Pastor to Pioneer

Britton Smith talks with recent former pastor Corbin Kinsey about leaving traditional vocational ministry to pioneer a simpler, home-based church community in Northwest Arkansas. Corbin shares how he and his wife felt called to relocate with their five children despite having no job or permanent home lined up. The conversation follows their leap of faith, the unexpected support they received, and Corbin's search for meaningful work while building new relationships in their community. He encourages pastors wrestling with similar questions to pursue honest discernment, seek candid community, and follow where they believe God is leading.

In this episode, Britton Smith and Neal Karsten explore the future of church models, the importance of repentance in reforming church practices, and the cultural shifts driving interest in simple and house churches. They discuss the risks of superficial movements and the need for deep, heart-level change to foster healthy, faithful communities.

Contact Neal at [email protected]

Joe Kimmell shares his journey from growing up as a pastor's kid in Oregon to leading a traditional church for over 20 years, and the painful decade of loss, tragedy, and personal failure that eventually led him to question the sustainability of the conventional church model. After years of discernment, prayer, and studying disciple-making movements, he and his church walked through a costly two-year transition — losing most of their congregation — to move away from Sunday services toward simple, reproducing house churches focused on making disciples who make disciples. That shift has since opened an unexpected door into jail and prison ministry, where he's watched incarcerated men and women come to faith, get discipled, and start multiplying churches behind bars across multiple facilities. Joe closes with a challenge to pursue "faith that risks" — the kind of all-in obedience that leaves no option but for God to show up.

In this episode, Josh Leister shares his journey from traditional pastoral ministry to pioneering a disciple-making movement in Kenya and the US. He discusses the challenges, breakthroughs, and lessons learned along the way, emphasizing the importance of relational discipleship and simple church models. He brings in two of his sons in the second half of the episode to share their experience making this transition.

In this episode, Brian Thompson — a former pastor and lifelong surfer — shares how he stepped away from ten years of formal pastoral ministry after the weight of licensing requirements, congregational expectations, and carrying others' burdens began stealing his peace and joy. He describes returning to surfing in his fifties , and how that return unexpectedly became a spiritual practice and a new context for quiet, judgment-free faith conversations. Brian reflects on wrestling with guilt and the fear of disappointing God by giving up his title, ultimately concluding that his calling to reach the lost never required a license or institutional role to fulfill. The conversation closes with Brian describing an emerging, informal faith community he's starting with friends outside the church, built around open discussion rather than top-down teaching.

Britton Smith reflects on a hundred episodes of the Pastor to Pioneer podcast, sharing personal stories, common themes among guests, and insights into the journey of transitioning from traditional pastoral ministry to pioneering a new way of following Jesus. This episode explores emotional challenges, loneliness, the slow pace of change, and the deeper transformation involved.

In this episode, Britton Smith interviews longtime friend and former coworker, Daniel Branch about his journey from pastor to pioneer, exploring faith, church community, leadership transitions, and marketplace shepherding. They share insights from their time on staff together and explore questions of loving well, navigating change, and living out the call beyond traditional roles.

Former pastor Adam Maw shares how leaving professional ministry and moving to Charleston, South Carolina led him to discover a more fulfilling and effective way of living out his faith. Now working as a route supervisor, Adam finds daily opportunities to pray with customers, build relationships with skeptical coworkers, and minister to elderly residents along his route — often reaching people who would never step inside a church. He and his wife have embraced the idea that "being the church" happens everywhere, from his debris truck to her Uber rides, rather than within the walls of a Sunday morning service. Adam encourages anyone wrestling with this transition to stay open to where the Spirit is leading, trust that God will bring the right people across their path, and remember that faithful ministry has nothing to do with a title or a stage.

Aaron and Emily Brown share their journey from traditional church ministry to pioneering micro churches, navigating challenges, grief, and faith. Discover insights on church transition, relational discipleship, and living out faith authentically in community as a family.