Breaking Thru the Noise

Today is a very special episode as we share a fantastic conversation with a new/old friend. Our guest broke through the glass ceiling for women in network and cable television leadership and is now helping women break down barriers through strengthening their emotional fitness. Susan Packard was a co-founder of HGTV with six other men and served as its Chief Operating Officer overseeing its meteor...

This episode was recorded the day before Ash Wednesday, 2026 or as it is listed on the church calendar, Shrove Tuesday (Fat Tuesday if you are in New Orleans, LOL!). Mark and Charla talk about Ash Wednesday and their preparations for the Lenten Season. The discussion centers around the importance of intentional and consistent prayer during Lent as we see God working in our lives. Mark talks about...

Today’s show builds on the conversation from Episode 75 as Charla poses the question to Mark: what does a digital strategy look like for a normal church and how do they put it together? Mark answers with a streamlined strategy for the church website as a digital hub for sharing the Gospel and making disciples. They also discuss other digital platforms and the necessity for investing in our online...

Today’s episode addresses a dilemma many churches face in today’s culture of pristinely curated media. “YouTube Envy” is a real thing for many pastors of small (or as we will now call them normal-sized) churches with fewer resources and capabilities to present quality video content. However, Mark and Charla discuss the superpower that these small and medium-sized churches possess and how they can...

Who comes to mind when you hear someone describe a person extremely busy in their career and busy in their own discipleship journey? I think of my friend, Matthew Ralston. Matthew is a committed disciple of Jesus and an active disciple maker, particularly mentoring the faith journeys of young people. Matthew talks about how his career and discipleship pathways are intertwined and focused on the pu...

In today’s episode, I have a great conversation with Rev. Andrew Lay, Pastor of Discipleship at Cokesbury UMC in Knoxville, TN. Andrew shares some great insights not only for pastors but also for lay people that are called to serve. He talks about his calling to ministry and the personal commitment he made to that calling. And he gives us insight into how we can be more engaged disciples and bette...

Today’s episode features a conversation with the “Dynamic Discipleship Duo” of Concord United Methodist Church. Rev. Brooke Hartman and Nicole Morris talk about how they partnered first as Pastor and Lay Person to champion the cultural shift to a Proactive Disciple Making church. They discuss how they worked together and how Nicole’s role transitioned into a staff position. It’s a great conversati...

In today’s episode we continue our discussion of Digital Discipleship in today’s church. Charla is asking more questions around this topic like how do we use social media for more than just marketing and how do we get started implementing a digital discipleship strategy. Mark shares several examples of how to use tools to connect and some simple, specific ideas to get started. We hope this discuss...

Does the phrase “Digital Discipleship” give you pause, heart burn, or even flat out fear?  New technology, like Artificial Intelligence, is grabbing the headlines every day. But we as the church got forced into this fray five and a half years ago when the COVID Pandemic shut down our world. How does all this fit in the church, or even yet, should we allow these technologies into the church? In tod...

We are BACK! After a Spring and Summer sabbatical, Charla and I are returning to the podcast to bring you more insight and ideas for proactive disciple making in today’s church. In today’s episode, we discussed the challenges we faced in returning to the podcast after an absence and compared it to the issues our people face in returning to worship. Shockingly, they were quite similar as were the e...

Have you ever wondered about an athlete’s motivation to kneel in the end zone after scoring a touchdown? Or giving “glory to God” in the post game interview? In today’s episode we talk with someone who has a definite influence on these behaviors. Teg Tegelar is the Athletes in Action Sports Chaplain for the University of Tennessee. Teg and his team has discipled student athletes from all sports at...

In today's episode we have the first of hopefully many future conversations with church folks that are proactive in their own discipleship and disciple making. Mark and Charla talk with David Childress, Lay Leader of Middlebrook Pike UMC in Knoxville, TN. David shares the source of his passion and drive for following Jesus and walking alongside others on their journey. The point that David makes c...

Today's conversation highlights some new voices discussing Proactive Disciple Making. They reference Mark's book and some other sources for their conversation. Stay tuned until the end for Mark's reveals the identity of these guest hosts. We think you will be surprised! RESOURCES ChurchCMO Website: https://churchcmo.com/ Notebook LM: notebooklm.google.com Email Mark: Mark@churchcmo.com

In today's episode, Mark and Charla have a conversation around a Christianity Today article on discipling the family today. What is the church's role in the spiritual formation and what does it look like are just a couple of the questions that our dynamic duo tackle. It's an important part of our mission as the church, to equip our parents and others to disciple their families and each other outsi...

Since this is the first new podcast episode of 2025, Charla and I wanted to have a conversation for those of you who want to do some new things this year. We will ask and answer some of the questions you should consider if you are thinking about rebooting or reenergizing your discipleship mission. What are things we should consider to get started making changes or even just tweaks? Where do we fin...

Today, Mark and Charla have a fantastic interview with Rachel Billups and Matt Rawle. The conversation centers around digital discipleship and how they help pastors and churches through their new platform Hub4Innovation. Matt and Rachel discuss the Hub as a place for pastors to experiment and play with new ideas and to fail safely and hopefully forward toward innovation success. Rachel shares that...

The hardest group of young adults to reach and engage are our college students! Many are from other places and most are trying to live into their new found freedom. How are we as the church positioned to disciple this transient and short-term population? Today we are talking with Khari Butler, one of the pastors that leads a college ministry that sees a thousand students a week. Khari shares their...

The key to successfully making more disciples is committing to building relationships. On today's episode we talk with Dr. Mark Hicks a relationship counselor who has experience making disciples as a pastor and missionary. Dr. Hicks shares that we must first process grief in building a new or strengthening an existing relationship. He also discusses other aspects of relationships as they relate to...

Why aren't people connecting with the Church's story? This is the critical question we need to be asking first in our local churches before we ask how do we get more visitors, volunteers, or whatever. Charla turns the table and interviews host Mark Wilson about his newly published book, Proactive Disciple Making, How to Craft a Strategic Discipleship Plan That Drives Engagement and Vitality. Charl...

Today, Mark and Charla tackle the topic of the role of the Sr. Pastor in leading a proactive discipleship culture. Rev. Wil Cantrell, Sr. Pastor of Concord United Methodist Church in Knoxville, TN shares his experience and leadership ideas to lead and grow a healthy discipleship culture. Wil shares thoughts on casting a vision to engage everyone on their own discipleship pathway. There are a lot o...

On today’s episode, Mark and Charla welcome a new friend to the podcast. Chad Cronin is a regional coach with the Rooted Network, a firm dedicated to helping the local church connect and engage with more disciples. Chad shares insight about the Rooted Experience, a 10 week group experience where participants not only learn about 7 spiritual rhythms, but start living them out in practice with other...

On today’s episode, Mark and Charla welcome a husband and father, an avid Tennessee football fan, and a United Methodist pastor focused on proactively making more disciples. Rev. Will Shelton is the Lead Pastor of Powell Church in Knoxville, TN. In our conversation today, we explore the focus Will places on developing a discipleship culture in his churches, and the opportunities for congregants to...

On today’s episode, we take a look at a quote from prominent Christian philosopher and theologian, Dallas Willard, that he wrote in his book, “The Divine Conspiracy”. The quote was shared in a blog post from 2017 and basically Willard states, “Discipleship is not optional.” Charla and Mark take a few minutes to examine how that affirmation plays out in today’s church. How do we re-orient our focus...

On today's episode, Mark and Charla talk about the Gospel of Matthew as a disciple making manual for our use today. Jesus gives us much instruction in this Gospel for us as followers to guide other people along their path following Jesus. And we also discuss following the Holy Spirit's lead to introduce us to the people we need to guide. Churchcmo.com mark@churchcmo.com

Today’s episode features the rest of our conversation with an old friend of our hosts. Rev. Paul Seay is the Senior Pastor at First UMC of Abingdon, VA and also serves Charles Wesley UMC. Paul was recently awarded the Denman Evangelism Award at the 2024 Holston Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church for his work over the past year in growing his church. Paul shared a lot of great nuggets...