Church Planter Podcast

In this episode of the Church Planter Podcast, Peyton Jones talks with Steve Fitch, co-founder of Arc Restoration, reforestation, and mission.

Steve shares how restoring forests can open the door to restoring communities. Through his work in places like Ethiopia and Madagascar, he has seen reforestation provide jobs, restore dignity, fight exploitation, and create opportunities for people to encounter the gospel.

Peyton and Stephen also talk about why caring for creation is not a political issue first, but a biblical and kingdom issue. For church planters, this conversation is a reminder that good works can create goodwill, and goodwill can open the door for good news

Resources mentioned:

• Arc Restoration
• 180 by ARC Turn for Good
• Red Island Restoration
• Discipology

Thanks for listening to the Church Planter Podcast. We’re here to help you go where no one else is going and do what no one else is doing to reach people no one else is reaching.

Make sure to review and subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast service to help us connect with more church planters.

In this episode of the Church Planter Podcast, Peyton Jones talks with Alisha Crafton, prophetic voice, leader, speaker, CEO of Crown Consulting Group, and author of The Refiner’s Fire: Purified for His Purpose.

Alisha shares how the book came from her healing journey, her growing awareness of the prophetic, and her desire to help believers hear God’s voice with authenticity and purity. Peyton and Alisha talk about why the prophetic matters for the church, but also why it needs wisdom, humility, biblical guardrails, and a Christ-centered focus.

They discuss the two extremes many churches fall into: rejecting the idea that God still speaks, or chasing supernatural experiences in unhealthy ways. Alisha explains how deception can sound spiritual, why believers need to test what they hear, and how pride, self-protection, and obsession with the demonic can distort the gifts of the Spirit.

This conversation is a helpful guide for church planters and leaders who want to make room for the power and presence of the Holy Spirit without creating chaos, fear, or personality-driven ministry. Alisha encourages leaders to pursue the Spirit in a way that brings freedom, peace, fruit, and glory to Jesus.

Resources and Links Mentioned in this Episode:

• The Refiner's Fire
• Discipology

Thanks for listening to the Church Planter Podcast. We’re here to help you go where no one else is going and do what no one else is doing to reach people no one else is reaching.

Make sure to review and subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast service to help us connect with more church planters.

In this episode of the Church Planter Podcast, Peyton Jones and Pete Mitchell catch up after a few weeks away and talk about loss, burnout, the future of the podcast, and why they still care about helping church planters reach people no one else is reaching. Peyton also shares what he has been learning through prayer, rest, and planting The Abbey

Resources and Links Mentioned in this Episode:

• SimplifyChurch.com
• NewBreedTraining.com
• Discipology.com

Thanks for listening to the Church Planter Podcast. We’re here to help you go where no one else is going and do what no one else is doing, to reach people no one else is reaching.

In this episode of the Church Planter Podcast, Peyton Jones talks with Andrew Ollerton, author of God’s Book: An Honest Look at the Bible’s Seven Toughest Topics and host of Bible Trek.

Andrew explains why Christians, church planters, and ministry leaders need to be ready to engage the difficult questions people are asking about the Bible. From creation and modern science to Old Testament violence, suffering, the supernatural, sexuality, and judgment, Andrew argues that the Bible’s toughest topics need to be understood in their larger biblical context, in Christ, and in community.

Peyton and Andrew also discuss why the Bible is gaining renewed attention in post-Christian culture, especially among younger generations and spiritually curious people. Andrew shares stories from the UK of people buying Bibles, reading from Genesis onward, and coming to church with serious questions that many churches are not prepared to answer.

Listen as this conversation challenges church planters to see biblical depth and ask honest questions as part of evangelism, rather than avoiding the difficult parts of Scripture. Andrew encourages leaders to create spaces where people can wrestle with the Bible and discover the truth of Jesus.

Resources and Links Mentioned in this Episode:

God’s Book: An Honest Look at the Bible’s Seven Toughest Topics

andrewollerton.com

Thanks for listening to the Church Planter Podcast. We’re here to help you go where no one else is going and do what no one else is doing to reach people no one else is reaching.

Make sure to review and subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast service to help us connect with more church planters.

In this episode of the Church Planter Podcast, Peyton Jones talks with Ellie Oswald from Faith to Action about the connection between mission, poverty, orphan care, and the local church.

Ellie shares how her calling was shaped by a desire to act on her faith, serve vulnerable people, and understand mission as part of God’s work to restore relationships. Together, Peyton and Ellie discuss why the gospel cannot be reduced to words or deeds alone, but must hold both together as the church joins God’s reconciling work in the world.

They also talk about why church planters cannot afford to forget the poor. Ellie explains the work of Faith to Action, including how they help churches, organizations, and individuals learn best practices for caring for orphaned and vulnerable children. She unpacks why many children in orphanages still have living parents, why poverty is often the deeper issue, and why family-based care is usually a better long-term solution than institutional care.

Peyton and Ellie also explore how mission transforms the people who participate in it. From World Vision’s 30-Hour Famine to local churches engaging vulnerable children around the world, this conversation challenges church planters to put mission first and help their people move from passive concern to practical action.

Resources and Links Mentioned in this Episode:

Faith to Action

faith2action.org

Thanks for listening to the Church Planter Podcast. We’re here to help you go where no one else is going and do what no one else is doing to reach people no one else is reaching.

Make sure to review and subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast service to help us connect with more church planters.

In this episode of the Church Planter Podcast, Peyton Jones talks with Eric Geiger, pastor of Mariners Church and author of The Rooted Leader, about what church planters can learn from the life and leadership of Nehemiah.

Eric shares how teaching through Nehemiah shaped both ministry leaders and marketplace leaders, helping them see that faith is not disconnected from their Monday-through-Friday work. Together, Peyton and Eric unpack why Nehemiah resonates so deeply with leaders who carry both a burden for their city and a belief that God can do immeasurably more than they can ask or imagine.

The conversation explores credibility, conviction, perseverance, capacity, and the kind of rooted leadership that can withstand the real pressures of ministry. Eric also reflects on why church planters often resemble Nehemiah: they carry vision, rally people, coordinate teams, face opposition, and keep building even when the work feels overwhelming.

They also discuss the Rooted Network, discipleship, sending well, and why church planting partnerships are healthiest when they are relational, not merely transactional.

Resources and Links Mentioned in this Episode:

The Rooted Leader

EricGeiger.com

Rooted Network

NewBreedTraining,com

Thanks for listening to the Church Planter Podcast. We’re here to help you go where no one else is going and do what no one else is doing to reach people no one else is reaching.

Make sure to review and subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast service to help us connect with more church planters.

In this episode of the Church Planter Podcast, Peyton Jones sits down with Todd Wilson, co-founder and former CEO of Exponential, to talk about church growth, church planting, multiplication, and Todd’s new book, How Did We Get Here?

Todd shares the story behind Exponential, the influence of Bob Buford and Leadership Network, and how the modern church planting and multiplication movements were shaped by leaders working behind the scenes to “pour gas” on what God was already doing.

The conversation also turns toward one of the biggest questions facing the church today: What if our current operating system is not built for multiplication? Todd explains why the American church does not just have a church planting problem, but a disciple-making and mobilization problem. If churches want to see gospel saturation, they cannot rely only on programs, platforms, or Sunday-centered ministry. They need to mobilize everyday disciple-making missionaries.

Peyton and Todd also discuss the rise of consumer-driven church models, why programs do not reproduce but disciples can, and why the next generation may need permission to build new playbooks instead of simply inheriting the old ones.

If you are a church planter, pastor, or leader trying to understand where the church has been and what needs to change for the future, this episode will help you look back clearly so you can move forward faithfully.

Resources and Links Mentioned in this Episode:

How Did We Get Here? — church-growth.org

Multipliers — multipliers.org

NewBreed Training

Thanks for listening to the Church Planter Podcast. We’re here to help you go where no one else is going and do what no one else is doing to reach people no one else is reaching.

Make sure to review and subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast service to help us connect with more church planters.

In this episode of the Church Planter Podcast, Peyton Jones and Pete Mitchell talk about the shift from the multiplication movement to what Peyton calls the mobilization movement.

After opening with Texas fireworks, riding lawnmowers, bookstores, and unexpected mission opportunities in everyday life, Peyton unpacks why church planting and multiplication are not carrying the same energy they did a decade ago. Instead of asking how to do church better, he argues that the next movement is asking a different question: How do we mobilize everyday believers to make disciples where they already live, work, and play?

Peyton connects this shift to the post-COVID church, the limits of Sunday-centered ministry, and the need to recover disciple-making as the engine of mission. He explains why mobilization starts outside the walls of the church, why God is already at work in the lives of people around us, and why leaders need to help believers see their hobbies, relationships, and ordinary spaces as mission fields.

The conversation also moves toward prayer, dependence, and the reminder that church planters cannot manufacture movement on their own. If we want to see people reached, churches planted, and disciples multiplied, we have to trust that God is already working—and then mobilize people to join him.

Resources and Links Mentioned in this Episode:

Simplify Church

NewBreed Training

Thanks for listening to the Church Planter Podcast. We’re here to help you go where no one else is going and do what no one else is doing to reach people no one else is reaching.

Make sure to review and subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast service to help us connect with more church planters.

In this episode of the Church Planter Podcast, guest host Joshua Brown sits down with Sean and Patrick from Passion for Planting to talk about church planting, residency, disciple-making, and mobilization.

The conversation centers on a major shift in church planting: moving away from a consumer-driven operating system and toward churches that mobilize everyday missionaries where they live, work, study, and play. Instead of starting with programs, events, and worship services, Sean and Patrick explain why church planters need to start by becoming disciples who make disciples.

They also unpack what Passion for Planting has learned after decades of helping churches plant churches, why their residency is putting a deeper emphasis on relational disciple-making, and how future planters can move from aspirational plans to actual disciple-making practice before they ever launch.

Joshua, Sean, and Patrick also discuss what a virtual residency looks like, why planters do not have to uproot their families to be trained well, and how churches can become “one decision away” from reproduction.

If you are discerning a call to church planting, developing future leaders, or trying to build a church that makes disciples instead of consumers, this episode will help you think clearly about your next step.

Resources and Links Mentioned in this Episode:

• Passion for Planting
• NewBreed Training

Thanks for listening to the Church Planter Podcast. We’re here to help you go where no one else is going and do what no one else is doing to reach people no one else is reaching.

Make sure to review and subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast service to help us connect with more church planters.

In this episode of the Church Planter Podcast, Pete Mitchell is joined by Ed Stetzer and Corey Alderin for a conversation on artificial intelligence, church planting, and how pastors can use new tools without losing what matters most.

Ed shares why AI can help smaller churches and church planters multiply their message, especially when they do not have the same staff, budget, or media team as larger churches. Corey, founder and CEO of Sermon Shots, explains how AI can help churches repurpose sermon content for social media while still keeping humans in the loop.

Together, they talk about the opportunities and dangers of AI in ministry, why content creation requires wisdom and caution, and how church leaders can think carefully about what should and should not be handed over to technology.

The conversation also explores how AI may level the playing field for smaller churches, how it can help leaders work more effectively, and why the church has a unique opportunity to lead the conversation on what it means to be human in an increasingly technological age.

If you are a church planter, pastor, or ministry leader trying to understand how AI fits into the future of ministry, this episode will help you think practically, carefully, and missionally.

Resources and Links Mentioned in this Episode:

Sermon Shots

NewBreed Training

Thanks for listening to the Church Planter Podcast. We’re here to help you go where no one else is going and do what no one else is doing to reach people no one else is reaching.

Make sure to review and subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast service to help us connect with more church planters.