You need to get to know Ken Roberts - and in this episode you will! Ken just might become one of those regulars like Dan Reiland or Dave Jacobs or... N.T. Wright! :-)

From Ken's website: As a husband , father and grandfather, I love to read, write, golf, bike, hike, and have meaningful conversations over a nice meal with family and friends. I'm married to my wife, Missy. I have a daughter, Nicole, a son Britton, a step-son, Mychael and a grandson. My wife and I live in Avon Lake, Ohio. Our adult children live in different places around the U.S.

Would you like to receive coaching or a consult from Ken? Email him at ken@kenlroberts.com.

Check out his website at https://www.kenlroberts.com.

Lyle Parker is in his mid forties and realized his health was going in the exact wrong direction. Hearing Scott Buell's story on episode 332 of the podcast, he decided to take action and get his life back!

Pastor Lyle, his wife, and two sons, over just the past 6 months, have lost a total of 215 pounds! They are feeling better, are more active, are getting healthy together, forming new habits as a family, and feeling like WINNERS!

If you want to hear Lyle's story, it's right here in episode 348! And if you want to connect with Lyle and even have him as your health coach, check out CoachingForPastors.org!

Jeff and Jonny talk again with Dr. Jeannine Brown, author of The Gospel As Stories. This is a great conversation about interpreting and reading the Gospels! So much fun! Jeannine is a Professor of Greek and New Testament at Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. This one is our gift to you - Enjoy!

Dave Jacobs has been working with pastors of small churches for 13 years! He talks every single week with scores of pastors and brings his wisdom to Episode 346 today - sharing what he is hearing from pastors as they shift their ministry to meet the needs of the COVID culture.

Dave has a wonderful new book out for small church pastors! It's called Second Thoughts: 100 Things Small Church Pastors Need To Reconsider. Soon we'll record another episode and talk about some of those 100 things - but today is about what we need to consider in our current reality!

Enjoy!

Check out Dave at SmallChurchPastor.com and the Small Church Pastor Facebook group!

These episodes were recorded less than 48 hours apart. Jeff and Jonny speak about how to think about the Coronavirus and your local church ministry. Very good thoughts!

Josh Gagnon joins the podcast to talk about his life, family, ministry, and book titledIt's Not Over - Leaving Behind Disappointment and Learning To Dream Again. Jeff was listening to another podcast featuring Josh, and halfway through the episode he got up, opened his laptop, and ordered the book immediately. The message is one of deep hope and encouragement for discouraged pastors who may have lost their dream and their hope. 

It's Not Over will release on February 25, 2020, and in it Josh urges his readers to grab onto that dream that God placed in their heart and learn how to dream it again - just like you did a few years ago, before the resistance moved in, disappointment came, and failure smelled awful close!

This is a very encouraging and practical episode! Check out Josh's church at https://www.nextlevel.church.

You'll love our conversation with Pastor Ian Borkent, from C3 Rivers Church in The Netherlands! Ian and his wife have been pastoring the church for over 13 years and have experience growth from 60 singles to a multisite church of 450 people (with families!) :-)

Ian has been receiving coaching from John Finkelde from Grow A Healthy Church in Perth, Australia. John's coaching and consulting has contributed to the growth of the leaders and the growth of the church. So good!

Ian shares very practical advice he received from John and how it impacted his life and ministry. Ian will become a partner with John soon as a Growth A Healthy Church consultant for Europe.

This episode is our gift to you! Enjoy!

Chris serves Fresh Expressions as Director of Strategic Initiatives, where he works across the organization to help get new projects off the ground and into the world. He also serves with other non-profits, such as Missio Alliance, and businesses to help them tell their story online. He helped plant Austin Mustard Seed, where he served for five years as Community Developer. A graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary's M.A. in Global Leadership, Chris and his wife Laura live in Austin, Texas.

Chris, from www.FreshExpressionsUS.org joins the guys today and gives a ton of practical ideas for how your church can create fresh expressions in your community of what the Body of Christ looks like, and how it can make a Kingdom Impact for Jesus.

Here is a link to the Free E-book, How To Start A New Kind Of Church.

Here is some information on the Fresh Expressions National Gathering:
National Gathering 
The Present Future: Cultivating a Church for Tomorrow Today, April 1-3, Reston, VA
http://www.fxng2020.org
This is a moment of hopeful opportunity for the Church in America.
Perhaps you feel the pain of a dwindling congregation or denomination.
Perhaps this makes you concerned for the future.
But we have evidence that God is at work future-fitting the church.
We see the unfolding of Present Future Church that is breathing life and hope into existing congregations and the neighborhoods and networks around them.

This gathering will reconnect you with hope for the Church

• Hope for facing tomorrow's difficulties with 2,000 years of missionary experience
• Hope from practitioners who have blended new and inherited forms of Church
• Hope for how your church can address the complex social realities of the future

Garry Poole from OneLife Advisors joins the guys on this episode! Garry has spent his ministry years in outreach ministry, notably as the Director of Evangelism at Willow Creek for 15 years.

Garry worked with Mark Mittelberg and Lee Strobel on projects like Becoming A Contagious Christ, and also co-authored projects with Chuck Colson and Bill Hybels.

Check out the 3D1 and One Life principles that Garry lays out in this episode. These are things you can easily implement into your church ministry. Share this episode with your leaders and ask for their help in making your church an outreach oriented church.

In this Episode, Dave, an International Worker with the Christian & Missionary Alliance, shares lessons he's learned from a lifetime of ministry and missions, first as an MK, and now as a two-term veteran missionary to a creative access country.

Dave has learned lessons on church planting in the very hard places, cross cultural understanding and communication, how to tame cultural biases and reverse stubborn preconceived notions about the "other", and not a small amount about himself in the process.

Dave also gives a ton of counsel and encouragement to pastors in this conversation. He and Jeff sat down for this recording with no agenda and no time limit. Newly acquainted, they asked and answered questions from one another and explored each other's understandings about people, cultures, missions, and ministry.

Again, this episode is Jeff & Jonny's gift to you, pastors! Enjoy - and listen at least twice. You'll be glad you did.

Links from things we talked about in this episode:
Greg Curtis from Episode 273: https://www.200churches.com/blog/episode-273-how-to-connect-new-people-to-the-life-of-your-church-with-greg-curtis
​
Dave Ronan from Episode 72: https://www.200churches.com/blog/episode-72-how-to-crush-it-in-leadership-when-beginning-a-new-ministry

​Canoeing the Mountains with Tod Bolsinger in Episode 242: ​https://www.200churches.com/blog/episode-242-leading-in-uncharted-territory-with-tod-bolsinger