Elder My City, with Tim Schmoyer

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

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.

Let's Connect:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• X.com

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

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.

Let's Connect:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• X.com

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:

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.

Let's Connect:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• X.com

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

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.

Let's Connect:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• X.com

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:

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.

Let's Connect:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• X.com

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.

Let's Connect:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• X.com

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.

Let's Connect:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• X.com

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.

Let's Connect:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• X.com

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

Questions? Thoughts? Comments? Leave me a voicemail message to use in a future podcast episode: https://www.speakpipe.com/timschmoyer

Subscribe to get new blog posts and podcast episodes in your Inbox: https://read.timschmoyer.com/subscribe

Follow Tim on the socials:

- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/timschmoyer

- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/timschmoyer

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timschmoyer/

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.

Let's Connect:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• X.com

Questions? Thoughts? Comments? Leave me a voicemail message to use in a future podcast episode: https://www.speakpipe.com/timschmoyer

Comment on the full post here: https://read.timschmoyer.com/p/divine-assignments-to-the-underprepared

A few weeks ago, I was texting with a friend about this “Elder My City” project. He mentioned that I’m “taking up the mantle to lead fathers in this direction” in our homes and cities.

I remember sitting there thinking for a minute and then replying:

“Oh man, now that you say that, taking up the mantle for this topic makes me nervous. I don’t know that I’m qualified for it, but I also care about it deeply, so I will.”

His reply was quicker than I anticipated:

I read the message a few times. The pattern he recognized isn’t that I’m competent in whatever I decide to pursue, but that I pursue the passions the Lord gives me and develop competence along the way.

I replied:

“Thanks. I don’t feel that way, but I choose to believe that it’s true.”

Maybe you live in this same tension as I do, especially when it comes to fatherhood and pursuing elder qualifications as a God-fearing man. The tension is this:

There’s a gap between what you currently believe and what you want to believe.

I Know This Gap Well

And it keeps growing larger as I get older.

* When I got married, what did I know about a healthy marriage? Nothing. But by God’s grace and some hard work, we’re still married 20 years later.

* When my first child was born, what did I know about raising kids? Nothing. Yet here we are today with seven children.

* When I started a business, what did I know about running one? Literally nothing. I didn’t even know what a business plan was. But ten years later, it was a leader in our industry before being acquired in 2022.

* When I started a blog called “Elder My City,” how deeply did I understand all the theological and practical implications of eldership? Not enough. Yet I know it’s already been fruitful in my life and the lives of a few other men.

Your story is probably similar. God’s pattern isn’t always preparation followed by assignment. Sometimes it’s the opposite.

I Think God Does This on Purpose

Moses at the burning bush, stammering about his inadequate speech. Gideon hiding in a winepress, being called a “mighty warrior” while feeling like anything but. Jeremiah claiming he’s too young. Peter, the impulsive fisherman, being told he’ll become the rock on which the church is built.

There’s a pattern here: divine assignment to the underprepared.

I used to think this was about God seeing potential we couldn’t see in ourselves, and there may be some of that, but now I suspect it’s about something else:

It’s about dependence.

These assignments create a crisis that forces us to lean into resources we don’t yet possess. Wisdom we haven’t experienced. Strength we can’t manufacture. Skills we haven’t acquired.

That’s why Moses could lead Israel out of Egypt. Not because he had hidden eloquence, but because his stammering would force him to depend on God’s words instead of his own. When he said, “Who am I to go to Pharaoh?” God didn’t answer by listing Moses’s qualifications. He answered, “I will be with you.” The inadequacy wasn’t an obstacle to overcome—it was the whole point.

Every moment of “I don’t know if I can do this” has been preparation for sitting at some future gate where I’ll need to say, “I don’t have all the answers, but let’s work through this together.”

The Pattern I’m Learning to Trust

Every mission I’ve been sent on before I was ready has taught me that readiness isn’t the prerequisite. Willingness is. The determination to show up despite limitations seems to be what God honors. It’s His invitation into struggle that will form something in me I couldn’t acquire any other way.

I’m wrestling now with eldership — this biblical vision of becoming a man of wisdom and character who can serve his family and city. And I feel inadequate to it. Who am I to write and talk about it online?

But maybe this is where every elder’s journey begins. Not with competence, but with acknowledgment of inadequacy. Not with having answers, but with being willing to sit at the gate anyway, offering whatever wisdom he’s gleaned from decades of stewarding businesses and families and faith.

I don’t feel adequate to be a city elder. But I’m learning to believe what I don’t yet feel: God keeps sending me where I’m not ready because that’s where He does His deepest work.

And I’m sure He does the same with you. The question isn’t whether you’re prepared to be a father in your home, an elder in your city, and a ruler in the Kingdom to come. It’s whether you’re willing to go anyway.

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.

Let's Connect:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• X.com