Church Planting 2.0

Is using AI for sermons smart, or cheating?
Barna found 24% of pastors now use AI to write or edit sermons, while 71% say they feel cautious about it. In this episode, Jeff takes the pushback head-on. He covers where the critics are wrong, where they’re dead right, and what the research shows happens to your brain when you let a machine do your thinking. He also shares how he actually uses AI, including the time it happily agreed with him when he was wrong.
In this episode:
The real objections pastors raise about AI, and which ones hold up
Why AI makes a smart research partner (even John Piper agrees on that part)
What MIT, Microsoft, and GPS research show about over-reliance on AI
How Jeff uses AI for research, illustrations, website agents, and a daily church-planting briefing
Three lines every preacher needs: think first, obey the text, verify everything
Why only 9% of churches have an AI policy, plus a free one-page template

Chapters (approximate)
00:00 The question every pastor’s asking
01:30 The pushback
03:30 Where the pushback gets it wrong
05:30 Where it’s dead right
08:00 Let it fetch, don’t let it think
09:30 It can’t obey the text for you
11:30 Check everything (when AI agrees with you)
13:30 Don’t make your team guess
15:30 The challenge
16:30 Final thought
🎁 Free download: One-Page Church AI Policy Template
churchplanting.com/ai-policy
All verified before scripting:
Barna, “New Research: Pastors Are Using AI More Than You Think” (2026): https://www.barna.com/research/pastors-using-ai/
ChurchLeaders, John Piper on AI and sermons (Oct. 2026): https://churchleaders.com/pastors/506405-john-piper-is-appalled-by-the-thought-of-using-ai-to-draft-a-sermon.html
MIT Media Lab, “Your Brain on ChatGPT” (2025): https://www.computing.co.uk/news/2025/ai/chatgpt-is-making-you-dumber
Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon, AI and critical thinking (2025): https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/11/microsoft_study_ai_critical_thinking/
Dahmani & Bohbot, GPS use and spatial memory, Scientific Reports (2020): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7156656/
Mata v. Avianca, the fake ChatGPT cases: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/bgov-labor/chatgpt-phony-legal-filing-case-gets-lawyers-a-5-000-fine
OpenAI rolls back its “too agreeable” ChatGPT update (2025): https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/openai-explains-why-chatgpt-became-too-sycophantic
2026 State of AI in the Church Survey: https://exponential.org/your-church-needs-an-ai-policy-and-heres-how-to-start/
Pushpay and Barna, State of Church Technology 2026: https://pushpay.com/?p=19180

NOTE: The MIT study is a small preprint that hasn’t been peer-reviewed. Jeff says so in the episode.
CONNECT:
⁠ChurchPlanting.com: ⁠
⁠Jeff Hoglen:⁠
⁠Open Arms International Ministries:⁠
⁠LinkedIn: ⁠
Books by Jeff Hoglen
⁠Church Planting Done Different⁠
⁠Rock Solid Foundation ⁠

If this episode helped you, share it with a pastor or ministry leader who's trying to carry it all alone.

Ever handed someone the keys too fast… or never handed them over at all?

Most pastors miss it in one of two directions: trusting too soon, or never trusting anyone. In this episode, Jeff gets honest about the part of leadership he's wrestled with most, and shares what he's learned (mostly the hard way) about growing leaders you can actually count on.

THE BIG IDEA
You don't find leaders you can trust. You grow them.

IN THIS EPISODE
- The two ditches: trusting too fast, and never trusting at all
- Why "excellence" is sometimes just fear wearing a nice shirt
- Start small: trust grows in small places before big ones
- Look past the gift: character before charisma
- Actually let go: real authority, not just errands
- Handle failure well: what John Mark's comeback teaches us
- The difference between a mistake and a character problem

THE 3 DEBRIEF QUESTIONS
When a leader drops the ball, sit down and ask:
1. What happened?
2. What did you learn?
3. What would you do differently?
Then give them the keys back.

THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE
Think of one person who's been faithful with the small stuff. This month, give them one real key: something they own and can decide. Tell them, "This is yours. I trust you." Then walk with them through it.
One person. One key. That's how it starts.

SCRIPTURE
Exodus 18:13-22, Luke 16:10, Acts 6:1-6, 1 Samuel 16:6-13, Acts 13:13, Acts 15:36-40, 2 Timothy 4:11

REFERENCED
Ritz-Carlton employee empowerment (Horst Schulze, Knowledge at Wharton):
https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/?p=18376

CONNECT
ChurchPlanting.com:
Jeff Hoglen:
Open Arms International Ministries:
LinkedIn:
Books by Jeff Hoglen
Church Planting Done Different
Rock Solid Foundation

If this episode helped you, share it with a pastor or ministry leader who's trying to carry it all alone.

How to Preach Sermons That Actually Connect and Change Lives
Most sermons fail for one simple reason: they’re accurate, but they never land. This episode shows church planters and pastors how to close the gap between a good message and a life-changing one using five practical shifts that make preaching feel clear, alive, and unforgettable.
Drawing from the story of Martin Luther King Jr. and the “I Have a Dream” moment, Jeff Hogan makes a powerful case that people don’t remember what you prepared - they remember what you were carrying. He challenges the idea that stronger outlines automatically create stronger sermons and explains why connection, not just content, is what moves people from nodding politely to actually being changed.You’ll discover:
Why Ezra 7:10 changes the order of sermon preparation - study, observe, do, then teach
How to “give the sense” so your message reaches both longtime churchgoers and first-time visitors
Why stories can convict guarded hearts faster than direct points ever can
How Jesus used questions and silence to create deeper engagement
What it looks like to build a real conversation after the sermon so the message keeps working all week

Jeff also brings in surprising support from Gallup research showing why people actually attend church, and why sermons that teach Scripture and connect faith to real life still rank above everything else. If you’ve ever preached something true that still felt strangely flat, this episode will give you a fresh framework for making Sunday matter on Monday.
Perfect for pastors, church planters, and anyone who wants their preaching to do more than inform - this episode is about sermons that connect, convict, and keep speaking long after the amen.
In this episode:
Why the most famous part of King's speech wasn't in his manuscript
Ezra's overlooked preaching order: study, do, then teach
Nehemiah 8 and the "Levites" every church needs
Nathan's story strategy for guarded hearts
Why Jesus asked 307 questions and answered almost none directly
Eutychus, dialegomai, and giving your sermon a second life
All verified sources:
MLK speech — Wikipedia; Folger Library; WSB-TV (Clarence Jones); AP/TheGrio (NOTE: Jackson's timing debated)
Gallup 2017 — news.gallup.com/poll/208529
Martin Copenhaver, Jesus Is the Question (NOTE: author's coun
churchplanting.com
jeffhoglen.com
beyonchurchplanting.com

Jeff Hoglen's Books on Amazon:

Tired of begging for volunteers every Sunday?
You’re not alone.
In a 2025 survey of more than 3,600 UK churches, 70% said more volunteers would be the single most helpful support they could get. In this episode, Jeff explains why most church volunteer recruitment falls flat. Usually the problem isn’t the people in the seats. It’s how we’re asking. Using the London 2012 Olympics, where more than 240,000 people applied for about 70,000 unpaid spots, Jeff walks through five practical fixes for recruiting church volunteers without begging every Sunday.
In this episode:
Why 240,000 people lined up to volunteer for free, and what that tells us about the church
The real story behind the church volunteer shortage
Why desperate announcements push people away
Fix #1: Stop recruiting for holes. Start recruiting for purpose.
Fix #2: Replace the announcement with an invitation.
Fix #3: Make the first step small.
Fix #4: Train them before you need them.
Fix #5: Honor them like they matter, because they do.
What Nehemiah 3 teaches us about the people who build the wall
This week’s challenge: delete the slide, start the invitations

Verified Sources:
London 2012 Games Makers: 240,000+ applications for up to 70,000 volunteer roles, with at least three training sessions for those selected. LOCOG release, Nov 2010 · Baptist Press
Games Maker Gavin Jones on feeling appreciated. People’s Collection Wales
National Churches Trust 2025 survey (3,628 UK churches; 70% need more volunteers). Church Times · NCT Summary Report
Lifeway Research: 86% of churchgoers want to serve their community, but few actually volunteered in the past year. Lifeway Research

Scripture mentioned: 1 Corinthians 12:12–22 · Matthew 4:18–19 · Exodus 18:13–26 · Ephesians 4:11–12 · Romans 12:10 · Nehemiah 3; 6:15
Books by Jeff Hoglen:
Church Planting Done Different:
Rock Solid Foundation

CONNECT:
ChurchPlanting.com: https://churchplanting.com
Jeff Hoglen: https://jeffhoglen.com
Open Arms International Ministries:

This episode explores the crucial differences between growing a crowd and making disciples, emphasizing practical shifts churches can implement to foster genuine spiritual growth and disciple-making.

Growing Church, Shallow Disciples? 4 Shifts to Fix It
Episode Description
Your church can be growing while your people are standing still.
When weekly churchgoers explain why they aren't reading the Bible on their own, the answer usually isn't rebellion. It's "not enough time" and "I don't know where to start." In this episode, Jeff tells the story of George Whitefield and John Wesley, two preachers in the same revival with very different results.
He then walks through four practical shifts that turnattenders into disciples, plus one simple challenge you can start this month.
In this episode:
- Why Whitefield reportedly called his own followers "a rope of sand"— and what Wesley did differently
- Why gathering a crowd and forming disciples are two different jobs
- Teaching people to say the gospel, not just hear it
- Giving people a plan, not just a push
- Changing the question from "What did you learn?" to "What willyou do?"
- Building disciples who make disciples
- Four questions to add to your church's scoreboard
All verified sources:
- Origin of Wesley's class meeting (Bristol, 1742) — Christian History Institute: https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/dailyquote/2/15
- Whitefield and the "rope of sand" — Seedbed:https://seedbed.com/the-bond-of-a-band-vs-the-rope-of-sand/
- Why churchgoers aren't reading Scripture on their own — American BibleSociety, State of the Bible 2026, via Baptist Press:https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/state-of-the-bible-growth-in-bible-use-reverses-in-2026-but-trend-uncertain/
Books mentioned:
- The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (his account of hearing Whitefieldpreach)
CONNECT
- ChurchPlanting.com
- JeffHoglen.com
- Open Arms International Ministries
- Books by Jeff Hoglen:
Church Planting Done Different ·
Rock Solid Foundation