Church Consulting
That Tells You the Truth

Strong churches come to us to find the next gear.
Struggling churches to find their way back.

READ A REAL REPORT

The first conversation is free.

Church Consulting
That Tells
You the Truth

Strong churches come to us to find the next gear. Struggling churches to find their way back.

READ A REAL REPORT

The first conversation is free.

LET’S BE HONEST

The Signs Nobody Names

Healthy churches feel these things. So do hurting ones. See if any of these sound familiar:

— We’re doing well, but I don’t feel like we’ve even scratched the surface.

— The church is growing, but honestly, we don’t even know why.

— We have a great staff—but leadership doesn’t extend beyond the people we pay.

— We’re comfortable, but something is missing we can’t put our finger on.

— Ask five leaders where the church is headed. You’ll get five different answers.

— Everything important lives in two or three heads. Everyone knows it. No one says it.

— Every program is still running—on fumes. Exhaustion has quietly been renamed faithfulness.

— You’re the one everyone leans on—and you can’t remember your last real season of rest.

None of these are emergencies. That’s exactly why they get ignored. But the strongest churches we work with aren’t the ones with the fewest symptoms—they’re the ones who looked earliest. That’s what an assessment is for. Not proof that something’s wrong. A mirror, before you need one.

LET’S BE HONEST

The Signs
Nobody Names

Healthy churches feel these things. So do hurting ones. See if any of these sound familiar:

— We’re doing well, but I don’t feel like we’ve even scratched the surface.

— The church is growing, but honestly, we don’t even know why.

— We have a great staff—but leadership doesn’t extend beyond the people we pay.

— We’re comfortable, but something is missing we can’t put our finger on.

— Ask five leaders where the church is headed. You’ll get five different answers.

— Everything important lives in two or three heads. Everyone knows it. No one says it.

— Every program is still running—on fumes. Exhaustion has quietly been renamed faithfulness.

— You’re the one everyone leans on—and you can’t remember your last real season of rest.

None of these are emergencies. That’s exactly why they get ignored. But the strongest churches we work with aren’t the ones with the fewest symptoms—they’re the ones who looked earliest. That’s what an assessment is for. Not proof that something’s wrong.

A mirror, before you need one.

WHO THIS IS FOR

Every Church is in One of Three Places

WHO THIS IS FOR

Every Church is in
One of Three Places

Warning sign alerting pastors that something is broken in their church.

Something is Broken

Trust has eroded. Good people are leaving. Decisions take forever. You can feel the dysfunction, but you can’t pinpoint the source—and everything you’ve tried treats the symptom. Not the source. You need outside eyes.

A mountain top showing that anything is possible, no matter the challenge your team is facing.

Something is Possible

The church is healthy, and the team is solid. But you know there’s another gear—sharper direction, stronger culture, a real plan for where you’re headed. Healthy churches don’t coast. They get intentional about what’s next.

A compass showing the the direction of your church is changing.

Something is Changing

A pastoral transition. A key hire. A new leadership structure. Change compounds fast, and the churches that navigate it well are the ones that get ahead of it—with a clear process and steady help before it gets complicated.

Warning sign alerting pastors that something is broken in their church.

Something is Broken

Trust has eroded. Good people are leaving. Decisions take forever. You can feel the dysfunction, but you can’t pinpoint the source—and everything you’ve tried treats the symptom. Not the source. You need outside eyes.

A mountain top showing that anything is possible, no matter the challenge your team is facing.

Something is Possible

The church is healthy, and the team is solid. But you know there’s another gear—sharper direction, stronger culture, a real plan for where you’re headed. Healthy churches don’t coast. They get intentional about what’s next.

A compass showing the the direction of your church is changing.

Something is Changing

A pastoral transition. A key hire. A new leadership structure. Change compounds fast, and the churches that navigate it well are the ones that get ahead of it—with a clear process and steady help before it gets complicated.

Three different starting points. One first step.

Three different starting points.
One first step.

OUR APPROACH

The Presenting Issue is Rarely the Real Problem

A church calls about a ministry that keeps failing. We listen. Then we dig—staff turnover, authority that never gets released, a wound from years ago no one named. The concern you bring us is real. But it’s usually a symptom, not the disease.

That’s why we don’t hand you a report and disappear. We come on-site. We sit in your meetings. We use WholeCare™—one integrated look at your leadership, people, and systems—because the real issues run through it all. And the lens works both ways: in a hurting church, it finds what’s breaking. In a strong one, what’s next.

Underneath it all, one conviction: the health of a church can't exceed the health of its leaders. So every engagement begins with a question—how's your team doing, really? Because this isn’t just an organization. It’s a church. We treat it that way.

A church leadership meeting in a boardroom where the team is discussing their next steps with The Authentic Pastor consulting.

OUR APPROACH

The Presenting Issue is Rarely the Real Problem

A church calls about a ministry that keeps failing. We listen. Then we dig—staff turnover, authority that never gets released, a wound from years ago no one named. The concern you bring us is real. But it’s usually a symptom, not the disease.

That’s why we don’t hand you a report and disappear. We come on-site. We sit in your meetings. We use WholeCare™—one integrated look at your leadership, people, and systems—because the real issues run through it all. And the lens works both ways: in a hurting church, it finds what’s breaking. In a strong one, what’s next.

Underneath it all, one conviction: the health of a church cannot exceed the health of its leaders. So every engagement begins with a question—how are you and your leaders doing, really? Because this isn’t just an organization. It’s a church. We treat it that way.

SEE WHAT YOU’D BE BUYING

See a Real Report Before You Spend a Dollar

Most consultants ask you to trust a sales pitch. We’d rather show you the actual product. We’ll send you a real WholeCare™ Church Report—anonymized, but otherwise exactly what you’d receive—so you and your board can see the depth, the honesty, and the kind of findings we deliver before you spend anything.

By completing this form, we’ll also send you helpful resources, ministry insights, and occasional updates. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Cover of a real, anonymized WholeCare church assessment report from The Authentic Pastor.

Fair warning: the church in the sample looks fine from the pews. That’s the point.

HOW IT WORKS

Every Engagement Walks the Same Honest Path

1 A Real Conversation

Before anything else, we talk—about what’s happening, how long it’s been happening, what you’ve already tried, and what you hope will change. By the end, you’ll know whether an assessment makes sense for your church—and so will we.

NEXT → THE SNAPSHOT

2 The WholeCare™ Snapshot

Your leadership team—the lead pastor plus at least one other key leader—each completes the Snapshot online: 45 questions across six areas of health. The differences between their answers tell us as much as the answers themselves reveal.

NEXT → ON-SITE

3 Two Days On-Site

We come to you. Structured conversations with your pastor, staff, and board. Quiet observation. The kind of unhurried listening that only happens in person. Because of the Snapshot, we arrive already knowing where to start looking deeper.

NEXT → THE REPORT

4 A Written Report and Three Pathways

Within two weeks, you get the clear picture—where you’re strong, where you’re straining, where something may be quietly breaking—and three pathways forward. We read it together on a follow-up call. Talk to your leaders, pray, and decide.

THEN → YOU DECIDE

1 A Real Conversation

Before anything else, we talk—about what’s happening, how long it’s been happening, what you’ve already tried, and what you hope will change. By the end, you’ll know whether an assessment makes sense for your church—and so will we.

NEXT → THE SNAPSHOT

2 The WholeCare™ Snapshot

Your leadership team—the lead pastor plus at least one other key leader—each completes the Snapshot online: 45 questions across six areas of health. The differences between their answers tell us as much as the answers themselves reveal.

NEXT → ON-SITE

3 Two Days On-Site

We come to you. Structured conversations with your pastor, staff, and board. Quiet observation. The kind of unhurried listening that only happens in person. Because of the Snapshot, we arrive already knowing where to start looking deeper.

NEXT → THE REPORT

4 A Written Report and
Three Pathways

Within two weeks, you get the clear picture—where you’re strong, where you’re straining, where something may be quietly breaking—and three pathways forward. We read it together on a follow-up call. Talk to your leaders, pray, and decide.

THEN → YOU DECIDE

David Martin talking about why his church consulting felt different with The Authentic Pastor because they were asking the right questions.

David Martin

GREAT OAKS FELLOWSHIP

“I’ve sat through a lot of outside consultations. This was different. Someone actually in our meetings, with our staff, asking the right questions. What they helped us see wasn’t just organizational. It went deeper than that. We’re a healthier church because of it.”

Dr. Jeff Steckler talking about conflict resolution and complex conversations.

Dr. Jeff Steckler

CROSSPOINT COMMUNITY CHURCH

“Conflict resolution, complex conversations, strengthened unity—all while remaining anchored to our calling. Their consulting has not only sharpened our direction but deepened our confidence in where God is leading us.”

Dave Shivers of CrossCity Christian Church on leadership development and governance work with The Authentic Pastor.

Dave Shivers

CROSSCITY CHRISTIAN CHURCH

“They worked with our executive team and elder board—clarifying roles and strengthening how we govern. They invested two years in one of our young pastors. He’s our senior pastor now. That kind of fruit outlasts an engagement.”

Brad McLean of New Braunfels First Baptist on his experience with The Authentic Pastor.

Brad McLean

NEW BRAUNFELS FIRST BAPTIST

“Knowing you need help is one thing—getting the right help is another. We called about our discipleship ministry, and the assessment looked at the health of our whole church. They didn’t tell us where we were unhealthy. Their questions showed us.”

THE TEAM

The People You’ll Be Working With

A growing team of consultants with more than 200 combined years of pastoral ministry, church planting, executive leadership, and academic work—all trained in the WholeCare™ framework. Every one of them has sat in the chair you're sitting in. And every engagement runs on the same rule: tell the church the truth.

THE TEAM

The People You’ll Be
Working With

Six consultants. Nearly 200 combined years of pastoral ministry, church planting, executive leadership, and academic work—all trained in the WholeCare™ framework. Every one of them has sat in the chair you’re sitting in. And every engagement runs on the same rule: tell the church the truth.

During consulting churches Tim Eldred relies on his experience of teaching over 20,000 leaders.

Tim Eldred

FOUNDER | CEO

Brian Aaby has spent years working with churches personally.

Brian Aaby

CHIEF STRATEGIST

Dr. Jeff Gill, Academic Director at The Authentic Pastor.

Dr. Jeff Gill

ACADEMIC DIRECTOR

Jeff Noel, Pastoral Coach at The Authentic Pastor.

Jeff Noel

PASTORAL COACH

Dr. Ken Castor, Leadership Educator at The Authentic Pastor.

Dr. Ken Castor

LEADERSHIP EDUCATOR

Jim Probst, Ministry Strategist at The Authentic Pastor.

Jim Probst

MINISTRY STRATEGIST

Read the full bios of our team on our About page.

Read the full bios of our team
on our About page.

A QUICK GUT CHECK

Is an Assessment Right for You, Right Now?

✓ You’ve sensed something’s off for more than a season—even if you can’t name it.

✓ The church is doing well—and you’d rather build on strength than coast on it.

✓ Your leaders would answer hard questions honestly if someone neutral asked.

✓ You’re ready to hear what the data says—even if it surprises you.

✓ Your board would actually read a clear, written plan—and act on it.

✓ You’d rather know now than find out later.

If you nodded at two or three of these, that’s worth a conversation.

A QUICK GUT CHECK

Is an Assessment
Right for You, Right Now?

✓ You’ve sensed something’s off for more than a season—even if you can’t name it.

✓ The church is doing well—and you’d rather build on strength than coast on it.

✓ Your leaders would answer hard questions honestly if someone neutral asked.

✓ You’re ready to hear what the data says—even if it surprises you.

✓ Your board would actually read a clear, written plan—and act on it.

✓ You’d rather know now than find out later.

If you nodded at two or three of these, that’s worth a conversation.

A radar chart from a WholeCare Church Report showing how three groups of leaders scored the same church across six areas of health.

EVERY ENGAGEMENT STARTS HERE

The Church Assessment & Roadmap—$4,500

Flat fee, plus travel at cost. That covers the conversation, the Snapshot, the on-site visit, and your written report. Some churches take the roadmap and run with it themselves—and that’s a good outcome too. And sometimes our honest recommendation is a pause, or a candid no.

EVERY ENGAGEMENT STARTS HERE

The Church Assessment
& Roadmap—$4,500

Flat fee, plus travel at cost. That covers the conversation, the Snapshot, the on-site visit, and your written report. Some churches take the roadmap and run with it themselves—and that’s a good outcome too. And sometimes our honest recommendation is a pause, or a candid no.

LET’S TALK

Every Engagement Starts with an Honest Conversation

45–60 minutes with a consultant, not a salesperson. We’ll hear what’s happening, answer everything—what’s included, the schedule, the investment—and help you decide if an assessment is right for your church. Sometimes the honest answer is “not yet.” We’ll tell you that too.

LET’S TALK

Every Engagement
Starts with an
Honest Conversation

45–60 minutes with a consultant, not a salesperson. We’ll hear what’s happening, answer everything—what’s included, the schedule, the investment—and help you decide if an assessment is right for your church. Sometimes the honest answer is “not yet.” We’ll tell you that too.

By completing this form, we’ll also send you helpful resources, ministry insights, and occasional updates. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Or give us a call: (989) 214-3849

Or give us a call: (989) 214-3849‬

Healthy churches are built from the inside out. So are healthy pastors.

Healthy churches are
built from the inside out.
So are healthy pastors.