The Innovative Church Leaders Podcast

In this episode, Dr. Eric Bryant interview Michelle Jones . She serves as the Discipleship Pastor at Imago Dei in Portland and hosts The Bible Project Podcast . She shares about ministry in Portland, a healthy succession, and helping people grow in their faith. The Post-Christian Podcast and Giveaways: Our goal with The Post-Christian Podcast is to reframe, simplify, and focus on our mission to ma...

In this episode I interview Steve Carter , the bestselling author of The Thing Beneath the Thing , a book about learning to allow God to heal our triggers, insecurities, and past wounds so we can experience spiritual health and wholeness. We talked about his experience at Willow Creek, healing from wounds in life and "church hurt" along with insights from his upcoming book Grieve, Breath...

In this episode Dr. Eric Bryant interviews Mark Sayers , pastor of Red Church in Melbourne, Australia . You can hear his insights in his podcast called Rebuilders . Mark is also the author of several books including: A Non-Anxious Presence: How a Changing and Complex World will Create a Remnant of Renewed Christian Leaders Strange Days: Life in the Spirit in a Time of Upheaval Disappearing Church:...

Dr. Eric Bryant interviews Oliver Wright , editor of On Earth as in Heaven: Daily Wisdom for Twenty-First Century Christians which takes excerpts from his father N.T. Wright's books including  Simply Christian, Surprised by Hope, Simply Jesus,  and  After You Believe . Oliver shares about making the transition from working as an attorney into the world of theology, some of the insights found i...

Eric Bryant interviews  Filipe Santos the new lead pastor at Echo Church (previously called South Bay Church). Along with Andy and Stacie Wood (now at Saddleback Church ), Filipe and Mandy, and two other couples moved cross country to start a church in one of the most unchurched cities in the United States. Echo meets in North San Jose, Sunnyvale, and Fremont. They also have an online campus. THE...

Dr. Eric Bryant interviews Andy Reese . Andy has served or worked as an ex-military officer, an engineer, a writer, a serial idea entrepreneur, and a longtime church leader. He is also the author of The Spiritual Gifts Blueprint: God's Design for Your Gifts, Talents, and Purpose and The Spiritual Gifts Blueprint Study Guide which focus on moving beyond freedom to purpose. It has been tested in...

Gateway Church in Austin hosted Dr. Salim Munayer , founder of Musalaha , a faith-based organization that teaches, trains and facilitates reconciliation mainly between Israelis and Palestinians from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds, and also international groups, based on biblical principles of reconciliation as taught by Jesus. Salim's material is included as part of the curriculum at...

Dr. Eric Bryant interviews Dr. Roger Helland , the Prayer Ambassador for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, and previously he served as district minister of the Baptist General Conference in Alberta. We discussed his book Pursuing God's Presence: A Practical Guide to Daily Renewal and Joy . From the book description: "Sorting through common fears and misunderstandings about God's p...

In a city like Austin where there are more dogs and cats than people who follow Jesus, a unique way into the hearts of those we are trying to reach includes their pets! Recently I interviewed Annemarie (A.J.) Diaz about her first book My Beautiful Bellissima: Stories of Love and Heeling which is a compilation of stories centered around the dogs she has loved and learned from, and also sharing her...

Darrell Thomas is the author of An Excellent Life: How True and Lasting Success is Achieved . About Darrell: "At the age of 35 Darrell started his life over. Having just moved to Charlotte, NC with no place to live, not a friend or family member for over 250 miles, and only $35 to his name, he set about rebuilding his life. This book was written in "real-time" as he consumed informa...

In this episode Eric Bryant interviews Stephanie O'Brien , author of Make a Move: How to Stop Wavering and Make Decisions in a Disorienting World. Stephanie is an activist, professor at Bethel Seminary, and the founding pastor at Mill City Church in Minneapolis, MN. She is the co-host of @leadstoriespodcast  with  @josaxton . Our interview about her previous book Stay Curious: How Questions an...

In this episode Eric Bryant interviews David Bennett , the author of A War of Loves: The Unexpected Story of a Gay Activist Discovering Jesus . David shares his remarkable story of finding faith and challenges common idols in the Church and offers a path forward for serving, reaching, and discipling people who identify as LGBTQIA+. David recently completed his doctorate (DPhil) in theology at Oxfo...

Eric Bryant shares insights from his book Fruitful: Becoming Who God Created You to Be . Jesus revealed a new way of looking at life, a new way of organizing the future. God’s design for our lives is that we would be productive, generative, and creative. Jesus described four types of soils representing four types of people. Some are like a path, some are like a shallow and rocky soil, some are lik...

In this episode,  Eric Bryant shares some of the highlights of 2023 with a look towards how together we can make an impact in 2024. From making the Church Growth Workshop available for free to helping skeptics through the New Testament and co-founding the Damascus Road Collective in an effort to help bring spiritual renewal through thriving churches, 2023 was the best year yet for Catalyzing Commu...

In this episode,  Eric Bryant interviews  Justin Brierley , author of The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God: Why New Atheism Grew Old and Secular Thinkers Are Considering Christianity Again . From his website: "Justin has worked in radio, podcast and video for over two decades. Until April 2023 he was Theology & Apologetics Editor for Premier Christian Radio, and hosted the  Unbelievabl...

Recently I interviewed long time friend Robb Overholt . Robb is a writer, speaker, musician, and iconoclast hailing from Coastal Virginia, USA. He lives with the disease Multiple Sclerosis and continues to fight in spite of disability. Robb's new book is an authentic and raw look into the challenges of life and how to work through them with a God who gives the "assurance of with" rat...

Dr. Eric Bryant interviews Dr. Allen Yeh . Allen is a tenured Professor of Intercultural Studies and Missiology at Biola University in Southern California . His areas of geographical expertise are Latin America and China. He also has other academic interests in Gen Z, history, homiletics, and social justice. We discuss reaching Gen Z, the importance of diversity, separating Western culture from bi...

In this episode, Dr. Eric Bryant interviews Scott Savage . Scott serves as a pastor in Prescott, AZ and writes on forgiveness, the wilderness season, and identity in Christ. Scott writes for Our Daily Bread , RELEVANTMagazine.com , YouVersion’s Bible App ,  Moody Radio  and  Air1.com . He has written  hundreds of articles  which have been read by millions of people. His newest resource is a workbo...

Dr. Eric Bryant interviews Scott Lambie of Rescue One More . He shared his story of going from skeptical about God while working in the tech industry to becoming a follower of Christ, a missionary, and now co-founder of a non-profit with his wife Sarah and his daughter Vanessa . The Lambies have a remarkable story of how followers of Jesus can bring justice in our broken world. The mission of Resc...

Dr. Eric Bryant interviews Dr. Tim Yee , a longtime pastor, executive coach, and Vice President of Ministry and Mission at Motivations AI which has a fascinating assessment offered to churches through the TruCenter . From their website: "TruCenter strengthens connections to the church and increases volunteer engagement by connecting God-given talents and personal motivations with faith and se...

With the release of his highly anticipated sequel to his bestselling book Imagine Heaven , Dr. Eric Bryant interviews John Burke , founding pastor of Gateway in Austin. John shares insights from the Scriptures and from his in depth research of Near Death Experiences through interviews and medical journals. He shares ways church leaders can reach others through his new book Imagine the God of Heave...

Dr. Eric Bryant interviews Tory M ayo who serves as the Lead Pastor at The Well in East Austin . The Well has a church planting church model. From their website: "Tory is originally from Detroit, Michigan. After graduating from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, he moved to Austin to pursue an incredibly beautiful and godly woman, Natalie, who is now his wife! Together they have four dau...

In this episode, Eric Bryant interviews David Arcos who serves as the Campus Pastor at Mosaic ' s South Pasadena location. As part of the team with Erwin McManus in Los Angeles for over 30 years, David shares about outreach innovations and the importance of Mind Shift, a new book from Erwin. From Erwin's website concerning Mind Shift: It Doesn’t Take a Genius to Think Like On e: "Take...

In this episode, Eric Bryant interviews Chris Quiring the author of The Lies That Bind: Exposing The Lies Keeping You From A Rich And Meaningful Life . Chris is the Lead Pastor of Dresden Community Church in Canada—a dynamic and growing community of Jesus. Our goal with The Post-Christian Podcast is to reframe, simplify, and focus on our mission to make disciples in a post Christian culture. We di...

In the most recent episode, Eric Bryant interviews Mottel Baleston . We discuss the Hamas attack on Israel, a brief history of the region, the response of Christ-followers to the conflict, and reaching out to our Jewish friends and neighbors. Mottel is the Director of the "Messengers of the New Covenant" of New Jersey, an organization first established in 1940 to communicate the good new...