The Shock Absorber

Jai McMordie, another Soul Revival pastor joins Joel and Stu to discuss Aboriginal youth ministry. They cover Soul Revival's partnerships with those ministries over many years and how it has influenced the Shock Absorber and Soul Revival's intergenerational approach. REGISTER FOR THE SHOCK ABSORBER CONFERENCE 00:00 Intro 03:01 Cultural Artefact - Rabbit Proof Fence 05:30 How Soul Revival met Isaac...

Joel and Stu are joined by one of the wardens of Soul Revival Church, Leonie Stanfield, to discuss her experiences in para-church ministry, in particular university and sports chaplaincy ministries. The biggest learning is that the para-church and local church ministries don't work in opposition to each other, but improve discipleship and mission in both spaces. REGISTER FOR THE SHOCK ABSORBER CON...

We are stoked to bring you this very special and very enjoyable bonus episode of The Shock Absorber with Dave Lovell from Christian Surfers. Stu and Tim chat with Dave about the prominent ministry that adopted the missional approach from the 1970s in the Sutherland Shire, and has continued to grow across the world. 01:07 Who is Dave Lovell and his role at Christian Surfers 03:20 Cultural Artefact...

Continuing the discussion of engaging youth culture in the church, Stu, Tim and Joel sit down to review Andrew Root's seminal book Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry and it's implications within the Incarnational model of ministry and beyond. Hear about how Stu's studies of Italian Communist Gramsci, the Black Panthers, the Chicago Seven and a segment on Triple J lead to the clarification that t...

Having finished discussing the 1990s with the Four Views of Youth Ministry, Stu, Tim and Joel now move onto approaches to ministry that emerged in the 2000s. On this episode, they look at Family Ministry; how it was presented as a solution to the cultural context of the time, how it focuses on Christian adults being the most appropriate spiritual mentors to children and how it influences disciples...

Stu, Tim and Joel get together once more to go through the fourth and final approach detailed in Mark Senter's Four Views of Youth Ministry - the Inclusive Congregational approach. There are some similarities between the Shock Absorber and the approach. Two key differences emerge: 1. The importance of listening to young people 2. How that is facilitated by providing a space for them to experiment...

The Shock Absorber reconvenes with Joel, Stu and Tim to continue looking at different strategies of engaging youth by diving into the next of The Four Views of Youth Ministry - the Strategic approach. Starting with 90s skate punk and band breakups, they investigate the roots of the strategic approach and it's pros and cons. Unsurprisingly for the Shock Absorber, the intergenerational approach is o...

Stu, Tim and Joel are back again breaking down the Four Views of Youth Ministry, tackling the Missional approach in this episode and comparing it to the intergenerational approach. From Jamie Oliver to the Jesus Movement, Incarnational approach to No Guts, No Glory, the boys take a journey to discover what lead to the missional approach and why we are tempted to separate discipleship and mission....

Joel, Stu and Tim get back together to continue discussing strategies that have been used by the church to engage youth. They dig into the first of Mark Senter's Four Views of Youth Ministry: The Prepatory Approach and compare it to the intergenerational approach. 02:39 Woodstock '99, the 90's and the end of the hippie movement 15:15 Youth ministry strategies in the 70's and 80's 17:58 Senter's Fo...

Stu and Joel are rejoined by Tim as they chat about the Youth Quake in the 1960s and how it shaped youth ministry in the subsequent decades. They look at the Jesus Movement that created Christian communes and coffees house, their return to the established church and how they changed worship music. To the Brass Tacks/Funnel method, No Guts, No Glory and the institutionalisation of those ideas and h...

We introduce Soul Revival Church's Children's Pastor, Tim Beilharz and he helps us paint a theological picture of Intergenerational ministry, a mosaic using his words. Being the Shock Absorber, there's the inevitable comparisons between Intergenerational ministry with other ministry approaches. The key though, is that as part of God's family, Jesus's sacrifice calls us to be living sacrifices ours...

Stu and Joel are back into it with Season 3, kicking off a discussion about engaging young people in the church by asking the question: Does the Church Have an Image Problem? 02:18 The Chats - Pub Feed 06:45 Does the church have an image problem? 11:06 Where does the problem originate from? 28:46 Cultural changes in 1990s and 2000s 39:04 Avoid creating an echo chamber of adults 41:58 What the rein...

Stu and Joel are joined by Soul Revival Church's Youth Pastor, Ethan Crawshaw, to discuss how the Shock Absorber helped the church adapt to the lockdowns imposed by COVID-19 through the creation of digital gatherings and what was learnt from it. The COVID-19 pandemic that struck the world also affected many churches. In Sydney and New South Wales, churches were forced to adapt even further when a...

SEASON 2, EPISODE 10: Stu is back! He and Joel dive deep into Berea, Soul Revival Church's training program. They talk about how it's developed from the beginnings to the wide range of offerings that it is today. Since the youth ministry days, ministry training has been an important focus for Soul Revival Church. From what started as discussions in Stu's lounge room around theology and ministry ha...

SEASON 2, EPISODE 9: In an unexpected twist, Stu is temporarily replaced as co-host by two other pastors from Soul Revival Church - Jai McMordie and Paul Tait. The guys join Joel to talk through the learnings from Soul Revival Church's next experiment in church planting and what went right and what went wrong. Following the planting of it's first off-site gathering, Soul Revival Church wanted to d...

By 2017, the Bishop of Wollongong suggested Soul Revival Church should think about becoming a multi-site church. That lead to the planting of a fourth gathering, the first off-site, in Woolooware. Joel and Stu chat through the finer details and what was learnt from the experiment. With Jai McMordie on board and a new gathering to plant, developments continued apace at Soul Revival Church. But with...

SEASON 2, EPISODE 7: By 2016, Soul Revival Church had reached a point of being able to plant another gathering, this time on Sunday morning. Joel and Stu sit down again to discuss the finer details and dive deep into how two particular service teams (Hospitality and Life Support) facilitated the new gathering. After planting it's first new gathering on a Friday, Soul Revival Church looked to plant...

SEASON 2, EPISODE 6: Joel and Stu get back together in the brown chairs at Soul Revival @ Kirrawee to discuss the main learnings of Soul Revival Church's planting story. In 2015, it was time to start another gathering! In 2015 it was time to plant another gathering at Soul Revival Church's Kirrawee factory. It was the second all-age, all-stage gathering on the same night as the church's senior pri...

Joel and Stu sit down again to discuss the next stage of the planting journey for Soul Revival Church 2014. They re-visit the move to a new venue and the importance of Oldenburg's Third Place Theory in fitting out the venue. They rewind to 2014 and delved into the planting history of Soul Revival Church and how it moved to a larger venue. They discuss the thinking that went into the new venue and...

Joel and Stu reconvene to discuss the development and growth of Soul Revival Church in 2013. They look at the two service teams that were integral to that time - Welcoming and World. After establishing in 2012, 2013 was a new dawn for Soul Revival Church as new people started to come along. This brought the spotlight onto two particular service teams as the church figured out how to be an all-age,...

Joel and Stu are back in the Shock Absorber saddle, and continuing the Season 2 church planting story of Soul Revival. In this episode, they go over why Saturday night was chosen for the first gathering. There's also a run through of how the gathering actually ended up operating. The decision to plant Soul Revival Church's first gathering on Saturday night was borne from the lessons from the 20 ye...

Joel and Stu get back together to discuss what happened as Soul Revival Church was preparing to launch and how the Shock Absorber principles influenced that stage of the church planting process. Also we answer questions from Steve and Riley! Stu chats about The Life of Pi in relation to church planting. The Shock Absorber podcast, on church and culture, is brought to you by Soul Revival Church in...

We are back with Season 2 of The Shock Absorber podcast! Joel and Stu kick it off by discussing the very beginnings of Soul Revival Church and how the learnings of 20 years of youth ministry were used in deciding how to do it. We're also bringing listener questions to this season, so keep an ear out for that at the end. Check out the book Stu and Joel discuss: The Trellis and the Vine The Shock Ab...

We are coming back with the second season of The Shock Absorber podcast! Get ready to hear how Soul Revival Church was planted in 2012 and all the challenges we've experienced up until the present! Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as they drop...

In the last episode of season 1, Stu and Joel discuss the principles of the Shock Absorber that been developed over first 20 years of Soul Revival at Gymea Anglican Church.