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ChurchOps.AI |
The question to carry into this week's staff meeting
Picture the three seats you'll need filled a year from now: a group shepherd, a ministry lead, someone to carry a piece you're still carrying yourself. Can you name who is being formed for each one, and who is walking with them?
Most of us can name the seats. Fewer can name the people. That gap is quietly setting the ceiling on everything else you're planning.
The churches pulling ahead are the ones building people
Hartford Institute's new study of America's largest churches finds 67% of megachurches now exceed their pre-pandemic attendance and 86% describe themselves as thriving. Smaller congregations have not recovered the same way; the median U.S. congregation still gathers around 70 for worship. The easy read is budget and buildings. The study says otherwise: more than three-quarters now run a ministry residency or leadership development program, and the researchers credit a renewed focus on discipleship, leadership formation, and mobilizing members for ministry.
Co-author Warren Bird calls these churches "laboratories of innovation" — practices that eventually spread everywhere. A residency needs a budget. Forming one person does not.
See the findings →New Barna data reached the wires this week: only 13% of U.S. pastors say they don't use AI at all, and sermon-assisted work has doubled to 24% since 2024. Yet 71% still call themselves cautious. That instinct is right. A tool in the study, never a substitute in the sanctuary. Read it →
Lifeway finds 77% of pastors say their church is predominantly one ethnic group, down from 86% in 2013. The room has been quietly changing. Worth asking whether the welcome from up front has kept pace. Read it →
One pain. One teammate.
"We launched the mentoring program well. Real pairings, real kickoff. Six weeks later I couldn't tell you which half of them were still meeting."
Mentorship Channels watches every pairing and tells you which are active, cooling, or silent — with the evidence behind each label. It hands the mentor a prompt for the space between meetings, and drafts an honorable close when a fit isn't a fit. You may not be able to fund a residency. You can keep a pairing alive.
See it →One of seven modules inside Exec Pastor OS. Free tools live at churchops.ai/on-the-house.
"What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also."
This issue went out to subscribers on Monday, August 3, 2026. The Brief is free, weekly, and short.
Get the Brief free →From Travis Marshall, exec pastor and founder of ChurchOps.AI. Because the work is spiritual before it's operational.