Most churches don’t plateau because of vision.
They plateau because of how they staff.

In this episode, Scott, Hunter, and Mark unpack the staff shift that determines whether your church stays stuck — or scales.
Every team has four types of staff members.
Only one type multiplies.

If you don’t know who’s who, you’ll build around the wrong people — and cap your growth without realizing it.

We break down:
- The 4 types of staff members every church has
- Why performance and culture are not the same thing
- The most dangerous person on your team
- How to turn potential into leadership
- When it’s time to make the hard call
- You don’t unlock growth by adding more programs.
- You unlock growth by building the right team.

Growth follows leadership. Leadership follows alignment.

Timestamps:
0:00 – The Question Behind Breaking 1,000
1:04 – Why We Couldn’t Break 650
2:01 – From Doers to Multipliers
4:02 – You Reproduce Who You Are
5:09 – The 4 Types of Staff Members
7:05 – Stars: Who to Multiply
8:05 – Puppies: High Culture, Low Performance
10:53 – Rats: The Opposite of a Star
15:46 – Bombs: High Performance, Low Culture
26:34 – The Fastest Way to Create Another Star

If you have a question or topic you’d like us to tee up on a future episode, email us at hey@readysetgrowchurch.com

Every growing church eventually faces the same hard call:
deciding which ministries further the vision—and which ones don’t.

In this episode of the Breaking 1000 Podcast, Scott, Mark, and Hunter walk through how pastors can make that call by clarifying:

• Who God has called their church to be
• Where that vision is leading
• How they are actually going to get there

With limited time, people, and resources, leaders are forced to evaluate ministries honestly. Even good programs can quietly block growth when they no longer align with the vision. The conversation highlights the difference between vision and the vehicles used to carry it, why pruning can feel painful even when it’s necessary, and how avoiding hard decisions slowly erodes leadership credibility.

The episode also addresses the reality that clarity-driven leadership sometimes leads to people leaving—and why that doesn’t mean the decision was wrong. In many cases, it’s a sign that alignment, fruitfulness, and stewardship are being prioritized over comfort and familiarity.

If you’re a pastor leading a growing church and wrestling with whether something should continue, change, or end, this episode will help you make the call with confidence.

Timestamps:

00:00 – Why growth forces hard leadership decisions
01:20 – The three clarity questions every church must answer
03:15 – Why every church operates with limited time, people, and resources
05:05 – You can’t be all things to all people (and neither was Jesus)
07:45 – Why clarity must be communicated early and often
09:10 – The danger of letting people start ministries without alignment
10:45 – Vision vs. vehicles: when methods outlive their purpose
14:05 – A real example of closing a long-standing ministry
17:10 – How to evaluate fruit honestly and make comparisons
21:45 – Why clarity-driven leadership sometimes costs you people

If you have a question or topic you’d like us to tee up on a future episode, email us at hey@readysetgrowchurch.com

There’s a trap many churches fall into — often with the best intentions — that quietly limits growth, burns out leaders, and keeps ministries from becoming what God designed them to be.

In this episode of the Breaking 1000 Podcast, Mark, Scott, and Hunter explore why the tension between Spiritual and Strategic leadership is often misunderstood — and how treating them as opposites creates unnecessary ceilings in the life of the church.
The conversation reframes growth as a both/and, not an either/or, and walks through:
why many churches plateau despite prayer, passion, and faithfulness
how Scripture consistently models strategy as a spiritual responsibility
the difference between godly strategy and self-driven ambition
why pastors burn out when structure and discipleship are missing
how intentional leadership actually protects spiritual health
If you’ve ever felt stretched thin, stuck at a ceiling, or unsure how to lead faithfully and wisely — this episode brings clarity without compromise.

Timestamps:
00:00 – The tension pastors feel: spiritual vs. strategic
02:00 – Why treating this as “either/or” creates a growth trap
04:00 – The real reason most churches plateau (it’s not prayer)
06:30 – What happens when a pastor tries to do everything
08:30 – Moses, Jethro, and the biblical case for delegation
10:45 – “The church isn’t a business”… but business still exists
13:00 – When strategy replaces God (Tower of Babel warning)
15:15 – Why burnout is rising among faithful pastors
17:30 – Jerusalem vs. Antioch: two very different models
20:45 – The real formula: spiritual intention + strategic action

If you have a question or topic you’d like us to tee up on a future episode, email us at hey@readysetgrowchurch.com