Greatheart's Table

When friends gather around a table, the conversation can be boisterous and full of laughter. Other times may call for quiet as a burden of sadness is shared around that same table.  For some of us, this is a time for the latter. But in such times, we need the company of others. Not conversation, not a pocket promise book of Bible passages, but just the companionship of those who love us.&nbsp...

I’ve said that what I like to do here is to “think sideways.” That’s a weird idea, but what I mean is that I want to think about issues affecting pastors and others not from an automatic embrace of traditional answers, nor from a knee jerk rejection of those answers. Nor am I looking for a middle ground. I’m trying, if I may steal an old Apple tag line, to “Think different.” Of course, when one do...

Welcome back to this Rainy Day Conversation around Greatheart’s Table with Dr. Elizabeth Pennock, the the Director of the Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan. Dr. Pennock specializes in trauma and particularly how churches can care for the victims of trauma. She brings a great deal of compassion and warmth to this difficu...

We are joined in this episode by Dr. Elizabeth Pennock. Dr. Pennock is the Director of the Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan. She received her PhD at the University of Central Florida and her dissertation was titled “Trauma-Informed Clergy: An Investigation of Factors Predicting the Trauma-Related Attitudes of Christian...

Welcome to Greatheart’s Table, the podcast for pastors and those who care for them. And really, to be frank, this is for anyone who likes to think just a little bit sideways about life and ministry.  This episode may seem like it’s not really about anything, but maybe it’s about a great deal – about what it means to be human and to love our neighbor.  It’s not controversial, it’s n...

Welcome to Greatheart’s Table. Pull up a chair as we revisit an episode first aired in early 2022. My concern then as now is that as critical as evangelism and kingdom growth and the Great Commission are, none of that trumps the importance of the Great Commandment. We have, it seems to me, been dancing with the wrong partner. I’d love to know what you think. There is plenty of room around Greathea...

Today we welcome a guest author to the table. Rob Edenfield has been the pastor of Treasure Coast Presbyterian Church in Stuart, Florida, for nearly a decade. He is astute and cares deeply for his people. And like us all, he very much wants to hear and in fact needs to hear the gospel on those rare occasions that he is not preaching. His experience tells him that this is a harder thing to find tha...

There is an image from the now ancient TV show Gomer Pyle of a drill sergeant in the face of his recruit berating him for his stupidity, and Gomer, the recruit, is smiling as if this is the sweetest language he’d ever heard.  Without question, pastors are not to be the drill sergeant in this scenario. But neither are they to be Gomer. Sometimes the treatment pastors receive crosses the line i...

One of the most suggestive songs by the band Over the Rhine is titled “All My Favorite People Are Broken.” In a sense, it expresses the heart behind this podcast, that pastors are not immune from brokenness.  But pastors are not supposed to be broken. We think we are supposed to be strong, not weak, and so we hide our weaknesses. To be seen as weak is to have an asterisk of suspicion and sham...

This is part two of our conversation with Dr. Hans Madueme regarding mental illness and the church. In this part we turn to how then the church can care for those suffering from a mental disorder. I’m grateful to Dr. Madueme for his time, and for you for joining us. We encourage you to also subscribe to our newsletter where, on third Mondays and at other times there may be additional content. You...

Welcome to another Rainy Day Conversation around Greatheart’s Table. This time we welcome Dr. Hans Madueme, Professor of Theology and Biblical Studies at Covenant College, in Lookout Mountain, Georgia to help us explore the intersection between mental illness and the church. This is part one of a two part conversation. I hope you are able to take in both. We encourage you to also subscribe to our...

I’m Randy Greenwald and I’m a pastor. My job is to remind others that there is complete acceptance by the kindness of a merciful God. That those who belong to Christ have received grace, a gift of forgiveness and adoption into the family of God. That this is as real today as it was when they first believed. I get to do that.  If only I would believe it were true for me. And this is the proble...

This is part two of the conversation we began last time with Dan, Diana, and Adria from Called to Peace Ministries.  As some of you know, the namesake for this podcast is one Mr. Greatheart, a character from Part Two of John Bunyan’s allegory Pilgrim’s Progress. Mr. Greatheart is a guide, one charged with the responsibility of leading and protecting Christiana (the wife of Christian from Part One)...

There are women in our congregations who are suffering under the heavy hand of domestic abuse. Oh, they may not have bruises to show for it, not ones that we can see, anyway. But domestic abuse, or as I’m preferring to call it, coercive control, even when not physical, doing grave damage to sheep under our care. It behooves us to have some insight into how to spot it, and how we might respond with...

Life and pastoring can be exhausting. And that exhaustion grows when we fail to distinguish between ourselves and God. A friend shared with me this week a new song by singer/songwriter Jess Ray called I Am Not God . My screen saver since the beginning of the year is a message: “Relax. You are not the Messiah.” We all are struggling to hold that distinction. God knows our vulnerability to this and...

Hello! Welcome to this unusual, audio only, third Monday edition of Greatheart’s Table . This is the third and last of our Rainy Day Conversation with my two friends, Adam and Byron discussing books. And though our initial focus was on pastoral reading habits, all of these conversations apply widely to all Christians.  In this episode we talk about practical matters such as ebooks, audio books, an...

Welcome to this third Monday edition of a “Rainy Day Conversation around Greatheart’s Table.”  This episode is a continuation of a conversation that began previously on the reading life of pastors (and other humans). If you missed that first episode you can go back and listen to it first, or you can dive right in now. Either way, we’re glad you have joined us.  As you know, this podcast, and...

Hi. Welcome to Greatheart’s Table, a podcast for pastors and those who care for them. Actually, I’ve found that many more than pastors have an interest in what we talk about here. So please pass this on to others, whether they are pastors or not. Certainly, the subject of this episode—the intersection of sexual fidelity and power—is relevant far beyond the role of pastor.  The incidence of an...

I’m delighted to have you joining us around Greatheart’s Table.  Who are “us?” Many of us are pastors, doing what we believe, or once believed, God has called us to do. Many of us are not, but find that the realities that pastors face, realities addressed here, are true across many life situations.  Many callings, including that of the pastor, involve drudgery, and sometimes difficult ti...

Hello, everyone. Welcome to another “Rainy Day Conversation around Greatheart’s Table.” Unlike the short content that is normal for this space, in these conversations I invite other voices to share their observations and expertise regarding pastoral practice, ministry, or the Christian life in general.  These have been fun to produce, and they have introduced me to a number of people who care...

If you’ve listened to the previous two reset episodes from January, 2022, you know that I have issues with the expectations that American corporate leadership culture has placed upon pastors. Some fit easily within the roles defined for them, they become growth visionaries and ministry strategists. As my dad, a carpenter used to say, “they fit like they growed there.”  But many of us don’t fi...

I know that though I write with pastors in mind, not all of you are pastors. I’m actually glad for that, and particularly as we address the idea of just what the pastor is to be. I’m concerned about the expectations that churches place on pastors that turn them into more strategist than shepherd.  This is the second of three resets from January 2022. Were I to write it today, there would be m...

Pastors, I think you would agree, are not a monolithic set. They come in all shapes and sizes. They have different gifts, different personalities, different reasons for being. But though this is true, too often only one variety of pastor is valued. And that is a shame, and a hard pill to swallow for many pastors who are serving the church well, but who do not fit the valued model. In this, the fir...

With this episode I’m joined again by Dr. Trey Martin as we conclude the conversation we began previously on the subject of idolatry and our lives lived before the only true and living God. There are things that can threaten the devotion we have to God, things that can become larger to us than they should In the first portion of this conversation, Dr. Martin helped us understand some definitions a...

When I was a kid, I was taught not to cuss. It was a tricky feat for someone given to frustration and anger, and so I found a loophole by saying, “I don’t mean to cuss, but . . .” and then saying whatever had come to mind.  I’ve been wondering recently how many times I, inadvertently, cuss, or curse, from the pulpit. I don’t mean in the style of Die Hard’s John McLain. I’m thinking of a more...