200churches Podcast: Ministry Encouragement For Pastors Of Small Churches

Jeff met Gabe in San Salvador, El Salvador's capital city. They quickly became friends and Jeff was certain that Gabe had a message for our 200churches pastors. So late one night they sat down, put Jeff's iPhone between them, and recorded this raw, unedited conversation. This is Gabe's story. A story of tragedy, grace, and redemption. A story of HOPE. We know you will be both encouraged and challenged by it. Here it is, unedited, exactly as it was recorded...

Jeremy Norton, pastor of MountainView Church in Whitehorse, Yukon CANADA joins us after two years more of ministry to give us an update on how he is doing pastoring his 200church in Whitehorse. Name change and salvations are a couple items we discuss...

Dan Reiland, Executive Pastor of 12Stone Church in Atlanta GA, joins us yet again to share wisdom, inspiration, education, and perspective on what pastors deal with in 2019. Jonny joins Jeff for the front and back of the episode, and Jeff and Dan fill the middle. This is both encouraging and inspiring! Enjoy!

Jeff and Jonny hang out with Jason and Eric, co-pastors of the Citylight KC Church plant in Kansas City MO. This is a one year check up on their ministry progress and contains some great wisdom and encouragement from two great ministry colleagues!

Strauss and Irving joined Jeff and Jonny recently to talk about leading like Jesus, in the church. These guys are authors, Ph.D's, and seminary professors and they speak with the guys about their new book on biblical leadership.

A great conversation with Phil Bowdle, Creative Arts Pastor at West Ridge Church in NW Atlanta, and author of Rethink Communication - A Playbook to Clarify and Communicate Everything in your Church. Instructive and helpful! https://www.philbowdle.com

Rob Douglas, denominational leader and pastoral coach, joins Jeff to talk about what impacts small church pastors, and just a little bit about how we can encourage one another in ministry, as Jeff and Rob did for each other in this episode!

Josh Park from BranchLife.Church talks with Jeff and Jonny about the adventure of launching a church, with all the prayer and work that goes with it! Josh gives a ton of great advice and counsel to church planters in this episode. He talks about the work, the drama, the numbers, the priorities, and the people that it takes to pull off a great launch of a new church plant. Finally, he talks about the very personal struggle he overcame as he moved closer to the launch date! Enjoy!

Pastor Bill Larson spent over 40 years in full time pastoral ministry, then led and cared for pastors for years. He is a pastor's pastor, and Jeff got to sit down and talk with him about his long life and love of ministry! A classic!

Jonny is joined by a special guest--his wife!--to talk about her work for Preemptive Love and the meaning behind their slogan "Love Anyway." They chat about podcasts, talk about the risk of loving, crossing the boundaries of "us vs. them", and what pastors can learn from storytellers. We know you'll be challenged and encouraged by this episode as you're pressed to think about the ways God is calling you to love your community.

Jeff shares personally what he has learned over the past six months, and challenges pastors to take steps toward healing and wholeness, in whatever areas they need to. Maybe it's drugs, pornography, overeating, flirtatious relationships, an affair... whatever it is! He also shares a simple step you can take to counsel yourself first!Take action pastor! It's YOUR life, not your church's life. You don't belong to ministry - you belong to Jesus. Take whatever action you need to, and Jeff will encourage you to do that.

Henty Van Der Merwe joins Jeff and Jonny for this delightful episode! Henty is an Executive Assistant to Pastor Rick Warren at Saddleback Church and he shares a peek into his world, and through him, into the world of Saddleback's ministry, and Rick's ministry as well. Henty is a sharp young man. You'll enjoy him!

Our most downloaded episode of the 200churches Podcast is pulled from the vault and re-aired on this 318th episode! The Rev. Dr. N.T. Wright from Scotland joins Jeff and Jonny to talk all things ministry and small churches, and a bit of England... Join Dr. Wright at NTWrightOnline!

Todd Grant from the Watts Powerhouse Church in South Los Angeles joins Jeff to talk about the work of God in his urban ministry. Gangs, broken lives, broken families, etc. God is working! This is a very encouraging episode!

A classic Jeff & Jonny episode! Jonny postulates a foundational thought on ministry and then he and Jeff dive deeper into it. Generally about what ministry is and isn't. This is a fun, friendly episode where two colleagues share common passion - ministry!They reference this UnSeminary Podcast episode with Greg Curtis! Click on both links - trust us, you need both of them! Listen and learn.

Dave Jacobs from www.smallchurchpastor.com joins us to talk about the importance and process of leading change in your church. Dave was live in our Des Moines studio with Jeff and Jonny and this is a lively and encouraging conversation!Change is something that every pastor must manage, lead, and negotiate in local church ministry. Dave shares some important principles to keep in mind as we lead the change process.Remarkably, Karl Vaters, from www.newsmallchurch.com actually gets thrown under the bus several times. Our apologies to Karl! Kind of.

Jeff talks with three pastors who started their health journeys just a month ago, and they share their experience and progress. It's just not as hard or complicated as you might think it is. This is a very different episode, interesting, and encouraging!

Jeff has a conversation with Derek Ambroson, a bi-vocational youth pastor from Minneapolis MN. He pastors at Roseville Baptist Church with his lead pastor. Jeff and Derek talk about how a young millennial views ministry, discipleship, pastoral relationships, and balancing family and ministry. Derek is A+!

Dan Reiland, Exec. Pastor of www.12stone.org joins the guys after a two year hiatus to talk about leadership and negative people. He shares 5 helpful approaches when working with a negative person. Don't miss the outtakes at the end! What a blast!

Joe Petrone from www.orchardalliance.com, shares his journey of coming to faith, then experiencing huge disappointment in two of his first three churches he attended. Successful, driven, and prosperous, Joe was broken on the inside. A moving story!