The Shock Absorber

Joel and Stu chat coming up with ideas and getting people onboard with those ideas. They use Everett Rogers' diffusion of ideas theory as a lens to look at how ideas start, spread and build momentum. The encouragement is that Christianity by its very nature is perpetually new, so we are afforded a great freedom to explore new ideas as we partner with Jesus while He builds His church.

00:00 Intro
01:45 Air
08:11 Permission to come up with new ideas
18:00 Changing the idea of rationing church
23:39 Building momentum around an idea
35:12 Most people get involved when they see it working
45:00 Late majority / critical mass
47:25 Christianity is perpetually new

DISCUSSED ON THIS EPISODE:

Good Will Hunting
Air
Air Jordan brand
Mastery, by Robert Greene
Diffusion of innovations
Jesus Revolution

CONTACT US:

Shock Absorber Email: [email protected]
Shock Absorber Website: shockabsorber.com.au
Soul Revival Shop: soulrevival.shop

Check out what else Soul Revival is up to here: https://linktr.ee/JesusChangesEverything

Tim and Joel chat the strategy children's ministry. They look at a myriad of different approaches and discuss why Soul Revival practice intergenerational ministry as well as also age-specific ministries.

00:00 Intro & High Ground
05:23 Tim's passion for children's ministry and ministry barriers
15:26 Ministry shaping metaphors
33:47 Children within intergenerational ministry
50:50 The benefits of age-specific ministry

DISCUSSED ON THIS EPISODE

High Ground
Children Matter: Celebrating Their Place in the Church, Family, and Community

CONTACT US

Shock Absorber Email: [email protected]
Shock Absorber Website: shockabsorber.com.au
Soul Revival Shop: soulrevival.shop

The guys continue the discussion on the Shock Absorber about the effect the pursuit of professionalism has had on churches. From the 1980s churches have felt the need to create an appealing 'product' to those who don't know Jesus. In some respects, that approach lead to churches competing against one another and caused an increase in transience, affecting discipleship and mission. Under God, Christians can be okay with not being fully accepted by the world, we are called to be counter-cultural.

00:00 Intro
01:09 Rogue Heroes
06:00 How churches began competing with each other
16:20 How transience became in built amongst churches
26:51 Where did the impulse for professionalism come from?
37:34 A counter-cultural response over a professional response

DISCUSSED ON THIS EPISODE

Rogue Heroes
Rule of Life podcast
Antonio Gramsci's hegemony

CONTACT US

Shock Absorber Email: [email protected]
Shock Absorber Website: shockabsorber.com.au
Soul Revival Shop: soulrevival.shop

Stu, Tim and Joel are back in the saddle for another episode. They get Stu's reaction to the Jesus Revolution movie and some of the lessons from it to discuss church planting, gospel opportunities and welcoming failures. They round out the episode with a discussion about the importance of carving out intentional time to spend with each other in the name of Jesus.

00:00 Intro
01:16 Jesus Revolution
10:50 Partnership Evangelism as local mission strategy
21:17 Welcoming failure at the expense of professionalism
31:30 Leading as friends
34:50 Intentional time in the name of Jesus

DISCUSSED ON THIS EPISODE

Jesus Revolution
Margaret and David review 'Dancer in the Dark'

CONTACT US

Shock Absorber Email: [email protected]
Shock Absorber Website: shockabsorber.com.au
Soul Revival Shop: soulrevival.shop

Jai (Planting Pastor) and Brayden, (Arts and Student Pastor) join Joel for a peek behind the curtain at Soul Revival Church by bringing ideas discussed as a staff team straight onto the podcast. They explore some the gospel opportunities that have emerged at the church amidst the background of the church's goal of Doubling Up by 2030. They discuss what makes any Soul Revival gathering the same, how gatherings are categorised and how the church aims to partner with Jesus to make the most of gospel opportunities

00:00 Intro
01:10 Movie: Jesus Revolution
06:19 This is Jesus' gospel opportunity
15:55 Mistakes we've made, rockets we've blown up
22:37 How we categorise gatherings
27:16 Making friendships a priority
34:09 Meals facilitate friendships
39:00 How the Anglican Prayer Book dictates our gatherings
47:15 Location, location, location
54:09 Freedom to experiment with friends

DISCUSSED ON THIS EPISODE

Jesus Revolution
Greg Laurie
Latest Space X Launch

CONTACT US

Shock Absorber Email: [email protected]
Shock Absorber Website: shockabsorber.com.au
Soul Revival Shop: soulrevival.shop

The friendship recession appears to be a real thing, but what are the causes of it? Joel, Tim and Ethan chat about the implications of the internet and the digital realm, what can be done about it and how being a Christian changes how we approach it.

00:00 Intro and Ethan's Disney jumper
02:32 Lego Masters
08:24 More connected, but more lonely
22:44 Time and task, proximity matters
26:10 Is there a friendship recession amongst younger people?
36:36 Separating the digital from the actual
48:52 Your phone cannot help you be a disciple of Jesus
55:31 Leaders or friends in children's and youth ministry?
1:03:00 A commitment to doing it together

DISCUSSED ON THIS EPISODE

Lego Masters
Project Runway
Making the Cut
The friendship recession | Richard Reeves
The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure, by Jonathan Haidt & Greg Lukianoff
Freedom
Pomodoro Technique
Andrew Huberman
Leader or Friend?, by Tim Beilharz
When the Church Was a Family, by Joseph Hellerman

CONTACT US

Shock Absorber Email: [email protected]
Shock Absorber Website: shockabsorber.com.au
Soul Revival Shop: soulrevival.shop

Check out what else Soul Revival is up to here: https://linktr.ee/JesusChangesEverything

From discussions around Easter to reconciliation, friendship recession, capitalism, communism and the battle of ideas, the guys discuss how in a world of so much change, there aren't ministry problems, but a plethora of gospel opportunities...

00:00 Intro
01:00 Easter 2023
18:52 Ministry problems, or gospel opportunities?
35:29 Secularism embracing the benefits of religion
47:16 God has created us to be in friendship with each other

DISCUSSED ON THIS EPISODE

Biblical Critical Theory, by Christopher Watkin
Hospital Creek Massacre
David Perell's 28 Pieces of Life Advice
Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind, by Tom Holland
The Rest is History podcast
Men have fewer friends than ever, and it’s harming their health

CONTACT US

Shock Absorber Email: [email protected]
Shock Absorber Website: shockabsorber.com.au
Soul Revival Shop: soulrevival.shop

Ethan comes onto the Shock Absorber with Joel as a guest host. They talk about Slow Horses, dive deep into the impact Jesus has on friendships and church. They finish up with some quick fire reactions to one person's life advice...

00:00 Intro
00:48 Slow Horses is great TV
05:50 Ethan's thoughts on friendship
15:30 Different but we can be friends
21:11 Jesus helps us skip to the friend part
27:33 If we are friends at church, we will be friends everywhere else
31:41 There is nothing stopping us being friends, Jesus died for us
39:49 Flying, hotel bathrooms, religion, hanging out with those older than you

DISCUSSED ON THIS EPISODE

Slow Horses
The Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, by Stuart Turton
Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis
David Perell's 28 Pieces of Life Advice

CONTACT US

Shock Absorber Email: [email protected]
Shock Absorber Website: shockabsorber.com.au
Soul Revival Shop: soulrevival.shop

The Shock Absorber is back as Joel, Stu and Tim chat about different things going on in the world, including the what impact ChatGPT and AI will have, Stu challenging the Soul Revival staff team on the church's value of being friends and Vans shoes.

00:00 Intro
01:00 ChatGPT and it's implications
13:47 New technologies bring new ways of living
27:05 Vans culture
30:33 Why challenge the Soul Revival staff?
38:37 Do we still want to be friends?
50:49 What Vans teaches us about the intangibles

DISCUSSED ON THIS EPISODE

ChatGPT
A brief history of Vans
Paul van Doren
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Microsoft Encarta
Wikipedia
The Count of Monte Cristo
Ray Kurzweil
This Is the Speed at Which We Are Approaching Singularity in AI
Fake Trump arrest photos: How to spot an AI-generated image
1984, by George Orwell

CONTACT US

Shock Absorber Email: [email protected]
Shock Absorber Website: shockabsorber.com.au
Soul Revival Shop: soulrevival.shop

We reach the final episode of our Momentum in Ministry series and Joel, Tim and Karen reflect on the many learnings of the season. They look at what engaging in the book Breakout Churches has taught us but also look at their own church and ministry contexts as well as what might prevent momentum taking hold.

The trio's conversation comes down to a few key points: vision is important, as is the strategy, and often churches do not engage in such work because it is hard. But what can emerge from that hard work is something inspiring given by God. Momentum ideally comes from a healthy church and a key way of doing that is to focus on building relationships before establishing new systems and ideas, because Jesus calls us love one another.

01:48 Square One Camp
06:50 A slightly different background
10:20 Why was it important to look at momentum?
15:44 What did Breakout Churches teach us? (Vision, strategy, humble leadership)
26:02 Responding to change and freedom to make a difference
32:49 What could be holding back momentum?
55:55 Institutionalising relationships
1:10:09 Momentum comes from health

Watch this episode on YouTube

DISCUSSED ON THIS EPISODE

Breakout Churches, by Thom Rainier
Youthworks Square One camp
The Chip Lunch podcast
David Allen's Getting Things Done
Leaked Amazon memo warns the company is running out of people to hire

CONTACT US

Shock Absorber Email
Shock Absorber Discord
Shock Absorber Website
Soul Revival Shop