CNLP 802 | How the Modern Church Was Shaped: Church Growth, Seeker Sensitive, Attractional, Missional with Todd Wilson
The Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast
Carey Nieuwhof
4.8 • 2.3K Ratings
🗓️ 5 May 2026
⏱️ 123 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Most church leaders are leading inside a model they never chose and rarely understand.
In this episode, Todd Wilson, founder of Exponential, walks through the true history of the modern church: Church Growth, Seeker Sensitive, Attractional, Missional—and what's coming next.
This is the seminary class no one got, but every church leader needs.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Art of Leadership Network. |
| 0:03.0 | In Hebel's words, I mean, he's just a young kid. |
| 0:05.8 | We don't have any money. |
| 0:07.6 | And he went out and they visited Schuller, and Schuller let him come up to the office. |
| 0:11.9 | And they had a conversation where, I'm going to paraphrase here, but Schuller basically said to him, give God a thimble and he might fill it. |
| 0:20.7 | Give God a five-gallon bucket, and he might fill |
| 0:23.8 | that. Give God a 55-gallon drum, and you might see some really cool things happen. And it was |
| 0:32.3 | Schiller who challenged Heibles, think big. You got to think really big. |
| 0:39.7 | And in both a good way and a bad way now, Carrie. |
| 0:46.9 | Welcome to the Carrie Newhoff Leadership Podcast, man. |
| 0:49.6 | I'm so excited about this episode. |
| 0:52.3 | Okay, it's a little bit nerdy. |
| 0:57.6 | And I think that's okay. when I talk to Todd Wilson about this project he's been working on for years, I'm like, where was this |
| 1:02.8 | when I needed? It's the history of the church growth movement over the last 70 years, you know, |
| 1:08.7 | from its origins to secret sensitive, attractional, |
| 1:13.1 | missional, emerging church. I mean, the whole thing over the last 70 years. And why this is |
| 1:19.3 | so important to me is this is basically the church you ended up leading. I picked up with this |
| 1:23.9 | in the 90s midstream. You probably picked up on it, you know, a lot later than I did. |
| 1:28.3 | You got into church leadership in the 2010s or even in the 2020s. |
| 1:33.3 | And you don't fully understand the model that you're operating in. |
| 1:38.3 | Well, we go two hours on this. |
| 1:40.3 | So I take my church history nerd hat and consider this the seminary class you never got. |
... |
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