4 church growth takeaways from the What Next? Conference

What happens when church leaders talk honestly with one another about the real challenges they face in their local context?

That was the idea behind the Arizona Mission Network’s conference titled What Next? held Thursday, Sept. 24 at Heart Cry Church in Queen Creek.

Designed as a conversational conference about church growth, the event brought about 60 pastors and church leaders from across Arizona together to discuss practical next steps to overcome barriers and lead their churches to embrace their next stage of growth.

Rather than a traditional conference based on a series of lectures, What Next? was intentionally structured as a conversation built around the core concepts of the pastoral calling, church conflict and best practices for healthy church growth.

Three Arizona pastors facilitated the conversation. Chad Garrison, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Lake Havasu City; Mark Martin, pastor of CalvaryPHX in Phoenix; and Billy VanCamp, pastor of Heart Cry Church in Queen Creek, set the stage for table discussions by sharing their own journeys.

Chad Garrison (left), Billy VanCamp (center) and Mark Martin (right) speak at the What Next? Conference. (Photo by Philip Calvert)

Combined, these three pastors have more than 100 years of ministry experience in Arizona. All three come from different church contexts. Garrison leads a multi-site church in western Arizona. Martin leads a multi-site church in the Phoenix metro area. And VanCamp leads a fast-growing church with cowboy roots in Queen Creek. Their unique experiences helped attendees better understand how the Lord leads the leaders He calls through seasons of growth, challenges and change.

The Arizona Mission Network of Southern Baptists, led by Monty Patton, recognized the need for a gathering where pastors could bring real questions, share experiences and learn not only from trusted leaders but also from one another. The conference grew out of an idea from Garrison to help inspire deeper conversations among pastors as they faithfully serve in their own ministry contexts.

For many pastors, the question is not whether they want their churches to grow. The harder question is often, “What do we do next?” Churches can encounter barriers involving leadership, discipleship, evangelism, staffing, funding, facilities, culture and simply knowing which challenges need to be addressed before they can move on to the next step of faith. The What Next? format gave participants an opportunity to wrestle with those questions together.

4 takeaways for church leaders: 

1. Growth requires honest conversations.
Church leaders need places where they can openly discuss challenges without pretending they have everything figured out. As Garrison noted, “It’s important for pastors not to chase numbers.” The conversational format created space for pastors to learn from both successes and struggles by speaking openly and honestly with each other.

2. The next step is often more practical than it is complicated.
Rather than searching for a single program or strategy to solve every problem, leaders were encouraged to identify practical actions that can move their churches forward. As Martin noted, it’s important for each pastor to keep his eyes on his own race and not focus on the success that other pastors are experiencing, because every pastor, calling and church is different.

3. Other pastors can be a valuable source of wisdom.
One of the strengths of the conference was the opportunity to learn from peers. Pastors facing similar challenges can often provide perspective, encouragement and ideas that cannot be found in a textbook or seminar. VanCamp encouraged pastors to visualize the task to which they are called, vocalize that vision to others and verify what the Lord is doing in their ministry.

4. Every church needs to ask, “What next?”
Church growth is not simply about getting bigger. It is about faithfully leading people toward greater spiritual maturity and missional engagement, which requires church leaders to continually evaluate where they are and prayerfully consider the next faithful step. As Garrison noted, the typical church is structured for where it is now. If it desires growth, it needs to want to grow, and it needs to expand its capacity to grow.

For the Arizona Mission Network, the response to what was shared at What Next? during the concluding Q/A session demonstrated why creating spaces for practical, peer-to-peer conversations can benefit pastors and leaders across Arizona.

Sometimes the most important conference question isn’t, “What did you learn?” More meaningfully, it’s, “What next?”

Philip W. Calvert is senior pastor of Trinity Southern Baptist Church in Casa Grande.