Pastor Writer: Conversations on Reading, Writing, and the Christian Life

Drew Dyck is the author of multiple books, including Your Future Self Will Thank You: Secrets To Self Control From The Bible And Brain Science (2019), and the book he joins me to talk about today, Just Show Up: How Small Acts of Faithfulness Change Everything (2023). Drew is an editor at Moody Publishers and the former managing editor of Leadership Journal. His work has appeared in numerous public...

Mark Fugitt has been a pastor for eighteen years and an adjunct professor for a decade. He has a bachelor’s in history; master’s degrees in history, theological studies, and theology; and his PhD in biblical studies and historical theology. He lives with his wife Laura and four children on a farm in the hills of Missouri. He joins me to talk about his new book: Lost Shepherd: What Believers Once K...

Since the beginning of the Pastor Writer podcast, I've dedicated the last episode of each year to a reflection on some of my favorite books. I think it's a great practice for anyone. I looked back through my Amazon orders, my bookshelves, my Kindle and Audible apps, and noted books that stood out. For me, books are never just read, they represent the things I've been thinking about,...

Cary Schmidt serves as the Senior Pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Newington, Connecticut. He and his wife, Dana, have been blessed with three children and have enjoyed thirty four years of marriage and ministry together. Cary's passion is to love God, love his family, and point people to Jesus Christ through teaching, preaching, and writing. He hosts the "Leading in the Gospel"...

Randall Wallace is the Oscar®-nominated creative force behind the epic storytelling of such critical and box-office hits as BRAVEHEART, WE WERE SOLDIERS, PEARL HARBOR, SECRETARIAT, and HEAVEN IS FOR REAL. Along with his work in film, Randall is the author of nine books, including five original novels, three novel versions of the screenplays of his films, and his first work of non-fiction, LIVING T...

Harold Senkbeil is executive director emeritus of Doxology: The Lutheran Center for Spiritual Care. His pastoral experience of nearly five decades includes parish ministry, the seminary classroom, and parachurch leadership. He is author of numerous books, including the award-winning The Care of Souls, Christ and Calamity , and Dying to Live .

Alex McFarland is a speaker, author, and advocate for Christian apologetics. He is the founder and president of the national apologetic conference, Truth for a New Generation. Alex is the author of over twenty books on apologetics and the Christian faith. For more than a decade, Alex and Bert Harper have cohosted Exploring the Word, a nationally syndicated, live Bible-teaching program heard daily...

We’re excited your family is joining us in talking about the Bible. We’re Chase, Ashley, Will, and Charlotte.  We enjoy talking about the Bible and the world in which the Bible stories actually happened. We hope our conversations can help inspire conversations in your family. We wanted to create a podcast that the whole family could enjoy and learn from. Too often, kid's content is dumbed dow...

The EVERY MOMENT HOLY series of books by Douglas McKelvey and published by Rabbit Room Press brings new prayers and liturgies for the ordinary events of daily life. These prayers are ways of reminding us that our lives are shot through with sacred purpose even when, especially when, we are too busy or too caught up in our busyness to notice. The prayers are accented with linocut illustrations by N...

Tommy Brown is the pastor for spiritual and community formation at Generations United Church in Freeport, Florida. He has a BA in pastoral ministry and master’s degrees in divinity and management, and he is the author of The Seven Money Types: Discover How God Wired You to Handle Money. He joins me to talk about his new book: The Ache for Meaning: How the Temptations of Christ Reveal Who We Are an...

Austin Carty lives and pastors in Anderson, South Carolina. He holds degrees in literature and divinity from High Point University, Wake Forest University, and a Doctorate of Ministry from Emory University. He is a lover of theology and the arts, and is particularly passionate about good literature. He joins me to discuss his book, The Pastor's Bookshelf: Why Reading Matters for MInistry.

Andrew Root is the Carrie Olson Baalson professor of youth and family ministry at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. Andrew writes and researches in areas of theology, ministry, culture and younger generations. His most recent books are Churches and the Crisis of Decline  and the book he joins me to discuss today, When Church Stops Working : A Future for Your Congregation beyond More Money, p...

John Dyer holds a Phd from Durham university. He currently serves as the VP for Enrollment and Educational Technology and Assistant Professor of Theological Studies for Dallas Theological Seminary. He has also been a technology creator for more than 20 years, building tools for Apple, Microsoft, Harley Davidson, the Department of Defense, and Dallas's NPR affiliate, and his open source code i...

It’s been over a year since I released The 5 Masculine Instincts. I wrote the book because, as a pastor, I saw the way so many men were wrestling with questions about masculinity and how the broader cultural conversation seemed to be leading to more online debates than actual Christlike growth in the lives of men. That trend continues. There are more books, more articles, and more controversies. D...

Dr. Sean McGever has a PhD from the University of Aberdeen. He is an Area Director for Young Life in Phoenix, Arizona, and an adjunct faculty at Grand Canyon University. He speaks, teaches, and ministers across the United States, Canada, and the UK. He joins me to talk about his recently released book, Evangelism. It is a part of Lexam’s The Care of Souls Series. The Lexham Ministry Guides, edited...

John Meador has served as a lead pastor for 40 years, most recently at Cross City Church, in Euless, Texas since 2006. The church is intergenerational and multi-ethnic. He and His wife Kim have been married for 44 years and are the grateful parents of six grown children. John loves sports—and enjoys working on and driving around in his old Ford truck. He joins me to talk about his new book, God’s...

Jeremy Writebol has served in vocational ministry as a pastor for over 20 years. A graduate of Moody Bible Institute (B.A. 2001) he currently is the lead campus pastor of Woodside Bible Church's Plymouth, MI campus. Alongside his pastoral ministry, Jeremy is the Executive Director of the publishing and resourcing ministry Gospel-Centered Discipleship. He is married to Stephanie and is the fat...

Andrew Peterson is an award-winning singer, songwriter, and author of the Wingfeather Saga. He’s also the founder of The Rabbit Room, an organization that fosters community through story, art, and music. Andrew and his wife, Jamie, have two sons, Aeden and Asher, and one daughter, Skye. They live in the Nashville, Tennessee, area on a wooded hill in a little house they call the Warren—where they a...

Robert Wolgemuth has been in the media business for thirty-nine years. A former president of Thomas Nelson Publishers, he is the founder of Wolgemuth & Associates, a literary agency exclusively representing the writing work of more than one hundred authors. Robert is a speaker and best-selling author of over twenty books. Among his professional accomplishments, he has served two terms as the C...

Collin Hansen serves as vice president for content and editor-in-chief of The Gospel Coalition, as well as executive director of The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics. He hosts the Gospelbound podcast and has written and contributed to many books, most recently Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation and Rediscover Church: Why the Body of Christ Is Essential. He has published...

David Kim is the discipleship pastor at WestGate Church in Silicon Valley, California and author of Made To Belong: Five Practices for Cultivating Community in a Disconnected . He completed M.Div and Th. M from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and his children's book on dealing with change was selected for Oprah's Favorite Things list. He cares deeply about the intersection of spiritu...

Terry Glaspey is a writer, an editor, a creative mentor, and someone who finds various forms of art—painting, films, novels, poetry, and music—to be some of the places where he most deeply connects with God. He has a master’s degree in history from the University of Oregon, as well as undergraduate degrees emphasizing counseling and pastoral studies. He has written over a dozen books and has been...

Brian Smith is on staff with Athletes in Action. A former track and cross-country athlete while in college, he now spends his time ministering to athletes. He writes regularly for athletesinaction.org. He likes the Detroit Lions probably a little too much, and graduated with a degree in Communications and Journalism from Wake Forest University. He joins me to talk about his recent book, The Christ...

It’s been my tradition to spend the last episode of the year looking back on my favorite reads from the past twelve months. This time of year, just about everyone is putting out their top list of books and awards.  What I want to offer you are the 10 books that have impacted my thinking most this year. They aren’t necessarily the best books I have read or even the most important, but they are the...

Andrew Arndt is the lead pastor of New Life East, one of seven congregations of New Life Church in Colorado Springs. Prior to joining New Life's team, he served as the lead pastor of Bloom Church, a network of house churches in Denver. He is the host of the Essential Church podcast, a weekly conversation designed to strengthen the thinking of church and ministry leaders. Andrew received his M...