Advancing the Mission

This week on Advancing the Mission, we reflect on an incredible impact trip to the Dominican Republic with Go Ministries through a meaningful conversation with my wife, Staci Kaczmarek, who led the team. In this episode, Pastor Chris sits down with Staci to discuss what it was like serving cross-culturally, the lessons they learned as they served alongside local leaders, and the ways they experien...

This week on Advancing the Mission, we continue our series on church multiplication and local outreach with a practical conversation featuring Elle Chamberlin, previous director of LifeWise Garrett. In this episode, Pastor Chris Kaczmarek sits down with Elle to explore how LifeWise is bringing the Gospel to public school students in Garrett through released time Bible education. They discuss how t...

This week on Advancing the Mission, we continue our series on local outreach and church multiplication.  We continue talking about how every part of the Church contributes to the mission of Jesus with a meaningful conversation featuring John Crump, Care Pastor at County Line Church. In this episode, Pastor Chris Kaczmarek sits down with John to talk about the heart behind care ministry—why it matt...

This week on Advancing the Mission, we continue our exploration of church multiplication with an insightful conversation featuring Joe Webb, Campus Pastor at the Fishers Campus of Northview Church. In this episode, Pastor Chris Kaczmarek sits down with Joe to discuss the unique role of the campus pastor—what it is, why it matters, and how it supports the broader mission of the Church. Joe shares p...

This week on Advancing the Mission, we continue our series on church multiplication with a meaningful conversation featuring Tom Planck, Director of Church Multiplication at Indiana Ministries and Healthy Church Catalyst at Healthy Growing Churches. In this episode, Pastor Chris Kaczmarek sits down with Tom to unpack what church multiplication really means and why it’s a vital part of the Church’s...

This week on Advancing the Mission, we kick off a new series on church multiplication with a solo episode exploring the heart behind why multiplication matters. In this conversation, Pastor Chris Kaczmarek unpacks the reasons for multiplying churches, addresses some of the most common misconceptions, and shares personal reflections on why this movement is essential for the future of the Church, sp...

This week on Advancing the Mission, we conclude our series on the County Line vision with a meaningful conversation featuring Stuart Kruse, Lead Pastor at County Line Church. Pastor Stu shares his heart behind the phrase "One Life at a Time" from our vision statement, exploring why it’s personally significant to him and how he leads the congregation to live it out in their everyday lives. Filled w...

This week on Advancing the Mission, we continue our exploration of the County Line vision with a thought-provoking conversation featuring Andrew Gale, Executive Director for Global Strategy. Andrew dives into the powerful phrase "Throughout a hurting world" from our vision statement, unpacking its significance and what it calls us to as followers of Christ. Don’t miss this insightful episode! And...

This week on Advancing the Mission, we’re kicking off a brand new series focused on the County Line Vision! Join us as we sit down with Trevor Maggart, a passionate church planter and the leader behind Resurrection Church in Fort Wayne. In this episode, Trevor shares the blessings and challenges of his church planting journey—and how he’s living out the call to “multiply the love and joy of Jesus....

This week on Advancing the Mission, we wrap up our series on the 5 I’s of a Jesus-Centered Life with a powerful conversation featuring Carly Jones and Amanda Pant. Both Carly and Amanda serve as Worship Assistants and share meaningful insight into how worship invites us to intentionally connect with Jesus on a deeper level. Don’t miss this inspiring episode—and if you haven’t already, be sure to s...

On Advancing the Mission this week, we continue our series on the 5 I's of a Jesus-Centered Life by talking with Pastor Kenneth. Kenneth has been serving as with Agape Faith United in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, for almost twenty years. Listen as he talks with us about his ministry and how he is investing in one another in Bulgaria. If you'd like to learn more about Agape Faith United or to give to the pro...

On Advancing the Mission this week, we continue our series on the 5 I's of a Jesus-Centered Life by talking with Gary Haugen. Gary is the founder and current President of the International Justice Mission. Before founding IJM in 1997, Gary was a human rights attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, where he focused on crimes of police misconduct. In 1994, he served as the Director of the Unite...

On Advancing the Mission this week, we continue our series on the 5 I's of a Jesus-Centered Life by talking with Steven Kozak.  Steven and his family recently took a large leap of faith and sold everything to share Jesus with those they interact with in the youth racing circuit.  Listen and learn about how they are integrating God into all of life.   If you'd like to learn more about what the Koza...

On Advancing the Mission this week, we continue our series on the 5 I's of a Jesus-Centered Life by talking with Zach and Audrey Langford. The Langfords have been serving as missionaries in Birkenhead, UK, for several years. Listen as they talk about their ministry and how they influence those far from God in a post-Christian cultural context. If you'd like to learn more about what the Langfords a...

On Advancing the Mission this week, we begin a 6 week series on the 5 I's of a Jesus-Centered Life by talking with Connections Pastor, Dane Kruse.  The connections ministry at County Line touches at least three of the five I's so Dane is a great guest to help us review them and talk about how his ministry helps achieve our vision to Multiply the love and joy of Jesus throughout a hurting world...o...

On Advancing the Mission this week, we talked with Stacey Zeisloft, Family Ministries Pastor at County Line.  Stacey has been a part of the Jesus-Centered Family Podcast and is now working to make some new and exciting changes for 2025.  Advancing the Mission will also be making some changes as we go from 2024 to 2025.  Listen as we talk through these changes and what we are looking forward to in...

On Advancing the Mission this week, we talked with Stacey Zeisloft, Family Ministries Pastor at County Line.  Stacey has been a part of the Jesus-Centered Family Podcast and is now working to make some new and exciting changes for 2025.  Advancing the Mission will also be making some changes as we go from 2024 to 2025.  Listen as we talk through these changes and what we are looking forward to in...

This week on Advancing the Mission, we interviewed Kelley and Rhonda Phillips. They recently moved to Cairo, Egypt, from Germany and are serving as missionaries there. Listen as they talk about their recent move and give us some background on the church in Egypt and the incredible growth and health they have seen over the last twenty years.  

This week, on Advancing the Mission, we continue talking to those with whom Pastor Chris interacted while in Egypt.  This week, he interviews Dr. Latif Ramses.  Dr. Latif is the National Leader of the Church of God in Egypt and the President of the General Assembly there.  This is a great conversation to learn more about what is happening in Egypt and the long-term vision for the Church of God the...

This week on Advancing the Mission, I interviewed Nate Tatman, the Regional Coordinator for Europe and the Middle East, as part of the Three Worlds team. I interviewed him on site in Egypt as we drove around to some of the different churches there. This is a great opportunity to hear about where our Joy to the World offering will be going for 2024 and to hear from Nate, who has seen the growth of...

This week on Advancing the Mission, I continue talking through my most recent trip to Egypt. Here we get into some of the details of each church that we visited and the way God is specifically impacting those communities!

This week on Advancing the Mission, I talk through my recent trip to Egypt. In Part 1, I give a general overview of the week and the churches we visited. I spent 12 days in Egypt and visited 10 churches and pastors during that time. Listen to hear about how the Church of God is growing and doing amazing work in Egypt!

This week on Advancing the Mission, we replay an episode from 2021. This is part of my top 5 interviews of all time! We chat with Rod Stafford, the lead pastor at Fairfax Church. Join us to hear about their strategy to impact lives locally and globally.

This week on Advancing the Mission, we continue playing my top 5 favorite interviews with a replay of a conversation with Thomas Smith during Black History Month in 2022. Tom Smith is the assistant school leader and co-founder of Smith Academy For Excellence. We have partnered with this school for several years at County Line. Tom has been in many leadership positions in Fort Wayne schools and was...

This week on Advancing the Mission, we replay our Father's Day episode from last year when we interviewed Jon Fogel, Senior Pastor at Hope Covenant Church in Orland Park, IL. This is continuing our series on my top 5 favorite interviews from Advancing the Mission. For our conversation today, we talk about a viral parenting account Jon created a few years back with over 750,000 followers. If you ar...