Greatheart's Table

t’s the beginning of a new year, for some an exciting time of possibilities and opportunities. For others, it’s the beginning of another year of slogging through life feeling blind insignificant. Whatever our emotional state, the fact remains that though we may never see the significance of the work we do, the significance is there. I first encountered the language of working on a world that we wi...

With this episode we begin another two part Rainy Day Conversation. These are quarterly conversations with smart and gracious people whose wisdom is brought to bear upon life and ministry and the church.  The focus of this conversation, with Dr. Trey Martin , is how we as Christians and as pastors think about our affections in the wake of the late Dr. Tim Keller’s helpful, but potentially con...

This last episode of 2025 lands just a few days before Christmas. And while the content may not seem very Christmas-y, it actually is.  With the incarnation, God sets the trajectory that leads to the cross. The two are linked, and are both motivated by the same love of God for his people. For you. For me. But how do we understand that love?  I sense a great divide however in the church,...

Hey, welcome to another “Rainy Day Conversation around Greatheart’s Table.” Unlike the normal short episodes, these are longer conversations in which I invite men and women with insight into issues of concern for pastors and those who care for them to talk about their areas of expertise. I hope you find value here. This is part two of a conversation we began earlier with two experienced pastors, P...

Hi, and welcome to Greatheart’s Table, the podcast for baseball lovers and those who care for them.  Wait. That’s a bit skewed. But let’s run with it. Having grown up with baseball, I often see parallels between the sport and the Christian life. People tend to groan when I do mention baseball, so with this episode I want to work from a place where all can agree: that baseball is boring. So pu...

Hi. Thanks for pulling up a chair around Greatheart’s Table, a community of pastors and others considering life in general, and life in the church particularly. This episode, a reset of one first aired four years ago, applies widely to men and women in all stages and walks of life: get out, detach, and let your mind roam freely. It’s hard, I know. But fruitful. Greatheart’s Table is supported by p...

Hello everyone. Welcome to Greatheart’s Table. I’m Randy Greenwald. And welcome to the week of Thanksgiving, in the U. S. at least. This has put me in a playful mood. Perhaps you will judge this to be trivial. It may be. But I think Thanksgiving is a good time to back off from taking ourselves so seriously. It is a time to eat, drink, and be merry, together, for we are on a journey together. I tru...

I’d like to welcome you to another “Rainy Day Conversation around Greatheart’s Table.” This episode first aired just after Christmas in 2024 and addresses those factors that help pastors persevere for the long haul, and those challenges that can cut that short. This is part one of my conversation with two experienced pastors, Mike Osborne and Paul Joiner. Part two will be released soon. If there a...

This post applies far beyond the pastoral office. We are a technological people. “Applied science,” as C. S. Lewis names it, has so shaped us that we never question it. We tend always to baptize it as good. It has been welcomed into our churches and homes and schools, not simply in the form of the tools we use, but as well in the shape of our work. What is a “men’s ministry” for example other than...

Today the words and voice that follow will not be mine, but that of a wise friend of mine. Mike Osborne and I have known each other since seminary. For the past fifteen years we’ve pastored churches in the same town. He’s a gift. Over lunch a few months ago, Mike, who now supports pastors through Standing Stone Ministries , and cares for seminarians as the dean of students at Reformed Seminary in...

The triple negative in the title of this episode is more than a gimmick. We have power, we are not to seek power, and we revel in our weakness. And that can be confusing. Pastors for the past forty years, in my experience, have been battered and attacked by vocal critics for not being more politically dynamic. We are called impotent. But we are being bullied. And I don’t like being bullied. Thanks...

Hello, and welcome to this episode of Rainy Day Conversations around Greatheart’s Table. I’m Randy Greenwald. This is part two of our two part conversation with Dr. Jessie Swigart of Covenant Theological Seminary regarding professional identity formation. In the first part we began to discuss how a pastor comes to think, feel, and act as a pastor, and the implications of unpacking this idea. For p...

Ministry, like life, can be beautiful, and at other times confusingly messy. Sometimes we are given the opportunity to see the fruit of our labors. But at other times, we see no fruit, and we only sense the weight of what feels like futility. This is a reset of an episode first aired in November or 2021 that reminds us that such futility is resistible.  I hope you agree. I’m grateful for all...

I mentioned some time ago of my intention to work slowly through the pastorally-suggestive book of 2 Chronicles. This episode is a part of that. Honest pastors know that the interpretation of the Bible is not always straightforward. There are pitfalls and byways, and among those is what I’ve playfully named, from an image in 2 Chronicles 4, “ass-backward” hermeneutics.  Greatheart’s Table is...

Hi! I’m Randy Greenwald, and welcome to this episode of what I call “Rainy Day Conversations around Greatheart’s Table.” I am always on the lookout for generous, gracious, and thoughtful people who have insight into the work of pastors and into the interaction pastors have with their congregations. In this episode, being released in two parts, I had the pleasure of talking to Dr. Jessie Swigart of...

Recently we’ve revisited the question of when a pastor should possibly leave one church for another. Those episodes were resets first written nearly four years ago. I find that now I’m getting asked a question I was not being asked back then: “When do you think you’ll retire?”  That’s a great question for which I’ve received some great help from my friend Carol, which I want to share with you...

Hello, all. Welcome again to another Rainy Day Conversation around Greatheart’s Table. This is the second half of an episode that first aired in September of 2024. The first half aired a few weeks ago.  I’m reprising this conversation because of the value of addressing the often overlooked but challenging role of being the spouse of a ministry leader such as a pastor or elder in the church. I...

This episode of Greatheart’s Table is the third of three which are here reset from when they originally aired in the fall of 2021.  One of our objectives here is to encourage pastors to stay in ministry and, if possible, to stay at their churches. But also, we realize, that is not always possible or wise. Sometimes it is simply necessary to move on, and so it can be helpful to consider when t...

This is the second of three resets from the fall of 2021 exploring the question of when a pastor might want or need to leave his church. A part of that question is why we stay? Why do we hang around doing a job that is admittedly hard with people who can be inexplicably difficult? At Greatheart’s Table, we want to give questions like this serious attention. If you find our thoughts here to be help...

Something that is rarely discussed, it seems to me, is when pastors should leave a church. Rarely discussed, of course, does not mean rarely thought about. I’m an advocate of long pastorates in single places. But not every place is suited for that. There may come a time when it’s time for a pastor to move on to another church. When might that be? The next three episodes are a reflection on that qu...

Hello, everyone. Welcome to another Greatheart’s Table Conversation for Rainy Day People, which is actually a reprise of our original conversation first posted in September of 2024. In this conversation I speak with three women with a wealth of ministry experience to discuss the unique challenges and joys of serving as the spouse of a pastor or an elder or other ministry leader in the church.&nbsp...

This episode invites us to consider the leadership models we as pastors, but as those filling any role, really, adopt and promote. Authoritarian leadership styles seem to be sweeping the world by storm, and these are trends which pastors particularly must stand against. Why? Because if we are followers of Jesus, he, not the demands of the day, should control us.  I’d love to know what you thi...

This is the third of three episodes drawn from the content of the retreat I offer for parents of off-script kids, the adult children of Christian parents who have made life choices troubling to their parents. In the retreat I help parents unlearn the toxic teaching which has loaded great guilt upon them, and I try to help them see the great and glorious promises of God on which they can rest their...

Those who know me know how skeptical I am about the use of statistics by pastors, and how much I mistrust a certain oft-quoted polling organization based in California.  But my concern is not statistics per se, but the fact that if we are not careful the pulpit, instead of being a place of truth, can become an amplifier of falsehood. It’s a potent place preachers occupy, and it’s worth thinki...

As many know, on the first, second, and third Mondays of each month I reproduce here an audio version of my Substack newsletter, for those who prefer their content in audio form. But on the third and fifth Mondays I release audio only conversations with others who have insight into concerns relevant to pastors. This episode is a continuation of one released a few weeks ago with  Neal Salzman...