Church Planting 2.0

Description
Church signage, your Google Maps pin, and clear directions inside your building shape a first-time guest’s experience before they ever meet a greeter. In this episode of Church Planting 2.0, Jeff Hoglen shows pastors and church planters how to make sure guests can actually find their church.
The sign said “Saturday Buffet.”
That’s it. No time.
We found the restaurant. We just found it too late.
Jeff shares two frustrating restaurant experiences from his hometown. One was a hotel lobby with zero directions. The other had a Google Maps pin that was just a little bit off and a stairwell where nobody could tell if it was the second floor or the third.
Here’s the problem: your first-time guests are having that same experience at your church.
Your welcome doesn’t start at the front door. It starts at the first search. 📍
In this episode:
Why a missing church sign doesn’t just go unnoticed: it keeps people from coming at all.
What Google’s own data says about how fast “near me” searches turn into visits.
How to put your church on Google Maps and fix a wrong pin with a free Google Business Profile.
The 1990 Stanford experiment that explains why pastors can’t see their own missing signs.
The 3 signs every church needs: the Pin, the Street, and the Steps.
A simple Guest Path Test to improve your church guest experience before next Sunday.

Too many churches are hard to find, and their pastors don’t know it.
FedEx Office found that nearly 60% of consumers say when there’s no sign at all, it keeps them from going in. In this episode, Jeff names the problem, explains why it matters, and lays out what to do about it: what Google’s data says about “near me” searches, why church leaders can’t see their own missing signs, and the three wayfinding moments every first-time guest goes through. Plus the Guest Path Test you can run before next Sunday.
In this episode:
FedEx Office “What’s Your Sign?” Survey (May 2012)
76% entered a store they’d never visited because of its signs; 68% say signage reflects quality; nearly 60% say no sign deters them; 52% less willing to enter with poorly made or misspelled signs — FedEx Newsroom

76% of people who search on their phone for something nearby visit a related business within a day — Think with Google

Church switchers who first found their church through its website named location (66%) and worship times (64%) as helpful — Lifeway Research, Nov 2023

“Clear when and where” principle, paraphrased not quoted — Lifeway Research, Apr 2025
Elizabeth Newton, Stanford (1990)
Tappers and listeners: 120 songs tapped, 3 guessed correctly, tappers predicted 50%
NOTE: the term “curse of knowledge” comes from a 1989 paper by Camerer, Loewenstein & Weber, so on air it’s “researchers call it,” not credited to the Heaths
Kevin Lynch (1960)
Lynch introduced the term “way-finding” — Wikipedia: Wayfinding; Wikipedia: Kevin A. Lynch
Google Business Profile
Free to set up; pin can be adjusted or dragged when an address doesn’t resolve or has no street number — Google Business Profile Help

Scripture
Luke 14:23 (NIV), Habakkuk 2:2 (ESV), Luke 19:10
Books Mentioned
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die — Chip Heath & Dan Heath (Random House, 2007). The book that made the Stanford tappers-and-listeners study famous
The Image of the City — Kevin Lynch (MIT Press, 1960). The urban planning classic that gave us the word “wayfinding”

CONNECT:
⁠churchplanting.com⁠
⁠Jeffhoglen.com⁠

⁠Open Arms International Ministries⁠

Too many church planters are planting the same church, in the same places, for the same people.
Lifeway found 43% of people in new church plants came from other churches. In this episode, Jeff names the problem, explains why it matters, and lays out what to do better: the honest reasons planters cluster, the motives we don't say out loud, the good reasons to plant near other churches, and five options to consider before you sign a lease. Plus the Hudson Taylor "Brighton Beach" challenge.
In this episode:
The issue: same church, same places, same people
Why it matters: what Lifeway's data says about where church plant attenders come from
3 honest reasons planters cluster (and the gravity of funding)
4 motives nobody puts in the prospectus
3 good reasons to plant where churches already exist (Keller, Barna, Romans 15)
5 options: follow the data, cross a line, go overlooked, replant, go unreached
The Brighton Beach challenge, from Hudson Taylor's 1865 prayer

All verified before scripting. Flags noted where a number could move or a detail needs care.
Hudson Taylor / China Inland Mission
7 of 18 provinces had missionaries, mostly in a few coastal cities/treaty ports; 11 inland provinces had none; 24 workers = 2 per province + 2 for Mongolia; Bible-margin note; CIM eventually present in all 18 provinces — Christianity Today
Brighton, June 25, 1865; founding of CIM, now OMF International — OMF
Mission societies said funds didn't cover current demands — VanceChristie.com
Bank account opened with ten pounds two days later — Half Crown Media
Sailed within a year with a team; 294 missionaries in 14 provinces by 1888 — Church for Vancouver / OMF account; Don Sweeting

Lifeway Research 2015 National Church Planting Study
42% of attenders previously unchurched, 43% from existing churches; Stetzer's "dissatisfied, disgruntled, or re-energized Christians" comment; ~4,000 Protestant churches opened and ~3,700 closed in 2014 — Baptist Courier summary of Lifeway data; Lifeway Research
Coaching/assessment strongly tied to plant survival — Stetzer & Bird, Asbury Journal
NOTE: this is 2015 data. Still the most-cited national study on attendee origin, but say "2015" on air

Tim Keller, "Why Plant Churches"
"Single most crucial strategy"; new churches best reach new generations, new residents, new people groups; older churches resisting new plants in "our neighborhood" as turf — Keller paper (PDF); NewChurches.com
Joshua Project — Philippines
~200 people groups, 28 unreached, ~6.95 million people in unreached groups — Joshua Project: Philippines

CONNECT:
churchplanting.com
Jeffhoglen.com

Open Arms International Ministries

Church Planting 2.0 - the podcast for churchplanting.com with Jeff Hoglen
Calling gets you started. Experience keeps you standing.
You feel called to plant a church—but have you made the deposits that will sustain you when ministry gets hard?
In this episode, Jeff Hoglen explores why serving in a healthy church before launching can shape your readiness for the challenges ahead. Drawing from Paul and Timothy’s relationship, church planting research, and practical ministry experience, Jeff explains how preparation develops the skills, relationships, and resilience a church planter needs.
Whether you’re considering church planting, exploring a residency, or leading a church that could prepare future planters, this episode offers practical next steps.
Five reasons experience matters
It gives you realistic expectations. Learn what everyday ministry looks like so you can recognize progress without measuring your church against someone else’s highlight reel.

It builds accountability. Develop relationships with leaders who know you, recognize your blind spots, and can speak honestly into your decisions.

It teaches you to handle conflict. Learn to navigate difficult conversations with an experienced pastor beside you.

It helps protect you from burnout. Watch healthy leaders practice boundaries, share responsibility, and carry the demands of ministry.

It shows you how to develop leaders. Gain firsthand experience equipping people to serve, lead, and equip others.

Two practical paths to preparation
Jeff explores serving as an associate pastor and entering a church planting residency or Paul–Timothy apprenticeship. Both provide opportunities to preach, lead teams, manage responsibilities, receive correction, and grow under experienced leadership.
You’ll also learn what to look for in a healthy sending church—and why a meaningful residency should include real responsibility, honest feedback, and leaders willing to say, “Not yet.”
Scripture discussed
Acts 16 — Timothy’s reputation and ministry alongside Paul.

Philippians 2 — Timothy’s proven character through serving with Paul.

2 Timothy 3 — Learning firsthand from Paul’s life and hardships.

2 Timothy 2:2 — Entrusting the gospel to faithful people who will teach others.

Acts 11:26 — Barnabas and Saul serving and teaching in Antioch.

Acts 13 — The church commissioning and sending Barnabas and Saul.

This week’s challenge
Before you go out, get under healthy leadership. Take an honest inventory:
Have you preached consistently and received constructive feedback?

Have you worked through serious conflict?

Have you built a small group or volunteer team?

Have you managed a ministry budget?

Have you received a “no” or “not yet” and remained faithful?

Identify the experience you still need, then ask a healthy church for an opportunity to serve and grow.
If you’re a lead pastor, consider making room for one future church planter to learn alongside you.
A thought to carry with you
“Preparation doesn’t cancel the calling. It protects the calling.”
Find more church planting resources and coaching at ChurchPlanting.com. Share this episode with a future church planter or a pastor who could help prepare one.

Church outreach is not failing because people do not care - it is failing because too many churches keep confusing events with presence. Jeff Hogland makes the case that your community does not need another flyer, carnival, or one-day turnout miracle. It needs people who actually show up, stay visible, and become known.
If your church keeps pouring time, volunteers, and budget into outreach events that mostly attract the same insiders, this episode will hit a nerve. Jeff breaks down why event-driven ministry feels productive but often creates a credibility gap, exhausts your team, and trains your church to think outreach happens a few times a year instead of every week.
You will hear practical shifts for moving from attractional to incarnational ministry, from event-based calendars to rhythm-based presence, and from church as event host to church as neighbor and contributor. Jeff also shares how to audit where your people already spend their time, reframe volunteer energy around real community needs, and stop measuring outreach only by attendance numbers.
This conversation challenges the assumption that a bigger event equals a bigger impact. Instead, it reframes outreach as consistent, ordinary faithfulness in neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, gyms, and coffee shops - the places where trust is actually built and the gospel becomes visible long before anyone walks through a church door.
Essential listening for pastors, church planters, and ministry leaders who are tired of planning louder events and want a simpler, more faithful way to reach their communities. Sometimes the most powerful outreach strategy is not a better invite - it is a more present church.
churchplanting.com

You Don’t Build a Church, You Build a Culture
This episode argues that church health is not sustained by charisma, attendance, or platform size, but by the culture underneath the numbers.
In this episode, Jeff Hoglen shares:
Why a church can look healthy on paper right up until the culture fails underneath it
Four warning signs of an unhealthy church
Three culture shifts that help churches last
A contrast between protecting a platform and giving away what God has entrusted
Key topics
A fast-growing West Coast church had 15 campuses across 4 states and over 12,000 weekend attenders, yet the institution eventually unraveled after leadership culture issues surfaced.
The core lesson: attendance, giving, and campus growth are fruit, not root. Culture is the soil that determines whether that fruit can last.
Unhealthy cultures often hide in plain sight and quietly drive away good people long before the public sees a crisis.
Sign 1 of an unhealthy church: legitimate concerns get relabeled as gossip, which protects the system and silences the person who raised the issue.
Sign 2: nobody disagrees in the room where decisions actually matter, not because everyone agrees, but because dissent has become unsafe.
Sign 3: turnover gets explained away as “just a season” instead of being investigated as data.
Sign 4: the stage version of the church does not match the backstage version, creating a split between public messaging and private reality.
Shift 1: what gets celebrated gets reproduced. If only numbers get praised, people learn that results matter more than character.
Shift 2: healthy cultures make it safe to push back. Leaders need people who can tell the truth without fear of being punished.
Shift 3: healthy churches give away what they could hoard, using generosity as a posture rather than just a budget category.
Craig Groeschel and Life. Church are used as an example of that generosity mindset, especially in giving away Uversion, church tools, and other resources.
The long-term test of culture is whether what you built can survive without you in the room.
Timestamps
00:00 - The church that looked strong until the culture collapsed
01:31 - Why healthy numbers can hide unhealthy leadership culture
02:47 - The one-sentence takeaway: you build a culture first
03:42 - Why most unhealthy churches never make headlines
04:12 - Sign 1: concerns get relabeled as gossip
04:55 - Sign 2: nobody disagrees where it matters
05:24 - Sign 3: turnover gets explained away instead of investigated
05:55 - Sign 4: stage culture and backstage culture do not match
06:26 - Shift 1: what you celebrate is what you reproduce
07:22 - Why celebrating only numbers trains the wrong values
08:58 - A practical way to celebrate character this week
09:55 - Shift 2: healthy cultures make it safe to push back10:48 - What happened when leadership pushback became unsafe11:44 - Silence is not peace12:18 - The difference between constructive pushback and gossip12:47 - A question every leader should ask one team member13:34 - Shift 3: healthy churches give away what they could hoard14:01 - The Life.Church and Uversion generosity example15:24 - Generosity as a culture, not just a budget line16:40 - A challenge to give away something useful this month17:11 - Three practical challenges to apply immediately18:09 - Why culture shows up years later, not in this week’s numbers
18:37 - Final contrast: protect what you built or give it awayAction items
Celebrate one thing publicly this week that does not have a number attached to it.
Ask one team member, “What’s something you’ve been afraid to tell me?”
Say thank you, and do not defend yourself.
Give one valuable resource, system, or tool away to another church leader this month with no strings attached.
AI can make mistakes. Always check for
Want me to turn this into a Spotify episode description next?churchplanting.com
jeffhoglen.com
Books by Jeff Hoglen on Amazon.
Church Planting Done Different