UnSeminary Podcast Summary

Episode: Staying Aligned as a Staff Team in a Growing Church: Insights from Andy Hill
Host: Rich Birch
Guest: Andy Hill (Executive Director, Mobberly Baptist Church, Texas)
Date: November 28, 2024

Overview

This episode of the UnSeminary Podcast dives into the practical challenges and strategies of maintaining staff alignment within a rapidly growing, multisite church. Andy Hill from Mobberly Baptist Church shares their real-world experiences—touching on intentional culture-building, communication, and personal soul care for staff.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Creating a Connected Culture in a Large Church

[01:39–03:24]

• Mobberly Baptist Church, though physically large and serving diverse populations (including Hispanic and Vietnamese communities), intentionally cultivates an environment that feels personal and connected.
• Andy: “A lot of people come to a larger church to try to disappear... We want to help them grow in their relationship with Christ... when they’re seen, when they’re known and when they know someone else.”

2. Unique Challenges of a Large Staff

[05:17–08:11]

• Practical issues: Staff cannot all be housed in one building due to the size (over 140-acre campus, five different buildings).
• Importance of intentional practices to mitigate disconnect.
• Weekly in-person gathering of the “ministry leadership team” (20–25 people) to worship, read together, pray, share vulnerably, and connect.

3. Weekly Ministry Leadership Team Meeting Structure

[08:37–10:45]

• Meets every Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. (two-hour meeting).
  • First hour: Focus on personal connection (worship, book study, shared devotionals, the “hot seat”).
  • Second hour: Practical, tactical ministry updates, led by Andy as Executive Pastor.
• Andy: “The time goes really fast, I’ll be honest... The first half is personal stuff... The second half is where we get a little more granular and practical about ministry.”

4. Book Studies for Team Alignment & Soul Care

[11:01–12:53]

• Book discussions foster shared language and development.
  • Notable reads:
    • “Servants and Fools” by Eugene Peterson
    • “Emotionally Healthy Leadership” by Pete Scazzero
    • “Five Essential Things Every Leader Must Get Right” by Richard Ross & Banjo
• Focus on personal growth and “soul care,” not just professional advancement.
  • Andy: “We’re not just human doings, we are human beings… think about your own walk.”

5. The "Hot Seat": Building Personal Relationships

[13:08–15:58]

• A weekly rotating feature where a staff member answers rapid-fire, personal questions from a set of 150 (“How did you get your first name? Favorite movie? A quirk you have?”).
• Intention is to see staff as more than their roles and to form genuine friendships.
  • Andy: “We can do ministry together, but we ought to not just work together, we ought to do life together… They need to matter, they need to be seen.”

6. Strategic, Multigenerational Communication

[16:45–19:50]

• Recognizing the generational diversity on staff: some prefer email, others texting, few face-to-face or calls.
• Leaders must tailor communication channels to individual staff preferences to ensure clarity and connection.
  • Andy: “I have to try to find out the ways that our staff communicate... It’s not the way that maybe I best communicate; it’s the way, you know, how do they communicate?”

7. Rolling Out Major Initiatives: Order and Empowerment

[20:26–23:22]

• The sequence and medium of announcing changes matter deeply: people interpret when and how they hear news as a message of their value.
• Use of staff-wide videos, tailored emails, direct leader communication, and staged rollouts to different groups.
  • Andy: “Our lack of communication… communicates value to somebody… they do matter, but they don’t feel like that.”

8. Spotting & Addressing Staff Drift

[23:40–28:14]

• Regular review of data (events, attendance, websites), combined with informal conversations, helps identify when ministries start to drift off mission.
• Gentle, supportive correction is key: “not here to be over them... I’m here to support, to help steer, to shepherd.”
  • Includes talking through budget reallocations and keeping stakeholders informed well in advance.
  • Andy: “A big mistake a lot of churches make is they don’t communicate early enough, far enough ahead of time... If you really do want them to stay rowing in the same direction.”

9. The Centrality of Personal Devotion (Self/Soul Care)

[28:30–30:39]

• Preserving capacity for ministry requires staff to invest in their own spiritual lives—daily time in prayer and Scripture outside of ministry prep.
• Recent all-staff sessions on “soul care” reinforce this point.
  • Andy: “People’s capacity to engage in life is directly related to some of these self care type things. Your emotional quotient, your intellectual quotient, your physical quotient, and a relational quotient, a spiritual quotient... If they’re not spending time caring for those... their capacity is diminished for life and for ministry.”

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “A lot of people come to a larger church to try to disappear... we want to help them grow in their relationship with Christ... when they’re seen, when they’re known and when they know someone else.” — Andy Hill [01:56]
• “We intentionally pull that [leadership] group together... that meeting is led by both our lead pastor and me.” — Andy Hill [07:27]
• “We can do ministry together, but we ought to not just work together, we ought to do life together... they need to matter, they need to be seen.” — Andy Hill [13:47]
• “I have to try to find out the ways that our staff communicate... It’s not the way that maybe I best communicate; it’s the way they communicate.” — Andy Hill [18:19]
• “A big mistake a lot of churches make is they don’t communicate early enough, far enough ahead of time...” — Andy Hill [27:58]
• “One of the first things pastors stopped doing when they got called to a church was having their quiet time... Just personal time in the Word...” — Andy Hill [29:08]
• “People’s capacity to engage in life is directly related to some of these self care type things... If they’re not spending time caring for those... their capacity is diminished for life and for ministry.” — Andy Hill [30:10]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Andy describes Mobberly’s culture: [01:39–03:24]
• Challenges of organizing a large staff: [05:17–08:11]
• Structure of Tuesday leadership meetings: [08:37–10:45]
• Book recommendations & soul care focus: [11:01–12:53]
• The “hot seat” explained and insights: [13:08–15:58]
• Communicating across generations: [16:45–19:50]
• Rolling out major changes/staff empowerment: [20:26–23:22]
• Identifying and remedying mission drift: [23:40–28:14]
• The importance of quiet time/self-care: [28:30–30:39]

Memorable Moments

• A minister admitted he needed a do-over in the “hot seat” after a tough meeting, making this activity a beloved, humanizing tradition for staff. [15:25]
• Andy’s honest reflections that alignment “ebbs and flows”: it’s never perfect, and requires ongoing intentionality. [16:45]
• Staff-wide engagement with guest speakers on self-care — “not just our ministerial staff, our whole staff, 65 people in the room.” [28:40]

Final Thoughts

Andy’s insights reflect both humility and intentionality in leading a large, diverse church staff—emphasizing consistent personal connections, adaptive communication, and prioritizing the spiritual health of team members as indispensable for true alignment and organizational mission.

For more on Mobberly Baptist Church: moberly.org/follow
Explore more resources from UnSeminary: unseminary.com