If You're A Small Church...Do THIS! | Karl Vaters on WHY Numbers Don't Define You

Karl Vaters, pastor, author, and founder of Helping Small Churches Thrive, joins Ed Stetzer on Lead the Way in Anaheim to challenge the assumption that small churches are problems to be fixed rather than strategies God is using. In this conversation, Karl Vaters explains why most churches are, and always have been, small, and why size alone is a poor measure of health or faithfulness. He reframes “small” as normal, biblical, and often deeply effective. The episode offers encouragement and practical wisdom for pastors facing growth pressure, calling leaders to stop scaling down big-church models and instead embrace small-church strategies that allow congregations to thrive where God has placed them. Catch more episodes of Lead the Way:    • Lead the Way with Ed Stetzer | Season 01   Subscribe to Biola's channel:    / @biolauniversity   CHAPTERS 0:00 — Small Churches Aren’t the Problem 0:20 — “You’re the Small Church Guy” 1:53 — Treating Small as Strategy, Not Defect 2:26 — Measuring Impact Beyond Sunday Attendance 3:45 — Reclaiming the Word ‘Small’ 5:12 — Starbucks vs. IKEA: A Church Strategy Analogy 6:49 — Great ≠ Big 7:59 — Pastoring for Your Size 8:21 — Evangelism Without Numerical Growth 9:42 — Training and Sending Is Still Kingdom Growth 11:37 — Encouragement for Small Church Pastors 13:36 — Why Scaling Down Big-Church Models Fails 15:03 — Letting Small Churches Thrive START YOUR SEMINARY JOURNEY! https://www.biola.edu/talbot/ GIVE TO TALBOT ⛽ Want to fuel the future of ministry? Give here: https://bit.ly/give-biola JOIN OUR COMMUNITY 📸 Instagram:   / talbottheology   🌍 Our website: https://www.biola.edu/talbot ABOUT LEAD THE WAY Lead the Way is a national tour and weekly conversation series hosted by Ed Stetzer, Dean of Biola University's Talbot School of Theology, to help pastors and ministry leaders think biblically, live faithfully, and lead graciously amid cultural confusion, deconstruction, and division. It draws on groundbreaking research to equip churches for effective and faithful ministry. ABOUT US We're Talbot School of Theology at Biola University. We help leaders think biblically about everything and form their mind, heart, and soul for Gospel-centered, Spirit-led ministry. Through teaching, training, and resources like Lead the Way, we come alongside pastors and ministry leaders serving the church around the world.