The Pastor's Table

By Dr. Mark Quanstrom & Rev. Tara Beth Leach

Corporate leadership systems focused on vanity metrics have left today’s church leaders weary and burnt out. The Pastor’s Table Podcast brings you conversations with local pastors working out dee... more

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FAQs about The Pastor's Table:

How many episodes does The Pastor's Table have?

The podcast currently has 121 episodes available.

The Pastor's Table episodes:

May 08, 2023Discerning When to Stay and When to Go | (Pastoral Transitions - Part 1) | PT 21
Pastors need to transition in ministry all the time.
Tara Beth and Mark discuss the tough reality that many pastors face in the midst of transition. Often time seasons of transition are forced upon pastors in a less-than-ideal situations. Loneliness, anger, mistreatment, and many other things are all experiences pastors often have in seasons of transition.
Pastors aren’t destined to be treated as doormats. Get guidance on discerning when to stay and when to go in ministry.
Discussion Questions:
A listener left a message on thepastorstable.com about experiencing a dark season in ministry. What do you do when you feel alone or mistreated in ministry?
Mark and Tara Beth describe times when they’ve preached while angry. Have you ever realized you were preaching with anger or other emotions that could have been better proceed elsewhere? What did you do?
Think of a transition you’ve experienced in ministry. What helped guide you in your process of discernment and transition?
Check out Mark’s course on Seminary Now: Pastoral Ministry: Calling and Resilience.
SeminaryNow.com is a streaming video platform with short courses from leading authors and professors. The Pastor’s Table listeners can get 25% off full access to the courses by using the code TPT.
Our theme song for The Pastor’s Table is Radiant by eleven eleven worship. LISTEN NOW on Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your music.
...more
31min
May 01, 2023Navigating Ministry Changes | Michael Palmer (Part 2) | PT 20
Weathering difficult storms in ministry is something most pastors have to navigate.
The journey of navigating ministry change is not easy work. Michael shared the ups and downs of all that he experienced in his ministry transition. No matter how challenging the situation, God is always faithfully present and working.
Discussion Questions:
Pastors are often the ones congregation members go to for their discernment. Who do you go to for spiritual discernment?
Michael shared about having a spiritual director to navigate these experiences. He shared how he is learning to trust his feelings more. How do you experience and make sense of the emotions you experience in ministry?
What is something difficult you’re facing right now in ministry? How can you let another person tend to your needs?

Check out Mark’s course on Seminary Now: Pastoral Ministry: Calling and Resilience.
SeminaryNow.com is a streaming video platform with short courses from leading authors and professors. The Pastor’s Table listeners can get 25% off full access to the courses by using the code TPT.
Our theme song for The Pastor’s Table is Radiant by eleven eleven worship. LISTEN NOW on Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your music.
...more
29min
April 24, 2023Incarnation & Rejection in Prophetic Moments | Michael Palmer (Part 1) | PT 19
Michael felt called to speak about some really complex cultural issues of the day.
What happened became a painful journey with denominational conflict, the slow burn of very contentious communication, and the experience of grief from fractured relationships. The situation came to a point when he was even threatened to be suspended from his work.
Join us next week for the rest of Michael’s story.
Discussion Questions:
Mark observed how Michael’s church helped tend to him as their pastor. How have you experienced your congregation tending or not tending to your needs?
Michael talked about his idea of what ministry was going to be like and contrasted how what he experienced was much different. What are ways you’ve experienced similar differences?
Michael spoke prophetically into some very difficult topics of the day. What has been your experience trying to be loving and prophetic in the way God is calling you to be in your church?

Check out Mark’s new course on Seminary Now: Pastoral Ministry: Calling and Resilience.
SeminaryNow.com is a streaming video platform with short courses from leading authors and professors. The Pastor’s Table listeners can get 25% off full access to the courses by using the code TPT.
Our theme song for The Pastor’s Table is Radiant by eleven eleven worship. LISTEN NOW on Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your music.
...more
27min
April 17, 2023The Good After Unmet Expectations | Sean Isaac Palmer (Part 2) | PT 18
Expectations of pastors by congregations can create situations where it’s painful and counterproductive to live like Jesus.
Even in moments when it feels like a failure, God is at work always inviting pastors into faithfulness. God’s redemption is often unexpected and surprising. Sean, Tara Beth, and Mark discuss how one can process what faithfulness in ministry looks like.

Discussion Questions:
Sean discusses a tumultuous time in a ministry that wasn’t a good fit. Have there ever been a time in your life when you’ve felt you’ve attempted to do ministry with a bad fit?
Doing the next right thing is often all that Jesus is asking of pastors. What are you processing as the next right thing to do now?
“Playing the game” is a temptation to all in ministry. How are you tempted to play the game in your ministry?
Faithfulness was discussed a lot in this episode. Describe how you understand faithfulness in ministry.

Check out Mark’s new course on Seminary Now: Pastoral Ministry: Calling and Resilience.
SeminaryNow.com is a streaming video platform with short courses from leading authors and professors. The Pastor’s Table listeners can get 25% off full access to the courses by using the code TPT.
Our theme song for The Pastor’s Table is Radiant by eleven eleven worship. LISTEN NOW on Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your music.
...more
39min
April 10, 2023The Perception of “Failure” in Ministry | Sean Palmer (Part 1) | PT 17
Ministry can often have pressure to be successful in a way that may be counter to the way Jesus chose to minister.
Sean Issac Palmer speaks very openly about a situation where he experienced a painful release from a church. The perception of failure as Sean discussed can be an enormous burden for pastors. Hope is possible when we honor our limitations and fill our lives with pastoral friendships that help provide the safe place all people need.
Discussion Questions:
Sean talked about how Pastors can be a convenient receptacle for people’s pain. How do you see that play out in your ministry?
A youth pastor had a major influence on him when he was younger. Who were the greatest influences in your developmental years?
Sean talked about the pain of being let go from a church. Many times this is so painful because the pastor has few people she or he could turn to. Where do you find yourself going to navigate the most difficult aspects of ministry?

Check out Mark’s new course on Seminary Now: Pastoral Ministry: Calling and Resilience.
SeminaryNow.com is a streaming video platform with short courses from leading authors and professors. The Pastor’s Table listeners can get 25% off full access to the courses by using the code TPT.
Our theme song for The Pastor’s Table is Radiant by eleven eleven worship. LISTEN NOW on Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your music.
...more
34min
April 03, 2023The Impact of Institutionalized Sin | *Special Series* Northern Seminary & Systemic Sin (Part 3) | PT 16
All creation is groaning under the burden of sin.
Sin is much more than an individual's bad behavior. The insidious nature of sin has impacted every element of creation. That destructive nature of sin is found in all institutions and has harmed many.
Many times institutions have found to be more interested in protecting and advancing “the mission” than actually caring for people. What if people actually were “the mission”?
Discussion Questions:
How would you describe the burden of sin on the structures found in the world?
Where do see systems at work that create unintended but harmful results for those in the system?
Beth, Tara Beth, & Mark talked about how people can be wounded at the expense of propelling an institution’s mission. How have you seen this at play from your experience?
Check out Mark’s new course on Seminary Now: Pastoral Ministry: Calling and Resilience.
SeminaryNow.com is a streaming video platform with short courses from leading authors and professors. The Pastor’s Table listeners can get 25% off full access to the courses by using the code TPT.
Our theme song for The Pastor’s Table is Radiant by eleven eleven worship. LISTEN NOW on Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your music.
...more
24min
March 27, 2023Personal Sin & Confession | *Special Series* Northern Seminary & Systemic Sin (Part 2) | PT 15
Sin is ubiquitous. There is no escaping the impact of sin in the world we live in.
It is not IF Christian leaders sin but WHEN. That is why the practice of confession is so important. Confession is essential to living as a follower of Jesus. Even though the world propels us to live with a posture that we have it all together, sin is inevitable.
There is no way to live and shepherd like Jesus without regularly confessing sin.
Discussion Question:
The world propels us to live with the posture that we have everything together. How do you feel this at work in your life?
How much are we able to not sin? Mark, Tara Beth, & Beth explore this question. What does your theology about sin help inform this question?
It is important to create safe spaces of confession to deal with sin. Why do you think confession is so important in the role of sanctification?
We all have a longing to justify ourselves. How have you experienced relaxing into the justification of Christ?

Check out Mark’s new course on Seminary Now: Pastoral Ministry: Calling and Resilience.
SeminaryNow.com is a streaming video platform with short courses from leading authors and professors. The Pastor’s Table listeners can get 25% off full access to the courses by using the code TPT.
Our theme song for The Pastor’s Table is Radiant by eleven eleven worship. LISTEN NOW on Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your music.
...more
33min
March 20, 2023 *Special Series* | Moment to Lament | Northern Seminary & Systemic Sin (Part 1) | PT 14
Northern Seminary is journeying through a distressing time.
Mark & Tara Beth interrupt the normal broadcast to address the issues facing Northern. Northern Seminary is an organization that has drawn many students & faculty to study because of its goodness.
For many Northern represented being an island of goodness in a world surrounded by misery. Mark and Tara Beth discuss how an organization that trains women and men for service in God’s Kingdom can be so impacted by the problem of systemic sin.
...more
33min
March 13, 2023Incarnational Care | Rob Prince (Part 2) | PT 13
The holiest work of God’s Kingdom often happens in unseen spaces.
Rob Prince shared with Mark and Tara Beth about the way Rob and his wife Carla have been caring for one of their congregation members with terminal cancer.* There is little benefit that Rob & Carla’s friend with terminal cancer can give back to them but it is obvious that their care is a true example of the incarnation.
*Rob and Carla's dear friend Lisa passed on 3/13/23. Our thoughts and condolences are with them and their congregation in Flint Michigan.
Discussion Questions:
How does the incarnation inform the way you care for your congregation?
Rob shared how he and his wife Carla brought Lisa into their home. They helped provide palliative care as Lisa lived with terminal cancer. Rob mentioned Lisa’s joy in the face of her pain. In what ways do you see your congregation experience joy in the face of pain?
Rob, Mark, & Tara Beth, shares what care looks like for someone who might be considered “the least of these.” What do you notice that happens in your heart when you care for people who have no way to give back?
Rob & Carla cared for their friend Lisa in “unseen spaces.” How have you seen God work through your church in unseen spaces?
...more
26min
March 06, 2023Pastoring with Pain | Rob Prince (Part 1) | PT 12
Rob Prince has pastored for over 30 years with chronic migraines.
His migraines have been a limitation on his life and ministry. Rob, Mark, and Tara Beth explore how Jesus willingly embraced limitations in the incarnation. The reality of the incarnation provides a profound vision of the way all pastors can serve through their own pain. Even though God has not taken away Rob’s migraines, Rob’s testimony is one of God’s continued grace and faithfulness in the midst of challenging circumstances.
Discussion Questions:
Mark and Tara Beth start out the conversation by talking about how the incarnation means Jesus subjected himself to work and live with limitations. Do you feel liberated by the idea that Jesus worked out of limitations?
Rob shared about the pain from migraines that he has while pastoring. How do you make sense of the pain you face while leading in a church?
Rob has prayed for the migraines to end but they continue to persist. How do you navigate walking through seasons of asking for God to bring relief but the pain continues to persist?
Ash Wednesday can bring a challenging reminder that one day we will die. In what ways does this reminder of your mortality impact how you pastor?

Check out Mark’s new course on Seminary Now: Pastoral Ministry: Calling and Resilience.
SeminaryNow.com is a streaming video platform with short courses from leading authors and professors. The Pastor’s Table listeners can get 25% off full access to the courses by using the code TPT.
Our theme song for The Pastor’s Table is Radiant by eleven eleven worship. LISTEN NOW on Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your music.
...more
33min

FAQs about The Pastor's Table:

How many episodes does The Pastor's Table have?

The podcast currently has 121 episodes available.

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