Pastor, Your Church Has a Celebration Problem | Ep 37

If you want a team whose belief grows every cycle — not just their workload — learn more about the Ready Set Grow Mastermind: https://www.readysetgrowchurch.com/mastermind

Most churches treat celebration like an afterthought.

A few minutes of polite applause, a quick "great job team," and then right back to the next thing on the list.
But that pattern is quietly doing something to your staff — cycle after cycle, it's eroding their belief.

Not in one dramatic moment. Slowly. Every time a hard-fought win gets a brief golf clap and a "let's keep going," your team absorbs a message: it wasn't enough. We're always behind. There's always more.
And then pastors who want to cast bigger vision wonder why their team keeps hesitating.

This episode makes the case that celebration isn't a personality trait or a culture nice-to-have — it has to be built into your leadership system. And it breaks down a simple framework for doing it in a way that actually builds belief, unity, and momentum.

Inside:
- Why skipping real celebration is psychologically damaging — and what it's actually costing your team's momentum
- Why your team's confidence comes from completion, not from rah-rah speeches
- The domino principle: how celebrating smaller wins builds the belief that bigger challenges are possible
- A simple four-part framework for celebrating wins with your team: frame what you said you'd do, what you actually did, what you overcame, and who showed up
- Why the Bible itself is a collection of documented wins — and what that means for how you lead
- Three mindset shifts that happen when your team celebrates regularly: "we might fail" becomes "we've done this before," "this feels too big" becomes "this is the obvious next step," and "this feels risky" becomes "this feels inevitable"

You don't grow from experience. You grow from examined experience.

Transcript

Intro: The Messy Middle Curriculum

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey friends, today's episode is going to be a little bit different. What you're about to listen to comes from our middle method curriculum, which is a core pillar of our ready set growth framework that helps pastors and church leaders navigate the messy middle. Now, you might be asking yourself, what do you mean by the messy middle? The messy middle is that frustrating space between casting a vision and then actually seeing it happen. Because here's the truth, dude. Vision is exciting, but the messy middle, that's where the real work begins. Now, we originally created this training for leaders inside of the ReadySight Grow Mastermind, but dude, we just love the way that some of these turned out so much that we wanted to share a few of these conversations with you here on the podcast as well. So if you want to go deeper on any of this stuff, you can find the link to our mastermind in the description below. But for now, let's dive into today's episode.

Why Most Churches Are Terrible at Celebrating

SPEAKER_02 0:57

All right, friends, welcome to the Heartbeat section. Uh what we've discovered is many of the churches that we work with are actually terrible at celebrating. Oh, 100%. Uh you know the play. You work your guts out for months, getting after a project, accomplishing this amazing thing. And then we get into a staff meeting or what we call a celebration time, and we spend like three to five minutes golf clapping. All right, let's get back to work. Yeah, let's get back to work. And oftentimes get back to work is now let's rip it apart and make it even better and grander and bigger. And what can we do now to really get out there?

SPEAKER_01 1:33

I think it's actually a little bit psychologically damaging to not celebrate because you're constantly saying it wasn't good enough,

The Psychological Cost of Skipping Real Celebration

SPEAKER_01 1:41

it wasn't good enough, that wasn't good enough, that wasn't good enough. There's more to be done. It's chasing the horizon. And I think it actually drains people from uh being able to have the energy to keep moving forward.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

It's the carrot in the stick principle of if we are satisfied, then we're not gonna if we're content, then we're gonna be complacent, right? And so we need to make sure that it we always recognize the gaps of performance of we could have done better, we could have done more, we could have done this. There's still so much work to be done. There's still so many lost people. It's like, yeah, true, but also there's so much good that's happening too.

SPEAKER_02 2:17

Exactly. So what we've recognized is for us and for the churches that we've worked with and the hundreds of leaders that that uh have been a part of ReadySet Grow, in order for celebration to happen, it actually has to be a part of the system. Yep. And we've moved past just the golf clapping and hey, the popcorn

Why Celebration Has to Be a System, Not a Moment

SPEAKER_02 2:38

celebration. And we've recognized it actually has to be written. But what's cool about it is that when it gets written, and it gets written in the cooldown, okay. In every cooldown, we take time the very first week and we write out our heartbeats. Yep. Okay. So everybody that's on the hook for an area, a department, or a big project, a cycle rock is gonna be able to write out the heartbeat. A few things I think these remind us of. This written heartbeat reminds us that God is at work and is resourcing us for his mission. Right to just stop and pause and actually say those words, but do it formally in writing is really important. Uh, number two, it is a reminder that together we can do hard things. Because we always face big challenges

Three Reasons Documenting Wins Actually Matters

SPEAKER_02 3:23

in the middle. This this whole concept is the messy middle. Inside the messy middle, it's nice to be able to write down once we get to the other side what was accomplished in and through us and the challenges that we took on. A third thing I think is as we knock down these projects, it reminds us each cycle that we're building these organizational muscles. Yeah. And that we're developing this confidence that, hey, we've been faithful with a few things. Yeah. And if we believe the scripture, God's going to keep increasing that and make us a ruler over much.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

Well, this is a part of just regular life cycle for what we do as a team. This is how we live, this is how we function. You got cycles and you got cooldowns. So we got the cycles and we're doing it. That's January, February, March. Okay, we kicked off the year. April in that Easter time, we're doing Easter. We we work towards that, but we're gonna stop and we're gonna have a heartbeat, and we're gonna say, hey, listen, this is what we did. Look what happened. And by the way, it's also if we didn't do it, there's some accountability that's there because a public heartbeat, people are going, like, I did it or we didn't do it, and people can know who's winning, who's not, where we just goes back to that commitment effect, don't you think? Absolutely. I'm we're gonna get this done, team, because I'm not getting in front of the whole group of staff and say we didn't do what we said we were gonna do. That's right. So this is a time in the cooldown to recover and reset. So then we're gonna cycle, execute, cooldown, recovery, reset. Yeah, we're gonna keep doing that.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

And now that cooldown process is like we talked about before, is in a cooldown, we're gonna review the past cycle, which is looking exactly backwards. We're gonna go didn't do it. We're also looking forward to planning ahead, right? So let me just talk about like what is a cooldown uh incorporate, like what is included inside of a uh a cooldown review, okay? So in the review portion, we're reviewing the heartbeat, which is basically saying, how do we do together as a team? Yeah, do you know what that's accountability for? The cycle rocks. Exactly. So if we said we're gonna do this cycle rocks, we're gonna do these 10 things, we're gonna do these 10 things, we're gonna do these 10 things, how do we do on those 10 things? How do we do on those 10 things? How do we do on those 10 things? How'd we do as a team the things we said were most important? That's a heartbeat. The one-on-ones is an evaluation. Do you know what that's accountability for? The 365. That's how'd you do? How'd you do? Here's what you need to do, here's what you need to do, here's what you need to do, how do you do, how do you do, how'd you do, right? And then the metrics, here's what we're pursuing. The mission metrics is the things that we're saying, here's what we're doing this year, here's what we're pursuing this year. That's now we're saying in the cooldown, where are we at in the mission metrics audit of saying, where are we at in the place of what we said we were gonna be pursuing? How far are we in alignment towards that goal or moving

A Four-Part Framework for Celebrating Well

SPEAKER_00 6:17

away from that goal? So we have an accountability piece for every type of cycle commitment that we're making.

SPEAKER_02 6:22

So then how do we build a heartbeat? So what do we how do we make a new heartbeat?

SPEAKER_01 6:26

So when you're doing a heartbeat, the first thing somebody's gonna do is in the intro is frame what we said we were gonna do, frame the cycle. Okay, in this cycle, we said our department was gonna do da-da-da-da-da. Yeah, okay. And then it's gonna say, and here's what we did. We did it. We did this, we did this, we did this. Yeah, in fact, sometimes it'd be like, Hey, we said we were gonna do this. We not only did it, but we did this. You know, it took it to another level. The next thing would be like, what did we overcome? Like, man, this was a lot of stuff. And there were some things that happened along the way that were really difficult, like this thing happened, and y'all know that this thing happened. Inevitably, a bridge is gonna be out. But we overcame that, man. We did that, and I want to give some recognition to some people on the team. That's the last part. I want to just thank Hunter for what he did on this because man, Hunter, you really came through on blah, blah, blah. Hey, Mark, when you stepped in on this and helped, it wasn't even your assignment and you did that.

Why the Bible Is a Collection of Documented Wins

SPEAKER_01 7:17

I thank you for that. So it's interesting about this.

SPEAKER_02 7:19

You know, we don't often see the Bible as this, but a Bible is is the Bible is a collection of heartbeats that we use every single day to remind ourselves of our past and the history, and it constantly helps us go, we are gonna win. Because look, we have won. Yep. And we're gonna keep winning.

SPEAKER_00 7:40

And you gotta think about the heartbeat too, is what we're doing inside of this, especially as you get bigger, especially as you go multi-site, especially as you get people in here that you didn't hire, but the person that you hired to be the pastor of youth ministry hired the associate youth pastor. Is that we're all coming together to share. We're a part of one heartbeat here. Yes. This is the pulse of the organization. This is the pulse that the arm is connected to the legs. We need the legs, we need the arms, we need the head, we need everything to work together as the body, and we are one heartbeat, one team together. We're not trying to be the best department and try to become famous as a youth ministry. We're trying to be the best youth ministry for the heartbeat of this organization.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

I think we've said this, but um, when we're talking about heartbeat, we're talking about that in the cooldown, we're having a staff meeting, our staff all together, and each department and each group is sharing the heartbeat in front of everybody, and then everybody claps and way to go. Good job, like this.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

Yeah, so this heartbeat is a document. So this could just be a Google Doc. We do ours in Base Camp. Um, the Heartbeat is using these uh framework right here of filling in, like, hey, I'm writing the intro. Uh, all right, youth ministry, why don't you go? You know, like this was a big cycle for us because uh this cycle included our camp. So, as you guys know, here's what we did. We planned for camp. We did this, this, this, this, this, and this. Here's what we overcame. Uh, the camp had a power outage. And uh, you know, I just want to give a shout-out to Mark because he came in. He wasn't even supposed to come to camp, but he came in and

Unity, Confidence, and Learning: The Three Payoffs

SPEAKER_00 9:18

blah, see what I'm saying? It's like, hey, that was a great heartbeat, guys. Great job, youth. Y'all are amazing. And then we'll go to the next team. What is so cool about this of why we do heartbeats is it really is uh a proof document, proof of what we can do together. And and in this proof, we're creating unity, unity as one team, of we are one team with no silos. Right, right, right. There's confidence that is being built from this. Not only is like, hey, I really appreciate it. That was really kind of you for giving me a shout-out, but it's confidence that is saying, guys, I this is this is a pro tip for any lead pastor watching this or executive pastor. Guys, did you see how much like I know we just golf clapped that because that was like the fourth heartbeat we just did, but think about all this stuff that we're doing together. It's it's you're you're trying to instill the confidence in your team that we can do anything that God is calling us to and we put our minds together for if we work together because you want them to have confidence for when you cast a bigger vision that they're not bucking away from it. Like, why we're never gonna do that? Like, do you know how busy I already am?

SPEAKER_02 10:26

Yeah, think about this as a lead pastor that uh sometimes visionary leaders they're a little nervous to share the next vision or the place they really sense God is is wanting to go because the people aren't confident. But what if every time you cast vision, what you get from the response is, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:47

That makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 10:48

Let's go do that. We can do that. Let's go do that obvious next step. We know how to do that.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

I think it's like when you were just talking about how the Bible is a compilation of heartbeats. Think about when Paul's writing the churches and he's telling them about guys, we're one body. Uh, so thankful for the arms, so thankful for the legs. Let's not even look at each other and go, man, arms are better than legs. I mean, we all function in Christ as the head. Part of what you want to do is when the heartbeats are going, I'm trying to go each time going, like, hey, man, golly, I'm so thankful for you guys. Aren't we thankful for them? Yeah. We're we're we're highlighting that. That's defeating the silo mentality.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

Yeah, and we are we are one team. That's what it all comes back to, right? So we want everybody, the reason you exist inside of that department is to become a specialist in that role. You need to do deep dive because everyone can't be a specialist in everything. So we have to divide and conquer, but we're one team. Meaning, yeah, you might be a wide receiver on offense, but I'm a linebacker on defense. I need to stop the other team from scoring, and you need to actually score. And together we're gonna win a Super Bowl. Right. Does that make sense? We're one team. And and the last thing here, so you have the unity, we're one team. The confidence that we can cast a bigger vision. Guys, we're gonna win the Super Bowl. Yeah, right. And then learning is stop repeating the same mistakes over and over again. Learn from what's happening. Hey, here's what we learned from this past cycle is we need to blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So the next time we go into a cycle, we're gonna make sure that we do blah, blah, blah, blah.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

We always talk about you don't grow from experience, we grow from examined experience. Yeah. Part of the power of the heartbeat, it isn't just something that I learned and I go, oh yeah, I need to remember that. I've written it down. Yes. I've said it out loud. Yes. It's documented.

SPEAKER_02 12:32

You get it, it's an examination of this journey that we just uh we just

The Domino Principle: Small Wins Build Belief for Bigger Challenges

SPEAKER_02 12:37

took together.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

Here's the biggest way that I've gotten I I've never been able to convince a pastor that they need to get better at celebrating just by telling them that it's good for the team. Because they'd be like, Yeah, I know I need to do better at that, but then they don't actually do anything. Here's the number one way I've gotten pastors to want to be very, very intentional about celebrating. Here it is right here. Let me show you this as a picture here. If you want your team to take on bigger and bigger challenges, you must celebrate wins more intentionally. Because the cycle rocks that you're pursuing today are like a domino that creates the belief that we can take on bigger and bigger challenges over time. So if you want to knock over this first domino and have the belief system that our team can take on bigger and bigger challenges, you need to celebrate and recognize and instill into their brains that we are the type of team that can knock over bigger and bigger dominoes in the future.

SPEAKER_02 13:40

So there's some thoughts that people have as they head into a cycle

Three Mindset Shifts That Happen When You Celebrate Intentionally

SPEAKER_02 13:44

and the celebration, the heartbeats help mitigate mitigate that. So what are they?

SPEAKER_00 13:49

Well, I think there's a transformation when this becomes cultural. First up is there's a lot of people when they hear vision or like that bigger domino, like we're talking about, of I don't know if we should do this. We might fail. Well, that gets transformed into what we've already won before. Every time we do a cycle, we complete those cycle rocks, right? It's you don't gain more confidence, James Clear talks about, by creating this kind of like positive psychology belief. You create it through uh the actual completions of your previous history. You learn from you gain confidence by getting the reps of like, I've proven and casted the votes before that I'm the type of person that can do these types of things.

SPEAKER_02 14:32

So confidence comes from completion, not just a rah-rah.

SPEAKER_00 14:35

A hundred percent. You don't need a better speech. You need to show them this is just who we are. This is what we do, and we've proven it cycle and cycle and over again. Next thing is the type of resistance is this feels too big. Well, when you start doing uh intentional heartbeats, this is where it's like, you know what, this is the obvious next step. Of course, this sounds right. This makes sense. This is the next domino of the bigger and better that God's calling us to. It's makes sense. The other thing is this feels too risky. I'm not sure. There's a lot of risk to this. It's like, you know what? These dreams start to be not feel like risk, they start to feel inevitable because we're the type of teams that complete the things that God is calling us to, and the things that we've heard from God, this is what you need to do. And when we do the things that God is telling us to do, the we might not be in charge of the outcomes, but we're in charge of the inputs. And if we do the inputs that God is calling us to, the outcomes are just a natural byproduct of what God's calling us to. So good. So that's where the uh actual heartbeats become a huge, huge component of building belief in your team. It's the best way that I found to begin a cooldown is reviewing what are the things as a team that we accomplish together, and it becomes a natural byproduct to go into the preview mode of next cycle is going to be even bigger and even better.