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Welcome back to our series exploring the core values of the Soma family of churches! In this episode, hosts Justin Westcott and Paul Dean dive into the heartbeat of our movement: Making Disciples in Community on Mission.

Paul and Justin unpack why the New Testament prescribes community as the primary soil for spiritual formation. Moving past consumeristic models of isolated church attendance, they examine how life-on-life discipleship forms us into believers who are close to Jesus, changed by Jesus, and obeying Jesus together. They explore the friction, awkwardness, and beauty of practicing the 20+ "one another" commands in Scripture, reminding us that spiritual maturity requires relational investment and shared life.

In the second half, Justin sits down with Josh and Kelly Owen, church planters in San Marcos, Texas, with over two decades of experience leading missional communities and ten years as foster and adoptive parents. Josh and Kelly share an honest, vulnerable look at the realities of ministry in high-needs communities. They open up about church planting fatigue, processing personal wounds of infant abandonment and adoption, and unlearning the "savior complex".

Josh and Kelly outline what it means to reframe ministry success around faithfulness over fruitfulness, embracing personal limitations (the "loaves and fish" principle), and practicing radical, unpretentious hospitality with cheap hot dogs and open doors.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• Defining a Disciple: Relational, transformational, missional, and communal components of following Christ.
• Killing Consumerism: Why genuine community requires moving past superficial preferences to embrace messy, long-term relationships.
• The "One Another" Mandate: How biblical hospitality, burden-bearing, and confession naturally overflow into mission.
• Trauma-Informed Ministry: How foster care and connected parenting provide a mirror for understanding broken shalom and the gospel.
• Redefining Success: Moving from "butts in seats" metrics to faithfully helping neighbors take their next step toward Jesus.
• Unpretentious Hospitality: Why connection trumps entertainment (and why hot dogs on paper plates build real community).

About Soma: Soma is a family of churches across North America and around the world working toward gospel saturation. We are passionate about connecting, equipping, and mobilizing disciple-makers to live out the gospel in community on the mission of Jesus in everyday life.

Connect & Support

• Website: We Are Soma (Connect with regional leaders and find equipping opportunities).

• Support: Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube and leave us a review!

Co-Hosts: Justin Westcott and Paul Dean

Produced by Zach Smith

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Welcome back to the Soma Values series! In this episode, we dive into one of our most defining core convictions: Being Before Doing.

Hosts Justin Westcott and Paul Dean unpack the biblical architecture of identity found in John 13, where Jesus’ act of washing His disciples' feet flows directly from knowing who He was and where He came from. When we reverse this order and place doing before being, our obedience degenerates into performance-driven striving, legalism, and burnout. In the kingdom of God, his doing informs our being, and our being fuels our doing. We live as a family of servant missionaries not to earn the Father’s love, but because we are already securely loved, adopted, and sent.

In the second half of the episode, Justin and Paul are joined by Aaron Goodrich, church planter of Soma Grand Rapids, a bi-vocational Christian counselor specializing in attachment and trauma. Aaron unpacks the profound intersection of neuroscience, emotional health, and spiritual formation. He explains why pure left-brain informational theology often fails to heal our deepest wounds if our right-brain experiential attachment views God as an angry, distant, or critical father.

Aaron shares his own personal story of breaking free from toxic shame at a Texas Roadhouse table and provides profound insights into how family-of-origin wounds, false gospels, and counterfeit triads (Appetite, Approval, Ambition) distort our view of God.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• The John 13 Paradigm: How Jesus modeled serving out of secure authority and identity.
• The Four Core Questions: Who is God? What has He done? Who are we? How should we live?
• Whole-Brain Discipleship: Moving beyond intellectual formulas to right-brain experiential connection with the Father's face of delight.
• The 80/20 Rule: How past attachment wounds and childhood static dictate present reactions.
• Breaking the Counterfeit Triad: How Satan twists core longings for security, belonging, and significance into appetite, approval, and power.
• Practical Soul-Care Habits: Daily creation walks, the Pause App, and Joyful Journaling.

Connect & Support

• Website: We Are Soma (Connect with regional leaders and find equipping opportunities).
• Support: Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube and leave us a review!

Co-Hosts: Justin Westcott and Paul Dean

Produced by Zach Smith

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Welcome to the kickoff of our brand-new series exploring the ten core values of the Soma family of churches! In this series, we dive into the scriptural foundations behind our convictions while spotlighting leaders across our family who are actively living them out in diverse ministry contexts.

We begin with what the Apostle Paul calls matter of "first importance" (1 Corinthians 15): The Gospel.

Co-host Justin Westcott sits down with Soma Executive Director Paul Dean to examine Ephesians 1:3–8, pulling apart the scandalous reality of God’s grace. They share personal reflections on moving away from performance-based works righteousness and the deep ache of feeling merely "dealt with" by God, stepping instead into the freeing truth that the Father actively chooses, desires, and delights in adopting us into His family through Jesus Christ. As Tim Keller famously noted, the gospel is not just the ABCs of the Christian life; it is the A-to-Z of salvation.

In the second half of the episode, Justin is joined by Chris Synesael, church planter in Victoria, British Columbia, and leader with Soma Canada. Chris reflects on his journey planting in one of Canada’s most secular urban post-Christian contexts. He opens up about how early ministry pressures often lead planters to treat the gospel like a transactional "math equation" or a performance whip. He contrasts the frantic anxiety of his early twenties with the unhurried, grounded peace that comes from truly resting in the finished work of Jesus.

Together, they discuss why modern evangelicalism is tempted to drift from gospel centrality toward political tribalism, pragmatism, and false certainty, and why resting in Christ remains the only foundation for true spiritual maturity and everyday mission.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

Ephesians 1 Unpacked: Why our adoption is rooted in God’s pleasure, not our performance.

Beyond the Math Equation: Shifting from intellectual formulas to holistic heart transformation and emotional attunement.

Unhurried Ministry: How resting in Christ's finished work kills the anxiety of American individualism in church planting.

Planting in Secular Contexts: Dispatches from Victoria, BC on relational discipleship and practicing presence.

Navigating Cultural Drift: Why tribalism and pragmatism pull leaders away from Jesus as their primary center.

Soma is a family of churches across North America and around the world working toward gospel saturation. We are passionate about connecting, equipping, and mobilizing disciple-makers to live out the gospel in community on the mission of Jesus in everyday life.

Website: Check out https://wearesoma.com to connect with regional leaders and browse equipping resources.

Support: Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube and leave a review to help others find the show!

Co-Hosts: Justin Westcott and Paul Dean

Produced by Zach Smith

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Welcome to the final chapter of our special series detailing the history, trials, and forward-looking vision of the Soma family of churches! In this definitive episode, hosts Justin Westcott and Paul Dean sits down once again with founder Jeff Vanderstelt to take a deep look at the post-COVID landscape, the realities of institutional growth, and what it looks like to collaboratively build for the next generation.

The conversation starts with Paul Dean opening up about his transition into the Executive Director role during a season of heavy church fatigue and global cultural shifts. Grounding his vision in a systematic study of the Book of Acts, Paul outlines a clear, biblical blueprint: the early disciples didn’t just plant churches—they planted connected churches. Discover how this fundamental truth drove the restructuring of Soma around robust regional support teams, ensuring that no church planter ever has to struggle in isolation or face institutional crises alone.

Jeff and Paul pull no punches as they analyze the current state of North American evangelicalism. They candidly tackle major modern barriers, including the dangerous resurgence of singular-leader celebrity church models, a toxic scarcity mindset, a culture of radical individualism, and the concerning trend of disempowering women in ministry. They challenge networks to shift away from passive, consumeristic models and step back into a collective, strategic posture—where resources, treasure, and people are sent dynamically to unreached fields and hubs like Tokyo, Seattle, Austin, and Charleston.

This series finale is a powerful call to move past the temporary hype of "trendy" church movements and return to the simple, gritty, and enduring lifestyle of making disciples in the everyday stuff of life.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• The Acts Model: Moving beyond a loose confederation to true, connected regional ecosystems.
• The Watershed Meeting: A look inside the raw "players only" circle in San Diego that established radical transparency over ego.
• Intentional Obedience: Breaking down the myth of a busy schedule—learning to overlap your faith with normal rhythms like table fellowship.
• Creative Funding Models: Moving toward marketplace-minded bi-vocational and micro-church expressions.
• The Kingdom in the Tension: Why true unity requires diversity of perspective and giftings, rather than strict conformity.
• The Calling to Hurt: Real-life testimonies of neighborhood transformation, counting the cost, and why we must never grow weary of doing good.

Soma is a family of churches across North America and around the world working toward gospel saturation. We are passionate about connecting, equipping, and mobilizing disciple-makers to live out the gospel in community on the mission of Jesus in everyday life.

Connect & Support Website: https://wearesoma.com to connect with regional leaders and find equipping opportunities.

Subscribe on your favorite platform and leave us a review to help get this resource in front of more leaders!

Produced by Zach Smith

Co-Hosted by Justin Westcott & Paul Dean

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Welcome to the third chapter of our series uncovering the raw history of the Soma family of churches. In this highly emotional and vulnerable conversation, host Justin Westcott sits down with founder Jeff Vanderstelt to confront the most difficult years of the movement. They step directly into the seasons marked by structural attrition, leadership fumbles, intense geographic transition, and ultimately, the tragic loss of their dear friend and pastor, Randy Sheets.

Jeff takes us back to the early 2010s, reflecting on the rich, gritty, and deeply creative communal space of the downtown warehouse in Tacoma—where art, visual expression, and world-class teaching converged into a large-scale "living room" experience. But space and strategy carry real weight. Hear the story of what happened when the church was abruptly removed of their physical hub, forcing a rapid, culturally jarring migration to church gym bleachers and late-afternoon time slots.

As structural foundations fractured, the global pull of the missional movement began to hurt the local church. Leaders faced intense choices between maintaining the local home base or launching new city hubs. Jeff shares the intense internal conflict of stepping into ground zero during the historic implosion of Mars Hill in 2014, leading to the painful replanting of Doxa Church in Bellevue.

Ultimately, this episode confronts the deep cost of ministry and the vital necessity of leadership soul care. Jeff details his own experience walking through a profound "dark night of the soul" following Randy's passing, how it completely altered his understanding of internal hypervigilance, and his journey toward finding true emotional healing and redemption.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

The profound role of physical space and aesthetic beauty in shaping church culture. The high cost of sending key leaders out and the organizational blurring of lines between Soma and the nonprofit Saturate.

A look behind the curtain at the Mars Hill collapse and the massive, generational spiritual fallout in the Puget Sound area. Critical perspective shifts from merely "abounding in the work" to truly learning how to "abide in the Lord" through silence, solitude, and Sabbath.

A candid post-mortem on how the perfect storm of 2020 exposed divisions over masks and politics. The ground-zero "Council of Soma" meeting that saved the family of churches from fracturing.

Soma is a family of churches across North America and around the world working toward gospel saturation. We are passionate about connecting, equipping, and mobilizing disciple-makers to live out the gospel in community on the mission of Jesus in everyday life.

Viewer Discretion Advised: This episode handles highly sensitive topics, including relational hardship, mental health struggles, PTSD, and suicide. Visit our website https://wearesoma.com to connect with a regional leader and access equipping webinars Support: Subscribe on your favorite platform and leave us a review!

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Welcome back to the second episode of our series exploring the history and heartbeat of the Soma family of churches! In this conversation, we pick up right after the launch of the first four missional communities in 2004. We sit down for a deeply transparent look at the "momentum years"—a season marked by massive expansion, structural breakthroughs, and the raw leadership realities that shaped our movement.

Jeff opens up about the early days of trial and error in Tacoma, admitting that the team didn't start with a perfect roadmap. Because of his highly intuitive leadership style, they quickly realized that a fluid, week-by-week approach wasn't easily reproducible. Discover how this realization, paired with the structural insight of Caesar Kalinowski and the theological influence of The Crowded House (Tim Chester and Steve Timmis), birthed the foundational "Gospel Operating System" framework. Jeff breaks down the critical shift toward grounding everyday discipleship in our fundamental baptismal identity—Family, Servant, Missionary—and filtering life through core gospel questions.

We also explore the origin of the "everyday rhythms of life". Jeff takes us back to a raw whiteboard session in a downtown Tacoma warehouse where they mapped out the ordinary things human beings do no matter what—eating, celebrating, listening, and recreating—and infused them with gospel intentionality. You'll hear the inspiring story of the Shakabrah, a beloved local diner that the team bought out of back taxes to bless the community, which unexpectedly transformed into a vibrant hub for local artists, musicians, and missional business expressions.

But a true movement story isn't just a highlight reel. With refreshing candor, Jeff and Paul pull back the curtain on the painful realities of church conflict, the traps of valuing competency over character, and the hard lessons learned through leadership transitions. They openly share their own personal journey of relational breakdown and subsequent gospel reconciliation, modeling what it looks like to move from systemic self-protection to true intimacy in the body of Christ.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

1. The structural architecture behind building a coaching network and the "Training Wheel" framework.
2. How "Breakfast Clubs" unlocked neighbor engagement by using Sunday mornings for local hospitality.
3. The birth of Soma School, an immersive, everyday learning experience that has trained thousands of leaders worldwide.
4. How Redemption Groups and DNA Groups were introduced as necessary shepherding structures for soul care.
5. Radical lessons on shared leadership, dying to ego, and keeping Jesus at the true head of the church.

Website: We Are Soma (Connect with regional leaders and find equipping opportunities).

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In the premiere episode of our new series on the Soma story, we sit down with co-founder Jeff Vanderstelt to trace the origins of the convictions that birthed the Soma family of churches. Before Soma Tacoma was launched, God was already weaving a unique blueprint for decentralized, everyday disciple-making through Jeff’s early life, family upbringing, and trials in ministry.

Jeff pulls back the curtain on his childhood in Michigan, sharing how his parents modeled radical hospitality by regularly opening their home to strangers, former inmates, and teenagers in need. You will hear how these early experiences—combined with a profound personal encounter with Jesus in Spain, a transformative time in youth ministry, and ecclesiological tensions at Willow Creek—forced Jeff to question the limits of traditional, attractional church models.

From praying for miraculous healing to shifting from a ministry to students to a ministry of students, this episode is a raw look at the success, failures, and deep dependency on the Holy Spirit required to lead a missional movement.

Whether you are a pastor, a church planter, or a believer desiring to live out the gospel in everyday community, this episode will challenge you to think radically about the Great Commission.

In This Episode, We Discuss:

• The Power of Parental Hospitality: Growing up with an open home and how it shaped the concept of missional communities.
• The Dual Life & Surrender: Dropping the performance mask during a profound encounter with Jesus in Spain.
• The Willow Creek Years & "The Reveal": Learning the difference between creating converts/consumers versus equipping mature disciple-makers.
• Saying Old Things in New Ways: Re-framing biblical concepts to break through modern consumer church mindsets.
• The Birth of Soma Tacoma: Relying fully on the Holy Spirit with a tiny core team, launching in tough neighborhoods, and redefining the true purpose of the Sunday gathering.

🔗 Connect With Us

• Website: Visit www.wearesoma.com to find regional leaders, explore resource libraries, and learn about upcoming training and webinars.
• Subscribe & Review: If this episode challenged or encouraged you, please subscribe on your favorite streaming platform and leave us a review to help others find these tools!

Engineered and Produced by Zach Smith

Co-Hosted by Justin Westcott (@JustinCWestcott) and Paul Dean

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Welcome to The Soma Podcast!

The Soma Podcast is hosted by Justin Westcott and Paul Dean (Soma Leadership Team). Soma is a global family of churches passionate about gospel saturation—where every man, woman, and child has a daily encounter with Jesus through His people.

In this debut episode, Justin and Paul share the heart, history, and vision behind Soma. They discuss:

• Moving Beyond the Sunday Service: Why traditional church programs often fall short of equipping the saints for everyday ministry.
• Gospel Identity: What it looks like to live daily as a family, servant, and missionary.
• Paul’s Journey: How a struggling church planter discovered the transformational power of missional communities and everyday hospitality.
• Everyday Disciple-Making: Why Soma isn't a "silver bullet" or a clever strategy, but a theological vision centered on spirit-empowered, everyday people.

Subscribe now to join the conversation and be equipped to live out the gospel in your everyday life!

Learn more: www.wearesoma.com

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Welcome to the Soma Podcast.

Here is a quick listen to what we are all about!