Church Relevance Podcast

Pastor Sam Choi shares his ministry journey and explains how expectations often differ from reality. His story is one of a transition from idolizing ministry and wanting to prove himself to integrating his family into his ministry and achieving a healthy balance, which he feels has empowered their church plant in the community. He now sees that evolution as part of God’s plan to help us grow in our ministry.

Pastor Bob Fabey, author of NotMyJesus, expounds on how it takes actual work to portray Jesus as the Bible does. He explains how we need to have love at the forefront of our minds and not get caught up in the “debate of the day.” What flows out of our love is cultural engagement to further the gospel.

Pastor Clayton Mullins, Youth and Local Missions Pastor at Grantswood Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, discusses the importance of balancing family, ministry and seminary. Mullins holds a B.A. in Biblical Studies at Southeastern Bible College and an M.A.in Missiology at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He describes his own experience in hospitality and ministry, and shares revelations about the role family plays in ministry life.

In this episode, Pastor Christopher DiVietro of Reading, Pennsylvania, discusses why authentic leadership (using clear, transparent, communication) is critical for a ministry leader’s growth as well as the growth of friends, family, and community. He serves Park Road Presbyterian Church as Senior Pastor and is an adjunct professor at both Alvernia University and Eastern University. DiVietro holds a Doctorate in Organizational Leadership from Reformed Theological Seminary. Learn how being a truly authentic leader – which requires more than preaching sermons and teaching lessons – can strengthen your ministry.

During this episode, we speak with Steve Vincent, author of When Faith Lights the Way. Steve is a successful businessman whose first career spanned thirty-four years in the electric utility industry. In his second career, his efforts have been redirected to provide state of the art electric systems to improve the health and education to the neediest people in the world.

We talk through pursing what God has called us to do so that faith can light the way. Steve’s initial goal of bringing actual light to a village quickly escalated into bringing electricity to a hospital in Africa. His determination to accomplish what God called him to do are not only encouraging but also a great reminder that “if God is for us, who can be against us?”

In this episode, we speak with Rev. Michael York, one of the pastors of First Presbyterian Church in Vero Beach, Florida. He has also served churches in the suburbs of Atlanta and in small town South Carolina, including weekly total attendances of 250, 700, and over 1,000 members.

York discusses the importance and strength of intergenerational ministry in the church today, and how you can create, encourage, and nurture everyone within your community. York graduated Columbia Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity in 2006 and is currently pursuing his Doctorate of Ministry around Gospel, Culture, and the Transformation of the Church. He is currently researching intergenerational ministry as it relates to the Trinity.

In the first episode, we sit down with Dr. Andy Yarborough, pastor and psychologist, and discuss self-care and ministry burnout. Andy and his wife Melody founded The Well Clinic in 2015 after seeing the growing need for emotional health care in their community and in the lives of church leaders. Dr. Yarborough helps us look for symptoms of burnout and educates us on how self-care can combat the stresses of ministry leadership.