unSeminary Podcast: From One Campus to Six – Building a Global Leadership Model with Lane Lowery

Date: October 2, 2025
Host: Rich Birch
Guest: Lane Lowery, Executive Pastor, Warren Church

Episode Overview

This episode explores how Warren Church, one of the oldest and fastest-growing churches in the U.S., expanded from a single campus to six, while also building foundational ministries like a Women's Crisis Center and a soon-to-launch Mental Wellness Center. Executive Pastor Lane Lowery unpacks the leadership structures, core values, and culture-shaping practices that have enabled sustainable growth and unity across multiple campuses. The discussion is packed with practical insights for churches preparing for or navigating multisite expansion, offering a candid look at operational, cultural, and staffing challenges—and solutions.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

Warren Church: History & Growth Trajectory

• A storied legacy with innovation: Founded in 1898, Warren Church is now one of the fastest-growing churches in the U.S., located in South Carolina and Georgia. It emphasizes holistic ministry—Southern hospitality, generosity, strong Bible teaching, discipleship, and community health.
• Expansion history & scope:
  • Grew from one campus to six (four physical campuses, two major care centers).
  • When Lane started 19 years ago, they were a single location with ~3,000 members. Now they’re approaching 7,000, with a staff surge from fitting “in a life group classroom” to 270 employees ([05:05]).

“Going from one to two was a stretch. But going from two to six has been a huge stretch.” – Lane Lowery [06:37]

The Challenge of Structural Change

• Old vs. new models: The leadership model for “a single church” or even “dual church” became woefully inadequate once multi-campus complexity set in.
• A point of crisis: “We looked up, we had three different discipleship models going on at our campuses. That just wasn’t going to work.” – Lane Lowery [07:52]
• The prior structure promoted competition over collaboration among ministries, underscoring the need for unity (“We always say, ‘we’re better together…’ but our structure didn’t promote collaboration.” [07:53])

Crafting a Global Leadership Structure

The Global Leadership Team

• Led by Pastor Andrew Bryan, Executive Pastor of Ministries and Leadership Development.
• Eight ministry areas, each led by a ‘player-coach’ who is both a campus-level practitioner and provides leadership/championship at the multi-site/global level.
  • Preschool & Children (Carol Young)
  • Next Gen (Shane Padgett)
  • Spiritual Formation/Discipleship (Corey Baxter)
  • Missions (Mark Clyburn)
  • Worship (Joseph McKinley)
  • Communications & Connections (Drew Robinson)
  • Counseling & Support Groups (Brett Legg)
  • Hope Women’s Center (Dr. Jacqueline)
• Player-coach model: Ministry leads run their area locally but are responsible for vision and oversight across all campuses.
  • Example: Pastor Corey Baxter is embedded at Grovetown campus, manages day-to-day discipleship there, but also directs discipleship across the entire Warren network ([09:40]).

“They’re boots on the ground on a campus, but then they rise up and lead the greater ministry of Warren.” – Lane Lowery [10:53]

Benefits and Tensions of ‘Player-Coach’ Model

• Upside: Keeps leaders grounded in real ministry, brings credibility to their input, and fosters operational relevance.
• Downside: Risk of leader overload and burnout. “The challenge is saying, hey, you’re doing a great job, but I’m going to add more to your table … but our team has risen to the challenge.” [12:08]

Decision-Making: Local vs. Global Tension

• Clear rhythms and forums:
  • Executive leadership team meets every Monday at 2pm (includes senior and campus pastors, executive staff).
  • “Everything is funneled through that” – decisions and issues travel through this regular, intentional meeting.
• What’s global?
  • Key central ministries (e.g., life groups) are non-negotiable – each campus must execute, but with contextual flexibility (when, where, and how groups meet) ([13:21]).
• Who ‘owns’ issues and solutions?
  • Global leads are expected to have “their finger on the pulse” in each ministry, both at their campus and network-wide.
  • They identify local issues and escalate or collaborate as needed with the executive team ([16:10]).
• Staff interaction & cross-campus learning
  • All staff (not just leads) are encouraged to visit and shadow at least one other campus per year to drive unity and learning ([17:33]).

Core Culture: The 8 Essential Practices

• Developed after a strategic team retreat, these eight practices define staff behavior—celebrated openly, integrated into onboarding, and assessed in biannual reviews ([19:24]).
• Regular recognition: Monthly staff email highlights examples; peer-to-peer nominations encourage broad participation.
• Notable practice: “Leverage change to move the mission”
  • Example: Adjusting worship times across campuses to better handle growth, and allowing for campus flexibility within clear boundaries ([24:25]).

“Something we just did within the last year was change those worship times. … We loved our original times, but we had to do something different to help with the growth situation.” – Lane Lowery [25:00]

High-Touch Ministry at Scale

• Combating the “big church = disconnected” myth:
  • Every first-time guest—about 70 per week across campuses—receives a personal phone call ([21:53]).
  • Hospital/shut-in visitations remain a high value, supported by paid staff in First Impressions roles.

  • “We want people to be seen and known and welcomed.” – Lane Lowery [22:13]

• Rich (host) underscores: “That’s over 3,500 calls a year … I’ve had churches much smaller say there’s no way we can organize to call five people a week. Friends, you got to do that kind of thing.” ([23:22])

Practical Steps for Churches Considering Structural Change

[26:20] Lane Lowery’s recommended first steps:

1. Honest self-assessment: Admit if your structure is outdated or not working.
2. Leadership buy-in: “If one guy wants to do it, but no one else does, that’s going to be tough.”
3. Clarity on current and future state: Know not just where you are, but where you need to go—and why.
4. Research: Talk to other churches (Family Church in West Palm served as a significant model).
5. Secure buy-in from key stakeholders: One-on-one conversations with future team leads explaining the why and expected impact.
6. Implement and iterate: The process took about a year from concept to rollout, and required careful alignment to Warren’s unique context ([28:30]).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Leadership & Model Change

• “We realized a single church model of leadership no longer worked for where we were.” – Lane Lowery [06:44]
• “Our former leadership structure didn’t promote the unity and the collaboration that we really wanted from our staff team… our ministry teams were in competition.” – Lane Lowery [07:53]

Team & Culture

• “It brings credibility when they come to the table with an idea, because they’re doing it.” – Lane Lowery [12:38]
• “To grow bigger, we got to grow smaller.” – Lane Lowery [21:53]
• “We want people to be seen and known and welcomed.” – Lane Lowery [22:13]

Change Management

• “First, you have to be willing to admit your structure is outdated or it’s not working. Change is hard, but it’s one of our essentials.” – Lane Lowery [26:20]
• “I’m not afraid to go find out what other people are doing … [Family Church] had it figured out.” – Lane Lowery [27:22]
• “I’m embarrassed to tell you. About a year.” (on how long the process to structural change took) – Lane Lowery [28:30]

Practical Meetings

• “Our executive leadership meeting is every Monday at 2 o’clock. Our global leaders meet twice a month. … [People] go, my gosh, that’s six meetings. But yeah, it is—but they’re meetings with purpose.” – Lane Lowery [30:15]

Timeline of Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment/Topic | |-----------|----------------------------------------------------| | 02:12 | Warren Church history, vision, and unique elements | | 04:51 | Growth metrics and multi-campus story | | 06:20 | Rationale and tipping point for switching models | | 09:04 | The global leadership structure explained | | 11:09 | Deep dive: ‘player-coach’ model – pros and cons | | 13:21 | Decision matrix: global vs. campus autonomy | | 17:33 | Staff rhythms: cross-campus site visits | | 19:24 | The 8 Essential Practices and culture-shaping | | 21:53 | High-touch ministry in a large church | | 24:25 | Embedding change as a value – worship time example | | 26:20 | Step-by-step playbook for change | | 28:30 | Change timeline and lessons learned | | 30:04 | Meeting structure and communication as keys |

Final Takeaways & Encouragement

• Embrace Change: “If something’s not working, you need to know the why. If not, be willing to embrace change and work to make the change.” – Lane Lowery [26:20]
• Prioritize Culture: Systems (like meetings, reviews, first impressions, cross-campus learning visits) are the backbone of large, healthy organizations—if they have clarity and purpose ([31:31]).
• Team Collaboration Matters: Structural clarity, regular touchpoints, and proactively celebrating values are non-negotiable for unity and momentum.
• Learn from Others: Don’t reinvent the wheel—research, learn, adapt, and contextualize from practitioners who are further down the road.

Connect with Lane Lowery & Warren Church

Website: Warren Church
Contact Lane: Find his email on the staff page

“We should be working together as the body of Christ… Let’s go find [others who’ve solved similar problems], talk with them, ask those questions.” – Rich Birch [29:29]