003 - The After-Action Report

Most churches run the same event every year and hit the same problems every year, and nobody ever stops to ask why. In this episode of the Field Manual for Pastors, Ed Underwood introduces a practice he brought over from firefighting and the army: the after action report, a simple habit of reviewing what went wrong after any major event so the same mistakes don't repeat.

Ed walks through what qualifies for a review and what doesn't, who should lead one, and the rocky first few years of introducing this at Church of the Open Door, where staff took it personally before it became a normal part of a healthy culture. We also get into a congregational meeting that went sideways and how one after action report changed how those meetings are run to this day.

What You'll Learn

• Why churches tend to repeat the same problems year after year without noticing

• How the after action report started as a firefighting and military practice

• The core questions that structure a useful after action report

• Why staff often take an after action report personally at first

• What qualifies for a review and what's simply too small to need one

• Who should lead the process as a church's culture around it matures

• How one difficult congregational meeting changed church policy for good

• Why an atmosphere of grace has to exist before this practice can work

Key Takeaways

• Start every review with a genuine affirmation before moving into what didn't go well

• Reserve after action reports for real events, not routine weekly meetings

• Let the staff or team closest to an event lead their own review over time

• Introduce the practice on something low-stakes before tackling anything controversial

• Frame the goal as protecting people and improving the experience, never as blame

• Expect resistance from anyone who can't handle being reviewed, and take note of it

• Remember your identity in Christ is not tied to how a single event went

Chapters

• 00:03 - Catching up before the field manual continues

• 04:16 - Defining the after action report and where it comes from

• 06:31 - The core questions that structure every after action report

• 08:17 - Why people take it personally at first

• 11:08 - What qualifies for an after action report, and what doesn't

• 13:11 - Who should lead the process

• 15:02 - A congregational meeting that changed how decisions get made

• 19:53 - How to introduce this practice without it backfiring

• 26:00 - Grace and identity in Christ as the foundation underneath it all