Jeff describes the weekend he had, with all of the pastoral involvement he experienced with so many different people in the church/community. He then shares some of the struggle and thought processes that go into navigating pastoral ministry.

Real ministry talk with you my friend, pastor to pastor! Enjoy...

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Dr. David Fitch, from Northern Seminary in Chicago, joins us to talk about how the church joins Jesus to be a faithful presence in the community. David Fitch is an author, seminary prof, and all around great communicator and thought leader in the Christian Ministry world.

Fitch is a believer in modest sized churches, opining that they are more effective in reaching and ministering to the community. Great food for thought for pastors!

Check out his book, Faithful Presence - 7 Disciplines That Shape The Church For Mission.

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For more great content and conversations for pastors, check out the over 400 episodes of the 200churches Podcast!

Sometimes, in the course of one's life and leadership - you need to burn a bridge, jump out of a plane, pass a point of no return, take that leap of commitment where there's no going back.

Jeff challenges pastors to do just that in this episode, describing experiences and stories from his own life and ministry. Jeff hopes that God uses this episode to push you to take that step that you've been avoiding and afraid of - and... there's a story about sofas on fire too!

Enjoy!

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For more great content and conversations for pastors, check out the over 400 episodes of the 200churches Podcast!

Are you propping up ministries that have long since lost their luster - and their enthusiastic volunteers? Maybe the person who began the ministry is long gone, but some people feel compelled to keep the ministry going... on life support!

What is the only ministries in your church were driven by people gifted and impassioned to lead them, and to volunteer for them?

Sometimes when the horse dies... it's time to dismount. Maybe you are digging your spurs into the side of a dead horse. Time to give up on it, send it to the glue factory, and reveal the Spirit empowered giftedness in your people to command the next new thing?

Enjoy!

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For more great content and conversations for pastors, check out the over 400 episodes of the 200churches Podcast!

Jeff talks about a conversation with a guy he spent four days with in May, 2014...

Dave Ronan, from episode 72 of the 200churches Podcast - a classic episode you should listen to!

Then he connects this conversation to yesterday's episode 178, when people do you dirty, and the stories he hears from pastors in his role on a licensing and ordination committee.

Enjoy!

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For more great content and conversations for pastors, check out the over 400 episodes of the 200churches Podcast!

I remember hearing John Maxwell say, years ago... "in ministry, you have to lead like you don't have to survive. You don't have to survive." I would say, in ministry, you may survive, but you won't get away unscathed. There will always be enough hurt to go around in ministry.

And, that's okay! Even though people will do us dirty, that's okay, we can just make pretend they didn't. Now, don't hear me promoting psychological malpractice. We should not be looking for pain, nor should we allow people to walk all over us. But our response is quite important.

In this episode I quote from The Gift of Disillusionment - Enduring Hope For Leaders After Idealism Fades by Peter Greer and Chris Horst. It's a great book, check it out!

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For more great content and conversations for pastors, check out the over 400 episodes of the 200churches Podcast!

Jeff shares an excerpt from Dana Candler's book, First Love - Keeping Passion For Jesus In A World Growing Cold, and applies it to you, Pastor. Imagine, pastors getting to eat from the food prepared by them for the people!?

Candler writes about her encounter with God, and challenges people to actually believe what God says about himself and our relationship with him, and Jeff applies this to pastors... Enjoy!

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For more great content and conversations for pastors, check out the over 400 episodes of the 200churches Podcast!

Jeff wraps up a week on preaching with a conversation about preaching, with the founder of Grow A Healthy Church, John Finkelde. John coaches pastors on their preaching, among many other ways he coaches and consults with pastors and church leadership teams.

John wrote a book called Preaching In A Whatever World, that we reference in the episode. John shares some tips, tricks, and foundational presuppositions on the crafting and delivery of sermons.

You will both learn and be encouraged by this episode - enjoy!

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For more great content and conversations for pastors, check out the over 400 episodes of the 200churches Podcast!

Jeff recorded a last minute replacement episode for Friday, October 21, late on Thursday, October 20. :-)

He thought of too many things he wanted to share with you on Thursday, so he re-recorded the Friday episode and this is it! He even shares a clip from another podcast that speaks to the discipline of preaching and communicating.

Thanks for proclaiming the Gospel to your people Pastor - we know this episode is going to encourage you in it! Enjoy!

Here's the FULL YouTube version of the Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast episode that Jeff's highlights: Vanessa Van Edwards Episode.

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For more great content and conversations for pastors, check out the over 400 episodes of the 200churches Podcast!

Have you ever thought about it? Do you preach from your head or your heart? What does it mean to preach from your head?

How can you be sure to preach from your heart? I think the only guaranteed way to truly preach from your heart... is to pray. Prayer opens up the highway for your message to be delivered from your heart to your people.

Here's what this looks like... Enjoy!

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For more great content and conversations for pastors, check out the over 400 episodes of the 200churches Podcast!