EquippingU: Dynamic Influence

Karl Vaters is the author of four books.

The Church Recovery Guide: How Your Congregation Can Adapt and Thrive after a Crisis
100 Days to a Healthier Church: A Step-By-Step Guide for Pastors and Leadership Teams
Small Church Essentials: Field-Tested Principles for Leading a Healthy Congregation of Under 250
The Grasshopper Myth: Big Churches, Small Churches and the Small Thinking That Divides Us
Karl produces resources for Helping Small Churches Thrive at KarlVaters.com.

His heart is to help pastors of small churches (up to 90 percent of us) find the resources to lead well, and to capitalize on the unique advantages that come with pastoring a small church – something virtually every pastor will spend at least some of their ministry years doing. He also believes that big and small churches can and should work together more often – to the benefit and blessing of everyone.

He also hosts the podcast, Can This Work In a Small Church? in which he and his guests talks about universal church leadership issues, then dig deeper into how those issues look different when we approach them from a small church context.

In 2022, he’s doing a limited-series called the Bible Reading Coach, a weekly podcast designed to help anyone read through the entire Bible in 52 weeks.

Karl has written for many publications, including ChristianityToday.com, Outreach magazine, Church Law & Tax, and more. He also serves as the Small/Mid-Size Church Ambassador for Compassion International.

Karl has been in pastoral ministry for over 40 years. He is the teaching pastor of Cornerstone Christian Fellowship, a healthy small church in Orange County, California, where he has ministered for almost 30 years with his wife, Shelley. They have three children and two grandkids.