← unSeminary Podcast
unSeminary Podcast
Following a 31-Year Pastor and Growing Faster Than Ever with Eric Holmstrom
00:40:22
Loading summary
Transcript38 lines
- [00:03]
Rich
Do you feel like your church or school facility could be preventing growth? Are you frustrated or possibly overwhelmed at the thought of a complicated or costly building project? Are the limitations of your building becoming obstacles in the path to expanding your ministry? Have you ever felt like you could reach more people if only the facility was better suited to the needs of your community? Well, the team over at Risepoint can help you. As former ministry staff and church leaders, they understand how to to prioritize and help lead you to a place where the building is literally a ministry multiplier. Your mission should not be held back by your building. Their team of architects, interior designers, and project managers have the professional experience to incorporate creative design solutions to move your mission forward. Check them out@risepoint.com that is RisePoint with an E. While you're there, schedule a free call to explore possibilities for your needs, the vision, your future, that sort of thing. Risepoint believes that God still uses spaces, and they're here to help you again, reach out to them today. That's RisePoint with an e.com RisePoint.com and Schedule A call today.
- [01:23]
Unseminary Host
Welcome to the Unseminary Podcast, the place where church leaders get practical insights, tips and strategies for ministry growth. Today, you're stepping into something bigger than just a conversation. This podcast is part of a bold mission to help 100 churches grow by 1,000 people. Whether you're dreaming of increasing your impact in your community, empowering your team, or reaching more people with the message of Jesus, you're in the right place. We're here to bring you the stuff you wish they taught in seminary, ideas and tools you can put into action this week to see transformation in your ministry. Let's dive in.
- [02:02]
Rich
Hey friends, welcome to the Unseminary Podcast. So glad you've decided to tune in and you're going to be rewarded for that. Today we're having a conversation that I know there's a whole bunch of leaders that are on the front end of this decision and today you're going to get a chance to kind of peek up over the horizon and see potentially where your church is going to be in a few years. You're going to want to stick around for this entire conversation. We've got Eric Holmstrom with us. He is the lead pastor of Purpose Church, which is in Pomona, California. It originally started as Spadra, if I'm pronouncing Correct, Baptist Church. 150 years ago. It's one of the fastest growing churches in the country. It's diverse, multi, generational of every age and stage. And Eric has been the lead pastor since 2024. Welcome to the podcast. So glad you're here.
- [02:48]
Eric Holmstrom
Well, thank you so much, Rich, for having me. I am a huge fan of you and what you're doing. I love how you're supporting and helping church leaders and ministry leaders. So thanks for letting me join you today.
- [02:59]
Rich
Oh, come on. That's super kind glad you're here and really looking forward to learning from you today. Why don't you kind of give us a bit of your story and tell us a little bit about purpose and kind of set the context for us.
- [03:09]
Eric Holmstrom
Yeah. Well, Rich, that's really cool too that you knew the name of our original church. It was Spadra Baptist, I think was back in the day. And it's actually our church is 156 years old. So our church was started three years before the city of Pomona even became a city. And so a group of people came into this area and felt God calling them to plant, plant a church here. And for 156 years we've been in different parts of the city, but always here in Pomona, feeling called by God here. And so I am lead pastor number 19. And so I'm just a blip on the radar here. And unless Jesus returns, Lord willing, there will be lead pastor 2120 or you know, 2021, 2223. And they won't even remember me. They won't even know anything about me. And God will continue to do a great work through this church. So I came here, my wife Sarah and I came here. We had one kid at the time, Charlie, and we came here 13 years ago and, you know, felt like, man, this is a great, healthy church. The lead pastor, our former lead pastor, Glenn Gunderson, just an amazing man of God. Him and his wife Kimberly and their family, they led here for 31 years as our lead pastor and just such a legacy leader. So when we got here, I started as the high school pastor and, you know, wasn't sure how long we'd be here. Loved the ministry, loved that there is a multi generational, very diverse congregation here in terms of even diverse socioeconomically. So I love the opportunity to get to do youth ministry. That's what I was passionate about and excited about and just wanted to faithfully follow God. I mean, that's where my story of faith really began. Was going into my freshman year of high school. That's when I got saved. That's when I gave my life to Christ. I was at a camp, summer camp, went there Looking for a girl, and I found God. And my life was forever changed because of that, because of this camp and the local church that discipled me and so got into youth ministry, came here, was a high school pastor for 10 years here, did a total of 18 years in youth ministry, and then began to sense that God was calling me and my family to step into this new season. And our lead pastor was encouraging of that, that he really saw that in me. But then in our church polity and our structure here, there had to be a church vote. And so I interviewed, got grilled by the search committee, had an amazing, you know, experience, a challenging. And at the end of it, you know, we went before the congregation and there was a vote, and I got enough votes to become the next lead pastor. And the baton was passed, and it was such a healthy transition. Our former lead pastor, Pastor Glenn, you know, I'll never forget on that. That Sunday when he passed the baton to me, he said to our whole church, he said, this is Eric, your new lead pastor, and this is Eric, my new lead pastor. And so he just kind of. It was a powerful statement and very humbled. And. And, yeah, and then he. Him and his family kind of for six months, gave a little space for me to bond at the congregation. And. And then they're not, you know, they're back in the rotation now. We see them about once a month, and then they're with their grandkids and doing other things. But. But he preaches here still. Pastor Glenn preaches here about three or four times a year still. And so it's been a beautiful, healthy transition.
- [06:46]
Rich
That's so cool. I love the fact that you're, you know. You know, there's 19 pastors been there over those hundred fifty years. I love that context of you setting yourself like, hey, you're in one in a line. A couple years ago, I was in London, England, and was at a church and was talking to the vicar, and he was. We were just walking around their building, and he said, yeah, this wall over here is a thousand years old. And. And then he had similar. They have literally written on the wall all the pastors through the years. And he pointed at some guy and said, that guy is written in a play by Shakespeare. Like, he's literally a character in Shakespeare.
- [07:24]
Eric Holmstrom
Yeah.
- [07:24]
Rich
So I was like, man, that's just a We, you know, thinking about legacy. This is a very different way to think about it. Right. And I've been around forever. Well, let's go back. Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Yeah, go ahead.
- [07:35]
Eric Holmstrom
I was Just gonna say, I wish you could come and see our church because we have this, like, heritage wall of, like, you know, different seasons, doing different things, buildings, groups, whatever. And there's a wall of all of us, like, lead pastors. And you should. All these lead pastors are, like, the most distinguished, like, you know, fb and then their last name, Reverend Doctor. And they've got the suits and the glorious beards, and they look amazing. And then there's me, this buffoo. Who is this guy? Like, I just. I don't fit in. But I'm just humbled and honored that God would choose me. You know, D.L. moody has that line. Or his son, Paul Moody. D.L. moody's one of my mentors and, you know, historical mentors, but his son Paul said that about his dad. He said D.L. moody never got over that God would use him despite all of his handicaps, and that his wife, the love of his life, would choose to love him. And I just feel like I'm. That I'm that man. I just. I'm so amazed and honored that I get to be a part of this legacy church and that my wife and my family love me and that, you know, I'm just. I feel very grateful and humbled.
- [08:48]
Rich
Yeah. That's so cool. Well, let's go back to those early days of the transition. You know, what's going through your head when you're following in the footsteps of someone who's been there for 31 years? That's a significant time to step in on. What were you aware of in those early days? What was kind of the thing that was bubbling around in your head?
- [09:08]
Eric Holmstrom
Oh. Oh, my gosh. Okay. The thing bubbling around my head is, am I an idiot? Like, why? This is like following Rick Warren. This is like following Billy Graham. Like, why? I mean, Pastor Glenn Gunderson is one. Just. He's nationally known internationally. He's just such an incredible, amazing pastor and leader, and 31 years here at our church, just faithfully leading. And so why would I want to follow him like that? It just, you know, so there was a lot of insecurity and just fear around that. I'm thinking through the whole process, for anyone that's gone through a similar process, just feeling very vulnerable, honestly. I mean, lots of people in our church and different groups were having conversations about me and whether they saw me in this role. And, you know, that. That just felt very exposing and made me feel very vulnerable, and at the same time, like, really excited. Like, really going, wow. Like, this. This would be a dream. You Know, I think for me, I went through kind of a life planning. My wife and I went through a life planning process with an executive pastor of another church and a life coach. It was amazing experience. And basically what surfaced for me is I feel like my calling is to lead every generation, to leverage everything they have to advance God's kingdom. And so I really kind of grew through my ministry. Years of going, man, I really am passionate about leading every generation and leading every generation to make a mark, to leave a legacy, to do something great with their lives. When I gave my life to Christ, going into my freshman year of high school, I remember praying, lord, I'll follow you, I'll become a Christian, but you've got to make it an adventure. Because to me, I felt like, well, maybe being a Christian would be a boring thing. And I felt like God was laughing, going, you have no idea what adventure is. Adventure is being a Jesus follower. And so I just want people to wake up to the adventure of following Christ. And so I had those mixture of emotions, of insecurity, fear. I remember the morning of the congregational vote where, you know, we had done this, like six months of work and interviews, and it all came down to how many people were going to gather in the room, how many people were going to vote. There had to be. At least in our polity structure, at least 2/3 of the people had to vote in favor of me being the next lead pastor. And I'm getting calls and texts from buddies who are like, eric, we're cheering you on. Can't make it tonight. Sorry, man, have this pizza dinner. And I'm like, I'm like, bro, I need you there. Like, I need you in the room. But. But anyway, that morning I was on a run and just feeling so insecure, feeling, you know, Satan was just bringing to mind all my sin, all my shortcomings. And man, the Lord met me. I feel like I got this vision in this picture of Jesus holding my right hand. And I was going, wow. Like, it was powerful. But then I'm like, okay, where is that in the Bible? And then the Lord led me to Isaiah 41:13. For I am the Lord your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, do not fear, I will help you. And I was going, okay, if we're going to step into this next season, and Lord willing, we'd love to be here 20, 30 years, however long the Lord would have us here. We, I believe Jesus is holding my right hand and he is leading me and helping me through our amazing Staff and our board and our congregation and our volunteers and everyone involved.
- [12:36]
Rich
Yeah, that's so good. And you know, for context, a part of the reason why we're talking to you is because your church has been flagged as one of the fastest growing churches. So listeners like, let's put this in context here. This transition happened and the church continued to accelerate and reach more people, which I think can be a fear on the, on the side of maybe the departing leaders. They're like, hey, what's, you know, what's going to happen? Is this thing going to go sideways? Well, it hasn't. It's actually continued to accelerate. So. And I even have seen this even as we've, you know, kind of interacted today. How do you think about honoring what's happened? So honoring the past, honoring the leadership and what's happened there, but still really continuing to lead God, lead the church into what God has for the church, into something new. How has that tension? I've seen you model it already in this conversation, but how does that work out, you know, in your leadership?
- [13:28]
Eric Holmstrom
Oh, that's such a great question. And what's awesome is like, we don't have to fake it here at Purpose Church because our lead pastor, our former lead pastor, Glenn Gunderson, did such an amazing job creating a church culture here where, you know, he used to always say, this church is, is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints. He would always talk about, we're a church that goes after the one. And we have a high, celebrate recovery culture here model here of people come as they are. And really it's a beautiful church to be a part of. In terms of we've had people on our staff who were homeless, sleeping on our church campus, and then we offered them a job, they went through recovery, now they're leading different ministry areas. We've got people on our staff who are very high up in industries that are just really dark and broken and God has redeemed them and we brought them on our church staff and now they're working for God's kingdom and doing great things. And so our church culture has always been one of, especially under Pastor Glenn's leadership of we want to reach people that are far from God. Our vision is everyone everywhere following Jesus. We literally mean everyone wherever they're at, following Jesus, which means there's a starting point for their relationship with God. And they continue that. We continue being discipled, continue growing in our relationship with God. So what I'm trying to do is, especially as I started in this role is honor what's been. Because we've got this amazing momentum moving forward because of their hard work and because of this church culture that has been created. So we're trying to honor the past, trying to thank God for the ways that he has led our church and then continue to move into the future and start new ways of reaching people through some invite Sundays that we've done, through different sermon series, through reaching out to our neighborhood and our community more. And so it's been an awesome progression. And you're right, we have seen a lot of growth while Pastor Glenn was our lead pastor. And by God's grace, he's continued to grow this church over the last almost two years that I've been the lead pastor.
- [15:56]
Rich
Yeah, that's great. So let's. Again, we're thinking about these early days. You're in this chair. How did you get clarity on where you should be spending your time? It's an interesting shift, right? You go from being the person on the team to now you're responsible for the team. Ultimate flexibility. You can make up your own day. How did you figure that out?
- [16:17]
Eric Holmstrom
Yes, and that's the worst. That's the hardest part for me is in this role as lead pastor, I could get involved in anything I wanted to. Right. I could schedule a meeting with anyone. And so I had to quickly discern, okay, what does the church need most from me, and what is it that only I can do and only I should be doing? And so what kind of quickly surfaced for me is I need to be giving my best energy towards what's the vision and direction of our church? What's the spiritual direction of our church? Now, I'm not just casting vision by myself. I've got an amazing executive pastor, Pastor Greg, who he's a rock star. I mean, he hired me here at this church, and then through this process, I became his boss. And he is such an amazing, humble, incredible executive pastor. He's been a lead pastor before and has no desire to be a lead pastor again. So he is just been. He was such a champion, carrying our church through that season of transition and now being an amazing executive pastor. So, you know, we're developing vision through time with my executive pastor and our strategic team, our pastors. But at the end of the day, I'm seeking the Lord going, okay, God, taking in all of this inside and time away with you. What's the vision and direction you're leading our church in? What's the spiritual direction? And then for me, a core role that I Have here is developing and discipling and training up our staff, our pastors and our leaders. And then of course, as a pastor, I love doing congregational care and, and there is time built into my schedule for that. But honestly, if I'm doing my job best, According to Ephesians 4:12, I'm equipping the saints for ministry. And so really what I need to be doing is pouring into our staff here who are then caring for and ministering to our congregation, many of whom I only interact with. You know, many of our, much of our congregation I only interact with on Sunday morning when I see them or you know, if they happen to come forward or we send an email. It's really our church staff and then our high capacity volunteers who are discipling, mentoring, coaching, walking with the rest of our church. So that's where I've been focusing a lot of my attention also on culture. When that's become a really important one. You know, I'm constantly thinking through, okay, what do I need to be focusing on externally for our church? But then what about internally? How do we be the healthiest we can be as an organization and as a church? And so we did something this last year. We basically took a year and said we are going to develop what we ended up calling an employee spiritual commitment, where we are making some decisions as a staff and a team. This is who we are going to be. This is going to be our culture. Because Rich, I have discovered that the longer you become, longer you've been a Christian and, and, and once you get on staff or become a high capacity volunteer, whatever Satan likes to trick us into thinking that we become the exception. And so what I'm telling our staff all the time is you are not the exception, you are the example. As soon as you join a staff, you start to think, you know what, I don't need to tithe here or give. That's what other people do. I don't need to serve because I work here at the church. I don't need to read my Bible for my own intimacy and time with the Lord. I just read my Bible to prepare sermons. I don't need to be in a life group. That would be hard for me as a church staff member. That's forever. So I'm going to tell everybody else, you need to be reading your Bible, you need to be tithing, you need to be serving, you need to be in a life group. But those things don't apply for me because I'm the exception. Wrong. Peter talks about it in First Peter, Chapter 5. Be an example. Be an example to the flock. So we made some commitments and we worked on them, we prayed through them, we talked about them with our staff, and we shared them and then gave people four months to say, hey, if you're not about this, that's okay. You're still Christian. You just can't work here.
- [20:24]
Rich
Right.
- [20:24]
Eric Holmstrom
And, like, try to be as gracious and kind as we. As we could be and say, hey, we're not saying you're not a Christian. We're not saying you don't love Jesus. We're just saying these are going to be the commitments we are going to keep as the staff and the leaders of Purpose Church so that we can look at our congregation and say, we want to be an example to you, not an exception to you. So I've been really wrestling with that culture of our staff, culture of our church, and then also kind of vision, direction, spiritual direction of where we're going and developing.
- [20:56]
Rich
Yeah, that's so good. I'd love to talk a little bit more on the rollout of the commitments. I think that's. That's amazing.
- [21:03]
Eric Holmstrom
Yeah.
- [21:04]
Rich
And, you know, the. You know, you brought it up there. Hey, we're going to give the four months to that, for you to wrestle through this and think about it. Maybe just double click on that. Because I. I think it's great that you're calling your team to that, but just give me a little more about how that went. What would you do different if you done it again? What went well? What didn't go well? What would you advise the friends if they called you out and said, hey, we're thinking about doing something like that?
- [21:26]
Eric Holmstrom
Yeah. So it really started with me and our executive pastor and our chief of operations here. We were in a meeting, and we were like, look, we just think it's important that our whole staff embody these values. And then we asked each other, hey, would we be willing to lose amazing people who are doing amazing work but don't necessarily fit with our culture? Like, would we be willing to lose them? And we all looked at each other and said, you know what? It's worth it. It's worth it. It feels like the right thing to do. It feels like the step that honors God. And so it started with that commitment and that. That, you know, recognition. Like, we may lose people in the process. And then, you know, we started to work on it with our pastors and our staff. Roll it out. But before we do that, too, we sent it to our lawyer, and we sent it to our trustees. They looked through it. We sent it to our lawyer because they're like, are we doing anything illegal here? And our lawyer wrote back the most beautiful. You know, I guess maybe this is one of the ways, you know, like, you're a lead pastor is like when. When. When you get an email from your lawyer that's like, really affirming, you start crying. So I'm just like, she. She sent me an. She sent us an email and she said, I stand by all of these commitments, and if I lived in your area, because she's. I think she's in Alabama. She said, if I lived in your area, I would go to your church because I would want to be led by a staff like this. And so it was very, very affirming. So it was important to run it, you know, to collaborate with our pastors, run it through our lawyer, run it through our trustees, getting all the input, all those things. And then we shared it with our staff. I wrote kind of like a cover letter for, hey, here's my heart behind it. It's because I want you to be a healthy leader. It's because I want you to be an example. It's because I want your work in ministry to be meaningful, and I care about you as a leader, and I care about the health of our church. And then we shared it with the staff and said, hey, you've got, I think it was three. Three months to pray on this, and then we need you to sign this and commit to this as we go into the new year together. And thankfully, everybody committed to it. But that three to four months also gave opportunity for conversations, and we invited those. You said, hey, if there's anything unclear in this for your situation or your season of life, like, let's talk about this. And it was really, really great. It gave us a lot of opportunities to have conversation, clarifying conversations, and to help people not misunderstand things, but to understand the heart and how it might apply to them. And it's been really cool to see our staff invested more in groups, invested more in setting that example for our church.
- [24:14]
Rich
Yeah, that's great. I love that. And what even a great kind of alignment thing to go through as you're starting to lead, to say, hey, let's try to define what is going to be really important for us going in a totally different direction. You mentioned it as we kind of flew through there and love invite culture stuff. And so you mentioned invite Sundays. And so that caught my eye. Tell me about those. How have they functioned? How does that look different than from what you've done before. Yeah, Just kind of unpack that a little bit for us.
- [24:42]
Eric Holmstrom
Yeah. Well, Rich, I've heard on your podcast, which, by the way, I am a big fan of Unseminary. I think your podcast is awesome. And I'm a big fan of seminary. I went to seminary. I went to two different seminaries. I love seminary. But I think we can learn so much from each other. And so to everyone listening, I'm just so grateful you're joining us today. And I'm always getting on our staff here as they're joining, as they're, you know, becoming a seminary student, as they're going to graduate school to, hey, continue to serve in the local church. When I went to seminary, there were several students, colleagues who were only doing seminary. They were disconnected from the local church. And I'm like, what are you doing? You're missing out on applying what you're learning. But there's so much that seminary can't teach you or doesn't teach you. And so podcasts, like you're rich, like the one you have here is absolutely amazing. One of the things you talked about on your podcast is how most people are invited to church by somebody else. So we do promotions on social media and on our website and all that stuff. But we wanted to prioritize equipping our church and giving our church family an excuse to invite their friends and their family to church. And so we have four or five of these invite Sundays every year where we try to keep them very similar to what somebody would experience on a Sunday morning, just heightened a little bit. So we'll get bounce houses, we'll bring a food truck in. We've even kind of experimented with, like, launching into a series. So we did a spiritual warfare series in the fall called the war you're in. And it launched on our Invite Sunday. And the idea was, let's give these new people who are coming, chapter one of this story of this book, and see if it piques their interest. But weeks leading up to that, we're telling our church family, we call them Sunday Funday is how we kind of brand them. But we tell our church family, hey, Sunday Funday is coming up. Don't come to church alone. Invite your neighbor, invite your friends. Who's your one more that doesn't know Jesus. This is a great opportunity to invite them. And every Sunday here at Purpose Church is a great Sunday to bring somebody. I do a salvation message about once a month or so. We've seen a lot of People surrender their lives to Christ this year. We've had more baptisms this year than we had in the last 10 years. It's just been incredible. So we're seeing people take those first steps, but we're trying to equip our church family. We're telling them, hey, here's what we're talking about leading into Easter. I mean, Easter is an invite Sunday for us. It's a big outreach Sunday for us. So multiple weeks leading up to Easter, I'm telling our church family, this is what I'm talking about. You know, this Sunday, this Easter, last Easter, our theme was a second Chance. So I'm telling our church family, hey, if you've got somebody in your life who needs a second chance, this is their Easter. This is the service for them. So I'm trying to. We're trying to help our congregation get excited about what's happening here. Equipping them with flyers, talking about what we'll be talking about, making it an environment through worship, greeting the message through the atmosphere in the environment. I mean, I think one of our secret sauces here at Purpose Church is we don't have the biggest budget, but we've got big hearts. The people of Purpose Church have big hearts. They love people. Well, they make people feel at home and welcomed here. And so we want to leverage that. We want to see new people coming on our campus and given all of us an opportunity to welcome them, love them, and we're seeing people stick around, which has been exciting.
- [28:23]
Rich
Yeah, that's so cool. Love that. Just to call out friends. There's a lot there that you should rip off if you're listening in. There's so good. I love that. But one of the things that many churches miss on trying to build invite culture is we. We think that, like, if we kind of surprise our people, that they'll like that. Like, oh, there's some big thing happening on that day. You're going to want to invite your friends to be here. That's actually not how people think. You need. They need to be very predictable. The fact that you're saying this is exactly what we're going to be teaching on. Do you know someone who asks questions like this, this and this, you need to get them to be here that day. That is a great. Best practice there, for sure. I love. I love that. As opposed to, like, oh, hey, it's going to, um. You know, just doesn't mean anything to people.
- [29:08]
Eric Holmstrom
And we used to do, like, Easter services at a different location, you know, with more seating and and, but we've just gone, man. We want the experience to feel as similar as possible on a Sunday morning. So our church family's equipped to know what are we going to be talking about, what's going to be happening. But then for that new person who comes, we want them to feel the familiarity of the parking experience, of dropping off their kids, of where they're sitting, and so that as they're making that decision, am I going to come back again? They'll know what that experience is going to be like. And then, of course, we have an amazing next steps team that's following up with these people that as we're getting information, we're inviting them to scan a QR code to connect with us. We have a gift for them. And then our team is doing a great job of following up with them and helping them take the next steps that they want to take.
- [29:53]
Rich
Yeah, it's so good. Well, let's think about the succession question again, you know, going back to that conversation. So for a pastor who might be listening in today, who is. They are the person that is going to be, you know, taking the baton. Maybe they're before the actual transition, but they're thinking about their first 90 days, 100 days. What would. What advice would you give to them? How would you help them think about their. Their initial days as they're launching off?
- [30:21]
Eric Holmstrom
Oh, that's so great. Okay. So the first thing I tried to do was to make a commitment that I'm going to shepherd people and pastor people right where they are. And what I mean by that is there were people in our church who were grieving that our former lead pastor was leaving. And what they didn't need from me was vision, vision, vision. What they needed from me is, hey, I get it. I'm sad, too. Like, I'm going to miss him. And so our job was to shepherd and pastor them. And by the way, I told this to all of our staff and our pastors. I said, don't feel like you have to, you know, hype me up or. Or if people are sad that things are changing, that you have to try to convince them. Like, there's that whole change curve. It's going to take people time, and people are on different places. And so shepherding and pastoring, people who were really struggling and having a difficult time with the change, meeting them where they're at. There were also people who had recently come to our church. I just met a guy last Sunday who's been coming for, like, a couple months now, and he's brand new to our church. And he's like, like, man, I love it here. Love you, Pastor Eric. And. And there was a guy who preached, like, a couple weeks ago. I think he led the church for, like, 30 years or something. He was great. He was amazing. I'm like, oh, my goodness. You don't know Pastor Glenn Gunderson at all. You don't know him.
- [31:36]
Rich
Yes. And.
- [31:37]
Eric Holmstrom
And so what he needs is vision for where we're going. So pastoring and shepherding people right where they are, instead of trying to force everybody into one category. Second thing that I just felt the Lord leading me to do, that I just continued to do, is I start every single sermon the exact same way I tell our church every single Sunday. I greet the new people, and it's a for everybody, whether you're new or you've been a part of our church forever. I greet them the same way. I say, I love you, and most importantly, God loves you. And that sort of came out of me asking this question. What do I want to be remembered for? Like, what's the thing that at the end of the day, these people are not going to remember all my sermons, all my points, but if they. If they remembered one thing about me as their pastor, what would it be? And it's that I would want them to know I love them and that God loved them. And first Thessalonians 2, 8. Really, like has been my ministry motto. Paul says, because we loved you so much, we cared for you, we shared the gospel, and we shared our lives as well. So Paul's talking about this ministry that's born out of a deep love for the people that you're pastoring. And so I. I'm always praying right before I preach. I pray the same thing. God, would you put your message in me like a fire in my bones, and would you help me to see these people the way you see them and to feel about them the way you feel about them? And I've had moments when I've been preaching where it's like, I just feel like the spirit of God deposits into my heart his incredible love for them. And I start tearing up over something. But. But I tell him. I tell him every Sunday, I love you, and most importantly, God love you. So that when I give them a convicting word, a challenging word, something where I'm calling them to a higher standard, they know it's coming from a pastor that doesn't want to beat them up or that doesn't care about them or is trying to build some platform it comes from a pastor who loves them and who is deeply, deeply convinced that God loves them. So I'm sharing that with them each Sunday. And I've heard from a lot of people that that really resonates and feels significant for them. Yeah, yeah, I think that's great.
- [33:50]
Rich
I think the thing to point out there that I think is, I just think is amazing, is good, is I think oftentimes we, when we think about that kind of transition, we can go to the, like, immediate, the tactics or the whatever, you know, like, oh, make sure you meet with all these people or whatever. And what I've seen in churches that this transition has gone well is there's a humility with both leaders, which both of you, which you have described in these conversations today, like that, you know, when Glenn passed it to you, there was that humble moment. And he obviously continues to, you know, he gave some space, but has continued to handle himself in a humble way. You're handling yourself with humility as well. And you know, the. I like that you're pushing on really a deeper issue, which is like, do you love these people? At the end of the day, you know, you're not taking over some organization. This is a family that you're called to lead. And so I, man, I think that's just so good. It's fantastic.
- [34:42]
Eric Holmstrom
And then Rich, I would just want to say too, in addition to that, is then starting to cast some vision and direction for, okay, where is God taking this church? So one of the things we did is we started a new rhythm of vision Sunday once a year. So we actually, it's coming up in a couple Sundays. We try to do it right before summer. We do it actually. It aligns with our fiscal budget year. So one of the things that we tried to make a commitment around is, hey, we're going to be a vision driven church. We're going to have vision driven budgeting. So it's not just, just, hey, can I get a thousand dollars more than last year? Or whatever. It's. It's what's the vision that God has given you for your ministry, for your department? And we're budgeting around that. But that starts with me. As I'm with my team, I'm a collaborative visionary, and as I'm hearing from the Lord, what's the vision and direction for our church? And so first Sunday of June, we do a big vision Sunday where we celebrate what God has been doing and where we cast vision for the next year. And so, so that's part of what I'm doing too. And what I did early on and continue to do is to keep vision in front of our church of where are we going, what things are we starting, what are we praying and hoping to see the Lord do, and what's their part in that?
- [35:55]
Rich
Yeah, that's so good. Well, this has been a fantastic conversation. Any final words just as we wrap up today's discussion?
- [36:02]
Eric Holmstrom
Yeah, absolutely. Well, I would just say that the last thing I would want to say is I think as, as a lead pastor or. And if preaching is a high priority for you, recognizing that we do so much leadership through our preaching. And so that, that became a really important thing for me in terms of figuring out, okay, how do I go about writing the sermon, how do I edit the sermon, how do I prepare and practice the sermon and then ultimately get some evaluation on the sermon. And so that's been a, that's been a journey for me of learning how to do that well. And I think some of the things I've learned along the way is there's parts of it you don't love and, or that are more challenging. For me, it's the editing. And I think a lot of preachers and pastors are probably like that. You know, on Mondays I'll start going, man, I think I only have a 15 minute sermon here. By Thursday I'm like, I've got an 80 minute sermon here. And so I think the difference between good sermons and great sermons is great sermons are ones where we cut out the good stuff. It's all good stuff, but we cut out the good stuff to make enough room for the great stuff and then getting people's feedback. So after I write the sermon, I edit it, I still practice my sermons even before delivering them. I have a rhythm of they gotta be done by Thursdays because I want to enjoy some of my weekend. And so I'm practicing my sermons, but then after preaching my sermons, I have kind of an evaluation form that I give different people in our church to give me direct feedback because there's things I'm not seeing and especially leading up into Easter and some of these invite Sundays. I'll actually deliver my sermon to several people on our staff. They'll give me direct feedback. And sometimes it's not what I want to hear. Sometimes the story I'm so excited about, they're going, hey, you know what? I don't think it fits here. Or, and, and my sermons have always been better because of their feedback. And so that's something I'm really passionate about is helping we we started a preacher's club that's part of the, one of the things that I'm trying to do in terms of developing our ministry leaders. And so he started a preacher's club where we meet once a month and everyone gives, you know, or one or two people will give a 10 minute sermon and we give each other feedback. I share with them some tips and tricks, things I'm learning and we watch other sermons and evaluate them. And so that, that's been an important aspect I think for me is realizing that that for, for our church, 90% of our community interacts with me on a Sunday morning through my sermon. And so I want to be really intentional to shepherd and pastor and care for them and to give them the very best that I can. And so that's been some of the process for me.
- [38:54]
Rich
So good. That's fantastic. A little preaching clinic you just gave us there. That's so good. So many good things to unpack there. This has been a fantastic conversation, Eric. I really appreciate your time today. Where do we want to send people online if they want to track with you or with the church? Where do we want to send them?
- [39:12]
Eric Holmstrom
Oh, man. Well, you could go to our church webpage, purposechurch.com we're on Instagram, Purpose Pomona. You could follow me on Instagram. Eric H. Holmstrom. Good luck spelling that. But I would love to, you know, I would love to interact with you on Instagram. That's kind of the only place that I'm at. But yeah, thank you. And Rich, this has been a really rich conversation. Rich, Rich Conversation. I appreciate you, man, and I'm grateful for your ministry.
- [39:42]
Rich
Thanks so much for being here today.
- [39:44]
Unseminary Host
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the Unseminary podcast. If you found today's conversation helpful, I'd share it with a friend. In ministry, it's a simple way to spark new ideas and grow together. Also, don't Forget to visit unseminary.com to sign up for our email list. You'll get exclusive resources and practical tools delivered straight to your inbox to help you lead your church more effectively. Most importantly, take what you learned today and put it into action this week. Ministry impact starts with small, intentional steps. See you next time.