Episodes

Today's episode features Pastor Brandon O'Sullivan from Gospel Community Church in Santa Cruz, California: https://www.gospelcommunitysc.org/leadership And Cody Bryan, from Christian Challenge at U.C. Santa Cruz. Episode 35: How Can Parachurch and Church Ministries Work Together?? The Kingdom of God is Not Competitive, But Cooperative. How Can Churches Make Room for Young Leaders and Not Stifle Them? Why is it CRUCIAL for churches to make room for young leaders?? How a Bible-Believing Church ...

How to get in touch with Jason Kovacs and Gospel Care Collective: https://www.gospelcarecollective.com/counseling/jason-kovacs/ How Jesus in the Garden models for us the need to share our burdens, pains, and needs with other believers rather than bottle them up. What are signs and symptoms that your anxiety or stress has gone beyond the point where you can handle it on your own? What are some signs in a leader’s life that they are close to a breakdown? What are signs that you should talk to ...

Every Church Flourishing with Jason Kovacs, 33-34. Guest: Jason Kovacs is not simply a biblical counselor who works with pastors, but even that is pretty special. He has also been heavily involved in church planting, pastoral ministry, adoption/orphan-care advocacy, nonprofit leadership, counseling-center development, trauma-informed care, and ministry to burned-out pastors. Jason Kovacs is the founder and Executive Director of the Gospel Care Collective, a ministry devoted to gospel-centered,...

Today, we continue talking with Pastor Ed Compean of Shoreline Calvary Chapel Church in Morro Bay about churches helping churches and interdenominational cooperation and unity. Tango Mango Soda Review. It’s the most honorable thing you can do to have the humility to say, “I don’t know it all, and I need help.” Resources: David Jackson - Falling in Love with Jesus Again: https://replantbootcamp.com/podcast/ep240/ Bob Bickford: Pathways to Partnership: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999418149?lv=s...

How can churches help other dying, declining, and plateauing churches, and WHY should they? The Health of a Church is Not Found in its Sanctuary Size but in the Great Commissional Mobilization of its people. Why Should Churches Foster (Help) Other Churches? Today we interview Pastor Ed Compean, a former missionary to Nairobi, Kenya, and a current Calvary Chapel pastor in Morro Bay, California, who is helping to foster an SBC church a few towns over. Why should a pastor from a different denomina...

Every Church Flourishing Episodes 29-30 Jeff Woolstenhulme and Michael Denton Practical Wisdom on Church Change for small and medium sized churches, and church replants. How can pastors build trust in new or hurting congregations? How Vulnerable Should Pastors Be When it Comes to Confessing Sins? Benign Neglect: Not everything needs to be changed. Also, during today’s soda review, a possible home/office invasion happens - in progress - which may spell the end of Pastor Christopher Cole, co-hos...

Today we talk about change, transformation, church death, church renewal, church replanting and revitalization with Pastor Michael Denton of First Baptist Nipomo and Pastor Jeff Woolstenhulme of Foothills Baptist in Los Altos. A church in FBC Nipomo that had 6 members left, and a church in Foothills Baptist that had 8 members - both on the verge of death very recently- now both churches are on the road to recovery. How could that happen both spiritually and practically? God is often more c...

ECF Episode 28: Vision vs. Management, How Can Leaders Balance Confidence and Humility? + The Loneliness Epidemic: Finding Connection Shortage in an Online Society. + the Humility of “I Don’t Know.” Vision vs. Management: When Vision gets tired, Management takes over the wheel and drives the organization. Only trillionaires in California have 8 acres. Intro script. We are back with Missions Strategist Chris Reinolds, and today we pick up with the interview discussing leadership and past...

Today we talk to the Strategic Outsider, Chris Reinolds, a missions strategist from Northeast Florida. Chris is a great writer and thinker about the mission of the church, and he encourages us today to focus on those practices and programs that align with the church's primary mission, and to cut those things we don't which don't line up with our primary purpose. In addition, we also discuss: The aspects of pastoring that seminary doesn’t prepare you for. Why church bylaws are probably more i...

Also: A Beginner's Course on Coffee Roasting! We begin today’s episode in the middle of an interview with Gateway Seminary Bay Area Director Dr. Cameron Schweitzer, and his is discussing the upcoming Bay Area Theology symposium which will address issues like Christian Nationalism, politics and Christian leadership, and other hot-button topics right now. How can pastors effectively lead in a politically polarized atmosphere? The sufficiency of Scripture should inform all aspects of how we d...

Pastors and Church Leaders: MUST You Go to Seminary? NO! But, Why SHOULD You? Why Should Pastors or Church leaders consider a seminary degree? All about Gateway Seminary, Bay Area Campus. What makes in person seminary training better than online seminary or online classes? Incarnate ministry training vs. online ministry training. The benefits and drawbacks of fully online seminary or graduate school. Upcoming Bay Area theology symposium on how churches should receive immigrants and d...

How does surrender work in a Christian’s life? We try to surrender, but God is the one who provides the means for us to surrender. Being with the Lord is most important, rather than me trying and trying harder. The comfort of God carrying us to completion in our spiritual journey. Prayerlessness=Powerlessnes. What can be done about the powerlessness in the modern church? The same thing the South African church in the twentieth century did. The Lord led us gradually to the sin of pray...

Today, we have a deep discussion with Dr. Se J. Won on the topic of prayer, and Dr. Won goes beyond the normal prayer discussions and will lead us into a wonderful blend of spirituality and practicality as we discuss how to enrich your prayer life, and why the tyranny of the urgent is less worth your time than abiding in Christ is. Se J shared one of my favorite quotes I’ve heard recently when he said, “We often settle for what we can do, what we can muster up, rather than what God can do…Someti...

#22. On today’s episode, we finish up a great interview with Dr. Cathie Smith, who is the Great Commission Association Women in Ministry Ambassador. If you are following the news, this is a timely conversation for us, as the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, the SBC, grapples with the role of women in ministry. Today, we talk with Dr. Cathie about how pastors should seek to enlist qualified and gifted women to serve in leadership roles and invite them to speak into sermon topics, schedul...

How can pastors and churches encourage women to use their gifts for the Kingdom of God? Seven Ways to Empower Women In the Church: 1. Engage them. Engage them in discipleship and making disciples. See them, connect with them, open doors of opportunity for them as God allows. 2. Encourage their giftings. 3. Exhort God’s calling in their lives and give them opportunities to respond to what God is calling her to do – commission/send out 4. “Equip women for ministry and disciple-making. This inc...

Why should pastors talk about controversial Bible passages and difficult Bible origin questions with church members? Old Testament Scholar Dr. Anthony Ferguson answers... Today, we talk to Dr. Anthony Ferguson, an Old Testament Textual Criticism expert and pastor, about some pretty deep Bible nerd stuff, including how pastors can talk about the background of the Bible without turning the church into a seminary. Some of this short interview is pretty deep, but if you feel lost, never fear, we wi...

Today we have Pastor and Professor and Everton Blues superfan Anthony Ferguson with us again, and we are talking to him about World Cup evangelism with the Yellow Card Initiative, and a few other things also, including the Great Commission Value of Artificial Intelligence and the importance of preaching about the OLD Testament in church. We’ve also got Cal Baptist ministry student and Valley Baptist Youth minister JC Thompson with us today to review a soda that USED to be called Armless Palmer....

Fun show today. We are going to talk about human evangelism - human messengers and heavenly messengers/angels. Our guest is Dr. Anthony Ferguson of 11th Street Baptist Church in Upland, California, which is a city of about 80,000 that borders Los Angeles. Dr. Ferguson is one of the founders of the Yellow Card initiative, bringing the Good News to World Cup attendees this Summer. We will also talk about guardian angels, and whether or not the Bible teaches that each church is assigned its very OW...

Today's episode is SPANISH ONLY and features a discussion with California Hispanic Pastor Humberto Hernandez and Dr. Chris Smith of the Great Commission Association. Pastor Humberto and Dr. Smith talk about keys to church health in the Hispanic church in America. PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU WANT MORE SPANISH ONLY EPISODES! El episodio de hoy es solo en español y presenta una conversación con el pastor hispano de California, Humberto Hernández, y el Dr. Chris Smith, de la Great Commission Associat...

Another action-packed episode of the ECF podcast today. Gateway Seminary VP Dr. Kristen Ferguson joins us, and our co-hosts are school superintendent Lanette Lozano and Women’s ministry expert Dr. Cathie Smith. Today, we talk about how women in the church are a fundamental key to church flourishing that no wise leader should ever overlook. We will also talk to Dr. Ferguson about AI - can AI take the place of counseling, pastors, sermon prep? How much should Christians lean on AI? We’ve got Cal B...

Today we’ve got Gateway Seminary vice president Dr. Kristen Ferguson for a fascinating conversation that ranges from women's ministry, to being a pastor’s wife, and concludes with a moving discussion of special needs ministry in the church AND special needs MINISTERING TO THE CHURCH. We will also have JC, the Cal Baptist Ministry student, back to review the World’s Hottest Soda with us - does it live up to the hype? Does it injure us? We also have a great Spanish language interview at the end wi...

Great pod today, with some fascinating topics and guest hosts and guest reviewers. We’ve got a review of a Scottish Soda - Irn Bru, made with steel girders, apparently, and a great guest reviewer there AND ALSO a listener question from Robin F., who asks about the Apocrypha - those mysterious books that are in some Bibles, absent from others, and are the centerpiece for tons of conspiracy theories about the church. What is the Apocrypha, and should you be reading it? WHY is it no longer in most ...

Are you at the end of your rope? Today we discuss how to know you are close to running out of rope and what to do about it. PLUS: Preacher Myths. Will the lion lay down with the lamb? Did Paul fall of his horse on the Damascus Road? Did Mary ride a donkey to Bethlehem? Did Jesus leave a coded message in His tomb with a folded napkin? Does sparing the rod spoil the child? We will cover these preaching myths and more! Welcome to episode 14 of the Every Church Flourishing Podcast, sponsored by the...

2000 years of amazing preaching advice from John Piper to John Chrysostom, from Tim Keller to Augustine and Gregory the Great, From Martyn Lloyd Jones to Haddon Robinson to Gregory the Great to Thabiti Anyabwile, we've got ELEVEN fantastic tips to help YOU teach and preach the Word of God better. Not only that, but we have some amazing stories in this episode too, such as: What preacher railed at his listeners for buying solid silver toilets? What preacher and future Pope tried to escape from t...