Before You Quit

Al Mohler’s book, He is Not Silent , speaks of how Contemporary preaching suffers from: – a loss of confidence in the power of the word  – an infatuation with technology  – embarrassment before the biblical text  – an emptying of biblical content  – an absence of the gospel  My cohost, Dan Stegeman and I want to address these concerns by talking ab...

COVID revealed a lot about us. The church was tested. Never before have we, the church, been forced to consider its response to mandates and rulings. Churches in some states faced little need to resist, while other states were severely tested. Out of this, many pastors and theologians have needed to establish a better theology on resistance for their allegiance to Jesus. Furthermore, our culture i...

Mitch Schultz knows what it is to wonder what to say to someone mourning the loss of a loved one. He also knows what it’s like to say something to a mourner and afterward want to kick yourself. If you’ve had either experience, he gets you. But more than that, he has endured loss and knows firsthand what it’s like to be the one grieving. Out of his experience he provides insight a...

I grew up in Papua, Indonesia and attended a boarding school for most of my early years. My best friend during that time was Steve Richardson. We’ve connected only a few times in fifty years. (Yikes, that makes me sound really old.) Twenty Four years ago, Steve became the president of Pioneers.  I asked him recently if he would do a podcast with me on the topic of leadership, particularly in...

This generation, as have others, is profoundly affected by a secular world view. However more of its impact can also now be felt in the church. How often do we hear of someone we love, a son or daughter, who eventually walks away from their faith, and it all started when someone suggested that Adam might not be a historical figure after all. How do you respond to the seeming contradictions with wh...

Hundreds of church leaders today are ignorant of the power of the flesh in their lives. In our day the false teaching that people are not sinners by nature has returned to the church in force. This has had a profound impact on believers, blinding them to the flesh still resident within them and weakening them in their battle against the ongoing sin nature. Thus many fall short of the victory God i...

My good friend, Pastor Dan Stegeman had a good idea. “Mitch, I should interview you for my podcast.” I replied, “Great idea.” So we did it and here it is. It was rather emotional to tell my story, but Dan did such a great job with the questions and reflections that by the end we were both thankful not just for this opportunity but for this amazing Savior who has given me the honor to serve him the...

If you are parents, I am sure you value the role your parents have in helping raise godly children. If you are grandparents, you know the awesome privilege and responsibility you have with your grandchildren. How often have you heard stories of the godly impact grandparents had in the spiritual development of someone. I had the privilege to sit down with John and Leeba Curlin to talk about their o...

Increasingly, our international workers are serving in the hardest places. Doing missions is hard. Those we send out face tremendous hardship. While their heart-song is to proclaim the gospel, the restrictions in those cultures makes it very difficult. We also call this, Creative Access countries. It takes tremendous creativity to reach Muslims for Christ. I speak to one such servant who shares hi...

We assume pastors have it all together. After all, they stand behind the pulpit and preach the Word of God. However, did you know some pastors also struggle with their faith? That is Julian Pace’s story. And he wrote a book about it which you can order by clicking the image before. I appreciated so much Julian’s honestly. At one point he expressed that he is a better pastor for struggl...

A couple weeks ago I interviewed Amy Spreeman and Michelle Lesley on the complementarianism view of women in ministry. Today I had the privilege of interviewing Pastor Rob Bashioum on the egalitarian view. I encourage you to learn by deep study in the Word and to learn from the view of others that perhaps might differ to yours. Rob and his wife Jess are native east coasters who served in Boston be...

** APOLOGIES FOR THE POOR SOUND QUALITY OF THIS PODCAST. I WAS FORCED TO DO THE LAST TWO PODCASTS ONLY USING MY COMPUTER MIC. IT HAS BEEN RESOLVED AND FUTURE PODCASTS WILL BE CLEARER. IN THIS CASE I HAD TO TURN UP THE VULUME TOO MUCH TO COMPENSATE WITH MY VOLUME.  What does the Bible say about music in the Church? What role does the pastor play in the selection of songs? Is worship about music, or...

There are heavy conversations going on today about the role of women in ministry. The two views fall under one of two categories. Either Complementarian or Egalitarian . Here is an adequate definition of each.   “ Complementarian and egalitarianism are two views used to describe the role of women in the church. Complementarianism is the view that women are limited regarding leadership roles...

What is the state of Global Missions? Ironically, in my view, globalization has affected our burden for the lost in our world. Or, maybe it’s just me. I remember early in my days of ministry training, you had to work hard to see what was happening in far reaches of the world. We did a ton of reading. Speakers would share powerful stories and implore us to pray and go. Today, with a push of a...

Stories grip me. Stories that depict the wonderful work of Jesus in the lives of people grip me more. I have known Glenn Wanless for over twenty years. We met and served together in England. He tells the story of how Jesus met him, called him and continues to do his wonderful work through him. What you will hear today is more evidence that our wonderful Savior has a wonderful and specific touch in...

As you know if you have been listening to these podcasts for very long, I love the church. Even though the church has a lot of flaws, and has a long way to go to be what Jesus wants her to be, I still love the church. I love the church not only because Jesus loves the church, after all she is his bride, but I actually love the church because it is meaningful to me. I love the worship, the hearing...

Have you ever wondered how this generation is doing in defending their faith? I remember back in my early years in ministry doing a number of training programs such as Evangelism Explosion which provided me wonderful tools for sharing the gospel to others. Yet, in forty years so much has changed. We have changed, the church has changed, college institutions have changed and most notable the world...

In this podcast, Dr. Richard Kronk and I discuss his book, Not Called. Do you remember being called into ministry? How do you look back at that now? I’ll be honest, when I sat down to be interviewed for licensing I felt I had to come up with a dramatic, mystical experience, a supernatural finger pointing directive from Jesus himself to validate my call to ministry. As I got older, life and m...

Why do pastors quit? Perhaps a positive way to frame this is, what keeps pastors from quitting? The pressures to quit is great. Pastors probably face more pressures than people do in other occupations. The reasons are many and the reasons, and motivations, to not quit are also great. I had the opportunity to speak to two pastors who’ve known what it is like to want to quit but discovered the...

You’re in college and life is good. You get a phone from your brother that turns your world upside down. You father murdered his wife, your mom. What do you do? How do you process this? Where do you turn? All this happened to Peter Yang only a few years ago. Now an unwelcome participant on the new path of tragedy, Peter fought to keep his perspective and clung hard to his faith. Jesus came t...

Noelle Moore lost her father, her only child and her marriage in a matter of months. Each of these trials alone can bring even the strongest believer to a place of despair. In this podcast Noelle speaks about the heartache of losing her daughter, Finley, and how God brought about healing and ministry through the Finley Project. Her book, More Than I’m Sorry, is a great resource on how to und...

Legacy matters. Godly legacy matters more. I had a wonderful opportunity recently to sit down and have a great conversation with my nearly 92 year old father, John Schultz. I mainly wanted to leave something for our family. My mom and dad currently have sixteen grandchildren and thirty great-grandchildren. I hope one day they will each listen to this podcast to appreciate the godly legacy both my...

I reflect often on how the church is as healthy as it’s families. And a healthy family is where there is a man, a husband and father who loves Jesus, and the gospel is the basis of his commitment to marriage. (I also know many single moms who experience health as they rely on Jesus and the community of believers.) I am excited today to talk to Pastor Dan Stegeman on a booklet he wrote titled...

In this third podcast with Prof. Rich Griffith, I talk about Gen Z and sexuality. Gender issues continue to push at the door of the Christian community, institutions and the Church. The Gospel is our defense, but also our banner of hope. Developing a deeper awareness of what is happening to culture around us, encourages us to get our heads out of the sand, and while armed with the gospel we provid...

Today I interview Marci Renée who “accidentally” found herself working at a safe house in Spain. We discuss her work, her book and the tragedy of human trafficking. By listening to this podcast, you will never be the same. Marci Renée is a global nomad, who has traveled to more than 30 countries and has lived extensively in the United States, France, Morocco, and Spain with her French...