A Classic Jeff & Jonny episode about 4 things people want their pastors to know. This is a vintage small church ministry conversation that you will resonate with if you pastor a church 200 or under! This is a super encouraging episode with material to lift you up and challenge you at the same time.
Recently I listened to a ministry podcast for pastors, and the host introduced the guest, a capable pastor on board to encourage the listeners... with a church of 13,000! THIS PODCAST, The 200churches Podcast, is designed to provide ministry encouragement to pastors of smaller churches. We can learn from other pastors, but it's harder to receive practical and encouraging content from a pastor who has a church that is 100X bigger than yours! I'm sorry, but let's just be honest - it is. Therefore, today we talk about: 1. how people feel around pastors 2. why most people really come to church 3. the impact of your sermon, and finally... 4. the challenge people face when committing to ministry in your 200church Enjoy! We love you! Thanks for pastoring the people in your church and co-shepherding them with Jesus. Next week: David Fitch from The Theology On Mission Podcast and Northern Seminary in Chicago! His last episode with us is RIGHT HERE.Find Dave at SmallChurchPastor.com!
Dave Jacobs is the founder of _SmallChurchPastor.com and the author of Mile Wide Inch Deep - Experiencing God Beyond the Shallows - Soul Care for Busy Pastors and the Rest of Us.
Dave makes his living counseling crazy people like us... small church pastors! Contact Dave at Dave@smallchurchpastor.com if you are looking for pastoral coaching to take you further in your pastoral ministry in 2016! Find many more episodes with Dave on our Partner's Page! This episode is a part two on stress in ministry. Hopefully, it gives you encouragement and a few tools to use to reduce your ministry stress!
We know this episode will be both challenging and encouraging to you as a small church pastor. The ten items below represent the notes we wrote, and then followed, as we recorded episode 152!
1. Sleep Someone today said “just get up earlier to find more time” – they never talked about getting to sleep earlier the night before! 2. Physical Activity Does regular exercise really improve a person’s overall energy level? (the answer really is - YES!) Why don’t we do it more? 3. Soul care – food for the soul Prayer Scripture meditation Private worship 4. A Prioritized Schedule Who comes first? What comes first? Is there health? (balance in your schedule between work, rest, exercise, travel, family, fun, adventure, continuing education, service, etc.) 5. Personal Relationships Friends? (because they always come last!) Frustration releases Honest feedback Unconditional acceptance No need to self-censor 6. Peaceful places (an organized office, home, shed, yard, vehicle, etc.) places to go for retreat. 7. Acceptable expectations Is your husband or wife, are your kids or grandkids, are your neighbors, is your board, or are your church members… etc. expecting too much from you? Do you know what each of those groups expects? 8. Openness and honesty in your church leadership Can you truly talk with your board members? Will they tell you the truth? Do you tell them the truth? 9. How’s your pastoral attitude Are you practicing love, forgiveness, listening, understanding, etc.? Are you getting frustrated, fed up, or exasperated? Do you see light at the end of the tunnel? Are you hopeful that things will continue to improve? 10. Food Intake – your diet. (That’s all we’re going to say) If you are struggling in too many of these areas, call your best friend – be open and honest. YOU DO have the time! You don’t have the time NOT TO! The lies we believe are “we’ll be okay”, “I don’t have time”, and “it’s not that bad.” Things don’t just generally get better without effort. Admit you’re not okay, take the time, define just how bad it is, and seek help, assistance, and encouragement. Make your life and ministry the best it can be - HEALTHY! What action do you need to take this week?
This is the LONGEST episode ever of the 200churches Podcast to date! It is packed with encouragement, challenge, humor, practical leadership lessons, church growth and health discussion, etc. etc.
Jeff and Jonny talk with Pastor Carey Nieuwhof from Connexus Church near Toronto, Canada. Connexus is a strategic partner church with Northpoint Church in Atlanta. Carey is a speaker at the Orange Conference, an author, a blogger, a podcaster, and we suppose, a husband and father! Jeff and Jonny thoroughly enjoyed this discussion and we know you will as well. Go ahead and check out the links in the images below to the things we discussed in episode 151...
In episode 149, Jonny and Jeff talk about creating meaningful change in our small church contexts. This is a very practical episode, which follows the following outline...
Change is not an event, but a process, and that process is called Leadership. What leading change in a small church looks like:
What change would you like to bring to your small church ministry in 2016? Here is the link to Karl Vaters' blog post that we mention in the intro to this episode - Two Lists: One for a Healthy Church, One for a Big Church - And They Don’t Overlap - This post is a game changer for small church pastors! It's a quick read and Jeff says you really should read this - your ministry will make much more sense to you when you read what Karl says here...
After you have scheduled missionaries to come visit your church and share their ministry with your people, but before they show up, do you know what their needs will be when they arrive? Do you know what types of things will make their visit to your church a success?
Tim the Missionary tells all in this episode, #148! Jeff and Jonny talk about the rationale of a podcast devoted to small church pastors in the intro, then Jeff has a very helpful talk with Tim, then Jeff and Jonny encourage our international listeners to send emails in, while at the same time mocking and poking fun at Carey Nieuwhof's name, as though it's not easy to spell and pronounce... Wow. Carey Nieuwhof will be with us for episode 149, next week, November 25!
In this 45-minute episode, Jeff and Jonny unpack five practices, that if you will do in your 200church, will radically increase leadership clarity in your small church!
The five practices are these: 1. Clarity expectations 2. Communicate until you over communicate 3. Individually recognize people and what they are doing 4. Celebrate both the BIG and small wins in your church 5. Discover trends in your church This was a blast to record and produce for you - and we hope that you are encouraged and blessed by this episode! Our gift to you. Enjoy! :-) In this episode we mentioned these two people: (no, we won't provide a link to TRUMP2016!) The Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast David Fitch (probably our guest on episode 145!)
We all face it pastors, it's just a reality - people leave and will leave our churches. We can't avoid it, can't deny it, and shouldn't be surprised by it - people move on sometimes.
But how to you handle the pain of rejection, or what may feel like betrayal? You have to go all the way back to episode 03 of the podcast to find us talking on this topic last. That was 140 episodes ago! Take some time to listen to this, be encouraged that you are not alone in this as a pastor, and put some of the ideas in this episode into practice. Enjoy! You can find Dave Jacobs at SmallChurchPastor.com! You can buy his book by clicking on the image below...
Jeff and Jonny are in Vail, CO this week for a Pastor's Retreat. They recorded this episode on Tuesday evening, September 22, 2015 from their hotel room in the Rockies - just for you!
In episode 140 they talk about all the ways that small churches are great and small church ministry is A-1 ministry - in their never ending quest to encourage pastors of small churches! Enjoy!
TODAY’S PODCAST EPISODE
What is the DNA of your church? If they spliced and diced the genetics of your church, what would they find? Jeff and Jonny talk about the DNA of their church. They focus on the past two Sunday messages – one by each of them. Jonny spoke from Romans 12:1,2 and talked about the difference between a church attender and a follower of Jesus. He said that TRANSFORMATION is a key distinction for a follower of Jesus! A disciple is transformed by the power of Christ, lives in the Kingdom of God, and follows the teaching of the King. Their faith in Jesus is an all-encompassing reality that informs every aspect of their life. Jeff spoke from John 12:34,35 and Galatians 5:14. He asked the questions: What is the active ingredient that produces transformation in us? and What practice or discipline activates that transformation in the life of a Jesus follower? The answer to both of the questions is the same: LOVE. A life transformed by the love of Jesus, and in turn living out that love with others, is the DNA of their church! BACK IN THE STUDIO Jeff and Jonny are back today, in the studio, to record this episode. They have not recorded since April! They recorded ahead in the spring, yet released the episodes fresh every week. But on September 8, they recorded a brand new episode for September 9.
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