Podcasts about connection point

Most churches don’t start thinking about leadership development until a key person resigns. By then, the only real option is to post the role and hope someone qualified applies. In this special compilation episode, we’ve pulled together four conversations with leaders who have built the habit of developing people long before the seat opens up. The churches growing fastest right now are rarely the ones with the best job postings. They’re the ones who already know who’s next. Don’t miss the four critical lessons every church should consider as they head into fall hiring and budget planning. From the leadership model that quietly keeps benches empty to a mindset shift about where leaders actually come from to a challenge you could give your team on Monday to the structure that produces people you can genuinely put on payroll, each conversation offers a practical step forward. The Model Nobody Names Out Loud Tim Foot explains what he calls hero-driven leadership: the habit of relying too heavily on standout individuals to carry the mission. It produces short-term results, but it creates burnout, unrealistic hiring expectations, and fragile systems. What makes it so hard to escape is that it feels good. It feels productive to be the person who solves the problems and holds the answers. Foot also names the “shiny object trap,” where churches chase talent from larger organizations only to discover that the leader arrives with a playbook that doesn’t fit and no systems to support them. Key Takeaway // Hero dependence is a staffing strategy, whether or not anyone chose it on purpose. Healthy teams are built when leaders get comfortable saying they don’t know what to do next, because that’s what opens the room for collaboration. Listen to the Full Episode // Hero Dependence Is a Terrible Growth Strategy with Tim Foot (June 18, 2026) The Leaders Are Already in Your Building Spence Shelton draws a parallel most church leaders have never made. We all agree that growing a church by reaching lost people beats growing it by transfer from other churches. Then, when it comes to leaders, we reverse the logic and look for someone who’s already trained elsewhere. Shelton makes the case for the shoulder tap: intentionally asking someone whether God might be calling them into ministry. At Mercy Church, both executive pastors and two of three campus pastors came out of the marketplace, from banking, plant management, and physical therapy. None of them would have applied. Somebody had to ask. Key Takeaway // Many future ministry leaders never consider vocational ministry because no one ever raised the possibility with them. Developing from within takes longer than hiring from outside, and it produces leaders shaped by your church’s culture rather than someone else’s. Listen to the Full Episode // Stop Plucking Talent, Start Developing It with Spence Shelton (August 6, 2026) The Challenge That Costs Nothing Chris Vaught faced the constraint every growing church knows well. Connection Point was growing fast, but budget always arrives last, and southeastern Missouri isn’t a place people relocate to for a ministry position. So the church started looking at its own congregation and treating volunteers as unpaid staff with real roles and responsibilities. The starting point was a single challenge to every staff member: go find your Timothy. One person you invest in deeply enough that if you were out on a Sunday, the ministry would still run. Key Takeaway // A leadership pipeline doesn’t have to begin with a budget line. It can begin with one question asked of every staff member about who could carry their ministry if they weren’t there next weekend. Listen to the Full Episode // From 300 to 2,500: Building a Leadership Pipeline That Fuels Growth with Chris Vaught (September 25, 2025) Training Is Not Development Dave Miller draws a distinction that reframes what most churches call leadership development. Churches are excellent at training: the sermon, the class, the book of the month, the small group discussion. All of it is content delivery, and content has never been more available. Development is something else. Miller’s team identifies seven ingredients: training, spiritual formation, soft skills, ownership, mental wellness, and developmental conversations. He also challenges leaders on where accountability sits. When a sports team wins, we talk about the players. When it loses, we replace the manager. Church leaders should apply the same standard to the people they’re developing. Key Takeaway // If content were the key ingredient, leadership development would already be solved. What emerging leaders need is proximity, ownership, and someone willing to slow down and have the conversation. Listen to the Full Episode // Who’s the Next You? Building a Gen Z Residency Pipeline with Dave Miller (September 11, 2025) These four conversations form a ladder, and you don’t have to start at the top. Most churches never start at all because they assume the only real option is a residency program they can’t yet afford. Tim named the model keeping your bench empty. Spence gave the mindset shift and the shoulder tap. Chris gave the first move that costs nothing. Dave gave the structure that produces people you can hire. As you head into this fall, the question worth bringing to your next staff meeting is simple: who on our team has never been tapped on the shoulder, and what would it take to have that conversation this month? Thank You for Tuning In! There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I'm grateful for that. If you enjoyed today's show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they're extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally! Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: TouchPoint As your church reaches more people, one of the biggest challenges is making sure no one slips through the cracks along the way.TouchPoint Church Management Software is an all-in-one ecosystem built for churches that want to elevate discipleship by providing clear data, strong engagement tools, and dependable workflows that scale as you grow. TouchPoint is trusted by some of the fastest-growing and largest churches in the country because it helps teams stay aligned, understand who they're reaching, and make confident ministry decisions week after week. If you've been wondering whether your current system can carry your next season of growth, it may be time to explore what TouchPoint can do for you. You can evaluate TouchPoint during a free, no-pressure one-hour demo at TouchPointSoftware.com/demo. Episode Transcript Rich Birch — At the beginning of 2026, we surveyed executive pastors like you and nearly one in four named that staff health and structure, how we get our teams to work together was your top fear going into 2026. You know and I know it, you probably have an open role at your church that you’re trying to fill, or you’re maybe about to have an open role. When a key person leaves your team and your instinct is just to post it, what can we do?Rich Birch — Finding, releasing, equipping leadership is critically important. Welcome to the last compilation episode of summer 2026 here on the unSeminary podcast. Super excited about today’s conversation, all about developing leaders within our organizations.Rich Birch — I know that in many churches, we think of this as a season where new staff are hiring or we’re hiring them into new roles. We’re working on budget planning for next year. There’s all the fall ramp up.Rich Birch — All four of these conversations are going to be helpful for you. The first one, we’ve got Tim Foot. He is the CEO of Slingshot, has nearly 30 years in ministry leadership, and his team has literally worked with thousands of churches on staffing.Rich Birch — Listen to this kickoff to today’s conversation, really setting up the tension that we find ourselves in. He names the leadership model that most of us have absorbed without anyone talking about it out loud, and it could be derailing your church and my church. Let’s listen in to what Tim has to say about developing leaders. [Clip 1 Begins]Tim Foot — Yeah, I mean, the model we see is hero-driven leadership. It’s when we rely too much on individuals to actually carry the mission. And I think the cracks have happened.Tim Foot — I mean, we’ve seen it, Rich. You and I are similar ages. I think the cracks are happening generationally.Tim Foot — The builders and boomers were wired differently for a different time and culture. And us Gen Xers, we can code switch. I mean, we see that happening all the time.Tim Foot — And as we stepped into leadership, the cracks started to appear. I mean, we see it every week, another leader burning out, doing stupid things because of too much pressure. Then Millennials and Gen Z are now leading in a new way that we need to embrace.Tim Foot — And so I think we’re seeing those cracks around that hero dependence, and we’re starting to see the need more than ever to have a team awareness, a holistic approach, or we’re just going to have leaders continue to burn out. And we see it around unrealistic hiring expectations, lack of support for great leaders when they’re hired, a lack of development. Hero dependence is a terrible staffing and growth strategy and becomes a massive trap when it comes to a number of the key focus areas or patterns we’ve seen that healthy teams focus on a move mission forward.Rich Birch — Yeah, see, this is the thing when you I heard you say that once and it literally I sat up and I was like, oh, man, I’ve seen that in my own, you know, my own hiring. I’ve seen that in the way I’ve talked with, you know, I see the leaders around me. You see these people who they’ve kind of built the entire ministry around themselves and they’ve built it’s like it doesn’t work if they don’t. It’s like they’re such a unique individual. They have to lift it all. Rich Birch — Like, why do we keep coming back to that? Why? Even if we know like intellectually in our heads, yeah, that’s not a good idea.Rich Birch — But what makes that model so sticky? It feels like we just keep coming back to this same thing time. In fact, we actually reward it. We’ll be like, wow, isn’t that great? This person’s amazing. And we just kind of keep moving on. Why is that?Tim Foot — It’s the shiny object trap. I mean, the shiny object, aka the talented leader that we think is going to catapult the ministry. Often we see it in hiring conversations when a particular organization wants to go after somebody that’s been in a much bigger organization than them.Tim Foot — And often that person, if they can attract them, will come in with a playbook that isn’t uniquely suited to the organization they’re stepping into. Or there aren’t systems to support that new leader and the growth that’s going to happen. And burnout happens at every level.Tim Foot — But we both know, Rich, busy work makes us feel productive. But is it the right work? And we know that we can be ourselves the shiny object. It feels good to be the hero. It feels good to be the one that’s solving problems. It feels good to be the one that has all the answers.Tim Foot — And I think that’s one of the biggest threats in healthy leadership today, is feeling like you have to have all the answers. Because I think one of the most powerful statements from healthy leaders and healthy teams is, Hey, we don’t know what to do next. Because it actually opens up the room for new thought. It opens up the room for collaboration. And it opens up the room for teamwork. Tim Foot — But it’s easier to move quick. It’s easier to move quick and be surrounded by people who agree and play it safe. And then down the road, we realize that we weren’t growing in every sense of that word. And the mission was stalled out.Tim Foot — We know we often have to slow down, re-strategize, look at who’s around the table, work out how we work together to move faster in the long term. We have to be vulnerable to make a team work. And sometimes it requires us to actually help others win than focus on heroes.Tim Foot — I mean, you think about a winning sports team. It’s not about just one person out there doing all the work. We’ve got to work together as a team.Tim Foot — You know, it’s how do we work together and have less dependence on that shiny object, those standout leaders or those heroes. [Clip 1 Ends]Rich Birch — Oh, so good. You know, Tim named something there. Man, it feels good to be the person with all the answers.Rich Birch — Can I have a little confessional time with you, friends? Earlier parts of my ministry career, I have really struggled with that. I wanted to be the person who had all the answers, but it’s a trap. And most of us find ourselves in it. Rich Birch — We’ve got to move beyond hero dependence, either wanting to be the hero or to find heroes. It’s not a character flaw. It’s a system that ultimately rewards the wrong thing. Rich Birch — So the question that I have is what is the alternative? Where do we go if we’re not just trying to hire the next shiny object?Rich Birch — The thing that will, the person that will, you know, plug in like a thing, where do leaders actually come from? I love this conversation coming up with Spence Shelton as the lead pastor of Mercy Church in Charlotte, planted in 2015, now three campuses online, plus launching a family of churches. I want you to listen for a few things.Rich Birch — First of all, Spence parallels, makes a parallel that I really have not heard many people say between how we think about reaching people who are far from God and how we think about finding leaders and how these two are connected. Listen carefully for the shoulder tap that he talks about. You know, oftentimes one of the things I find most revealing about podcast interviews is people say things just in the sides that really do under that, that give you a sense of what’s actually going on under the hood and pay attention to where his executive pastor campus pastors come from.Rich Birch — Let’s listen in to what Spence Shelton has to say. [Clip 2 Begins]Spence Shelton — I think that mentality starts all the way down to the idea of reaching people that don’t know Christ versus just sheep swapping from one church to the other church, right? So you can grow your church by transfer growth, which I actually am one who, hey man, if somebody’s on the sideline in one church and then they plug into your church, I’m all for it. And if the same thing happens with Mercy, all for it.Spence Shelton — But our aim, what we all know as pastors and ministry leaders is our aim is, man, let’s reach lost people and then disciple them, right? The same thing I think should be true with leadership development. For some reason, when it comes then to developing leaders, we tend to go a different direction and think, well, let’s just go find where some leaders are and get them to plug in.Spence Shelton — It’s like, we don’t do that even with discipleship. Why are we switching our mindset? And so I want to just kind of, I have to, I was convicted and wanted to call our church and I would call others to the same mindset that you have with discipleship.Spence Shelton — Let that carry over into your leadership and your leadership development as well. And I think that’s how we’re going to grow, just as how we’re going to grow the kingdom by reaching lost people, how we’re going to grow the leaders in the kingdom, the number of leaders we have, it’s going to be developing them in our church. And I just, I don’t know that we’re even thinking that way and asking the question, is the guy who’s a 27-year-old physical therapist in my church, has anybody ever bothered to tap him on the shoulder and ask, Hey man, could God be calling you into ministry because I watch you?Spence Shelton — And no, we’re not doing the shoulder tap, man. And so, um, our right now, I just, I love it. I’m just a little bit of the story of our church. Our exec, both of our executive pastors and two of our three campus pastors were all in the marketplace. Spence Shelton — One of our executive pastors was in banking. Another was a plant manager. We have two campus pastors who were both, I use physical therapists cause they’re both former physical therapists. And you know, we’re sitting there having these conversations. You know, what makes a great pastor is someone who has sat with person after person, told them, Hey, you should do this to feel better.Spence Shelton — And then they come back to you later and say, Hey, I don’t feel better. And you say, did you do the thing I told you to do? And they say, no. And you say, well, you should have done that. Spence Shelton — And a patient long suffering physical therapist turns out to be a great pastor, but somebody has got to tap him on the shoulder and say, Hey man, I think God might be calling you into this. Spence Shelton — And so my, my encouragement to anybody who’s in ministry right now, kind of in that leadership development role. And you’re like, I don’t know, we’re going to have to go outside to find some talent. I promise it’s going to take longer the way I’m talking about. But if you will seek the Lord, ask the Lord, and then start shoulder tapping and giving some opportunities for guys to lead for men and women to lead there in your ministry and whatever the leadership roles might be. I think there might be more people in there than you realize, because I believe that God provides for the church that he’s growing, that he’s called you to lead. And so I think that’s true with leaders as well. [Clip 2 Ends]Rich Birch — Hey, friends, 9 out of 10 campus pastors, they do come from within. So if you are launching new locations in the future, man, we got to start developing campus pastors today. Rich Birch — But I know some of you are saying, listen, listen, listen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That all sounds good. Shoulder tapping. Great, great, great. Rich Birch — But how, how do I do it? How do I train my team to do it? How do we motivate, stay focused on this? Rich Birch — The gap that my, what I have found, it’s not desire. It’s not even understand that people don’t understand that that’s how we do it. It’s not a resistance to those things. It’s none of that. It’s just that nobody owns it because you see development is everyone’s job, which means that it’s nobody’s job.Rich Birch — It’s easy for this to fall through the cracks. Aren’t we all supposed to be developing leaders? So if we’re all developing leaders, my experience has been that means that really none of us are or we’re not doing it in a systematic way.Rich Birch — Super excited to have Chris Vaught with us. He is the lead pastor of Connection Point Church in Missouri. Listen, it grew from 300 people in 2011 to 2,500 today across multiple campuses.Rich Birch — And he outlines one challenge that Chris gave every staff member. And I really want you to listen carefully for this, because to be honest, this is pure unSeminary magic. This is like what I love about our podcast.Rich Birch — You could take this out of this interview today and put it into your next team meeting on Monday. Apply it to your church. Let’s listen in for what Chris wants to say to you about how we train people to shoulder tap, find leaders and release them. [Clip 3 Begins]Chris Vaught — You can only hire out so much, right? Because even though our church has grown fast, budget always comes up last. But you have to look at other avenues other than just, oh, I’ll hire another position.Chris Vaught — So we started looking at congregation. We began to develop our own leadership pathway or pipeline to develop not only volunteers, but our future staff. We knew we grew really fast. We need to hire from within, but we still couldn’t hire every position. Chris Vaught — So we started looking at our volunteers as almost as non-paid staff positions. And so we have an atmosphere of expectation of roles and responsibilities and also the value of what they’re doing.Chris Vaught — That the kingdom is dependent upon all of us using our gifts and talents. And so we started this pathway. And at first it was simply a challenge to every staff member. You go find your Timothy. You go find one other person that you can invest yourself into, a volunteer. Chris Vaught — So that if on Saturday night, and here was kind of the criteria for us: if on Saturday night, something were to happen and you catch COVID. Okay. We’re at that time. Could this ministry run the next day because of the person you have personally equipped… Rich Birch — I love that clarity. Chris Vaught — …to hold the ministry.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s so good.Rich Birch — We began to put those pieces together. That’s right. You go ahead. I cut you off there. Chris Vaught — No, no. I was just saying that’s what we began. We began this pipeline and that was really the basic level at first. Every staff member finding that one Timothy, if you will, if you want to use that terminology, that could run that ministry if you were out. [Clip 3 Ends]Rich Birch — See what I told you? The Saturday night test is literally the cheapest leadership development tool in this entire episode. If you do nothing else out of today’s episode, do that.Rich Birch — But I know, listen, there can be a gap on that, a ceiling. Finding your Timothy fills gaps, but it does not produce people necessarily kind of week-in, week-out that you could put on print a payroll. You need to also do some development. You need to have some intentional leadership development.Rich Birch — Most churches, again, think that they’re developing leaders, but they’re really just handing out books or running a monthly team meeting, that sort of thing. I want to introduce you, reintroduce you to my friend Dave Miller. He’s a former worship and creative arts pastor in Las Vegas, in Kentucky, in Michigan, and he and his team have worked with over 150 churches and over 160 residents.Rich Birch — What do we mean by residents? These are people that are in the pipeline for thinking clearly in their lives about joining your staff team or staff teams of another church somewhere across the country. He defines seven ingredients.Rich Birch — Listen, I had the honor of writing the foreword to Dave’s book, Who’s the Next You? I would highly recommend you pick up a copy of that and think through that. But let’s listen in a little bit of what Dave has to say today. [Clip 4 Begins]Dave Miller — Well, we would say there’s seven ingredients. There’s a chapter in the book, seven ingredients. You can get it on our website right now.Dave Miller — Seven ingredients of what we would say is leadership development. So what you’re talking about, really, a sermon is training, if you think about it, like in a, in a market sense, I’m going to talk at you for 35 minutes. There’s four points. It’s very good. It’s inspired. It’s like Ted, Ted, long Ted Talk every 52 times a year, plus Christmas Eve and whatever.Dave Miller — And I would just say, we call that training. Churches for a long time have done really, really well with training, right? It’s either it’s the sermon or it’s Sunday school. It’s even the AI delivered small group questions I get from my men’s group, right? Dave Miller — It is staff. When I say, do y’all do leadership development? Yeah. Tell me about that.Dave Miller — And they start talking about your book or Carey's book or Craig Groeschel's book. It’s a book of the month. It’s conversation. Even now, now we’ve taken training and we’re still delivering the content, but we’re discussing it and we’re filling in blanks. Right. And we do that. Dave Miller — And, or spiritual formation. I had a well-known keynote kind of person. We just need to disciple these kids and get out of their way. And I was like, Oh, neat. Actually we don’t. Dave Miller — We did that once. It’s called the Jesus movement. I think that was the Jesus movement or the Jesus people in the early seventies, which kind of mirrors what’s going on on college campuses, you think. Dave Miller — We don’t need to just disciple them and get… We got to go with them. So, so training, spiritual formation, soft skills, which is the pain point of all the bosses, the emotional lack of intelligence of things. Those would be the three core ones.Dave Miller — And then we have to provide best practices. We have to, we have to provide ownership, which is a big thing for us in our small business, small church world at the 12 month mark. When we’re saying, well, she just doesn’t get it. She didn’t get, Oh, what doesn’t she get? Dave Miller — He just doesn’t understand what… We talk about our downline people as if they’re executive leaders with 20 years of experience. It would be totally fine for someone to accuse me of something like that.Dave Miller — But like when we think of sports, we don’t talk about individual players. We talk about the coaches. When the team’s losing, whose fault is it? As a lifetime Cincinnati Reds fan we change the manager. We don’t talk about number 78 and 14. Dave Miller — When the team’s doing amazing, it’s about the player.He’s killing it. She’s killing it. He’s killing it. When the team is losing, we have to own it similarly.Dave Miller — This is on us. Rich Birch — Wow. Wow. Dave Miller — Mental wellness. One of the seven things, mental wellness. If you can’t prove to me that you know, I’m not, I’m not here giving you even a theological construct. Cause we work with all sorts of churches that believe all sorts of things, right? But mental health, if you can’t prove to me that you have a plan, at least, or you’ve thought about it, that’s gonna be a problem. We’re checking it on. Dave Miller — And then finally developmental conversations. This is not delivered only through training to your point. [Clip 4 Ends]Rich Birch — What a fantastic group of conversations. Just a thin slice of so many of the conversations we’ve had over the last year in this whole area. Rich Birch — Tim, he named the model that can keep your and my bench empty. Spence gave us the mindset shift and the shoulder tap. Chris gave us the simplest form of the really first move that costs you absolutely nothing. And Dave finally gave you the formal structure that produces people you could hire, put on your team long-term.Rich Birch — Listen, you do not need to start at the top. Most churches never start at all because they only think the real option is just going out and hiring people externally. Listen, really the question I want to leave you with is where Tim started us at the beginning.Rich Birch — Maybe dear listener, you are listening in today and you have the hero mindset. Maybe you need to start with you and figure out what you can do in your area to pass it all along. Listen, we’ve got links for all these four episodes in the show notes here at unSeminary.Rich Birch — We’re on a mission to help 100 churches grow by a thousand people. We do that through these free podcasts, courses, coaching, cohorts. We do a lot to try to get in your corner.Rich Birch — We’ve got so much coming up this fall. Stay tuned. Some great stuff coming your way to see your church be more effective.Rich Birch — Thanks so much, friends. Take care.

Send us a textIn a rapidly evolving telecommunications landscape, where customer choice and switching costs continue to shift, TELUS is rising above the noise. As Canada's fastest-growing national telco, TELUS is redefining what it means to maintain loyalty—not just through connectivity, but by embedding value into every facet of the customer experience.  In this edition of Leaders in Customer Loyalty: Brand Stories, Loyalty360 spoke with Jacob Pullia, who leads the national TELUS Rewards program. Pullia discusses the launch of the unified national program, the strategic partnerships driving deeper engagement, and how TELUS is adapting loyalty to match the needs of a price-sensitive, digitally enabled consumer base.  

BREAK UP WITH BROKE: amyvanmeijl.com/breakupwithbrokeThe audio journey designed to release worry, reframe debt and recalibrate your thinking to welcome in expansion and wealth into your life.Get on the INSIGHTS email list:  amyvanmeijl.com/insightsThe days that we are sobbing our eyes out, wondering if we're ever going to create what we so deeply are trying to create - those days are hard AF.And those days are what help you connect with the heart of the humans you're here to help.Today I'm talking about:The hard daysThe massive opportunity that is unfolding FOR usThe greatest wealth transfer in history and how that is SO POWERFUL for women everywhereWhy your greatest struggle IS your greatest connection point and value to the worldPress play babe.--FREE Group Coaching Call - June 25th:WIELD YOUR VOICE: Be heard, be seen, be respected.REGISTER HERE.--WORK WITH ME 1:1:90 Mins 1:1: amyvanmeijl.com/coaching3 month Next Level Intensive Mentorship: amyvanmeijl.com/nextlevel--GO DEEPER:Freebies, coaching & money programs: amyvanmeijl.com -- SUBMIT A QUESTION: Submit a question to the podcast: amyvanmeijl.com/podcastquestions -- SOCIALS & SHARE A REVIEW: 

Today's podcast reviews a topic of conversation that came up last night with some colleagues in the behavioral science field. The question of how to get people on board to apply newer ideas like ours can be challenging, so I shared what I've learned as a useful frame for doing so. Curiously enough, the approach I share is quite generalizable across a number of situations, so I take some time to articulate it here. I hope you find it insightful! As always, thanks for listening. Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Topics Discussed: - Building Authentic Relationships in Business- The Importance of Long-Term Connections- Transparency in the Food Industry: Building Trust and Loyalty- Navigating Distributor Relationships- Sales Strategies and Incentives

Rob Harvey specializes in cooperative, fun social skills groups, using creative strategies to teach social language in ways that truly resonate. Today, we explore the transformative power of thinking outside the box when it comes to social skills development.Rob's innovative approach integrates therapy with theater and tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons. Starting with theater, learners practice social skills by engaging with scripts during rehearsals and performing in front of an audience. This structured setting provides a safe space for learners to build confidence, interact, and refine their social abilities.Seeking opportunities to promote improvisational skills, Rob turned to one of his passions: tabletop role-playing games. These activities go beyond scripts, encouraging learners to dive into spontaneous social interactions. They don't just foster interest and motivation—they offer real-life experiences, helping learners develop initiation skills, express emotion, and create lasting connections that extend beyond the group."Lead with joy" is a message Rob passionately shares, and it's his top tip for launching bold, innovative therapy ideas. Find someone who shares your excitement, and imagine the possibilities that emerge when you embrace silliness! Breaking that barrier opens the door to incredible engagement and connection.#autism #speectherapyWhat's Inside:Creating community with social language skill groups.Creative, cooperative, and out of the box therapy strategies.Table top role play and theater as social skills practice.What it means to “Lead with Joy”.Mentioned In This Episode:Rob Harvey (@therapeuticdungeonmaster) - InstagramJoin the ABA SPEECH Connection - Professionals Join the ABA SPEECH Connection - Parents Rose Griffin (@abaspeechbyrose) on Instagram

Be Spiritually Alert to Divine Appointments with Others . . . I. Divine Appointments take God's Initiative, Our Discomfort and Obedience! (26-29) II. Divine Appointments travel from a Connection Point to Bearing Witness to Jesus! (30-35) III. Divine Appointments Invite a Response and Commitment to Jesus! (36-40) Practical Implications o How can you be more alert to others? o What barriers need to be crucified in your life? o What connections can you cultivate and follow?

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. I'm Chuck Zimmerman. It's almost time for the 2024 Agri-Marketing Conference that is put on by the National Agri-Marketing Association. ZimmComm will be there to celebrate our 20th anniversary in our Connection Point booth. We've got more to come on this when we get to the conference later this month. In this episode I'm talking with Lori Kruger, Signal Theory, and Chair for the Agri-Marketing Conference committee. We'll do a preview of what you'll find. In case you haven't registered it's easy to go to the NAMA website and get it done. So, that's the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for listening.

The Nebraska United Methodist Foundation has a series of grants to help local ministries get started, expand and augment their reach to their communities. This episode tells the stories of three ministries assisted by these grants in Nebraska — an entrepreneurial idea at Connection Point in Lincoln, children's and youth curriculum for The Vine United Methodist Church in Scottsbluff, and a different way to help Brady UMC in the North Platte area worship without a pastor. Learn more about the Nebraska foundation.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. I'm Chuck Zimmerman. Once again I learned all about what's new in the world of agribusiness for Syngenta during the Commodity Classic which was just held in Houston, TX. So this episode will feature interviews I did in the Syngenta booth.  Between Cindy and myself this was our 7th conference of the year. You can find virtual newsrooms from them all on AgNewsWire.com. In there are photos and lots of interviews. So, these are some interview I picked out to provide a good selection of topics from Syngenta: Eric Boeck, Regional Director North America Seeds at Syngenta; Liz Hunt, Sustainable & Responsible Business Head, Syngenta; Jim Shertzer, Head of Branded Marketing, Syngenta North America Seeds; Matt Dolch and Jared Benson, NK corn and soybean product managers; Kramer Farney, Golden Harvest head of marketing Next on the AgriBlogging Highway Cindy will be at the ACE DC Fly-in. I will be at the Agri-Pulse Ag & Food Policy Summit and National Ag Day activities. Then we will both be at the Agri-Marketing Conference in Kansas City, MO with a booth in the Connection Point. We launched ZimmComm publicly at the 2004 Agri-Marketing Conference. We are already celebrating 20 years since we created ZimmComm and “What a long, strange trip it's been.” BTW. I did see Grateful Dead live and in concert many, many years ago. That's the ZimmCast for now. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

Traditional Easter Worship | Bishop Bob Hayes |Welcome to Easter Sunday — the most important day of our Christian faith. We are delighted that you have joined us to celebrate our Lord's victory over sin and death. May you feel God's presence as you encounter the risen Savior through the music, prayers, Scriptures and spoken word. If you are a visitor, stop by Connection Point in the Atrium to pick up a gift and obtain more information about our church. Everything we do is rooted in the Good News of Jesus Christ. Again, thank you for being with us — you are welcome here!

Pastor Blake continues the series. Find the sermon notes at FaithNFM.com.

The 2023 Agri-Marketing Conference is approaching fast. You can still register right here. And in this episode you can hear a comprehensive preview of the conference from Vice Chair, Lori Kruger, Signal Theory. In 2004 Cindy and I announced the start of ZimmComm at the conference which means we're starting our 20th year!! It was one of the best decisions we have made and we will be exhibiting once again in the Connection Point. I'll be easy to find and hope you will stop by. I'll have the Golden ZimmComm Microphone ready to conduct interviews. I'd like you to tell me a little about your what you do, your company and your products/services. Simple. No wrong answers.  You can also enter our booth drawing which is a Supernote A6 X bundle that includes pen and folio. It is a dedicated digital note taking device! I want to thank Lori and all the committee members and staff for putting together a fantastic looking conference agenda. I hope to see you there. That's the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

Loft Worship | Luann Riley |For centuries, Christians have observed the season of Lent, the 40 days leading up to Easter. It is a season of prayer, fasting and preparation. This Lent, we'll be focusing on our need to repent, to turn from our sinful ways and back to God. Each week we'll look at the message from a different Minor Prophet and learn modern, practical lessons about what it means to return to God. We're so thankful you are with us this morning. If you are a first time guest, please stop by Connection Point after the service — we'd love to get to know you!

Loft Worship | Daniel Lumpee |For centuries, Christians have observed the season of Lent, the 40 days leading up to Easter. It is a season of prayer, fasting and preparation. This Lent, we'll be focusing on our need to repent, to turn from our sinful ways and back to God. Each week we'll look at the message from a different Minor Prophet and learn modern, practical lessons about what it means to return to God. We're so thankful you are with us this morning. If you are a first time guest, please stop by Connection Point after the service — we'd love to get to know you!

I am thrilled to bring you this episode with Emily the Medium. Emily is an incredibly gifted medium and guide. In this episode, Emily shares about what it's like to be a medium, how you can connect with your intuitive gifts, and the beautiful and vast world of spirit babies. She shares about: Her energetic sensitivity and spiritual awareness as a child Her spiritual awakening What it feels like to channel and connect with these intuitive abilities How others can connect with their abilities How to build trust with your intuition What information you can receive through channels, mediums, or psychics The impact of food and alcohol on channeling The lifestyle changes that come with opening your energetic sensitivity Spirit babies!! Including what spirit babies are, a spiritual perspective on fertility challenges and conception, and the value of connecting to spirit babies before and during pregnancy. If you are curious about channelling, mediumship, or intuition, this is an informative and engaging episode. * * * Check out Emily's conception event here. If you are interested in a channeled reading with me, you can book a session with me on my website or through Emily's Connection Point by February 2023. * * * Connect with Emily: Emily's Website: https://www.emilythemedium.com Emily's Instagram: @emilythemedium * * * Website: wildriver.live Instagram: @wildriver Questions? Comments? Want to work together? Send an email to hello@wildriver.live.

Harvest Worship | Pierce Drake | Welcome! It seems we're all in a season of either trying to pull out all the stops or just pull it all together. The season of Christmas invites us to celebrate, but sometimes our reality doesn't match our expectations. We've all been there! We are a church filled with perfectly imperfect people, but we are loved by a perfect God. Would you like to find a place of community and authentic worship with us? Stop by the Connection Point to meet our Welcome Team and pick up a gift for our first-time guests.

Harvest Worship | Mark Sorensen | Welcome! It seems we're all in a season of either trying to pull out all the stops or just pull it all together. The season of Christmas invites us to celebrate, but sometimes our reality doesn't match our expectations. We've all been there! We are a church filled with perfectly imperfect people, but we are loved by a perfect God. Would you like to find a place of community and authentic worship with us? Stop by the Connection Point to meet our Welcome Team and pick up a gift for our first-time guests.

Harvest Worship | Susan Kent | Welcome! It seems we're all in a season of either trying to pull out all the stops or just pull it all together. The season of Christmas invites us to celebrate, but sometimes our reality doesn't match our expectations. We've all been there! We are a church filled with perfectly imperfect people, but we are loved by a perfect God. Would you like to find a place of community and authentic worship with us? Stop by the Connection Point to meet our Welcome Team and pick up a gift for our first-time guests.

Harvest Worship | Mark Sorensen | Welcome! It seems we're all in a season of either trying to pull out all the stops or just pull it all together. The season of Christmas invites us to celebrate, but sometimes our reality doesn't match our expectations. We've all been there! We are a church filled with perfectly imperfect people, but we are loved by a perfect God. Would you like to find a place of community and authentic worship with us? Stop by the Connection Point to meet our Welcome Team and pick up a gift for our first-time guests.

Loft Worship | Daniel Lumpee | Welcome to Loft! We're so thankful that you've chosen to worship with us today. We hope you'll stop by Connection Point after the service, especially if this is your first time with us. We are currently preaching through a series called SeventyX7, where we're looking at what the Bible says about forgiveness. We know how difficult it can be to forgive, so if you struggle with forgiving yourself, others or even God, you're in the right place.

Loft Worship | Luann Riley | Welcome to Loft! We're so thankful that you've chosen to worship with us today. We hope you'll stop by Connection Point after the service, especially if this is your first time with us. We are currently preaching through a series called SeventyX7, where we're looking at what the Bible says about forgiveness. We know how difficult it can be to forgive, so if you struggle with forgiving yourself, others or even God, you're in the right place.

Loft Worship | Daniel Lumpee | Welcome to Loft! If you're visiting with us for the first time, we are so thankful you're with us. I hope you'll find our community to be warm, inviting, casual and filled with the presence of God. We're a church that is passionate about reaching people for Jesus, discipling them in faith and helping those in need. If you have any questions about our church, stop by Connection Point on the way out. We'd love to meet you!

Loft Worship | Shawn Gray | Welcome to Loft! If you're visiting with us for the first time, we are so thankful you're with us. I hope you'll find our community to be warm, inviting, casual and filled with the presence of God. We're a church that is passionate about reaching people for Jesus, discipling them in faith and helping those in need. If you have any questions about our church, stop by Connection Point on the way out. We'd love to meet you!

The Local Lens is a public health podcast going inside one community's experience with the drug epidemic. Everyone in the town of Stanton, KY sees this drug issue differently from each other, either because of their personal lives or professional roles. This show aims to showcase those different perspectives by having honest, in-depth interviews.In nearly every business, people are the most valuable assets of the company. Having the right person in the right role is essential to success, no matter what you're trying to do. In this episode, we're interviewing someone who is undoubtably in the right role.Wendy Anderson is a Peer Support Specialist for S.P.A.R.K. Ministries in Stanton, KY. She spends a couple days a week helping at the Syringe Exchange Program, meeting with people who are actively using drugs and showing them alternatives.We're talking about the connection point that the Syringe Exchange provides. We're talking about the importance of a kind person. We're talking about giving people the option of turning their lives around. These are our people, using our voices, telling our stories, because no one sees it like we do.Visit findhelpnowky.org to find treatment options for you in Kentucky.Contact S.P.A.R.K. Ministries at (606) 344-4103or find them online at http://www.kyspark.org/contact.htmlKeep up with The Local Lens on Facebook, Instagram (@thelocallens_podcast) or on their website.The Local Lens is sponsored by Kentucky Opioid Community Healing (from the Kentucky Rural Health Information Organization) and Powell County CARES (from the Powell County Health Department).Find Powell County CARES on social media:https://www.facebook.com/powellcountycaresInstagram: @powellcountycares

To listen to message Melissa referenced: https://emmaus.church/sermons/the-source-of-the-good-life/

Traditional Worship | Bishop Bob Hayes | Welcome to Easter Sunday — the most important day of our Christian faith! On this day death was defeated with the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and we are delighted you have joined us to celebrate and worship. Here at The Woodlands Methodist Church, everything we do is rooted in the Good News of Jesus Christ. May you feel God's presence as you encounter the risen Lord through the traditional music, prayer and spoken word. If you are a visitor, I encourage you to stop by Connection Point in the Atrium to obtain more information about our church. Again, thank you for being with us!

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast, I'm Chuck Zimmerman. The topic of this episode is the 2022 Agri-Marketing Conference which took place last week. Besides exhibiting in the Connection Point I was also taking photos for NAMA, over 500 of them which you can find in our online album. Just click on the Flickr icon on AgWired.com or AgNewsWire.com to find them. During the conference I recorded remarks from our industry award winners as well as interviewing the new president of NAMA, Deron Johnson, Curious Plot. The Golden ZimmComm Microphone was active in our Connection Point booth and I conducted interviews with a number of attendees and other exhibitors. You can find them all on the virtual newsroom on AgNewsWire.com.  I'm going to share a number of these remarks and interviews with you in this week's program.  That's the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for listening.

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. I'm Chuck Zimmerman. Trips on the agriblogging highway continue with the Agri-Marketing Conference coming up next week. After that conference it will be on to Lexington, KY for the Alltech ONE Conference in May.  ZimmComm will be exhibiting in the Connection Point at the Agri-Marketing Conference once again, in booth 201. The ZimmComm Golden Mic will be there to conduct interviews with attendees. All you have to do is stop by and we can chat about what is new in the world of agribusiness with you. You can also stop by to enter a drawing for a blue Apple HomePod mini while you're at it. To get a preview of this year's NAMA conference I'm sharing a conversation with Tom Posta, Bader Rutter, who is Chair of this year's event.

Loft Worship | Luann Riley | Welcome to Loft! If you're visiting with us for the first time, we are so thankful you're with us. I hope you'll find our community to be warm, inviting, casual and filled with the presence of God. We're a church that is passionate about reaching people for Jesus, discipling them in faith and helping those in need. If you have any questions about our church, stop by Connection Point on the way out, we'd love to meet you!

Loft Worship | Daniel Lumpee | Welcome to Loft! If you're visiting with us for the first time, we are so thankful you're with us. I hope you'll find our community to be warm, inviting, casual and filled with the presence of God. We're a church that is passionate about reaching people for Jesus, discipling them in faith and helping those in need. If you have any questions about our church, stop by Connection Point on the way out, we'd love to meet you!

You're not single because there is something wrong with you. You're single because your person isn't ready for you yet! 

In this powerful message, Pastor Zach Maddox shares how racism gets resolved. Our prayer is that this message encourages you to use power rightly, bless those who persecute you, and pursue loving unity. Notes: Theme: How does racism get resolved? Life Change Goal: Our prayer is that this message encourages you to use power rightly, bless those who persecute you, and pursue loving unity. Text: John 13:34-35 (ESV) Racism gets resolved when we use power rightly. Genesis 1:28 (ESV) Luke 8:40-48 (ESV) Racism gets resolved when we bless those who persecute us. Matthew 5:43-48 (ESV) Luke 7:1-5 (ESV) Romans 5:8-11 (NLT) Racism gets resolved when the church pursues loving unity. John 13:34-35 (ESV) Ephesians 2:14 (NLT) Conclusion: Racism gets resolved when we use power rightly, when we bless those who persecute us, and when we pursue loving unity. In response to this message I will… I will share part of this message with... Discussion Questions: Start Talking. Find a conversation starter for your group. What is your favorite season of the year? Start Thinking. Ask a question to get your group thinking. In what ways or with whom are you sharing Good News, showing compassion, or participating in justice advocacy? Start Sharing. Choose a couple of questions to create openness. When was a time you used power in wrongful ways? Or a time when someone used power incorrectly with you? When was a time you used power correctly? Or a time when someone used power correctly with you? When have you blessed someone who persecuted you? What can you do this week to increase unity with others at Connection Point?

The power of a question is undeniable. The answers you receive when can become connection points. Connection points can and will change everything! Trust me! On this episode, learn how Steve turned his love for Starskys and (not so much) Hutch into a connection point with his favorite customer. That one simple action changed everything! It opened up avenues for more business, a long-lasting friendship and a lesson that both Starskys use to this day! Check out the video to this podcast! https://youtu.be/gGuEbovcn2U

Traditional Worship | Featuring Dr. Ed Robb | Welcome to our Easter worship service. Resurrection Sunday is the foundation of our faith and hope. May you feel God's presence in this space and encounter the Holy Spirit through the traditional music, prayer and spoken word. Everything we do is rooted in the Good News of Jesus Christ. We strive to be the kind of church described in the Bible — one that offers practical, meaningful teaching; a source of true friendships; and care for those in need. If you are a visitor and enjoyed your time with us, we'd love to have you become more involved in our community of faith. I encourage you to visit Connection Point in the lobby outside the Sanctuary main entrance or go online for information about small groups, Bible studies and ministry programs for all ages. Thank you for joining us!

Tracklist: WARM-UP UNFOLDINGS Jero Nougues - Nos Astra (Leo Perez & Dhany G Remix) [DROID9] {WARM-UP UNFOLDING OF THE WEEK} Marsh - Beech Street (Simon Doty Remix) [ANJUNADEEP] Enzo Vood & VegaZ SL - Moonstones (Around Us Remix) [BC2 RECORDS (BALKAN CONNECTION)] Geronimo Eguiguren - Letter for My Mother [BALKAN CONNECTION] dEEPoint - Sunset Point [HIGHWAY RECORDS] {UNFOLDING FROM THE PAST} TRANCE HOUR Au5 & HALIENE - Was It You [ENHANCED] Lost Witness feat. Milo Novotny - Rescue Me [EDGE ONE (ABORA)] ReOrder & Weldon - Entropy (Jordan Tobias Remix) [BLACK HOLE] David Oleart & Van Der Bert - Trance Lovers [FLASHOVER] Honan - Stormbreaker (Dan Thompson Remix) [NOCTURNAL KNIGHTS REWORKED] Kenny Palmer - Aldorei [NOCTURNAL KNIGHTS] Starpicker - Zandmmer Vibes [GO MUSIC (BLACK HOLE)] Ralphie B - Terra Prime [ITWT (BLACK HOLE)] BiXX - The High Road [UPLIFT (RAZ NITZAN)] Final Flight - Liberation [REDUX 138] M42 - Lost Memories [HEAVENSGATE (BLACK HOLE)] Adam Taylor - Paradisiacal [FSOE] Illitheas & Manuel Rocca - Eterno [ABORA SKIES] Factor B & Arielle Maren - Connected (12” Mix) [THEATRE OF THE MIND] {TRANCE UNFOLDING OF THE WEEK} EXTRA UNFOLDING Gareth Emery feat. Annabel - You'll Be Ok (CloudNone Remix) [CREATE MUSIC GROUP]

A few ideas that stuck with me:When you feel that you can't make a difference through your job and gain satisfaction, it's time to change your path.We become aware of the real impact of cybercrime when it happens to us or someone close to us.Being mindful of what you post on social media is something for which your future self will thank you.Cybercrime affects people emotionally and lowers their self-esteem as it creates confusion about what is real and what is notSeeing yourself through a hacker's eyes helps you understand why your data privacy truly mattersAll the decisions we make for our safety impact our loved ones – either positively or negatively.

In this encouraging message from Pastor Zach Maddox, we discover what the coming of Israel's Messiah meant. Our prayer is that this message encourages you to put your hope in our eternal King Jesus. Notes: Theme: What does the coming of Israel's Messiah mean? Life Change Goal: Our prayer is that this message encourages you to put your hope in our eternal King Jesus. The coming of Jesus, the Messiah, meant the destruction of Satan and the deliverance of mankind. Genesis 3:14-15 (ESV) The coming of Jesus, the Messiah, meant the nations would be blessed. Genesis 22:18 (ESV) Daniel 7:13-14 (ESV) The coming of Jesus, the Messiah, meant Israel's coming king had arrived. Psalm 2; 22; 45; 72; 110 The coming of Jesus, the Messiah, means we can have lasting hope. John 8:56 (ESV) Conclusion: Hope has a name and His name is Jesus. In response to this message I will… I will share part of this message with... Discussion Questions: Start Talking. Find a conversation starter for your group. What are you looking forward to for Christmas this year? Start Thinking. Ask a question to get your group thinking. What is hope? Start Sharing. Choose a couple of questions to create openness. What do we have a habit of putting our hope in? How can Jesus provide us hope for the future? How can you share hope this year?

In this hope-filled message from Pastor Zack Rainey, we discover the true source of lasting hope. Our prayer is that this message encourages you to place your hope in our unshakeable King Jesus. NOTES: Theme: What is the true source of lasting hope? Life Change Goal: Our prayer is that this message encourages you to place your hope in our unshakeable King Jesus. Text: Matthew 1:20-23 (ESV); Romans 15:12-13 (ESV) True hope is ground upon the person of Jesus Christ. Jeremiah 29:10-14 True hope puts self on the shelf. 1 Timothy 6:17 (ESV) Jesus is more than a baby. Jesus accomplished God's will. Galatians 2:20 (ESV) Galatians 5:24 (ESV) Jesus the King brings true hope to the world. You can trust Jesus with your future. 1 Peter 1:3-6 Conclusion: Where is your hope? In response to this message I will… I will share part of this message with... Discussion Questions: Start Talking. Find a conversation starter for your group. What is a favorite Christmas memory you have from younger days? Start Thinking. Ask a question to get your group thinking. How does this Christmas season feel different than others? Start Sharing. Choose a couple of questions to create openness. Why can it sometimes be easier to put hope in things instead of in Jesus? What could you do to put your hope in Jesus in more meaningful ways? How can you share hope with others this month?