

As worship styles evolve, many congregations find themselves at a crossroads: do we continue with our traditional music ministry model featuring an expert musician – the Minister of Music – who performs the music expertly for the congregation to receive, or do we shift to an emerging collaborative model of music leadership favoring a minister of music with leadership skills that encourage congregational participation in the worship music?
Rev. Joe Graumann, a young clergy person with musical gifts himself, shares how his congregation navigated this crossroads in this episode titled, “Music Ministry - Shifting from Expert Musician to a Collaborative Format That Promotes Congregational Participation.”
Shifting from doership to leadership by the music director;
Gaining congregational buy-in;
Maximizing the congregation’s musical “light”;
Aligning how we do music with our theology;
For a transcript of this podcast, please visit the CoachingforInterims.com website. In addition, subscribe to this podcast series if you want to be notified when additional podcasts are available.

How I Enable My Parishioners to Support Me in Using My Time & Energy Wisely As Their Pastor - Rev. Joe Graumann. Episode 88

In smaller churches, pastors often spend lots of time on things that parishioners aren’t even aware they are spending their time on – especially things that others could do as well. This, of course, takes time and energy away from things pastors are specifically trained to do and people are expecting them to do. Consequently, the pastor feels overworked and exhausted, leading to resentment by the pastor and upset by parishioners when the pastor isn’t available to do what is expected of them – what they have been trained to do and is in their job description.
In this episode titled, “How I Enable My Parishioners to Support Me in Using My Time & Energy Wisely As Their Pastor,” Rev. Joe Graumann shares how he manages this challenge in a way that all parties feel respected, the pastor’s time and energies are employed well, and the needs of the church are met too.
For a transcript of this podcast, please visit the CoachingforInterims.com website. In addition, subscribe to this podcast series if you want to be notified when additional podcasts are available.

Flipping and Equipping the Church Council for Fun (enjoyable) and Productive Meetings - Rev. Joe Graumann. Episode 87

Are your Church Council meetings a drag? You know – people come because they have to, persevering through a meeting that’s bogged down in procedures and run with a lack of imagination. Boring! Lots of time and energy is wasted. When can I go home?! If so, Rev. Joe Graumann offers some simple changes that can make Council meetings more fun and productive – ones that people will actually looking forward to attending - in this episode titled, “Flipping and Equipping the Church Council for Fun (enjoyable) and Productive Meetings”
Using the Relational Model for Council meetings – put cool stuff up front and
reports submitted in advance;
Tapping into the flexibility offered by Roberts’ Rules;
Moving New & Old Business before the committee reports;
For a transcript of this podcast, please visit the CoachingforInterims.com website. In addition, subscribe to this podcast series if you want to be notified when additional podcasts are available.