Greatheart's Table

Some of the truest things every spoken have been spoken through story, through fiction. What follows here then is fiction in a genre I have dubbed “pastoral horror.” It’s brief, and for some it will be unsettling and for others it will be resonant. Either way, it explores spaces that few ever want to visit.  We tell movie characters about to descend into the dark basement in the cabin in the...

I’m Randy Greenwald and this is Greatheart’s Table, the podcast for “busy” pastors and those who care for them. I’ve put quotes around “busy” because this is the second of two reset episodes from first released in August of 2021 on the subject of the “busy-ness” of pastors, an affliction with which I’m all too well acquainted. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Thanks for listening. We encourage you...

With this episode and the next I reset and re-release two episodes from August of 2021. As we all know, to be busy and to be a pastor are co-morbid conditions. But should they be? There will always be things to do. But are they the right things? Thanks for listening. 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 Greatheart’s Table, the podcast for pastors and those who care for them. In this episode I want to take you on a tour around our small suburban house, to consider the trees in our yard. I assure you that you have not accidentally linked to a podcast on home landscape design or the like. And I do hope these stories of trees provide for you some pleasure, encouragement, and even renewal....

A couple of months ago, I mused here about Jesus’ call that we love others. A Christianity that cannot walk in love with one another and with the world is not a Christianity that reflects the one we claim to follow, and so we must lean into it. And while the phrase “the devil is in the details” may be a bit out of place here, there is some truth to it. As one reader pointed out, there are people w...

I don’t often respond to current events. I work so slowly that by the time I have a response, the event is no longer current and has been forgotten. Nevertheless, my concern in this episode is one that continues to be raised, and so the time feels right to address it once again. If you are new to Greatheart’s Table , and many of you are, welcome! You can scroll back and listen to episode #67 to fi...

I’d like to welcome everyone to the inaugural “Rainy Day Conversation around Greatheart’s Table .” These are longer conversations in which I invite some smart, insightful, and experienced people to talk and to reflect realistically on some aspect of pastoral ministry, or ministry in general. There is no telling what direction these will take. Currently the plan is for these to be released occasion...

Hello, everyone. Welcome once again to Greatheart’s Table, the podcast for pastors and those who care for them. This one has a provocative title, to say the least, one which is disconcerting no matter how you read it. I am using this week’s space to explain and to frame a new feature of Greatheart’s Table which will exist on the podcast side only. I’m quite excited about this and hope that you wil...

With this episode we doing something different. We are going to hear from someone else around the table. For quite a while I’ve appreciated the writing of Adam Tisdale as he has urged me with his newsletter he calls “ Double the Joy ” to be more grateful for the small things in my life. Adam’s the pastor of North Hills Church in Meridianville, Alabama where he has served since 2009. He’s also quit...

Thanks for joining us here at Greatheart’s Table , the podcast for pastors and those who need therapists. Well, that’s not exactly the tag line we normally use, but we’ve been touching on a common thread over the past several episodes that could make it plausible. I’ve written these posts to help us all think through our biases and to tease our our assumptions about how we engage therapy, counseli...

If you are new to Greatheart’s Table , I suggest you dial back to listen to episode #67 titled “Mr. Greatheart and This Metaphorical Table.” That will explain what we are trying to do here, and where the title comes from. I post a new episode three Mondays of each month, and though usually each episode is self-contained, sometimes, like with this one, in which I suggest that pastors mollify the pr...

Although I write Greatheart’s Table with pastors in mind, the content is often widely applicable. Perhaps I should promote this as being “for pastors and those who have pastors.” In the case of this episode, a reset of one first released on July 12, 2021, the thought really does apply beyond pastors, as we consider what happens when pastors grow and change in the course of their ministry. If you l...

One of our goals here around Greatheart’s Table , insidious to some, simply subversive to others, is to broaden the way pastors think. It’s good for our thoughts to be seeded now and then with outside ways of looking at the world. That can be frightening at times, of course, but it needn’t be. God has put truth in strange and unexpected places, and it can be a joy to discover it. Thanks for joinin...

With this episode I begin a series of four which in one way or another considers the relationship between pastoral ministry and clinical counseling. In so doing I wade into water some might call hot. I know that what I will suggest will not be shared by others. Still, there are things here that I’d like us to at least think about. That’s what people do around a table – we share ideas. Whethe...

This episode is one of what I call a ‘reset.’ I regularly re-post older episodes like this one which was originally released in July of 2021. I think it is still relevant. One of the things I want to do with Greatheart’s Table is to encourage pastors, as one friend put it, “to be comfortable in their own skin.” That’s not easy when American Christian culture is telling us that there is a one-sized...

We’re spending a couple of weeks thinking about the idea of love, both for God and for others, and if you want to be a part of the conversation, feel free to email me . Or, you can head over to Substack where the same content shows up in print form and interact there. Please rate and review this podcast, and tell others about it. That’s really the only way others will know this exists. And if you...

I’ve noticed over the years that it is somehow easy for Christians to become rather cynical about the idea of ‘love.’ The word and the idea have been used in overly sentimental ways, of course, but I sometimes wonder if the distance some put between themselves and the word comes from fear of the idea itself. To love at times may mean a loss of control, something repugnant to many. Anyway, I want t...

This is another one of our resets, episodes that aired some time ago which I’m re-recording and posting to allow me some space to catch up on other projects. My son Seth is an artist, a musician, and a wise observer of my spiritual vulnerabilities. He knows the kinds of metrics I use to measure my worth, and he has the courage to call me out on it when I do. Repeatedly. So he was doing when this e...

Quite a few of you are new and may be uncertain of what we’re doing here or why, and many may wonder where the name comes from. For all such mysteries, I recommend that you scroll back and listen to episode 67 called “Mr. Greatheart and This Metaphorical Table.” And if that doesn’t answer your questions, shoot me an email . No doubt you’ve heard of a little thing called “Artificial Intelligence.”...

In this episode, we take a somber turn, and consider pastoral grief. I can’t recall this being addressed elsewhere, and yet as I’ve thought about it, it’s hard to think of a more consistent theme pulsing across the pastoral landscape than loss and the consequent experience of grief. My concern is what we do with all that grief. Feel free to email me questions or comments. If you like what you find...

I write Greatheart’s Table with pastors in mind, but I know that often the themes I address apply much more broadly, and so many of you are not pastors at all. This post, aimed towards sharpening pastoral ethical standards, nevertheless lands broadly. As Christians, not just as pastors, who we are may be far more important than what we accomplish. I encourage you to sign up for the Substack newsle...

This episode is another reset, one that first aired in June of 2021, and it addresses a theme I’ve often returned to: the need for pastors and others in ministry to have friends. As I get older and my friends move away or in other ways my friendships change I’m reminded of how difficult finding and keeping real friends can be. Nevertheless, as this post reminds us, the need is real lest we become...

Hello, all. I’m Randy Greenwald and I want to welcome you to Greatheart’s Table . After the last episode, some have taken to addressing me “Whiney Pastor.” Given the positive response that that episode generated, I’m okay with that. Contrary to what some thought after listening, I’m doing fine. A key part of that fineness is the freedom to be honest as a pastor, and I have my friends and my church...

Welcome to Greatheart’s Table , the podcast for pastors and others who care about ministry. I’m Randy Greenwald, and, in the words of Firefly’s Malcolm Reynolds, “I aim to misbehave.” Well, not much, really. I’m going to whine, and some may judge it to be in poor taste for a pastor to whine. But I disagree. Sometimes it is healthy, and we need to be given permission to indulge. I’m delighted to ha...

Today’s episode is what I am calling a ‘reset’. This one was written in early 2021 and released on May 24th of that year. We were a year into the pandemic, and deep into ongoing concerns regarding race. Pastors were weary of trying to hold polarized churches together. That was three years ago. Our challenges may be different now, but they are no less difficult. The call to stay true through diffic...