The Pro Church Tools Show shares "The Church Event Promotions Playbook (Building Block #4)" (43-minute watch), on why your most important events get under-promoted while whoever pushes hardest wins the calendar. Host Brady Shearer's fix is a written playbook: list every promotion channel you already have — announcements, social, email, text, bulletins, the welcome desk — then match a tiered, week-by-week campaign to each event's real importance. The next time a ministry leader asks how their event gets promoted, the answer is already written down.

Editor's note: This is Building Block #4 in a seven-part series; Block #2 ran in our July 19 issue. The hosts point you to a free "church chaos score" assessment at Church Chaos Index — a lead magnet for Pro Church Tools' paid software and services — but the playbook itself is yours to build with tools you already have.

Lifeway Research shares "How to Start a Financial Discipleship Ministry in Your Church" (6-minute read), a five-principle starter for churches ready to disciple givers. Author Jamila Davison urges you to aim at the heart rather than behavior, know your flock before you teach, equip a Bible-grounded team, foster cross-generational learning, and pray throughout. Lifeway's State of Discipleship study found U.S. Protestant churchgoers give, on average, 9% of their income to their church and 4% to other charities — a real starting point to build on.

Google shares "3 New Ways Nonprofits Can Put AI to Work" (4-minute read), rolling out free resources through Google for Nonprofits. Three short online courses — roughly three hours total — cover using AI for fundraising, marketing, and everyday operations, plus free one-on-one coaching from Google specialists. Google says surveyed nonprofits report saving about one workday per person each week by handing routine admin to AI. For a volunteer team curious about AI but unsure where to begin, it's a concrete, no-cost first step.

Editor's note: Google is promoting its own AI tools, and the 1:1 coaching requires activating (free) Google Workspace for Nonprofits. The three courses are free of charge and cover fundraising, marketing, and operations.

Maxwell Leadership shares "Systems Beat Heroics with Greg Steely" (26-minute watch), on why organizations that run on heroics — celebrating whoever works latest and saves the day — don't last. Constant firefighting, missed handoffs, burnout, and dependence on a single key person are the warning signs. Dr. Greg Steely's counter is to build simple systems — "a pad of paper" counts — so results don't ride on a hero. Audit what already works, duplicate it, and remember: working harder is 2x, but doing things differently is 10x.

Editor's note: This is a general leadership/nonprofit podcast — its examples are sales teams and month-end deals, not ministry — but the "key person dependency" it describes is exactly the pattern a volunteer-run church falls into when one person holds every Sunday together.

Editor's note: A leadership podcast that promotes Maxwell's free field guide and paid training; the systems principle stands on its own.

Churchfront shares "Why We Don't Give Churches AV Bids" (29-minute watch), explaining why a firm price on a sound or video system can't come first. A real quote needs engineering — room design, electrical loads, phasing — so "go get three bids on a PA" skips the hard part and often hides surprises later. Their answer is a program report that scopes solutions, budgets, and a phased plan before you commit. The takeaway costs nothing: get scope and phasing clarity before you chase bids.

Editor's note: Churchfront is a design-build firm that specializes in small-to-mid churches, and the program report comes out of its paid pre-design consulting engagement. Still, the principle — a trustworthy number requires engineering first — applies whoever you hire.

ICYMI, YouVersion shares "Top Bible Reading Plans for 2026 in the Bible App (So Far)" (5-minute read), a mid-year roundup of what people are actually reading. More than 700,000 have started this year's most popular plans — titles like Renew Your Mind and Winning the War in Your Mind — alongside Bible-in-a-year favorites, staff picks, and fresh 2026 releases. It's a ready-made, free list to hand your congregation the next time someone asks where to begin.

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