EP. 255 — Break Church Growth Barriers (Without Burnout): AI, Nehemiah Systems & Discipleship Pipeline

In this episode of the Blacksmith Chronicles Podcast, Ryan Johnson sits down with church growth strategist Henry Tolbert to unpack practical, Spirit-led strategies for church growth without burnout. They explore a Nehemiah-inspired turnaround framework (personal revival → revisioning → revitalizing → rebuilding), the discipleship pipeline from the 5,000 to the 1, post-pandemic realities for pastors, and how to leverage social media and AI tools for ministry (like clipping sermons and turning notes into ebooks/decks) to reach your city. If you're a pastor, church planter, or ministry leader seeking guidance on scaling systems, mobilizing teams, and keeping the message timeless while methods evolve, this conversation is for you.

What you'll learn:

• How to build simple church systems that scale without frying your staff or volunteers
• A clear discipleship pathway (5,000 → 500 → 72 → 12 → 3 → 1) modeled from Jesus' ministry
• The Nehemiah blueprint for revitalization (revival in the leader, fresh vision, people engagement, rebuild/relaunch)
• Why assumptions fuel division and how to cultivate multi-ethnic unity that puts Kingdom over culture
• Practical social media for churches: plan content from your sermon runway, provide value, and talk to people
• Smart, ethical ways to use AI for churches (content repurposing, slides/ebooks, short-form clips) as "staff for small churches"

Connect with Henry Tolbert / Simple Systems Consulting:
Website: getchurchsystems.com
YouTube/TikTok/IG/FB/LinkedIn: search Henry Tolbert or The Simple Systems Guy

If this helped you, like, comment, subscribe, and share with a pastor or ministry leader who needs it. 🙌

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