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Thanks for joining us at the unSeminary podcast. Today we’re talking with Bryan Smith, the lead pastor of Summit Christian Church in Sparks, Nevada.

We are increasingly living in a culture where many are completely unchurched, having no preconceived notion of what church looks like. Yet this can provide just the opportunity where people are open to learning about Jesus. Tune in as Bryan talks about the power of invitation, vulnerability, and embracing people with messy lives.

• The power of vulnerability. // Summit Christian Church has a unique story, having been founded in response to the area’s status as one of the most unchurched regions in the United States. Bryan highlights the importance of creating a comfortable and welcoming environment for newcomers, emphasizing that vulnerability and authenticity are key to connecting with unchurched individuals. At Summit the pastors will share personal struggles and life experiences, countering the stereotype of judgmental Christians. Rather than telling unchurched folks what they need to do, invite them into community and a journey with Jesus.
• Make time for pastoral care. // One of the telltale signs of a church that’s reaching unchurched people is that you have messy, complex, pastoral care. Summit Christian Church is dedicated to creating a welcoming environment where individuals who have faced challenges in their lives can find hope and healing. Pastors and elders have a rotating schedule so each day someone is available to meet with people seeking counsel or help.
• Use events to reach out. // Summit also works to create a noticeable presence in the community to ensure that if the church were to disappear, the community would notice its absence. From teacher appreciation initiatives and community service projects to outreach events such as RC car races and dodgeball tournaments, get creative about drawing people in who might not think about attending church. Surprise unchurched people with fun outreach events to show them church isn’t what they may have expected.
• Four team values. // To keep the staff moving in a positive direction, Summit has four team values they embrace: health, focus, whole life generosity, and achievable excellence. Bryan emphasizes that achievable excellence is particularly pertinent to staff health. The church wants to set the bar at a place where they can achieve without feeling defeated or putting in too little effort. The goal is to create sustainability in their staff, encourage healthy relationships and practices, and have them committed for the long haul while still pursuing excellence.
• Build relational health. // Health is a huge priority among the leadership and staff team, especially because Summit is a fast-growing church. Weekly staff meetings incorporate elements of fun and celebration, such as recognizing birthdays and engaging in team-building activities, like an optional, 30-minute 9-Square tournament each Tuesday. Have fun together, but don’t force these activities. Enjoy each other’s company in order to have a greater impact in the church and community. Building a strong relational foundation among the staff team makes it easier to tackle challenging issues. Setting realistic expectations, encouraging a sustainable work-life balance, and offering free counseling to the staff also helps prevent burnout.
• Trust what He’s doing. // Bryan wraps up by encouraging church leaders to stay humble and hungry for that one more person to come to Christ. Rather than worrying about the outcomes, continue to look at what God is doing and where He’s leading you. Surrender to His plan and He will help you lead your people well.

You can learn more about Summit Christian Church at www.summitnv.org.

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Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Risepointe

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Well, the team over at Risepointe has been there. As former ministry staff and church leaders, they understand how to prioritize and help lead your church to a place where the building is a ministry multiplier. Licensed all over North America, their team of architects, interior designers and project managers have the professional experience to help move YOUR mission forward.

Check them out at Risepointe.com/unseminary and while you’re there get their FREE resource “10 Things to Get Right Before You Build”.

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Episode Transcript

Rich Birch — Well hey, friends, welcome to the unSeminary podcast. So glad that you’ve gotta that you’ve tuned in. You’ve really tuned in for a great conversation today. You know every week we try to bring you a leader who will both inspire and equip you, and I’m real excited for today’s conversation – get a chance to meet a new friend, ah, Bryan Smith. He is the lead pastor at a church called Summit Christian Church, a nondenominational church located in Sparks, Nevada. They’re one of the fastest growing churches in the country and they’re launching a campus this fall, and somehow Bryan found his time in the middle of all that to sit down with us. Bryan, so glad you’re here. Thanks for being on the show today.

Bryan Smith — Awesome. It’s great to be with you. And I appreciate that you pronounced our state’s name correctly. “Nevadda” not “Nevahda” -that is painful. Yeah.

Rich Birch — Oh ok, that didn’t even know I was doing that right.

Bryan Smith — You crushed it right out of the gates. Way to go.

Rich Birch — Ah okay, that’s good. Well, that’s good. Well, tell me a little bit about Summit, kind of give me this story. Tell us a little bit about, you know, if I was to come this weekend, tell us give us a bit of the flavor of the church, that sort of thing.

Bryan Smith — Yeah, Summit’s been around for 25 years, since Sparks; it’s a right I mean adjacent to Reno, Nevada, which is for people listening about 7 hours north of Vegas. Most people think we’re real close. We’re not. So it’s light years away from sort of what people think of in terms of Las Vegas.

Bryan Smith — But Summit launched, our our founding pastor and his wife, Steve and Pam [inaudible], they launched because at the time Reno was the number one unchurched place in the nation. And so they said we’re going to launch a church there. Um, and so Summit has been in two different locations. We started you know at a YMCA, bought property kinda what felt like, at the time, out in the middle of nowhere. But right now it’s in the middle of everywhere…

Rich Birch — That’s great.

Bryan Smith — …as our community is expanding. Yeah, we’re on a sort of a highway, but it’s it’s got stop lights on it. And the the city put in a stoplight right in front of our church…

Rich Birch — Wow. Okay.

Bryan Smith — …that is the dumbest stoplight in the community. So lots of people get stuck and we joke about why’d you come to Summit? Was it our stoplight? So that’s kind of been kind of cool. So that’s worked out really well for us.

Bryan Smith — But um Summit is from from day one just been about introducing people to Christ, seeing them grow the Lord, experience life change. We welcome in. We’re kind of messy. We don’t celebrate the mess, but we’re definitely messy as folks come in in our community they they are extremely unchurched, usually have blown up their lives, and show up and want to know, you know, what do I do at this blanken church? All right. We can work with that. You’re not churched. I like it.

Rich Birch — I love it. Yeah yeah, yeah.

Bryan Smith — I have one time—this a fun story—I had a guy come down the risers, our stadium seating, and and say, “hey pastor;” he’s kind of a bigger dude. And I’m like ah yeah? He goes I just want to tell you, and he starts crying. He’s like this church has f-ing changed my life.

Rich Birch — Oh love it. Love it.

Bryan Smith — And I’m like, you’re not from around here. Okay. And and you could tell the church people because they all kind of, you know, their head popped and around their neck jerked and they looked at me, and and I just gave a hug. And about a year after that got to do his wedding.

Rich Birch — So good.

A year after that just a couple months ago we got baptized. So.

Rich Birch — So good.

Bryan Smith — Yeah, so we’re and we’re known in our community as a church that serves, which is great. We we wanted to be that church if we disappear the community would notice. And man, we’re just humbly serving downtown. We’re serving in the schools this week. Teacher appreciation we’re serving meals breakfast or lunch to a bunch of different schools and caring for the teachers.

Rich Birch — So good.

Yes, we work really hard in welcoming people in and serving in our community, introducing them to Christ, and just seeing life change…

Rich Birch — So good.

Bryan Smith — …which is fantastic. Yeah.

Rich Birch — Yeah, Bryan, I love that. And I you know people already are hearing why we’re so excited to have you on the on the podcast. I love the focus of reaching unchurched people and actually seeing that happen. I think lots of churches talk about that, but then when you have evidence like that, it’s just such a good thing to see.

Rich Birch — But why don’t you give us a bit of context fill up fill out the picture a little bit more. To me if I was thinking of places in the country where churches would grow, Reno would not be on the list, and the fact that you’re growing there seems amazing, by God’s grace. Kind of tell us about that story. What’s what’s happening there? What’s God using at Summit to see that that happen?

Bryan Smith — Yeah, it’s it’s fun. The the northern Nevada no one ever says I want to move to northern Nevada, but once they get heren once they get here… Like I’m a So. Cal. guy, came up in ’05 from Orange County, and and once once you get to northern Nevada, it’s a beautiful spot. And so we’ve got lots of like the community is growing. We’ve got lots of political refugees, they call themselves, from from California. But we’re we’re growing as a church because we make the place comfortable. Every church wants to be welcoming and and we work hard at that. We’ve we’ve got folks that come in and say, I felt welcome from day one.

Bryan Smith — Um and and then we’re pretty vulnerable, whether that’s teaching from the stage or in our kids ministry, student ministry. And and I think we need that in an unchurched environment the the vulnerability where people have this preconceived notion of what Christians are – the judgmental, the kind of putting up a facade, and we work hard to push back against that and be just vulnerable and open and honest and present and show lots of grace. Um I do wish that everyone in our church sinned just like I did so I wouldn’t have to show as much grace, but they sin differently…

Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good; I like that.

Bryan Smith — …and and so yeah, so I’ve got to extend grace to them. They extend grace to me. Our our staff is, you know, we we hire people that we have to pump the brakes on, not light a fire under. So they’re going to get after it regardless of what we’re putting in front of them. And so that that filters down into our volunteers, and and then into the congregation of people that are like, man, this is a place where I feel loved, and I meet Jesus, my life has been changed where, you know, that that old thing a bunch of beggars telling other beggars where the food is.

Rich Birch — Yeah, love it.

Bryan Smith — So we’re not. We’re not pretentious. We’re not showy. I think probably we work hard at just being understated…

Rich Birch — Yeah.

Bryan Smith — …because that’s who we are.

Rich Birch — Love it.

Bryan Smith — And and that’s our community too. Our community is not flashy. Um, we’re not terribly showy. But um, yeah, so I don’t…

Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good.

Bryan Smith — …there’s some shooting from the hip things.

Rich Birch — Yeah, I’d love to talk a little bit more about that. Even you know, pulling back the curtain a little bit, I love before our our interview today you’re like, I’m not sure why you why you called us. And I’m like well, which I which are you’re living that out here. You know that you’re living out your you know, kind of not flashy, just kind of norma, which I love, I think is great. Let’s talk about the vulnerability thing a little bit. From your perspective, how do you cultivate that as a leader? There was a time—I think you and I are a similar generation—there was a time I think when we first started that there were it was like people wanted religious leaders to be like something different and like they’re like we want them to be like a totally different person, but that’s just not true anymore people are looking for people that are like them that are vulnerable. Talk to us about how do you cultivate that kind of culture where people can come as they are um, and you know it’s it’s not doesn’t matter why you came but obviously it’s because of Jesus that we stay. And and but so talk us through that. What’s that look like for you as a community?

Bryan Smith — Yeah, I think the vulnerability part is we we don’t tell people, “and you need to do this.” We’re inviting them into something that that…

Rich Birch — That’s good.

Bryan Smith — …and hey if if your life you’ve blown up your life, I can tell you what you need to do. Like I know I should probably eat less fast food, but I’m going, to I love Del Taco it’s like Taco Bell but way worse. And…

Rich Birch — Yes. Or better, depending, you know.

Bryan Smith — Yeah, it’s all about perspective. But but if you tell someone what they need to do, ah, you know there’s that backfire effect and and they’re just going to dig their heels in. So we go, Okay, here’s here’s where you’re at; here’s where you could be. Let’s let’s invite you into that life change.

Rich Birch — That’s good.

Bryan Smith — Let’s invite you into interacting with with Jesus, interacting with the community. And that the things that are um, destroying your life, let’s get rid of those. I think so the invitation the the inviting culture.

Bryan Smith — I think too um, we’re we’re pretty open about our past. And and not celebrating our past. Like I hate to say it, but my past um, in in high school convinced mom to get cable, and found Cinemax, became Skinemax late at night at the age of 16 without a dad in the house, and so porn was part of my story for 10 years until I came clean and I thought I’ll get married and and that’ll solve all the problems. No, it didn’t. And and so like I’ll share that from stage. And I always have dudes come up afterwards in hushed tones, “How’d you do it?” And and so you know and every time I share, I’m I’m trying not to cry right now. But when I share it, I I cry because that that part of my story sucks. And I wish it weren’t the case.

Bryan Smith — And so we can be vulnerable with that, own it, and say, but God’s got something better. And and our other teaching pastor, he’s just really open and honest, wisdom and and how we share what we share. But when people see that from the stage, when people see that in the lobby when they’re talking to our staff, where we’re like, hey I remind our staff God’s got a deep depth chart and he could choose from the 8 billion other people to do what we’re doing today. We’re pretty lucky that he chose us.

Rich Birch — It’s true.

Bryan Smith — And and and so we just kind of, you know, we’re not going around crying in our beer kind of thing. But we just know man we’re blessed be doing what we’re doing.

Rich Birch — Yep.

Bryan Smith — And we’re we’re nothing special. God us breathed life into us on purpose, and we got a story and we’re hungry to see other people experience the the um life to the full that Jesus promises us in John 10:10.

Rich Birch — Yeah, I love that.

Bryan Smith — Yeah.

Rich Birch — I love the, you know, the focus on, you know, how are we going to kind of create a community where people can be just truthful and honest and open. I’ve said in other contexts that one of the telltale signs of a church that’s reaching unchurched people is that you have messy, complex, pastoral care. That’s just normal. Like it’s normative that okay we’re wrestling, if you’re just reaching church people, it’s not that they’re not messy. They’re messy. They just hide it. They just don’t know…

Bryan Smith — They know better.

Rich Birch — Um, so how do you how do you kind of build a staff team that is able to um, you know, kind of accept people and, you know, pastor them and lead them when people are coming with, you know, that kind of messiness? Ah talk us through what that that’s looked like for you and your team.

Bryan Smith — I think, yeah, half of our I don’t know, don’t quote me on this…

Rich Birch — Yeah.

Bryan Smith — …but a lot of our staff will say that comes…

Rich Birch — Yeah.

Bryan Smith — …from didn’t come from a bible school or seminary background.

Rich Birch — Yeah, yeah.

Bryan Smith — My degree is an aquatic biology from U. C. Santa Barbara.

Rich Birch — Okay, nice.

Bryan Smith — And in in God’s humor, I’m pastoring in a desert. So thank you, Jesus.

Rich Birch — Ah, that’s true! That’s funny.

Bryan Smith — Um, so I came into student ministry, I mean I was involved with Intervarsity on the college campus when I was a student and then in lay ministry after that. And so I kind of came in through the back door. And then we’ve got a lot of our staff that we’ve hired from within. And and so they don’t have that bible college background, which Ilove bible college, seminary. I went back to seminary. Um, but but I think having folks that that didn’t grow up in the church…

Rich Birch — Right.

Bryan Smith — …didn’t grow up with a ministry mindset, had been invited into it, there’s they have a different perspective. And then we get the wisdom and the knowledge from the bible college or seminary background folks, and and that really kind of helps create this this kind of cool mix of people.

Bryan Smith — I think the the other thing um that that has helped is we we schedule we’ve had to schedule a pastor each day to be available to counsel and meet with people. Because what would happen is…

Rich Birch — Oh that’s good.

Bryan Smith — Yeah, we have lots of people that are coming in and they’re they’re looking for help. And then it’s the secretary’s responsibility, and suddenly it’s like whack-a-mole, and all the staff disappeared. Ah yeah, and and she’s like, hold on – let me find a pastor… is there anyone? You know?

Rich Birch — Yes.

Bryan Smith — Um, and so we scheduled that and just said, hey we’re going to be available.

Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good.

Bryan Smith — And and and so we make sure that we’re available when people come in, when people have a need. They’re going to meet with a pastor, or an elder. Our elders are part of that as well. Um, does that answer some of your question?

Rich Birch — That’s great. Absolutely. I love that even practicality of like scheduling people. I can see that, have been in exactly the scenario you’re talking about where it’s like, I got stuff to do. Um, yeah, that’s good. So kind of sticking with this this theme, um, you know, a church of 25 years, you know, quarter of a century, over time churches become more insider-focused. That’s just true. Like unless you push against that they become actually older and more insider- focused. But but your church hasn’t. You you’ve been able to keep a focus on reaching unchurched people. How are you doing that as ah as a senior leader? What does that look like for you? How are you keeping your people focused on that mission?

Bryan Smith — That’s so your your premise is interesting to me that the older churches get the more internally-focused they become. And that’s never been my experience in ministry. So that’s part of it’s kind of like, hey you know ask the fish, how’s the water?

Rich Birch — Yes.

Bryan Smith — I don’t know because that’s water I’ve swam in.

Rich Birch — Yeah.

Bryan Smith — So with Intervarsity at the college campus, we were always hungry for for one more student.

Rich Birch — Love it.

Bryan Smith — Ah in the dorms I moved into the freshman doors my sophomore and junior year which was like social suicide. Um, and but it was just what we did…

Rich Birch — Right.

Bryan Smith — …because we want to lead kids to Christ. Um, and then Eastside Christian Church where I came from in in Fullerton, California at the time, man, it was the same way. And and so then when I moved up here, took over as the student pastor, um at it Summit, man, ah that was our our whole thought process is, you know, we were giving invitations all the time. We were baptizing like crazy. So this has been something that that has been part of the church. And this is why um during covid we—yeah, that was a fun season to lead through said no one ever—um during covid we said, hey, we’re going to build a building and we’re we’re and we didn’t let off on that…

Rich Birch — Wow.

Bryan Smith — …and finished the building and moved in in ’21.

Rich Birch — Wow.

Bryan Smith — Um and yeah 1200 seat worship center. And it it was kind of empty at first. We had a lot of online folks. But they’ve been coming back, and now we’re we’re seeing record attendance, record baptisms, and looking at launching a campus east of us by about 45 minutes. And and this is all we, like our from our kids ministry, we’re creating events. Where can we bring, how can we get these kids who invite their friends, student ministries having events that are um, you know, not terribly church-focused. So that… and that sounds bad but ah, you know, like a dodgeball tournament.

Rich Birch — Yeah.

Bryan Smith — There’s nothing Christian about that.

Rich Birch — Right.

Bryan Smith — But it’s super fun.

Rich Birch — Yeah.

Bryan Smith — And so kids come…

Rich Birch — Yeah..

Bryan Smith — …and then they go church isn’t what I thought. This this place doesn’t suck; I want to come back. And with adults you know, like for Father’s Day, they don’t know this yet, but we’re going to we’re doing like all these activities in our plaza, and doing an RC car race. Like…

Rich Birch — So fun.

Bryan Smith — …this is not rocket science kind of stuff, but it’s like how can we create space where people want to be there, and they go, wait a minute, this isn’t what I expected. And so we’re we’re just staying hungry like crazy – that’s hungry for one more that we we talk about at Summit a lot. In fact, we put plexiglass boards, lit up boards, in our in our entry into our worship center and, said who’s your one? Write their name on that.

Rich Birch — Love it.

Bryan Smith — And I had this few weeks ago I had a lady come and say, hey I want introduce you to my one. She got baptized a couple weeks ago.

Rich Birch — So good.

Bryan Smith — And and that lady said, I want to introduce you to my one that I invited.

Rich Birch — Wow. Praise God. That’s great.

Bryan Smith — And I’m like oh this is working. Yeah, yeah.

Rich Birch — Yes, that’s good. I love that. I love the practicality of like, hey we got to operationalize this. We got to come up with things that will, you know, keep that in front of people and just even the plexiglass stuff. That’s, you know, that’s fantastic.

Rich Birch — Pivoting in a slightly different direction, so you like you lead a staff team, fairly large staff team. Um, you know keeping people as hard. This is one of those times where, and and you know I’ve led within fast-growing churches. And it sounds great. Everyone’s like, oh that sounds like a fun place to work. But it’s just a lot of work. It’s it’s ton of you know, to keep the thing running is a lot. Talk to me about what you’re doing on the staff health front to kind of keep your team focused on, you know, and on their own well-being and kind of keeping them positive and serving. What’s that look like for for you guys?

Bryan Smith — Yeah, um, that we have four team values, and they’re health, focus, whole life generosity, and achievable excellence. And two, two of those are really pertinent I think to staff health, obviously health and then the achievable excellence. The achievable excellence – I’ll start there. Um, we we want to we want to do things that are excellent, but we we only have ah so many dollars, and so many people, and so much time…

Rich Birch — Right.

Bryan Smith — …and so let’s set the bar reasonably high. But not so high that we’re gonna be defeated, or so low that we’re just going to sandbag it. And and so I’ll push on our staff and and like I said earlier, oftentimes so we hire folks we got to pump the brakes on rather than light of fire. Um, yeah, and so oftentimes I’ll say, hey, with this achievable excellence idea, you’re you’re burning the cantle at both ends. And we want sustainability. We want you in it for the long haul. I want your marriage healthy. I want you to have joy. And you got it now, but you’re not sowing seeds in that direction for the future.

Rich Birch — Right.

Bryan Smith — So let’s let’s pump the brakes a little bit. Then health, health is a huge priority for me. Um, and and this isn’t like ah a circle to wagon, so we got to kumbayas, fours no mores. No if we’re going to be if we’re going to reach others, then I have to be healthy. Our elder team has to be healthy. Our ah staff team has to be healthy, because somehow in God’s economy what happens in in the the elder team filters into the staff filters into the…

Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s true.

Bryan Smith — …the church. And and so as an elder team, we’re we’re meeting with our wives for dinner for an hour. Then my wife takes the elder wives and they talk and pray. And then us elders, we get down to business. And our elders are a bunch of guys, number one, I always tell our in our our—we call it the trailhead lunch—but newcomers lunch, you probably wouldn’t ever know an elder is an elder at our church. Because they’re already serving and they’re not wearing it as a badge.

Rich Birch — Right.

Bryan Smith — Bunch of humble dudes that love the Lord and want what’s best for the church. And they’re critical thinkers and they get after me at times, and and encourage me, and we laugh together and we cry and we pray, and so there’s that health aspect. Then um at the staff level, um, man we want to keep our people around who are creating an environment that is fun, that is welcoming. Um, and and so I have an open door policy. If my door is open, it doesn’t matter who you are on staff, you can walk in and we can sit down and talk. I like that most of the time except when I’m about to close the door cause I got to get something done. But I’m I’m an extrovert and so I would rather be hanging out with people than doing something on my computer.

Rich Birch — Right.

Bryan Smith — Um, we have month… or weekly staff meetings, rather. I know a lot of folks have ah, monthly. But we have weekly staff meetings and there’s ah, a regiment, not a regiment that sounds not fun. There’s a routine that we go through monthly whether it’s celebrating birthdays or worship or a fun game, and then some kind of huddle or teaching. We have I talk about crucial conversations and part of health is you got to talk about the hard stuff.

Rich Birch — Right.

Bryan Smith — We celebrate the wins like crazy. Um, we cast vision of why we’re doing what we’re doing and lead with the why (thank you Simon Sinek) um and and lead with that so that people know this is what I’m about and then we help define the win so that they know they’re winning.

Rich Birch — Right.

Bryan Smith — But and then we also we provide counseling for our staff. So we have a counselor that we have two sessions a month and it’s a use it or lose it, kind of like a gym membership. And those are never empty. People have been very grateful for that. And then…

Rich Birch — Um, two for your per staff, or two…

Bryan Smith — No, two just two standing meetings a month.

Rich Birch — That are open slots. Okay, great.

Bryan Smith — Yeah, and so they work through my assistant to get signed up, and and they always come in to say, hey thank you. Um, but here this is the lowest hanging fruit that we fell into…

Rich Birch — Okay, love it. We love the low hanging fruit here.

Bryan Smith — I know. Nine Square. We play…

Rich Birch — Nice.

Bryan Smith — We have. Ah yeah, our our it it just happened like in 2021 our our middle school director, now pastor, she said, hey um, can we play Nine Square for half an hour today ah, with the staff? And I’m like, yeah I guess. I mean it’s always set up. Let’s do it. So what ended up from that conversation was we play there’s a weekly standing Nine Square tournament on Tuesdays for half an hour from 1 to 1:30.

Rich Birch — Love it.

Bryan Smith — Yeah, and and then it’s morphed into we had to buy more so it’s now 18 square because we’ve got like facilities showing up. We’ve we’ve got the preschool director showing up. Um, if there’s a volunteer in the office they’re like, can I play? And I said how good are you? No. In fact in it we we have we have a trophy. And so the last ten minutes is is single elimination, and we have two trophies – one for the winner that week. And if you win you get to write your name on the trophy, kind of like Stanley Cup.

Rich Birch — Yeah.

But you have to then play opposite-handed for eight weeks after that just to even it and…

Rich Birch — Oh ah, you’re punished!

Bryan Smith — This is great. We have we have a little um like ah we serve in Cambodia and someone brought home this little miniature kind of version of Angkor Wat, and we call it immunity idol. And if you’re the first person to lose, you get back in the next week after single elimination is down to 8 people.

Rich Birch — Oh nice.

Bryan Smith — So we’ve created all these rules. And and what happens is we’re goofing around. People love it when they spike on me or or block me. Um, and and we’re we’re just having a ton of fun. So we work hard at playing together, enjoying each other’s company, and then being reminded that that we’re we’re a crucial piece of the mission of what God is doing. And and this is where so it it sounds internally-focused but then we’re like, no wait a minute. What we’re doing in the health of this team has an impact in our church, has an impact in in Sparks High, or out in Fernley, where we’re going to launch, or that marriage that is struggling that that we’re seeing in the community group is getting healthier. And so people are just stoked. Our team is excited about… now that not to say we don’t have our tough days and we go to have our tough conversations.

Rich Birch — Sure.

It’s It’s not all you know, whistling, skipping down a yellow brick road there. There’s some hard parts to it as well.

Rich Birch — Yeah, yeah, I love that. Well and I think the rhythm of I love the encouragement around you know the Nine Square, kind of fun weekly thing, you know, for you as an organization you as a leader to say, hey there might be something here. That’s kind of fun that a a team member came to you and then we, hey let’s put some energy on that. There’s probably churches that are listening in they’re like, oh we we do something similar around ping pong, and I never thought of it as being something we should really try to build into. I also love the thing there too around, it being it sounds like it’s like an optional thing. It’s like, hey show up if you want to. It’s between this time. If you’ve got time, we’d love for you to come. Because there is sometimes when you do fun stuff like that, mandatory fun never feels fun. You know, like if it’s…

Bryan Smith — forced fun isn’t fun.

Rich Birch — Yeah. The like, you know, and sometimes you have to do that as a team. Sometimes you have to um, you know, find ah like we’re going to see a movie or we’re going to go do some activity together. Like that that that has its place, but I love to kind of like hey if you’re available Tuesdays at whatever you said twelve thirty one o’clock, come by and have fun. That’s I think that’s fantastic. That’s so cool.

Bryan Smith — Yeah, we had best Christian workplaces come in and assess the health of our team. We’ve done that 3 times with them, and then they did a 360 assessment of me. I still have yet to read that – it’s too painful probably. No, I was actually it was, it was insanely helpful. But…

Rich Birch — Yep.

Bryan Smith — …one of the things in the open-ended responses. There were so many mentions of the the half an hour of Nine Square…

Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s good insight.

Bryan Smith — …in terms of the joy factor on our team. And it helps I have the play drive of a golden retriever. And and so wanting to make things fun and light is really important so that then if we’re enjoying each other’s company and having fun together, then we can really get down to the the ministry stuff, and it doesn’t feel like we’re carrying ah this heavy load. It’s like man we’re carrying a load…

Rich Birch — Yep.

Bryan Smith — …but we’re doing it together, and there’s this fun atmosphere. And when one person wins, we all win. We’re all going to celebrate…

Rich Birch — Yeah.

Bryan Smith — …and and that really helps with the the team dynamics. And then the retention that you’re asking about it and keeping people here, keeping them hungry was proven very beneficial.

Rich Birch — Yeah, and I think there’s something to, you know when there’s a connection there on even like the crucial conversation side of day of having a you know a high performing team where if there’s strong relational connection, it does make it easier to have a more pointed conversation with someone because they see, oh this person is for me, like they’re in my corner. They you know their total view of me isn’t just this one issue that we got to get traction on. They you know they and and as goofy as Nine Square sounds, it’s like hey I I played Nine Square with them, I see I see that they like interacting with me. And then I’m I’m willing to take the feedback or the, you know, hey we got to work harder on this, or we got to stay focused on this when it’s in the context of, I know for me, that’s for sure the case.

Rich Birch — Um, one of the things you talked about kind of as we were preparing was you were in um Virginia, you served there and then you came to Reno. Um two different contexts two, you know, you got the beach you got like you say the desert, um talk to us about what that’s been like to kind of serve in you know, two different contexts. Any learnings from for you as a leader you know, serving in those different environments?

Bryan Smith — Yeah, I think um so I came to to Reno in ’05 at Summit Christian Church. Then I moved out to Virginia Beach in a lead role from 2014 to ’17. And then I was invited back to Summit in a co- like a shared leadership position with our founding pastor. And so I’ve worked I’ve worked at ah, two physical location churches, but very much three churches. Because the the church I I left to go to Virginia to pastor, the Summit of ah the first part of my career, is different than the Summit now. So that’s why I say it’s kind of…

Rich Birch — Right. Yep.

Bryan Smith — …two locations, three churches.

Rich Birch — Yep.

Bryan Smith — Um, but in in Virginia, you know, it’s it’s very much in kind of in the bible belt of sorts even though it’s way east. And I remember talking to my neighbor when we moved in and and I said, oh yeah I pastor ah, Real Life Christian Church down down the road here, and love to have you come. He goes, ah nah, me and the big man upstairs are okay, right? And we hear that.

Rich Birch — Yes.

Bryan Smith — And then I realized… and this isn’t a critique of the church, it’s just the cultural differences.

Rich Birch — Yep.

Bryan Smith — In where I was in Virginia, people were comfortable with God, comfortable with their sort of faith that they decided that faith level they’ve decided to walk in, which is really no faith at all. And it was hard because ah, you’d have to deconstruct that…

Rich Birch — Yeah, for sure.

Bryan Smith — …to have them see their need for God, their need for grace, what relationship with God looks like on his terms not dictated by our terms, and then supported by popular culture kind of thing. And and so there was always a struggle when when folks would come in I’m like, man, if if we could just break down this idea of, you know, me and the big man upstairs are okay. And you would really see your need. You would really jump into it, embrace the grace that God has for us, and and live as the church name said that real life that Jesus offers us. And again not a critique of the church, but just the culture.

Bryan Smith — Well here in Reno, like I said earlier, and people come in and they’ve blown up their life. They’ve never gone to church. And and I realize in our post-Christian ah, context kind of thing we’re we’re really going to see more and more of this.

Rich Birch — Yeah, absolutely.

Bryan Smith — But it’s especially seems more prevalent here in in the community that I serve and where people they’ve never been to church.

Rich Birch — Right.

Bryan Smith — They they don’t know what it looks like and and they have these these notions, and I’ll say it from stage and I’m glad that you’re here. I don’t know what brought you here, but maybe you wanted to prove that Christians are weird. And you’re going to discover we are but not the weird you kind of thought of, you know.

Rich Birch — Yes.

Bryan Smith — And and and so it’s just been in some ways I would rather take someone that that has zero idea of what it looks like to walk with God and say let me introduce you to Jesus. Let’s disciple you. Let let’s you know see see what God has for you. Versus having that kind of you you built your life on a lousy foundation. We got to tear the whole thing down and start from scratch. Yeah, and and so this is I think this is why God has me in in Reno because I love that kind of challenge and I I love…

Rich Birch — That’s so good.

Bryan Smith — …I just I like messy people. Um I like people that don’t have it all together that um I love teaching with um to that kind of mindset and and topic, and really introducing Christ and the the the aha moments where people go… And I been doing like I think this is why we’re we’re seeing this this resurgence of Church attendance and baptism. Buddies and I’m talking to across the US are like, man, God is on the move. Because people had decided I’m going to build my life on this, Covid destroyed that, and they said that I’m going to try these other things. And they’re realizing, wait a minute, this feels just as empty. Maybe there’s something to be said for church. And and so in our community we got lots of folks that are coming in saying, you know, the world sold me a bad bill of goods. I don’t like where I’m at. And so what what does Jesus have to offer me?

Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s so good. I know, you know, I think it’s really important for us as the kind of broader church to continue to learn from places like Reno, or like I’ve served in the northeast and Canada. Um in these kind of for years I used to say post-Christian context, where it was… But but I really feel like that’s shifted and I’ve increasingly heard people using the language of pre-Christian context, which I which resonates is true. That I feel like in the first half of my career, we spent a lot of time deconstructing people’s ideas of church. You know there was the joke of like we ain’t your mama’s church kind of thing. Well the reality of it is most of the people that we see in these contexts, and sounds like this is true in Reno, that are coming in that are unchurched, their their mom didn’t go to church, their grandma didn’t go to church. They’re a couple generations away from this. They don’t have any preconceived notion of what this thing looks like.

Bryan Smith — Yeah.

Rich Birch — And so it’s not like we’re trying to deconstruct from there. We’re trying to start from the ground up, like you say, hey, let’s start from the very beginning, which I just think is an exciting time so that, you know, this would be a great church. You would be your church would be great church for us to be learning from as we think about the future. So this has been a great conversation today.

Bryan Smith — Awesome.

Rich Birch — Just as we kind of come to to land land the plane, is there anything else you’d like to say to to leaders that are listening in today that are thinking about, hey how do we make our church, you know be the kind of place that’s always looking to reach one more, that’s kind of got that, you know, you know, in their mission, or anything that we’ve talked about today you want to reemphasize?

Bryan Smith — Yeah, it’s not easy if I if we were just if we did circle the wagons and just preach to the echo chamber of us. It’d be a lot easier.

Rich Birch — So true.

Bryan Smith — But it’s not as fun.

Rich Birch — Yeah yeah.

Bryan Smith — And you know, I think um it’s incredible, like so there’s there was ah a guy that he he kind of blew up his life. And he had a good life from from outside looking in. And then he got connected to the church. His son had a medical issue. He joined our Rooted group. We we were in Rooted through our church, which is awesome, a great discipleship tool. And and he gave his life to christ in my living room and then I got to baptize him. And to see where he’s at now and helping facilitate another group is just incredible

Rich Birch — So good.

Bryan Smith — And I think, man, had we just circled the wagons and said, Bro, you’re a little too messy for us. We miss out on all that joy. And I don’t think that that I “us four, no more” is definitely not in line with the great commissioner or Acts 1:8. In in all of this too, I have a friend and in um the Baltimore area Ben Cachiaras. He talked about staying hungry and humble, and that has resonated with me. We’re going to stay hungry for that one more, and we’re going to stay humble, like you know God’s got a deep depth chart. He chose us. This is great.

Bryan Smith — Um, and then Psalm 181 it says “the Lord has done this and it’s marvelous in our eyes.” And and so we just continue to look at what God is doing, whether it’s our vision for one more ,vision to launch a campus and and help out in Kenya. We’re we’re going to be building ah an office building on our current site because and then pull all of our offices out of our other buildings so that we can have more ministry space for kids because…

Rich Birch — That’s great.

Bryan Smith — …we got a lot of young families coming and we got a lot of young families that like to reproduce. And and so we got to make space. And and we’re just going, man, this is awesome – like look what God is up to.

Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s so good.

Bryan Smith — And I feel like my biggest role right now is to continue ah to shepherd our people well, and and to die to self, my own concerns of is this thing ever going to spin so fast that it gets out of control? I hope not. But in the meantime God help me raise my lid, help me lead well. Help me be available to your people.

Rich Birch — So good.

Bryan Smith — And and we’ll, you know, kind of trust God with with the outcome.

Rich Birch — So good. Well, Bryan, this has been such an encouraging conversation today. Thank you so much for your time. Where do we want to send people online if they want to track with you or with the church?

Bryan Smith — Well, it would be to the church. I’m not on social media at all. I I got off of that just a few months ago. And but you can check us out summitnv – our states initials – summit and then nevada.org summitnv… wait a minute…

Rich Birch — It is summitnv.org.

Bryan Smith — I I don’t know why I blanked; you’re gonna have to edit that, bro, or just allow it in there.

Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s all good. It’s all good.

Bryan Smith — So you can check us out at summininv.org and see what we’re up to, see what we’re doing and check our church out.

Rich Birch — That’s great. Thanks so much, Bryan. Appreciate you being here today, sir.