This week Jonny is joined by his friend from seminary: Sam Prellwitz. Sam joined Jeff and Jonny way back on episode 105 and he was gracious enough to return to share some best practices from his church in the area of hospitality!

In this conversation you'll hear Sam's heart for creating a welcoming environment and for reaching new people with the love of Christ. It doesn't matter what size your church is, hospitality matters. We believe that small churches are doing good, Kingdom ministry in their communities and a big part of that is how we welcome visitors to our church. Sam has a lot of practical insights and we know you'll hear something you can use in your church soon!

We've all heard it before, said one way or another, but it's always worth considering again: you have to lead yourself before you can lead your church. We wish it wasn't true. We wish that we could just walk into the office or the sanctuary and be ON at the drop of a hat--but reality doesn't work like that. If you're not emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually growing and thriving, your effectiveness as a leader will always be limited.

On today's episode Jonny hangs out with friend-of-the-show Scott Dalen to talk about what self-leadership looks like and why it's important for your small church. Scott and Jonny pull on some themes from other recent episodes as they dive into the importance of continuing to grow and be self-aware in our ministry lives.

If you enjoy today's episode, check out episode 172 and episode 188 which BOTH feature our buddy Scott and where you can find a whole bunch more encouragement to get you through the small church pastor life.

Episode 243 is our conversation with the founder of www.studentsofjesus.com, Ray Hollenbach. Ray is a pastor's coach, a college theology prof, a church planter, and a church consultant. Ray talks with Jeff and Jonny about the pain of and struggle of the fear and loss, that results from change.

This is an episode that piggybacks off the last one, episode 242, with Tod Bolsinger. If you are struggling as a pastor with keeping up with the rapid change in our society, this episode will give you hope! Paul the Apostle dealt with what we are going through, 10X! Ray refers to him and makes a great point in the process.

This episode will encourage and inspire you as a small church pastor, a 200church pastor! Enjoy!

​Until next week...

Jonny's senior pastor, Suzanne Vogel, read a great book... and you know what we do... we will often contact authors of great books, and they are usually kind enough to join us as a guest on the podcast! This book is a couple years old - the book tour is over. But the author was very gracious to talk to Jonny and Suzanne about leadership... when where your leading takes you off the map, and into uncharted territory!

The book is Canoeing The Mountains - Christian Leadership In Uncharted Territory. The author is Tod Bolsinger. Tod is the VP for Vocation and Formation at Fuller Seminary where he also teaches practical theology. He has pastored in Presbyterian churches in San Clemente and Hollywood, CA.

Jonny and Suzanne spoke with Tod from Jonny's office in Des Moines IA. Jeff was no where to be seen. Jonny once again decided to go rogue and create his own episode. When Jeff does it, he's taking responsibility and working hard. When Jonny does it, he's going rogue and deserves criticism and insult. Such is the relationship between Jeff and Jonny.

But enter one Rev. Suzanne Vogel, the senior pastor of Meredith Drive Reformed Church in Des Moines and Jonny's boss. She is a class act and gets introduced on this episode. She is the one who led us to Tod, and who cohosted this episode with Jonny. THANK YOU Suzanne! You've done a superb job, even besting Jonny in Jeff's estimation. (Jeff just might be writing this post...)

Check out Tod's short video below where he talks some about his book, and Lewis & Clark. You can order Tod's book here - it's challenging and timely.

You are going to be informed and encouraged by episode 242 with Jonny, Suzanne, and Tod Bolsinger! Enjoy!