Over the last few weeks, we have been answering questions about the Holy Spirit. Though leadership is often a discussed topic in the church, we rarely talk about how to lead a church in the things of the Spirit. In today's conversation, we're talking about spiritual leadership and learning to discern the work of the Spirit in our services and churches. 

In today's episode, we answer a listener's question about the proper function and purpose of the gifts of the Spirit. It's not surprising that there is often confusion and misuse of the Spirit's gifts. It also happened in the earliest churches, but Pastor Jim will help us better understand what the gifts are, why things sometimes go wrong, and why they are still a gift to the church. 

Today, we have a listener's question about the meaning of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Pastor Jim and I explore how the Bible presents this baptism, why it's often misunderstood, and how believers today should seek the baptism of the Spirit. While it's a lot to cover in one conversation, we hope it might be helpful in inspiring your own study of scripture as well. 

In today's episode, we're discussing questions about women in ministry. While we've talked about this question before, we hope this episode will pull together all of the various biblical passages and cultural questions, offering clarity on what the Bible really says about men, women, and church leadership. 

Today we're discussing another listener's question. "How do you know when you're ready to be a lead pastor?" Pastoring requires a lot of responsibility and experience. Pastor Jim and I discuss our own transitions and what Pastor Jim has observed in others as they make that transition. We hope it offers some practical help to anyone seeking guidance on their next calling in ministry. 

The world around us is changing fast. Christians aren't called to live isolated from the world. We're supposed to be in the world but different from it. In our conversation today, Pastor Jim and I are exploring how to recognize the changing trends of culture and how, as Christians and pastors, we should engage the cultural questions of our day. 

We're in a short series answering listener questions. Today, we have a question about preparing a sermon. Pastor Jim and I explore how we go about studying a passage, preparing a sermon, and how new tools like AI are helping us study. We hope it's a helpful conversation for any preacher, teacher, or believer who is trying to study and better understand God's word. 

As part of our current series answering listener questions, we discuss how churches and pastors should think about power and authority. Authority is a hot topic in our culture and is often misused in our churches. We ask what scripture has to say about power and how we can handle it with wisdom and discernment in our churches and ministries. 

As we continue our series answering your questions, today we're talking preaching. One of the challenges of preaching can be finding your own voice. It's easy to sound like the preachers you listen to. In our conversation today, Pastor Jim discusses how to find your own voice and how long it takes to really feel comfortable in the pulpit. We hope it's a helpful conversation for anyone who finds themselves preaching regularly.

For many, transitions are a part of a lifetime of ministry, but how do you know when what you're feeling is your own restlessness vs a genuine call from God? In today's conversation, we're going to explore how to recognize God's call to a new place of ministry. Pastor Jim shares lessons he's learned from several of his transitions and offers advice for how to navigate your own.