Elder My City, with Tim Schmoyer

After stepping back from Elder My City in April, I realized I did not want to keep talking about eldership without trying to practice it.

This summer gave me three ways forward: gathering local men to wrestle with Scripture and apply it to our homes and town, meeting an actual village elder in Israel, and facing whether I can return to content creation without feeding my ego or hurting my family.

In this episode, I share what those experiences taught me about leading at home, proximity, stewardship in a community, and creating from a healthier place.

Chapters

00:00 Welcome back and where I have been

00:53 Why I stopped talking and started practicing

03:19 Gathering men to wrestle with Scripture

09:06 A family trip to Israel

10:31 Meeting a village elder

15:01 Seeing that local eldership is possible

17:13 A conference and the pull to create again

18:45 Attention, ego, and what it cost my family

21:37 Returning to content creation carefully

24:11 The three lessons I am carrying forward

24:48 An invitation to wrestle through this together

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In Luke 19, Jesus tells his servants to "engage in business" until he returns. Not pray, not read the Bible, not serve the poor (all good things), but engage in business. I've been saying I'd come back to this, and here we are.

I'm wrestling with why Jesus chose this directive. I think it's because business is the only arena that simultaneously pressure tests every dimension of character that God-fearing men need, and it does it in public with real consequences among people who owe you nothing. The master in Luke 19 didn't ask for his mina back. He asked what it had produced. Faithfulness doesn't mean just holding on to what you've been given. It means taking what he's entrusted to you and making it fruitful.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Why Jesus told his servants to "engage in business" instead of pray, serve, or study

• The prideful martyrdom mentality I had in full-time ministry (and why it was wrong)

• How business pressure tests your character in ways nothing else can

• The story of turning down a lucrative client because the brand was about startling little kids

• Firing someone for the first time and instantly earning my team's trust

• Why the master rewarded faithful servants with authority over cities, not just more money

• The third servant who didn't steal or waste anything but also didn't grow it (and why that wasn't enough)

• How business wisdom transfers into your marriage, parenting, and becoming an elder in your city

• The real question the master will ask when he returns: what did you do with what I entrusted to you?

Listen / read the full post here: https://read.timschmoyer.com/p/the-master-said-engage-in-business

Get the free guide, "The Elder's Decision-Making Framework: A Step-by-Step Guide for Godly Leadership," by subscribing to my Substack posts. Totally free. I have nothing to sell you.

Questions? Thoughts? Comments? Leave me a voicemail message to use in a future podcast episode.

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Most of us have learned a version of repentance that works great in the moment: say the right words, feel the weight, promise change. But Exodus shows a terrifying pattern: Pharaoh confesses twice, sounds sincere, and then hardens again as soon as the hail stops.

This episode is a gut-check for me, because I’ve been quick to confess and slow to change more times than I want to admit. I’m not just asking, “Did I feel bad?” I’m asking, “Did I turn around?”

Topics covered in this episode

• The two moments Pharaoh “repents” (Exodus 9–10) and why they sound genuine to me


• What changed when the pressure lifted, and why Pharaoh’s servants hardened with him


• The difference between worldly grief and godly grief (2 Corinthians 7:10)


• Why “Jesus is Lord” was a costly allegiance statement, not a low-cost religious phrase (Romans 10:9)


• What repentance actually means (metanoia): a change of mind that produces a change of direction


• Why I can’t fight hardness of heart alone (Hebrews 3:12–13)


• Confession, prayer, and healing in brotherhood (James 5:16)


• Practical ways I’m pursuing the kind of men who will exhort me before sin deceives me

Listen / read the full post here: https://read.timschmoyer.com/p/pharaoh-also-repented

Get the free guide, "The Elder's Decision-Making Framework: A Step-by-Step Guide for Godly Leadership," by subscribing to my Substack posts. Totally free. I have nothing to sell you.

Questions? Thoughts? Comments? Leave me a voicemail message to use in a future podcast episode.

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Most of us inherited one model for spiritual growth: a quiet room, a Bible, and solitude. It works for some people. Tim's wife has a prayer closet that proves it.

But for many men, that format produces obligation more than transformation. In this episode, Tim makes the case that scripture never required solitude — and that the primary way God-fearing men have always engaged the Word looks a lot more like a wrestling match than a meditation.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Why Tim doesn't have a traditional quiet time and what he does instead


• What the Hebrew word darash reveals about how scripture was meant to be engaged


• How midrash functioned in Jewish life and why it wasn't a fringe practice


• Where you see it throughout the Gospels — from a 12-year-old Jesus in the temple to two grieving disciples on a road to Emmaus


• How Paul's ministry was built on public reasoning and dialogue, not monologue


• What 15 years of midrashing with men in Cincinnati has actually produced


• Why the format difference between Tim and his wife points to something important about how men come alive in the Word

If your engagement with scripture has felt more like a discipline to endure than a fire to tend, this episode is for you.

Comment on the full post here: https://read.timschmoyer.com/p/i-dont-have-a-quiet-time-anymore

Get the free guide, "The Elder's Decision-Making Framework: A Step-by-Step Guide for Godly Leadership," by subscribing to my Substack posts. Totally free. I have nothing to sell you.

Questions? Thoughts? Comments? Leave me a voicemail message to use in a future podcast episode.

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Self-sufficiency feels like stewardship, but what if it's actually working against the very thing God designed the body of Christ to do?

In this episode, I share how a living room Bible study in 1 Corinthians 12 exposed something I'd been avoiding: our family doesn't need anyone, and I built it that way on purpose. Paul's body analogy isn't a nice illustration. I think it's a direct challenge to the kind of household independence I've been proud of.

I talk about what actually scares me about interdependence and why Acts 2 paints a picture of community that feels both compelling and risky, and why I'd rather wrestle with this in public than figure it out alone.

Read the full post and comment here: https://read.timschmoyer.com/p/self-sufficiency-is-just-isolation

Get the free guide, "The Elder's Decision-Making Framework: A Step-by-Step Guide for Godly Leadership," by subscribing to my Substack posts. Totally free. I have nothing to sell you.

Questions? Thoughts? Comments? Leave me a voicemail message to use in a future podcast episode.

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Your wife sees what you don't. She watches how you handle stress, how you show up (or don't) for your kids, and the tone you use when you think no one's listening. She has a front row seat to the man you actually are, not just the man you're trying to become.

In this episode, we unpack three questions I'm starting to ask Dana on our Monday night dates:

1. What do you need from me? (The leadership gap)


2. Where have you seen me grow? (The formation check)


3. What's the one thing I should focus on next? (The mission)

These aren't easy conversations. But if I'm serious about 1 Timothy 3, that managing our household well is the proving ground for greater responsibility, then my wife is the most qualified person to help me see where I'm growing and where I'm still falling short.

Paul says an elder must manage his own household well before he can care for God's church. That means we don't get to skip past marriage to the "important work." Marriage IS the work. Every hard conversation is training for something bigger.

Read the full post and comment here: https://read.timschmoyer.com/p/your-wife-already-knows

CHAPTERS

00:00 - Introduction

00:33 - Why date nights matter

01:30 - "What do you need from me?" — origins in business

03:30 - Your wife has a front row seat to who you actually are

05:30 - Question 1: What do you need from me? (The leadership gap)

08:30 - Question 2: Where have you seen me grow? (The formation check)

10:30 - Question 3: What's the one thing I should focus on next? (The mission)

13:00 - Building a track record your wife can witness

15:00 - Faithful with little → ruler over much (Luke 19, crowns)

17:00 - Adam's passivity vs. what God wants from men

20:00 - Good work brings good reward — closing thoughts

Get the free guide, "The Elder's Decision-Making Framework: A Step-by-Step Guide for Godly Leadership," by subscribing to my Substack posts. Totally free. I have nothing to sell you.

Questions? Thoughts? Comments? Leave me a voicemail message to use in a future podcast episode.

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Most men make decisions by asking, "What's the smartest choice?" But what if your decisions aren't just problems to solve, they're training for something you haven't been shown yet?

In this episode, I walk through three real decisions I'm facing right now — an investment property, relationship priorities for a family of nine, and whether to compete in a BJJ tournament against my doctor's advice — and why I stopped treating them as problems and started treating them as formation.

I break down the difference between how most men approach decisions and how an aspiring elder thinks about them, and I introduce a framework I've been developing that changes not just what you decide, but what your decisions are actually for.

If you want the full six-question framework, subscribe to Elder My City at read.timschmoyer.com and you'll get "The Elder's Decision-Making Framework" guide in your welcome email.

✉️ Subscribe to get my free guide, "The Elder's Decision-Making Framework: A Step-By-Step Guide for Godly Leadership."

📝 Read ⁠⁠the full post for this episode⁠⁠ and leave a comment on my Substack.

🎙️ Leave ⁠⁠a voicemail for a future episode⁠⁠.

CHAPTERS

00:00 - Welcome & The Challenge of Decision Making

01:00 - Example 1: Investment Property Decision

03:25 - Example 2: Family Time & Relationships

04:53 - Example 3: BJJ Tournament vs Doctor's Advice

05:30 - How Most Men Make Decisions

06:36 - A Different Operating System for God-Fearing Men

08:49 - The Elder's Questions vs Common Questions

12:16 - Decisions as Training for Kingdom Responsibility

15:19 - Applying the Framework to Real Decisions

17:33 - The Elder's Decision Making Framework (Free Guide)

19:40 - Being More Than a "Good Dad"

21:15 - Closing & Call to Action

Get the free guide, "The Elder's Decision-Making Framework: A Step-by-Step Guide for Godly Leadership," by subscribing to my Substack posts. Totally free. I have nothing to sell you.

Questions? Thoughts? Comments? Leave me a voicemail message to use in a future podcast episode.

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A jacked 23-year-old put me in a chokehold last Friday. I'm 45. Most people call Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu a hobby. I've started seeing it as elder training.

Eldership isn't formed in a seminary classroom or a church board meeting. It's formed in the ordinary rhythms you refuse to quit — the budget meetings, the bedtime Bible readings, the conversations with your kids you'd rather avoid.

In this episode, I walk through five weekly habits that are shaping me as I steward my home today and prepare for the authority I'll be trusted with in the Kingdom to come. These aren't theoretical. They're what my family actually does, including the parts I'm still figuring out.

If you're a man who senses God is calling you to more than just "being a good dad," this is where that journey gets practical.

📝 Read ⁠the full post for this episode⁠ and leave a comment on my Substack.

🎙️ Leave ⁠a voicemail for a future episode⁠.

CHAPTERS

00:00 — Introduction

00:46 — A 23-year-old put me in a chokehold

02:10 — Eldership is formed in rhythms you refuse to quit

03:34 — Passivity is the greatest disqualifier

05:12 — Five weekly habits for elder formation

05:54 — Habit 1: Lead your family in reading the Bible together

10:05 — Habit 2: Have a weekly check-in with each person in your home

14:25 — Habit 3: Study scripture with other men

17:18 — Habit 4: Hold a budget and calendar review meeting

21:53 — Habit 5: Exercise as body stewardship

26:18 — Lead what's been entrusted to you

27:40 — Set your hope on what's coming

Get the free guide, "The Elder's Decision-Making Framework: A Step-by-Step Guide for Godly Leadership," by subscribing to my Substack posts. Totally free. I have nothing to sell you.

Questions? Thoughts? Comments? Leave me a voicemail message to use in a future podcast episode.

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Most Christian men have a fuzzier picture of the Kingdom than they do of their next vacation. Clouds. Harps. Maybe endless singing. But Jesus talked about the Kingdom over 100 times and what He described looks nothing like that.

The prophets describe cities. Governance. Land and property. Work that actually lasts. And Revelation says we'll reign forever. Not floating around with equal status, but actually reigning. With varying levels of responsibility based on something that happens now.

In this episode, I dig into what Scripture actually says about the age to come and why your daily grind as a father and husband might be training for something far bigger than you realized.

📝 Read the full post for this episode and leave a comment on my Substack.

🎙️ Leave a voicemail for a future episode.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Welcome

00:55 What I used to think heaven was

02:26 The Kingdom is a real place

06:27 Micah 4: A Kingdom you can walk through

10:21 Zechariah 14: My favorite chapter in the Bible

12:44 Why Sukkot is our family's favorite holiday

16:47 Revelation: The New Jerusalem

18:25 The city has a government

19:22 Jesus talked about this 80+ times

19:59 The parables of stewardship

22:35 What this changes about today

24:58 The Lord's Prayer trains us to long for it

28:15 A fuzzy heaven doesn't motivate sacrifice

30:07 Isaiah 65: Work that finally lasts

32:55 Our Sukkot tradition with Hebrews 11

34:00 What are you doing with your training?

37:05 Closing

Get the free guide, "The Elder's Decision-Making Framework: A Step-by-Step Guide for Godly Leadership," by subscribing to my Substack posts. Totally free. I have nothing to sell you.

Questions? Thoughts? Comments? Leave me a voicemail message to use in a future podcast episode.

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Comment on the full post here: https://read.timschmoyer.com/p/i-found-my-job-description-in-scripture

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