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

For several decades the church has given a lot of attention to the topic of leadership. There are conferences, podcasts, books, and academic programs all helping pastors become better leaders. In this episode, we discuss the pastoral interest in leadership and what might be missing from those conversations. In 2015, Jim published the book, Lead So Others Can Follow. It was a call for a different k...

After graduating from Brigham Young University, Derwin played professional football in the NFL with the Indianapolis Colts and with the Carolina Panthers. During that time, he and his wife Vicki began their journey with Christ. Derwin and Vicki eventually began an itinerant speaking ministry in 1999 and Derwin went on to graduate from Southern Evangelical Seminary with a Master of Divinity degree,...

Dr. Gene Getz, Host and teacher of Renewal Radio, has been a Senior Pastor, Professor, and is the author of more than 60 books.  He has been a church-planting pastor in the Dallas Metroplex since 1972 and has served as an adjunct professor at Dallas Theological Seminary. Gene is President of the Center for Church Renewal and serves as Pastor Emeritus of Chase Oaks Church in Plano, Texas. After tra...

Scott James works as a pediatric physician in Birmingham AL. He also serves as an Elder at The Church at Brook Hills. He and his wife, Jaime, have 4 children. Scott is the author of 2 family worship books, The Expected One: Anticipating All of Jesus in the Advent; Mission Accomplished: A Two-Week Family Easter Devotional , as well as the illustrated children's books The Littlest Watchman (The...

Well, I have some big news to share with you at last. I’ve been working for over four years to be able to release this episode. A few weeks ago I received an offer of publication from Zondervan. This past week, I finally signed the contract. But for those of you who have followed the show and know about the Samson book I’ve long worked on, it might surprise you to know that isn’t the book that was...

Abdu Murray is Senior Vice President of Ravi Zacharias International MInsitires and is a regular speaker at churches, college campuses, and business and government gatherings. He also hosts the podcast The Defense Rests. Abdu is the author of many articles and three books, including Grand Central Question and Saving Truth: Finding Meaning and Clarity in a Post-Truth World. For most of his life, Ab...

Alex Bryant has been in full-time ministry since 2000, serving Churches around the country and formerly as the Director of the St. Louis Dream Center. At the Dream Center, he worked to help make a difference in the inner city of St. Louis by meeting people's physical needs in an effort to introduce them to Jesus. He is married and has 5 kids. He and his wife Angie are both licensed ministers...

Jonathan Dodson is the founding pastor of City Life Church in Austin, TX. He is also the founder of Gospel-Centered Discipleship and is author of a number of books including Here in Spirit , The Unbelievable Gospel, and the book he joined me to talk about Our Good Crisis: Overcoming Moral Chaos with the Beatitudes. He joined me to talk about the meaning of crisis and how the beatitudes are a tool...

Chuck DeGroat is professor of pastoral care and Christian Spirituality at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan. He is also a senior fellow at the Newbigin House of Studies in San Francisco. He served as a pastor at churches in Orlando and San Francisco and founded two church-based counseling centers. He is a licensed therapist, spiritual director, and the author of Toughest People to...

Ron Dart teaches in the Department of Political Science, Philosophy, and Religious Studies at the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, British Columbia. He has authored or coauthored thirty-five books that deal with the interface between literature, spirituality, and politics, including The North American High Tory Tradition and Christianity and Pluralism. He joined me today to talk abou...

Dr. Phil Collins is currently the co-executive director at Taylor University’s Center for Scripture Engagement. As a part of his work, Dr. Collins has lead workshops on how to effectively engage with the Bible.  He holds his B.A. in Bible Literature and Christian Education from Taylor University, an M.A. in Christian Education from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and a Ph. D. in Educational P...

I've long wanted to do an episode on poetry. Unfortunately, many had a bad experience and long ago concluded they just aren't the poetic type. But Jeff Munroe was the perfect guest to help explain why an appreciation of poetry is critical for reading the Bible and why its worth a second chance. Jeff Munroe is an executive vice president at Western Theological Seminary, where he also teac...

The Villiage Church is one of the leaders in innovating Christian education opportunities for all believers. Mason King currently serves as the Director of The Village Church Institute, overseeing adult theological training within the local church. Those environments train disciples to know their sacred text firsthand, and pursue formation into the way of Jesus. He joined me to talk about the stat...

Jay Kim serves on staff at Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, California, overseeing teaching and leadership. He also serves on the leadership team of The ReGeneration Project. His first book, Analog Church, released this month from InterVarsity Press. Jay recently released Analog Church: Why We Need Real People, Places, and Thinkings in the Digital Age. It's one of the most important books...

Karen Swallow Prior is an award-winning Professor of English at Liberty University. She earned her Ph. D. in English at SUNY Buffalo. Her writing has appeared at The Atlantic, Christianity Today, Washington Post, Vox, First Things, Sojourners, Relevant, and Think Christian. She is a Senior Fellow at the Trinity Forum, a Senior Fellow at Liberty University's Center for Apologetics and Cultural...

Seth’s first book Coming Clean: A Story of Faith received a Christianity Today Award of Merit in the publication’s 2016 book awards. Seth’s poetry and prose have been featured in various publications, including In Touch Magazine, Fathom Magazine, and on his personal website at SethHaines.com . He makes his home in the Ozarks with his wife, and their four sons. Seth joined me to talk about his rece...

Max Lucado says he “writes books for people who don’t read books.’ But even so, his best-selling books have sold over 100 million copies across 54 languages worldwide. Perhaps Lucado is converting non-readers with his poetic storytelling and homespun humor. Perhaps readers can sense that his encouraging words flow from the heart of a pastor. Every trade book Max Lucado has written during the last...

Peter Leithart is President of the Theopolis Institute, a Christian study center and leadership training institute in Birmingham, Alabama. He is author of numerous books, including The End of Protestantism, Deep Exegesis, Delivered from the Elements of the World, and of commentaries on 1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chronicle s , and Revelation. He joins me to talk about his recently released book on the Ten Comm...

My son Will is five and my Daughter Charlotte just turned three. One of their favorite games is to endlessly repeat whatever my wife and I say. My daughter will even try to imitate my deeper voice. Every kid plays this game. Mimicking is actually a necessary part of growing up. As Carrie Shrier, writing for Michigan State University, put it: “Infants love to copy facial expressions. In fact, babie...

Jeremey is the lead campus pastor at Woodside Bible Church's Plymouth Michigan campus where you'll find him preaching most Sundays. He is also the Executive Director for Gospel-Centered Discipleship, a resourcing ministry that exists to help make, mature, and multiply disciples of Jesus. As a writer, he's been published in several books, as well as writing for publications like He R...

Jeff Munroe is the executive vice president at Western Theological Seminary, where he also teaches writing. He was a charter member of the advisory board of the Buechner Institute of Faith and Culture, and is an ordained minister in the Reformed Church in America. He is also the author of 2019 book, Reading Buechner: Exploring the Work of a Master Memoirist, Novelist, Theologian, and Preacher. I n...

Philip Yancey worked for 10 years as an Editor and then Publisher for Campus Life magazine. In 1980 he and his wife Janet moved to downtown Chicago where he began a career as a freelance writer. In 1992, they moved to the foothills of Colorado, where Philip continues to write today, now having written over 30 books, most of them still in print. Three of those books he coauthored with Dr. Paul Bran...

For more than 15 years, J.R. Briggs served in pastoral roles in mega-churches, church plants, and house church networks. In 2011 he started Kairos Partnerships to serve hungry leaders through leadership coaching, consulting, speaking, teaching, equipping and writing. Since starting Kairos Partnerships, JR has served and invested in pastors and kingdom leaders in 28 states and Canada in over 40 den...

Dan Darling is the Vice President for Communications for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention (ERLC). Dan is a bestselling author of several books, The Dignity Revolution , The Characters of Christmas and the forthcoming, A Way With Words , releasing in September 2020. Dan is a prolific writer for a wide variety of publications, including contributions to...

Michael grew up in Brisbane, Australia before joining the Army and serving as a paratrooper, intelligence operator, and then chaplain's assistant. It was during his time in the military that he came to faith from a non-Christian background, and soon felt a call to ministry. He holds a Ph. D. from the University of Queensland and currently serves on the faculty at Ridley as a lecturer in Theol...