Prayer is a foundation of a healthy Christian life and church. Karl Vaters talks with Chris Paavola about four strategic ways his church prays that can help any church lay a more solid foundation for health.

The foundation of this conversation is a talk Chris gives to pastors, titled 4 Ways Small Churches Can Grow in Prayer.

1. Sunday Intercessory Prayer
2. Prayer Services
3. Prayerwalking
4. A new way to take prayer requests

This last point comes straight from the Bible using the for/that method. It can make your church prayer request times feel less like gossip and more like the time of connection and intercession they’re meant to be.

Chris Paavola is a pastor in Battle Creek Michigan who has written and spoken extensively about prayer, including Pray What You See: A Five-Week Prayerwalk Challenge.

Bonus Content

One Statement, One Question: The Power of a Simple Witness in a Complicated World, with Chris Paavola

Karl Vaters talks with Chris Paavola about how the resurrection of Jesus changed (and still changes) everything, especially to cut through the clutter by bringing unbelievers into the real reason we believe what we believe.

One Statement: “That’s not why I believe.”

One Question: “What do you think happened on Easter morning?”

Links:

PrayForYourChurch.com

@chris_paavola on Instagram

@chris_paavola on X (Twitter)

Using AI To Find Great Sermon Illustrations, with Darrell Stetler (Ep 111)

Books:

Pray What You See: A Five-Week Prayerwalk Challenge

25 Prayers to Christmas: Praying through the Christmas story

52 Prayers for Your Church: Because there's so much to pray

The Seven Symbols of Ash: An Interactive Ash Wednesday Experience

Less for More: Seven fasts in seven weeks for more of Jesus

40 Prayers to Launch: 40 prayers to help people pray for your church plant’s launch

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Karl Vaters talks with Tim Walker about three important subjects: First, they talk about the new world of the “side hustle” culture, and why it can be an answer for pastors and churches to do more ministry with less stress.

Second, the importance of creating margin in our life, our finances, our time, our energy, and our families.

Third, Tim introduces us to the importance of time away from the church, the value of travel, and how to do this well without adding an additional financial burden, through the lessons he's learned about travel hacking.

Tim is the pastor of Restored Church in Wilkes-Barre, PA, and runs the Travel Multiplier website.

Links:

• Travel Multiplier
• Seats.aero
• Point.me
• The Church Lobby, Ep 86 with Tim Walker

There is no Bonus Content for this episode.

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Karl Vaters talks with Dr. Shaunti Feldhahn and Dr. James N. Sells about the state of mental and emotional care in our culture, and how churches are uniquely situated to alleviate these needs in healthy, life-giving ways.

The conversation focuses on the CARE strategy (Coordinated Attention, Restoration, and Encouragement), and how churches of any size can be better equipped to help, starting with renewing friendships, training a CARE coordinator, and more, based on the content of their book, When Hurting People Come to Church: How People of Faith Can Help Solve the Mental Health Crisis, which was named one of Karl’s top books of the year for 2025.

Links:

• When Hurting People Come to Church: How People of Faith Can Help Solve the Mental Health Crisis
• CARE Pyramids Illustrations
• My Top Nonfiction Books Of 2025
• When Hurting People Come to Church (Free first chapter)
• The Church Cares Initiative
• The Church Cares Kit
• Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling (by Andy Crouch)

Bonus Content

Three Key People Every Church Needs to Help Hurting People, with Shaunti Feldhahn & James N. Sells

Your church doesn’t need a licensed counselor to help people with emotional needs. Karl Vaters talks with Dr. Shaunti Feldhahn & Dr. James N. Sells about the three key people every church should have in place to help the hurting people who come to every church.

This conversation is based on the content of their book, When Hurting People Come to Church: How People of Faith Can Help Solve the Mental Health Crisis, which was named one of Karl’s top books of the year for 2025.

To get Bonus Content every week, click here to become a Financial Partner, or here to subscribe to the Free Weekly Newsletter.