Your Pastor Reads Books Podcast

After personal circumstances launched Pastor Hannah Horst into the world of foster care, she now shares her expertise in fostering and adoption with churches, pitching ways for them to help solve the foster care crisis by supporting families that step into fostering. Our conversation is inspired by her experiences along with relational wisdom from one of her favorite books— Why Don’t We Listen Bet...

Ministry moves at the speed of relationships. Ten years into his church planting journey, Oscar Perez* talks with me about a leadership philosophy that is informed by the concept of “horizontal leadership,” the opposite of hierarchy. Our conversation is inspired by Gary Hamel’s The Future of Management , published by the Harvard Business Review. A lot of times, marketplace leadership books don’t t...

“My growing love for the clowns in Rome made me desire to clown around a little myself and to speak about such foolish things as being alone, treasuring emptiness, standing naked before God, and simply seeing things for what they are. I came to feel that in this full, imposing, venerable, and busy city there must be a very deep desire to live out the other side of our being, the side that wants to...

"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." -C.S. Lewis Sometimes ministry seems absolutely impossible. And it is, when we rely on our own strength and skillsets. What does it look like to keep coming back to the transcendent Source at work in our lives—God who wants to bring resurrection and new...

The stereotype of gender differences in natural ability in math and science persists despite evidence to the contrary. Boys are often told in subtle ways that success in these areas reflects their essence and will continue; girls, that theirs is due to effort and is, therefore, less certain. Girls often receive less attention and instruction even though their success equals that of boys. Since gir...

"God isn’t a sadist who delights in using agony to teach us a lesson. But in the alchemy of redemption, God can take what is only sorrow and transform it into the very path by which we learn to love God and let ourselves be loved. This is the strange (and usually unwanted) way of the abundant life–the dying necessary to bring resurrection." -Tish Harrison Warren, Prayer in the Night In seasons of...

"It is an all too familiar story....A church leader starts out with a deep sense of trust and dependence upon God. They are surrendered....But, as the ministry flourishes and numbers grow, as is inevitable under God's power, organizing ministry becomes strained. The struggle to make decisions efficiently takes over. The pastor who once lived "under" God's power begins exercising increasing control...

"There’s no undoing the secular; there’s just the task of learning how (not) to live—and perhaps even believe—in a secular age. -James K.A. Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular Christians might try hard not to “be secular,” but there’s almost no escaping the impact of secularism on the way we think about ourselves and the ways in which we find (or make) meaning out of our lives. My conversation with pas...

“Every book has a soul, the soul of the person who wrote it and the soul of those who read it and dream about it.” ― Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Angel's Game We catch glimpses of the life of the Apostle Paul within the pages of the New Testament—his letters and the book of Acts. My conversation with pastor Tom Jacobs is inspired by N.T. Wright’s book, Paul: A Biography . Tom does a deep dive on Wright’...

Have you ever wondered how to teach theology to toddlers? Or, why some pastors are able to engage in ministry with so much gratitude despite its inherent challenges and sorrows? I hope you enjoy this conversation with church planters Austin and Amy Gannett* from Greenville, South Carolina. It’s inspired by C.S. Lewis’ book, The Horse and His Boy , a classic novel for all ages that offers us glimps...

Insofar as we live as though God were not present, moment-by-moment, and as though this wasn’t the most important aspect of any present moment, we are living in the flesh. -Gregory A. Boyd, Present Perfect What life-changing moments do we miss when we’re focused on the next big thing? Are we aware of God in the moment with us? And, at what point should pastors refer congregants to professional men...

Your local church is uniquely gifted, situated, and qualified to perform kingdom mission in your particular community. As a pastor, I want to think about what that means for our local church. -Laura Tarro Churches look all kinds of ways these days, and that’s okay. But churches exist to fit into the mission of the Kingdom of God, so how do you know if your church has embraced God’s Kingdom mission...

Prayer itself makes us anxious because it uncovers fears we can ignore as long as we don’t engage deeply, thoughtfully, vulnerably with God. -Tyler Staton There are so many books about prayer, but sometimes we need to be reminded that prayer can include both silence and listening for God’s voice. This conversation with Nancy Raatz,* Pastor of Mental Health and Recovery at Evergreen Christian Commu...

C. S. Lewis once said that God sometimes shows grace by drawing us to himself while we kick and scream and pummel him with our fists. That is my story.”― Philip Yancey, Where the Light Fell Did you receive your faith from your parents or grandparents? Or, are you passing it on to another generation? That’s a beautiful thing, but for faith to flourish, there must be room for questions, doubt, searc...

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published You don’t believe someone because you don’t have enough doubt. You believe them because you don’t feel the doubts are enough. -Malcom Gladwell As a society, we couldn’t exist if we were suspicious of everybody all the time. So we default to believing the best about others, even when we shouldn’t. This conversation with pastor...

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Devote the back half of your life to serving others with your wisdom. Get old sharing the things you believe are most important. -Arthur Brooks By the time we get to the second half of our lives, it’s time to think about how our experiences—the good, the bad, and the worst—can become a blessing to others. In the ‘second half,’ we find we have a stock of knowledge that can be passed on to others. T...

“Jesus's resurrection is the beginning of God's new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven. That, after all, is what the Lord's Prayer is about.” -N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope What is the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ? Is it that we get to sing worship songs in heaven for eternity? In Episode 16, minister and missionary Jacob Joh...

A vocational credo gives you the courage to be who you are. —Tony Gatewood Life’s circumstances can sometimes limit our hope and box us in to the status quo. Discovering our purpose and unique calling is our best resistance. Today’s conversation with minister and missionary Tony Gatewood delves into Debra Koehn Loyd’s book, Your Vocational Credo . Tony takes us on a journey through his own life as...

"What makes the temptation of power so seemingly irresistible? Maybe it is that power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love. It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life." -Henri Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus Henri Nouwen said leaders face three great temptations: to be relevant, spectacular, and powerfu...

“The trick to dealing with criticism is letting it do its good work but forbidding it to demoralize and destroy or to embitter.” -Beth Moore, All My Knotted-Up Life When respected leaders like Beth Moore face hardship in the spotlight and when they share with vulnerability the family challenges happening behind the scenes, we are reminded that mere struggle doesn’t disqualify us from the path God...

“The American church doesn’t need more strategy. We need more of the Spirit.” —Dr. Beth Backes The New Testament Apostles preached the Word, but they also saw the wonders of God. In our lives today, do we give space in our lives for God to move and fill us with wonder? Join in this conversation with Dr. Beth Backes about 19th-century evangelist Maria Woodworth Etter’s A Diary of Signs and Wonders...

“Be careful what you water for it shall surely grow.” –Brandon Walden Some people might get nervous about a local church pastor serving in a dual role as the town librarian. But not the people in Brooklyn, IA (population 1500). In this episode, pastor Josh Gerard talks about his unique opportunity to plan children’s storytime hours, summer reading programs, and community theater productions for pe...

True spirituality frees us to live joyfully in the present. It requires, however, going back in order to go forward. -Pete Scazzero, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Some people get well into mid-life without ever taking the time to assess how childhood and family-of-origin wounds have affected them. If we don’t stop and unpack our baggage, we risk harming relationships with family, friends, and t...

There are plenty of people out there that will humble you, but Scripture says, “humble yourself."  —Rod Loy In today’s world, we are driven to produce and achieve, putting more and more stock in our accomplishments. But accomplishment without a true sense of our own intrinsic value can leave us empty and competitive in our attitude toward others. Join in this conversation with pastor Rod Loy about...