Tony and team launched The Unstuck Church Podcast in 2016, and it quickly became one of the most popular ministry leadership podcasts available, with nearly 1.5 million downloads as of 2024.
As we reflect and celebrate his life, we wanted to share a round-up of the top 10 most-listened to episodes he and Amy Anderson produced on topics of church health, growth, and leadership.
Top 10 Episodes of The Unstuck Church Podcast:
- Reaching New People Through Weekend Services – Episode 232
- Many people try to make the case that Sunday services don’t work anymore when it comes to connecting new people to faith, but our data from working with hundreds of churches suggests otherwise. In this episode, Tony, Amy and Sean shared their insights.
- 7 Shifts Churches Need to Make Because of the Coronavirus – Episode 142
- In characteristic fashion, Tony wrote an exceptional article when the COVID-19 pandemic first started shutting the world down with poignant insights into what that experience would mean for church leaders. In this episode, he and Amy expounded on the shifts he believed churches needed to start making. These were not short-term solutions, but observations about the lasting impact to expect and the ways the pandemic would accelerate trends that were already happening. Ministry leaders still need to be making these shifts.
- The Core Issues of Multisite – Episode 142
- Not all multisite strategies produce the same results. In this episode, Tony shared what he believes are the best ways to do multisite. It was controversial at times… but he never minded that 🙂
- The Truth About Multisite – Episode 236
- Recent public multisite collapses have some church leaders questioning the viability of the model as a whole. But after decades spent in ministry, Tony believed that when multisite is done correctly, it can be an effective strategy for carrying out the mission of the Church. In this episode, he addressed some common misconceptions.
- Signs You Need to Restructure: Overstaffing – Episode 252
- In this episode, Tony and Amy walked through a number of early warning signs that it’s time to address staffing issues and restructure in your ministry team.
- Simple Shifts: What Doesn’t Need to Change? – Episode 239
- Towards the end of the pandemic, so many pastors were discouraged. Tony believed that shifts in how we do church did in fact need to happen, but that for the most part what was needed was not a complete overhaul. In this episode, he and Amy discussed micro-churches and the metaverse, why so many pastors were thinking about quitting, and getting back to ministry fundamentals.
- The Best Practices of Multisite – Episode 238
- Tony and Amy shared best practices for selecting and launching a new campus.
- Moving People from Services to Serving – Episode 257
- Tony and Amy offered four practical insights and strategies for moving more people and leaders from attending services to serving others through volunteering,
- How to Find & Measure Leaders in Your Church – Episode 222
- Leadership can feel abstract and hard to measure. In this episode, Tony and Amy shared how to identify and define leadership, why volunteer leadership can make or break church health, the best way to track leadership in your church, and five next steps for empowering more leaders.
- Metrics & Benchmarks for Your Front Door and Connections – Episode 221
- Tony was a numbers guy. He believed you measure what matters, and that while metrics cannot tell us the whole story, they do provide some warning signs. In this episode, Tony and Amy broke down the “what” and the “how” of tracking your front door, connections, and discipleship.
We treasure the fact that church leaders will be able to continue to listen to his voice and his wisdom with an archive of more than 360 episodes that he recorded over eight years.
He leaves behind a legacy of thought leadership, innovation, and a deep commitment to helping churches thrive. We will continue to share his work in his honor.
