Grace for the Grind

Mike and Ryan continue the “church on track” series and cover common “breakdown” areas—parts of our ministry that require frequent attention, evaluation, and changes in order to keep them functioning well. Today’s topic is all about developing and encouraging healthy spiritual transformation amongst the members of your church family.

Mike and Ryan talk with Jon Wright from Generis about how to create culture in a church—specifically six steps to take in creating a culture of generosity: 1-Define 2-Teach 3-Model 4-Decentralize 5-Measure 6-Celebrate   Find out more about Generis at generis.com

Mike and Ryan talk with Pastors Ryan Nordlund and Keith Wolderich about Grace LBC's ministry to a neighboring community. Hear their story about how their desire to reach into other communities led to a thriving kids program and the beginnings of a new church, as well as how they learned from mistakes and setbacks along the way. Catch a vision for how your church can expand its ministry! Find out m...

Mike and Ryan start off the next part of the “church on track” series which covers common “breakdown” areas—parts of our ministry that require frequent attention, evaluation, and changes in order to keep them functioning well. Today’s topic is all about developing and maintaining healthy leadership dynamics.

Mike and Ryan talk with Pastor Brandon Pangman, Director of Elevate Youth Convention. Brandon shares about his history with the convention, the new name, how he has seen God do transformational work through Elevate, and how your youth ministry can start getting involved.   Find out more about Elevate at http://www.elevateyc.org

Mike and Ryan cover the last two "derailing" factors that can lead your church off track. Derailer #6 is mission drift--losing sight of the mission of the church and being guided by other priorities. Derailer #7 is ignoring 7 common breakdown areas in which churches in plateau or decline need to address.

Mike and Ryan talk with Nick Olson, Director of Student Ministries at Word of Life in LeSueur, MN, about ministry with Gen Z. Learn about who this generation is, how COVID has affected them, and how you can best engage them in your church. You can find Nick at https://wordoflifemn.com

Dr. Jeff Seaver, Rev. Mark Johannesen, and Rev. Mike Natale share in a webinar how congregations can care for their pastors. Listen to learn ways you can care for your pastor during COVID, ways that you can care for your pastor at any time, and catch the Q & A with webinar guests.

Mike and Ryan continue their "church on track" series and discuss another derailing factor that impacts churches--the effects of anxiety in a congregation. Listen to how anxiety affects churches and how you can minimize the damage and respond in a healthy manner.   You can find Peter Steinke's books here: https://www.amazon.com/Peter-L-Steinke/e/B001JS2ZJG

Hear from Daniel and Karen Stenberg, Aage Larsen, Roger Viksnes, Gwen Little and Missy Sorensen as they share what it’s like to attend Pastors’ School—a five-day retreat provided by Tuscarora Inn & Conference Center for Eastern Region CLB Pastors every year. You can find out more about Tuscarora here: https://www.tuscarora.org

Check out our very first bonus episode of the show--Pastor Shawn Bowman talks about how he incorporates evangelism into everyday life and ministry--even during COVID--and encourages viewers to do the same. We want you to hear this message so much that we pulled this episode out of the regular schedule to bring it to you as soon as possible!   You can find Pastor Shawn at http://www.findvictory.org

Mike and Ryan have a conversation with Jon Heppner about his experiences and reflections growing up as a PK--a Pastor's Kid. Listen as Jon shares advice for lay leaders on how they can be a blessing to their pastor's family.

Mike and Ryan interview their wives, Lindsay Natale and Kjirsti Nilsen, about their discipling relationship sometimes called spiritual friendship. Hear the story of how they got started in this co-mentoring friendship and how it has blessed them.  AND enjoy the laughs!

Ryan has a conversation with Sara Pensyl about her reflections on management and leadership and their role in ministry settings.  Sara is the Program Manager at Tuscarora Inn & Conference Center in Mount Bethel, PA. You can find out more about Tuscarora here: https://www.tuscarora.org  

Mike and Ryan are joined by Dr. Gene Boe, Research Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology at Lutheran Brethren Seminary, to talk about what we celebrate on Reformation Day and how it has impacted the church and the way we understand the gospel to this very day. You can find Lutheran Brethren Seminary at https://www.lbs.edu

Ryan and Mike interview Rev. Elroy Vesta about his experiences turning to a long-known ministry tool during the COVID pandemic: the telephone. Hear the story about how Elroy used his phone to care for parishioners, pastors, and business partners--how it's blessed him, changed him, and how it's impacted others.

Mike and Ryan continue their "church on track" series and discuss another "derailing factor" that can unintentionally lead your church off course: success. Mike and Ryan talk about how success can impact a church in a negative way, how to use successes to continue to move forward, and how to deal with failure when trying something new.

Mike and Ryan interview Gretchen Ronnevik and Katie Koplin about their new podcast, Freely Given, and have an extended conversation about law and gospel and the dangers of legalism and antinomianism. You can kind Katie and Gretchen's podcast at https://freelygiven.libsyn.com/introducing-freely-given  or wherever you find your podcasts. Gretchen blogs at http://gretchenronnevik.com   Katie blogs at...

Mike and Ryan continue their "Church on Track" series about keeping your church on the right track--and today talk about a "derailing factor" that can throw you off course: failing to understand how the size of your church affects the way you need to work together. These dynamics can keep you from growing or even cause your church to shrink. Understanding these factors can help your church positio...

Mike  and Ryan interview Dr. Brad Pribbenow, Academic Dean at Lutheran Brethren Seminary. Listen as Brad shares leadership lessons he's learned along the way and describes the mission of the seminary. Brad's book referenced in  today's  episode is  Prayerbook of Christ: Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Christological Interpretation of the Psalms You  can  find Brad's blog at https://bradpribbenow.wordpress.c...

In today's episode, Mike and Ryan continue their "Church on Track" series by talking about the second "derailing" factor: forgetting the six primary functions of the church.  Mike and Ryan discuss the importance of evangelism, assimilation, worship, leadership, teaching, and care--as well as what happens when some of these functions are neglected.   Books by Gary McIntosh referenced in today’s epi...

Meet our newest editor, Elsie! Enjoy a great conversation with Lindsay Rosado, Manager of Ministry Advancement for Tuscarora Inn & Conference Center. Lindsay shared about the impact Tuscarora had in her discipleship journey as well as leadership lessons she has learned during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our conversation focused on dispelling common myths about stewardship and sharing some basic pointer...

Mike and Ryan begin a new series: "Keeping Your Church on Track." In this series they are first talking about factors that can "derail" a church or take them off-track from their primary calling. Today's first topic is life stage. The life stage of your congregation impacts how you engage in ministry. At every stage in the life cycle the church responds differently to change, leadership developmen...

Mike and Ryan have a conversation with guest Tom Planck, Chief Catalyst of Healthy Growing Churches, about the ways he forecasts that churches will thrive in the "new normal" of ministry mid-pandemic and post-pandemic.  You can find Tom at https://healthygrowingchurches.com  

Author, blogger, and soon-to-be podcaster Gretchen Ronnevik shares with Mike and Ryan about her mentoring experiences and her gospel mentoring program.