200churches Podcast: Ministry Encouragement for Pastors of Small Churches

Jeff talked with John Finkelde, founder of GrowAHealthyChurch.com in Perth, Australia about the qualities of a pastor who is emotionally healthy, unhurried, and at peace... among other things. This is a short, quick, effective episode that will give you some fodder for ministry thoughts and initiatives, plus some healthy encouragement. Enjoy!

Dave Ronan Ph. D. is an expert in Intercultural Studies, a pastor, a missionary, a professor, a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force, and one who has trained Foreign Military Advisors, State Department personnel, and so much more.  Dave is currently a pastor of a Kanto Plains Baptist Church near an Air Force base in Toyko, Japan with a congregation half Japanese people and half U.S. military p...

David Wilson serves as the Executive Pastor at Harvest Downtown in Colorado Springs CO. He has served in para-church organizations that brought him into close proximity with prominent evangelical leaders who wielded political influence nationally. He helped them organize and fundraise. He served with them personally. But today he is more convinced than ever that the local church is God's Gosp...

This conversation Jonny and I had with that Jonny and I had with Christena Cleveland was eye opening and enlightening. It helped us to see the world from another person's perspective. Before Tamir Rice, George Floyd, and so many others - we had this conversation with Christena. We know you'll be encouraged and learn... Christena's book - DisUnity In Christ - Uncovering the hidden fo...

Paul and Peggy Schlieker are lay people who have never let that status keep them from committed service and ministry for Jesus! They are disciples who make disciples in their church and community, and they challenge and empower regular people toward the highest levels of commitment and calling for Christ. Paul shares his discipleship philosophy, and believe me, any pastor who listens will be chall...

This episode is with Andy Dykhouse, the Executive Director for Camp Rivercrest in Nebraska. If you are not involved in the summer camp world, this episode is for YOU! Enjoy it, and then get your kids involved in something that will be absolutely life changing! Check out Camp Rivercrest below, or a great Christian Camp in your neck of the woods. Camp Rivercrest

Jeff and Jonny are LIVE together on this episode, catching up after a long summer, reminiscing over the last 400 episodes, and recalling some of the very memorable guests over the years, with cameo appearances by John Lynch, Kay Warren, Vinny Provenzano, and N.T. Wright. This was a blast to record, and you will enjoy this CLASSIC episode! Here are the links to the full episodes we reference in Epi...

He is a church communications and branding episode, who is actually the REAL DEAL. He has the heart of an evangelist, and has a craving for churches to reach people for Jesus. Sometimes us pastors can't get out of our own way - my words (Jeff) not his! But Mark MacDonald helps us say less so our community will listen more. As a corporate communications and marketing guy - who was also a Chris...

Dave Jacobs and I talk about some things that pastors might want to reconsider. They come from his book, Second Thoughts - 100 things small church pastors need to reconsider . Dave recommends we reconsider the length of our sermons reconsider the value of wasting time reconsider our bias (ouch!) The standard for this podcast is twofold: 1) helpful, and 2) encouraging. I think we hit both targets s...

The church was waist deep into a Capital Campaign for a major church renovation, and mere weeks from engaging all the construction work... and then the pandemic hit. Ugh. They had over a million dollars already contributed with millions more pledged. The vision had been cast, all the hard work of strategic planning finished - they had waded into the pool. Shutdown. What to do? "God!!?? What d...

Andrew Root, Ph. D. is a professor of youth and family ministry at Luther Seminary in St. Paul MN, and an author who writes about pastors and churches in the secular age for Baker Academic Publishing. Jeff and Andy talk about his passion and message - that churches don't really have a relevance or resource problem, it's a very different challenge they are up against. Andy lays it out - y...

Jeff talks with Paul Golden, on staff at Clarks Summit University , founder of Post Game with Paul Golden - A Sports + Faith Podcast and owner of PaulGolden.org . Paul grew up in a pastor's home, attended Bible College and Seminary, has an M.Div., is the Chaplain of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Hockey Team, and has literally spent his entire life in and around ministry. Paul talks about...

Thom Rainer, from the Rainer On Leadership Podcast, and ChurchAnswers.com joins Jeff to talk about issues that pastors face today. Thom is a research guy, a data guy, or as he says, "a data nerd", and shares a lot from the perspective of actual research data and not just anecdotal evidence. Thom works with pastors almost every day, and is a wealth of information and coaching on this epis...

Jonny Craig talks with Pam Dykstra about Crucial Conversations . Pam is an Experienced Master Trainer working in the professional training & coaching industry. Skilled in Customer Service, Coaching, Organizational Development, Team Building, and Public Speaking, she is on the team at VitalSmarts.com. Take your free Style Under Stress Assessment here! Don't listen to this episode with taki...

Chuck Fenwick is the lead pastor of the New Haven United Methodist Church in New Haven IN. Chuck talks with Jeff about his approach to: staffing sermon prep message delivery digital ministry and more! You can find Chuck's church here: https://www.newhavenumc.com .  This is an interesting and thought provoking episode - enjoy!

Zach and Allison Zehnder can be found at RedLetterChallenge.com , and you can get for FREE with no shipping cost Zach's book The Red Letter Challenge! Zach is our guest today and he tells his story, a 4th generation pastor who took a circuitous route to get there. Zach is fantastic and you are going to totally LOVE this conversation - which is helpful and encouraging.

Danny Garrido is our guest today and is the pastor of The Crossing Church in Colorado Springs CO. Danny works for the State of Colorado full time, and pastors his church full time on the side. Pastor Danny trains and deploys a lot of volunteers and generously shares his ministry responsibilities with his staff.  He was with us on Episode 299 , but today he talks about succession planning with his...

Lee writes for Christianity.com on their Preaching Today site - for pastors. That's where I bumped into Lee, and began to appreciate his perspectives on ministry and pastoral life.  Finally after reading his articles for a couple months, I decided to reach out to him and welcome him to speak to our 200churches pastors, which he has done, with amazing insight and compassion. Lee shares, almost...

Dave Jacobs says that the most common challenge that the pastors he coaches have is that of getting enough volunteers in the post Covid era. So today Jeff and Dave talk about that - and Dave makes a great and generous offer to our 200churches pastors at the end of the episode - so don't miss it! Dave is at SmallChurchPastor.com , and on the Small Church Pastor Facebook Group, where there are...

Rohan and Jill Bell pastor the C3 Church in Thirroul NSW Australia , and Rohan is our guest on this episode! In ministry since 1992, Rohan and Jill have been involved at almost every level of pastoral ministry, while raising five children and now enjoying two grandchildren. Their church is in three locations, and it's like pastoring three 200churches at the same time. Rohan is gifted administ...

Happy Saturday! This is a Bonus Episode that I recorded with David Bush. The very first Coaching For Pastors Cohort will launch soon, and this episode is somewhat of an introduction to it. I wanted to share it with you and invite our 200churches Pastors to consider being a part of this very first ever cohort group of pastors.  If you want to hear me talk about it more after this episode, listen to...

Alex Regets is a 30-year-old Presbyterian pastor from Manteno, IL. He pastors Community Presbyterian Church , a great church in the heart of America's heartland. Alex is also the founder of the HomeTown Pastor Podcast, and HomeTownPastor.com , where you can find great resources and a truckload of encouragement as a small church pastor. As a young pastor, Alex is really showing the way for his...

Our special guest on episode 385 is Bob McNabb, from SpiritualMultiplication.org and LaunchGlobal.org , and the author of Spiritual Multiplication in the Real World - Why some disciple-makers reproduce when others fail . Bob has been involved in disciple-making ministries for 40 years, both in the U.S. and overseas, and has done extensive research on why some are effectiveness when others are not....

This will go down as one of Jeff's absolute favorite episodes! Not because Jonny wasn't on the call, but because TJ was. Here is TJ's bio from his website, KidsOutdoorZone.com : TJ is the founder of KOZ or Kid's Outdoor Zone!  TJ is an award-winning outdoor travel and adventure writer, radio show host and past President of the Texas Outdoor Writers Association. He published a T...

Melanie is an International Worker and Missionary with her husband and children in a foreign country that will remain unnamed. Jeff gave her permission to speak freely to pastors and clue them in on what it's like for a young missionary family to come off the field for a year and visit churches. What do they need from pastors? From church members? How does this home assignment year affect the...