Building a Thriving Church: Insights from Brentwood Baptist’s Executive Pastor
Welcome to the Engaged Church Network podcast! I’m Mike Glenn, and today I’m joined by my longtime friend, Brian Coates, Executive Pastor of the Brentwood campus at Brentwood Baptist Church. Brian’s journey began as a youth ministry intern, and over the years, he’s taken on various leadership roles, growing into an integral part of our church’s mission.
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Mike Glenn: Hi, I'm Mike Glenn, and this is the podcast for the Engage Church Network. Uh, today we have, uh, one of my longest friends, uh, and that's because I met him when he was Uh, what, m- middle school? High school?
Brian Coates: 18.
Mike Glenn: 18. Close enough. So, so Brian Coates, who is the executive pastor for the Brentwood campus, uh, Brentwood Baptist Church.
Uh, but I first met, uh, Brian when he came as an intern.
Brian Coates: That's right.
Mike Glenn: Wasn't it, in the youth ministry?
Brian Coates: Yes, sir.
Mike Glenn: And from there we couldn't get rid of him. He, uh, went to seminary, then got his, uh, PhD in leadership. Always kept circling back around in a variety of roles. And, and, uh, finally, we, uh, we put him in a, a place of administration and leadership, and, um, and he is, he has [00:01:00] thrived, uh, in that.
And one of the fun things about being at a church for 32 years is being able to watch people like Brian grab hold of their call, develop that call, and then execute that call, uh, in a way that, uh, causes the church to thrive. So that's what we're gonna talk about a little bit today. We're gonna talk about Brian's own journey and then, uh, what he's learned about leadership in the local congregation.
So Brian, kinda give us the, the, the CliffsNotes of the Brian Coates story- Yeah ... of- Well, I mean- ... of kind of where you started. You grew up in a, in a, in a pastor's home.
Brian Coates: I did. That's correct. So grew up outside of DC, Northern Virginia. My dad was a, his role was called Minister of Education. Mm-hmm. So catch all, number two in the church.
Uh, did a lot of things. Never thought that I would get into ministry, 'cause, you know, you see your dad do all this stuff and you're like, "I don't know if that's really what I wanna do." Yeah. But the Lord started working on my heart when I was about 17, 18 years old, and drew me down here. His, one of his friends worked in [00:02:00] Nashville, so got down here, came to Belmont, and really part of my story is your sons and Jonathan Whitehurst- Right
invited me to come to Brentwood one Sunday when I first got to Belmont. And, you know, as the Lord worked it out, that first Sunday it just so happened I would run into and get introduced to Jay, and I started interning for him. I said, I was like, "Hey, if you ever need an intern- Mm-hmm ... I'd love to help out.
I'd love to find out more about what it's like to be in ministry." And he said, "Hey, come by this week. I need an intern." I didn't know at the time he'd had no help. He didn't have any staff working with him then. No. And so I just got, jumped right in and, like you said, you guys kept letting me stick around.
Mike Glenn: Right.
Brian Coates: Uh, I think the cool thing over my time is I went from an intern to being a student minister. The church lovingly kicked me out when they sent me to seminary and said- Mm-hmm ... "Hey, we're gonna support you. We're gonna train you." Then when I got done with my master's, you welcomed me back and said, "Hey, we want you to help launch out at Station Hill.
Work there." Allowed me to grow in my gifting. And then as that [00:03:00] happened, more and more people invested in me. People like Jim Baker, you, Jay, others. And then the opportunities kept opening up.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Brian Coates: And over time, went from student ministry to groups to executive pastor work and to what I'm doing now here- Mm-hmm
at the Brookway Campus. So just been a journey of people investing in me, uh, affirming my gifting, and allowing me to step into different roles, even if I might mess up.
Mike Glenn: Right. Um, so let, let's talk about this process of going from a student minister, which is high people, high energy-
Brian Coates: Mm-hmm ...
Mike Glenn: to executive.
Brian Coates: Yeah.
Mike Glenn: An executive pastor, which is kind of one step away from the people. You work with the ministers who then do the ministry- Yeah ... kind of stuff.
Brian Coates: Yeah. So for me, student ministry, I, I'll tell you first off the bat, I was, like, probably the most boring middle school minister there is. Like, I wasn't gonna be the rah-rah guy.
Yeah. I wasn't gonna be the guy that did all the games and get messy or whatever. But the cool thing about the way our student ministry was set up in those days was I got to be the guy [00:04:00] that organized all the groups. Mm-hmm. So I'd do a lot of the administrative tasks and figure out where the groups were gonna meet, and my role got to be more of, "Hey, play to your strengths."
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Brian Coates: Exactly right. So I was en- I was encouraged to, "You be the guy that goes to the school and builds the relationships in those smaller groups." Mm-hmm. "And you invest in the details." So even then, the Lord was preparing me and expanding my gifts and allowing me to, to utilize those in a skill set that fit with me.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Brian Coates: So I wasn't forced to be the prototypical student minister, the fun guy, but even in student ministry, I was allowed to grow in that way.
Mike Glenn: Okay. So how, how did you recognize that your gifting was different? Did you have conversations? Yeah. So, uh, you know, we both worked with, uh, Jim Baker for a long time, who is probably- The best executive pastor- Yeah
uh, that, that certainly that I know of. Yeah. And, and in a lot of ways defined the role- Mm-hmm ... coming up the way, the way that he did. So when he starts investing in you or- Yeah ... starts saying, "Hey, you may [00:05:00] do this well," what, what happens?
Brian Coates: Yeah. So for me, that part of the story was really interesting. I came back from seminary, and I was working at Station Hill.
I got a couple opportunities to preach.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Brian Coates: And, you know, I'm not, I'm not like prideful about it, but I'm like a super great preacher, but I don't do terrible either.
Mike Glenn: Right.
Brian Coates: And I was trying to figure out, like, do I go the Jay route, the Aaron route? Do I try to pursue being a campus pastor? 'Cause that's what I knew.
Mike Glenn: Right.
Brian Coates: Like, you invested in Jay and in Aaron, and then they took those steps up to campus pastor role. So I was like, "Maybe that's me." But I'll never forget, I sat down with Jim one day and he said, he was like, "Brian, how do you feel when you get off the stage after you're done preaching?" Mm-hmm. I'm like, "Relieved."
It's like I'm ready to go take a nap. And he was like, "You don't need to be a campus pastor." And I was like, "Why?" And he said, "Well, you know Mike, as soon as he gets off the stage, he's ready to be back up in three seconds."
Mike Glenn: Yeah.
Brian Coates: Jay-
Mike Glenn: Same
Brian Coates: thing. ... and Aaron, it's like that's, that's what they live for.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Brian Coates: And that became a [00:06:00] conversate- began a conversation with the two of us about my giftedness- Mm-hmm
and the way that I was wired. And for me to have a guy like him, who I respected, uh, saw his faithfulness, and how the Lord used him to build up the church-
Mike Glenn: But I was gonna say, and, and saw the way that he changed things at Brentwood- Yeah ... and actually saw the value of that ministry.
Brian Coates: Yeah. And so he began to call those out and to affirm that.
Mm-hmm. He's like, "Brian, this is what you're naturally inclined to. This is what you start to do every time you're working in the church." And so he, that began the mentoring process for me to call out those gifts.
Mike Glenn: Then you go off to, uh, to seminary, come back, get your PhD in leadership.
Brian Coates: Mm-hmm.
Mike Glenn: So what are those leadership principles that, uh, that you have learned and have seen as critical-
Brian Coates: Yeah
Mike Glenn: uh, in, in the life of the local church?
Brian Coates: Well, and again, you know, I've given you a hard time about this before. Half the reason I got my PhD was one time randomly- ... offhanded you said, "You need to go get your [00:07:00] PhD." I was like, "W- why?" You said, "You just need to do it. Don't, you don't wanna look back and not, and regret that you didn't do it."
Yeah. So I blame you for the, the money and the time. So here I
Mike Glenn: was being prophetic
Brian Coates: and I did- Speaking that over me. No, you know, when I went-
Mike Glenn: No, but, well, let me tell- Yeah ... let me tell you why I said that. Uh, one, uh, to, to, to piggyback with what, what Jim Baker said in your life, you had all of the giftings-
Brian Coates: Mm
Mike Glenn: to do that and do that well, and then be able to interpret and bring that back to the life of the local church.
Brian Coates: Oh, thanks. Mm.
Mike Glenn: You know? And now, now you have, you know, you can stay in the academic world and you can stay... I hope you stay in the local church. Uh, but, um- Uh, to be able to understand what quality leadership looks like at that depth-
Brian Coates: Yeah, yeah
Mike Glenn: is, uh, is huge for the, for us.
Brian Coates: Yeah. And I think what I learned there was honestly i- in an affirming way, it, it just confirmed a lot of what I had done at [00:08:00] Brentwood.
Mike Glenn: Right.
Brian Coates: You know, I went off to, to learn more, to learn more about the practical side of, of ministry leadership, and I did. Uh, it's invaluable what I gained from that PhD, but a lot of it was like, hey, what we were doing in the church, how we were training and developing leaders- Mm-hmm
and how we invested in our employees was really a, a template for what all churches should do.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Brian Coates: A lot of my research started out of what I experienced working at Brentwood, 'cause for me, working at Brentwood, there was always a commitment to employee or self-development.
Mike Glenn: Right.
Brian Coates: Right? We always had a set aside for us a self-development budget-
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm
Brian Coates: so we could go to classes, get training- Mm-hmm ... read books, go to conferences. Whatever it was, it was always a commitment by the church to invest in my growth and my development and my gifts. So what I wanted to research was, are there other churches doing this? So my dissertation was focused on finding out who is doing employee development, are they investing in their ministers, and what does that do for [00:09:00] their staff?
And my primary findings were that, number one, as you would expect, there's a high level of support that the ministers or pastors feel.
Mike Glenn: Right.
Brian Coates: And then number two is that if you're investing in the development of your staff, you're gonna have a healthier staff culture.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Brian Coates: So my big takeaways from getting that PhD was, how do we continue to invest in our teams and in our staff for the purpose of building a healthy culture on our team?
Mike Glenn: Right.
Brian Coates: No matter what size that team is, it could be three, could be five, could be 100 like it is- Mm-hmm ... at the Brentwood campus, what are we doing to cultivate a healthy leadership culture? 'Cause that's gonna result in healthy ministry.
Mike Glenn: Ri- oh, yeah. And, you know, people would always tell me, "Mike, you're so generous because you support this, you encourage, uh, you know, the development of Jay," who's now the senior pastor of Brentwood Baptist Church, and others.
Uh, m- my point to them was, it didn't cost me anything.
Brian Coates: Yeah.
Mike Glenn: In fact, what happens is, uh, the church does better The [00:10:00] church thrives, and then eventually people come back and go, "You know, this is a great church." Yeah. And, and my input was, "Hey, that's a good idea, Brian. Let's do that."
Brian Coates: Well, exactly. And I think the thing, if, if I had a dream for the research I did during that dissertation was, it's not even how relevant it is for a big church.
Mm-hmm. 'Cause megachurches, you know, they'll put aside budgets to invest in their staff. But even a smaller church, could be one staff, bivocational pastor. If that church said, "Hey, we're gonna devote, we're gonna give this pastor an extra week of paid time off just so that he can go read- Right ... or go to a conference."
Mm-hmm. Or they give him a book budget. Simple things like that convey a commitment to them and show, hey, we're not only just wanting them to do what we want them to do, but we're interested in their growth.
Mike Glenn: Yeah.
Brian Coates: And they stay longer, and th- they feel more supported.
Mike Glenn: Now, see, my, my understanding of it was I was, I was the steward of you guys.
Brian Coates: Yeah.
Mike Glenn: And I owed it to the kingdom.
Brian Coates: [00:11:00] Mm-hmm.
Mike Glenn: And I would one day stand before God, and, and, and I w- wanted to be able to say, "This is who you gave me."
Brian Coates: Yeah.
Mike Glenn: Now look at them.
Brian Coates: Yeah.
Mike Glenn: Uh, so that was, uh, k- kind of the... And I, I, I'm old enough now, been doing this long enough, that I'm more thrilled by you guys' success- Mm-hmm
than I am my own.
Brian Coates: Yeah.
Mike Glenn: You know, when, when I hear about how things... Although it does hurt my feelings a little bit how well Brentwood is doing since I left. I'm, I'm, I'm trying to be mature about that. But, uh, the church is thriving. That's, that's what we prayed for. That's what we worked so hard to make that a good transition-
Brian Coates: Yeah
Mike Glenn: for, uh, and that kind of stuff. Now, let's go back, uh, be- because a lot of our, a lot of our friends think they have to do e- everything.
Brian Coates: Yeah.
Mike Glenn: And, uh, as, as, as a disciple of that philosophy, I can tell you it doesn't work.
Brian Coates: No.
Mike Glenn: It doesn't. No. It doesn't work for you as a person. Doesn't [00:12:00] work for your church.
There's a reason the body has a diversity of gifts. Uh, and, and you heard Brian say, uh, that after he was finished preaching, uh- He was relieved. I, I can tell you, when I'm finished preaching, I'm, I'm counting the days- Yeah ... till I can get back up so I can, I can finish the thought or I, I thrive off of that.
Brian Coates: Mm-hmm.
Mike Glenn: Uh, talk about the diversity of gifts and, and, and the value of that in the local church.
Brian Coates: Yeah. Well, I mean, ultimately our role is to equip the saints- Right ... for the work of the ministry. You know, Ephesians 4, that's what we're called to do. And one of the things that I've always loved to see, particularly in my role, uh, this is one of the perks of being in an executive pastor world, is you get to see how God weaves together all these parts.
Mike Glenn: Right.
Brian Coates: You know, you get to see how he brings up and trains up this bubbly, really good with people preschool minister and how they connect- Mm-hmm ... and how [00:13:00] he's wired them and gifted them to be hospitable and bring them in, and then all the way to taking somebody who's a high D, you know, assertive, driving leader that can be a catalyst, uh, for new initiatives in student ministry or with groups.
Whatever it is, you see how God weaves together into the fabric all of these different personality and giftings to strengthen the church. Mm-hmm. You know, I've heard of some churches that try to highlight and identify only one certain gift set or skill set and use that and pigeonhole it for a role.
Mike Glenn: Right.
Brian Coates: But a lot of times what you're doing is you're robbing the opportunity to see how the Spirit brings together- Mm-hmm ... this plurality of gifting to build up the body.
Mike Glenn: Yeah. My, my thing is it, it, it takes more than, takes all of us-
Brian Coates: Yeah ...
Mike Glenn: to express the glory of God. One person cannot do that.
Brian Coates: Absolutely.
Mike Glenn: Or one gift set-
Brian Coates: Mm-hmm ...
Mike Glenn: uh, c- cannot, cannot do that.
Brian Coates: Yeah.
Mike Glenn: So, um, in your role, tell me the handful of things, uh, because it was, it was life-changing for me. Uh, and, and [00:14:00] you were there for part of that change when Jim Becker came on.
Brian Coates: Yeah.
Mike Glenn: And, and there were whole chunks of, of church life-
Brian Coates: Mm-hmm ...
Mike Glenn: that I didn't know anything about.
Brian Coates: Yeah.
Mike Glenn: I mean, I would go by the church and there would be cars, and Jeannie would say, "Who's, who's here?" And I said, "I don't know."
Brian Coates: Yeah, there you
Mike Glenn: go. You know, I just know I wasn't supposed to be there,
Brian Coates: so. Absolutely.
Mike Glenn: For those of you who are pastors- Uh, I w- I want to help you understand how valuable it is. Now y- you may be in a church where you can't afford the executive, but there's somebody in your church who can- Mm-hmm
fulfill this role, and you need to identify and call out their calling in that. So, uh, ta- talk to me about how you, Jay, Stan-
Brian Coates: Yeah ...
Mike Glenn: all work together to accomplish the-
Brian Coates: Yeah ...
Mike Glenn: uh, the, the mission. I mean, Jay's kind of wired like I am.
Brian Coates: Yeah,
Mike Glenn: yeah, yeah. You know, you get an idea a minute and, and, uh- Yeah ... here's what we need to do.
Brian Coates: And I think- A
Mike Glenn: hard driver.
Brian Coates: Yeah, I think the big thing is how do we come alongside in our role as that executive, administrative, whatever the function is, come alongside [00:15:00] to help implement the vision that's cast by the senior pastor?
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Brian Coates: Obviously they're gonna get that from scripture and, and guiding by the Holy Spirit, but how do we come alongside and really make sure that when the pastor says, "Hey, this is where I wanna go, A to Z-"
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm
Brian Coates: that you're able to go from B to Y- Yeah. ... and connect those dots. You know? Because it's really, I mean- Well,
Mike Glenn: that was my thing. Yeah. I told Peter, "I can see Z."
Brian Coates: Yeah. You can see it.
Mike Glenn: I can't, I can't see M or P or Q or any- Mm-hmm ... of those.
Brian Coates: So I always talk about, it's like, how do I best implement or help to implement- Mm-hmm
that vision, come alongside the senior pastor for that? But then also, how do I remove the obstacles from effective ministry so that our ministerial staff- Right ... can do that well?
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm. '
Brian Coates: Cause they're gonna be the ones that are carrying all the load of implementing this vision in their individual ministry areas.
Mm-hmm. So how do I come alongside to make sure, one, it's being implemented, but that I'm taking out all the roadblocks and obstacles and administrative things that they don't need to [00:16:00] worry about so that they can be freed up to minister?
Mike Glenn: What do you look for in a good leader?
Brian Coates: For me, uh, faithfulness.
Honestly, just commitment. Uh, I always tell our residents when they come in at the church like, "Hey, don't come in trying to prove to me that you're good. We wouldn't have brought you in if we didn't think you could be good."
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Brian Coates: Uh, show your faithfulness. Be willing to put your head down and do the stuff that nobody else wants to do.
And in my experience at our church, it's been if you demonstrate faithfulness and commitment, God will, at the right time, allow you to step up and influence.
Mike Glenn: And lift up. Okay. He's Brian Coates. He's the executive pastor at Brentwood Baptist Church. He's been a friend of mine for-
Brian Coates: 22
Mike Glenn: years 22 years. Oh, I'm old.
He's got, he's got babies now. What, four?
Brian Coates: I got four, but they're not even babies anymore.
Mike Glenn: I'm old. I'm old, and I'm feeling every bit of it now. But one of the great privileges I've had is being part of, of, of Brian's life [00:17:00] and people like him. Now, if you're a pastor of a local church, want to remind you of a couple things.
One, uh, there is a lot to do in a local church. All of us know that. Two, you weren't supposed to do it all.
Brian Coates: Mm.
Mike Glenn: Uh, there are people in your church, maybe on your staff, certainly in your pews, who are gifted to help you do that kind of work. They're gifted in administration. They're gifted in details. They're gifted in things that you don't do well.
Call them out. Help them to share the ministry, uh, for the success of your local church. And hear me, when that works, and it will because that's the way God designed it, the credit will come back to you. You won't lose any authority. You won't lose any position. You won't lose any of that. In fact, that will be multiplied back to you.
That's what happened in my own life. Faithfulness. Show up, do what you need to do, and over time, God will commend you to other positions and other levels of leadership to best serve the kingdom. [00:18:00] He's Brian Coates. I'm Mike Glenn. This is the Engage Church Network podcast. Thanks for being here.
