Elevate: Equipping the Whole Church Staff for Gospel Impact

About Elevate: Equipping the Whole Church Staff for Gospel Impact

Are you ready to take your ministry to the next level? Follow the Brentwood Baptist Leadership Podcast, as we share how this new resource will equip and encourage church leaders at every stage. Whether you’re a seasoned pastor or a growing team member, this podcast is designed to help you sharpen your vision, strengthen your staff, and deepen your Gospel impact. Hosted by ministers from Brentwood Baptist Church, this podcast brings you honest conversations, practical tools, and insights from leaders who understand the joys and challenges of ministry.

Publisher

Brentwood Baptist Church

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

7 Jan 2025

Latest episode

16 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

65 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   16 Sept 2026

   The Marks of a Healthy Pastor: A Road to Elevate Preview

   Pastors spend a lot of time thinking about the health of their churches, but healthy churches start with healthy leaders. In this episode of the Road to Elevate series, Roger Severino sits down with Fady Al-Hagal, Multiplication Minister, for a preview of his breakout at the Elevate Church Conference. They talk through what it actually means for a pastor to be healthy, the warning signs that often go unnoticed, and the rhythms that help ministers lead well for the long haul.In this episode, you’ll learn: What "healthy" really means for a pastor, and why it starts with Christlikeness and a sound mind, not just a healthy church Why a pastor's personal health always comes before their ministry's health, and how being a witness first changes everything Four warning signs of a pastor drifting toward unhealth, including the "hidden burnout" most leaders won't admit to themselves The marks of a genuinely healthy pastor, from true passion to a disciplined, teachable life The "secret place rhythm" Fady Al-Hagal recommends for every pastor, and the Charles Spurgeon story behind it The one blind spot Fady Al-Hagal says most pastors overlook: learning to be led before you lead others Who should attend Elevate this year, and why soul care isn't a selfish focus, but the foundation for everything else Meet the GuestsRoger Severino is Minister of Leadership Development at Brentwood Baptist, where he helps equip pastors and leaders across the church for healthy, long-term ministry.Fady Al-Hagal is Multiplication Minister at Brentwood Baptist, focused on disciple-making and church multiplication.

2. 

   9 Sept 2026

   Leadership Development Isn't Staffing. It's Multiplying Disciples.

   Our Road to Elevate series continues with a conversation for every pastor who feels like they're the only one holding their ministry together. Darrel Girardier sits down with Roger Severino, Brentwood Baptist's Minister of Leadership Development, to talk about how churches of any size can intentionally identify, equip, and send the next generation of ministry leaders, a conversation you'll get to dig into further at the Elevate Church Conference on September 21 and 22, 2026. Roger and Darrel work through why leadership development is bigger than training staff, the five characteristics Roger looks for before he asks anyone to lead, and what he calls "the filling holes problem," the trap that keeps ministries stuck reacting instead of developing leaders ahead of need. They close with what ten residency cohorts have taught Brentwood Baptist about giving young leaders enough runway to actually grow. In this episode, you’ll learn: Why leadership development is bigger than training staff members: Roger defines it as identifying, equipping, and deploying people into spiritual service, whether that's a staff role or a Sunday morning volunteer post The mind shift every minister needs from Ephesians 4:11-12: whatever your role, you're in the people-development business, and your ministry area is just the context where you do it The five characteristics Roger looks for before he asks someone to step into leadership: character, competencies, commitment, calling, and culture What Roger calls "the filling holes problem," and why waiting until a ministry spot is empty to look for a leader keeps churches stuck in survival mode Why leadership development isn't about delegating what you don't want to do. It starts with modeling the work yourself, then giving away even the things you enjoy What ten residency cohorts have taught Brentwood Baptist about how much runway young leaders actually need to grow into their own ministry Why stretching the residency from one year to two years didn't require more upfront teaching. It required a longer on-ramp to hands-on ministry The three questions Roger tells every church to answer before starting a residency: what do you want them to know, who do you want them to be, and what do you want them to do Meet the Guests Roger Severino is the Minister of Leadership Development at Brentwood Baptist, where he oversees the church's ministry residency and has walked with 10 cohorts of residents through two years of hands-on ministry training. Darrel Girardier is the Executive Director of Ministry Resources at Brentwood Baptist, where he oversees the team and resources that help equip pastors and ministry leaders across the church.

3. 

   2 Sept 2026

   AI and the Church: Where Wisdom Meets Opportunity

   As we count down the final weeks to the Elevate Church Conference, our Road to Elevate series continues with a preview of the practical breakout sessions headed your way on September 21 and 22, 2026. This time, Dillon Sherlock sits down with Darrel Girardier to talk about AI and the church: where the real opportunities are, where leaders need wisdom, and how to use these tools without losing sight of what matters most. Darrel breaks down what AI actually is in plain terms, why churches have always been slow to adopt new technology, and what the printing press can teach us about how the church responds when a piece of technology reshapes it. He and Dillon also get honest about where AI is helping churches most right now, why a human always has to stay in the loop, and how to respond to the team member who says AI is the devil. They close with a preview of this year's Elevate breakout: a hands-on look at building a full AI workflow, built for every seat on a church staff, not just the communications team. In this episode, you’ll learn: What AI actually is in plain terms: a prediction engine trained on a massive amount of data, more like a really smart Mad Lib than a crystal ball, and why that distinction matters for how churches use it Why churches have always been slow to adopt new technology out of fear, and what the printing press can teach us about how the church responds when a technology reshapes it (it doesn't die, it reforms) Why this shift is moving faster than any before it, with new capabilities showing up week to week instead of unfolding over decades Where churches are seeing the most success with AI right now: offloading the administrative, non-instinctively-human tasks like forms, emails, and meeting notes so staff can focus on the flesh-and-blood work of ministry Why AI should never be fully hands off, and how keeping a human checking the work at every step (AI still gets things wrong) keeps the tool trustworthy How to respond to a team member who says "AI is the devil": you're allowed to hold that belief, but only after you've actually taken the time to understand what the tool is and how it works Meet the Guests Dillon Sherlock is the Digital Strategy Director at Brentwood Baptist, where he leads how the church puts digital tools and AI-powered workflows to work across marketing and communications. Darrel Girardier is the Executive Director of Ministry Resources at Brentwood Baptist, where he oversees the team and resources that help equip pastors and ministry leaders across the church.

Who has been a guest on Elevate: Equipping the Whole Church Staff for Gospel Impact

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Fady Al-Hagal
• Jay Strother
• Brandon Hayes
• Amy-Jo Girardier
• Mac Johnson

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 18 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

36

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

0

Contact Elevate: Equipping the Whole Church Staff for Gospel Impact

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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