It’s the end of the church year for the Missouri District Church of the Nazarene, the district where both Jasons pastor. That means it’s annual report season! In this episode, Jason Buckwalter shares his reflections on what has happened this year at Fulton Heartland and how he prepares for the required annual meeting of his congregation. Jason Hill does the same, sharing how he has tried to focus his meetings on the spiritual side of the report - focusing on membership and baptism in addition to board elections and other polity issues.

The annual meeting is necessary. It’s important. Your people want to know what’s going on, how the church is doing, and what God is doing among you. Take the opportunity to share what God has done — practically and spiritually.

Greetings friends! In this episode, our co-hosts are here to talk about their own churches as the Missouri District Church of the Nazarene nears it’s end of the year. The end of the church year can be a tedious season of reports, counting, and meeting polity obligations. It can also be a season where we take a very intentional step back to consider what God has done amongst and in our people. We call this critical reflection. Regardless of when your annual report comes, it’s a great time to do some prayerful reflection — with God and with others — to better tell the story of God’s work in your church. Sharing that with your people can help your church better engage with what God is doing and wanting to do. Who know annual reports could be a catalyst to spark new and impactful ministry?

This is the first of a two-part cycle on the end of the church year and this episode focuses on what has happened this season in Cape Naz. The second part will focus on Jason Buckwalter and Heartland Nazarene and provide practical tips to make your end of year meetings more fruitful.

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In this episode of the Sacred & Small podcast, Dr. Desmond Barrett, author of Rising From the Ashes Into Church Renewal, and pastor of Hilltop Church of the Nazarene, joins the Jasons to talk church revitalization.

In the second of two episodes, Desmond details both the spiritual and practical sides of church revitalization. Churches can’t do everything, but Christ does command his church to make disciples of all the nations. That means that a vital church — or a revitalizing church — must focus itself on evangelism. The same command, though, tells us to teach others to obey all that Christ has commanded us. Discipleship and spiritual formation, then, must also be a critical component of the revitalized church.

There are practical concerns as well — raising funds, smells and sights in the church, understanding a church’s language and culture. This far-reaching episode will discuss all of this and more.

If this subject interests you and you would like to learn more about church revitalization, pick up Dr. Barrett’s latest book - Rising From the Ashes Into Church Renewal. It’s available through Amazon and other booksellers.

Thanks for reading Sacred + Small! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

In this episode of the Sacred & Small podcast, Dr. Desmond Barrett, author of Rising From the Ashes Into Church Renewal, and pastor of Hilltop Church of the Nazarene, joins the Jasons to talk church revitalization.

What is church revitalization? Dr. Barrett defines revitalization as “coming back.” Small churches — all churches — can face seasons of decline, crises, conflicts, and more. Walking through a process of revitalization can help churches recenter themselves on what makes them vital — alive and in agreement with the mission of God in the world. That makes it more than just church growth or outreach, but a renewal of a congregation’s commitment and engagement in what God is doing in them and in the world.

In this first of two episodes, Desmond shares his pastoral journey — his call to ministry, his first pastoral assignment in a church of 8, and his efforts to revitalize both Winter Haven Nazarene (his previous assignment) and his current work at Hilltop.

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Lent is coming up soon and who better to talk about the season of Lent and the spiritual practices of Lent than Sacred & Small and Michaele LaVigne? Michaele is a spiritual director and the Director of the Center for Spiritual Formation at Nazarene Theological Seminary.

In this episode, Michaele joins the Jasons to talk about all aspects of Lent — both from the perspective of pastors of churches and spiritual formation.

1. Means of Grace - as a spiritual director and pastor

2. Seasons of lament.

3. The hope of resurrection

4. How has Lent changed for you in this role?

On this week’s episode of Sacred & Small, Michaele LaVigne joins the Jasons to talk spiritual direction.

God never intended for us to walk the path of discipleship and spiritual formation alone. He certainly never intended for pastors and spiritual leaders to do so. As a spiritual director, Michaele comes alongside people to encourage them on their spiritual journey, suggest spiritual practices and means of grace, and provide guidance and prayer.

In this episode, Michaele outlines what spiritual direction is and talks about her own journey as a pastor, disciple-maker, church planter, and her transition into her current role both in spiritual direction and at NTS.

Episode rundown:

1. Tell us about spiritual direction

2. Michaele’s ministry journey to Spiritual Direction

3. The need - why spiritual direction in a seminary setting

Advent is just a few weeks away! On this episode of the Sacred & Small Podcast, the Jasons are joined by Danny Quanstrum, who recently accepted a call to pastor Trinity Church of the Nazarene in Florissant, MO. In this episode…

Danny talks about approaching Advent in a new place that is not as liturgical as his previous pastoring environment.

Jason Buckwalter talks about the development of his Advent devotional, We Wait.

Jason Hill talks about preaching Advent for the 16th year. How can you freshen up the scriptures? And do you need to as a pastor?

Pastoral transitions can be complicated, messy, dangerous for pastors and churches, but also life-giving and fruitful. Friend of the podcast, Pastor Danny Quanstrum, recently accepted the call to pastor Trinity Chruch of the Nazarene in Florissant, MO, joining Jason Buckwalter and Jason Hill on the Missouri District!

In this episode, the guys talk about Danny’s transition to Trinity from a spiritual and practical perspective. We also dig into the ethnography of the transition — what appealed to him about Trinity Nazarene and what he found when he arrived.

Episode rundown:

* Introducing Danny Quanstrum

* Setting the stage: Danny’s transition to Trinity

* The decision-making process

* Ethnography — Tell us about Trinity Nazarene!

On this episode of the Sacred & Small podcast, our own Jason Buckwalter talks about the new ministry opportunity that he has accepted. In addition to his responsibilities as pastor at Fulton Heartland Church of the Nazarene, Jason will also be the chaplain of Westminster College.

Jason shares this story of how this new ministry came to be, what he’s learned about Westminister, and how he’ll approach his ministry there. We also talk quite a bit about the concept of “my ministry” vs. the “ministry of the church,” and how to better integrate the church and our life together into one cohesive movement of the Kingdom of God.

The rundown:

* Bucky’s new ministry opportunity at Westminster

* The decision-making process of starting a new ministry

* Ethnography at Westminster

* “Your ministry” vs. “the ministry of the church”

* Approaching ministry on a college campus

This week on Sacred & Small, the Jasons were pleased to welcome Jessica Hill onto the podcast. Yes, Jessica is Jason Hill’s wife, but she also has over a decade of work with domestic violence agencies throughout the state of Missouri.

Jessica joined the podcast to tell the story of how she got involved in domestic violence advocacy, her leadership of the Safe House of Southeast Missouri, and her new role in public affairs with MOCADSV, a statewide coalition of domestic violence service providers.

The rundown:

* Jessica shares her story.

* Advocacy as a calling (not unlike a call to ministry.)

* The work of MOCADSV.

* Domestic violence — the vital information

* Domestic violence and the church

We hope you enjoy this episode! If you or your church are interested in engaging in ministry to victims of domestic violence, or if you think someone in your congregation is experiencing domestic violence, please message us! We would be happy to put you in touch with service providers in your area.