The Shock Absorber

SEASON 2, EPISODE 10: Stu is back! He and Joel dive deep into Berea, Soul Revival Church's training program. They talk about how it's developed from the beginnings to the wide range of offerings that it is today.

Since the youth ministry days, ministry training has been an important focus for Soul Revival Church. From what started as discussions in Stu's lounge room around theology and ministry has now grown into a widespread training program that caters for late primary schoolers to adults. Stu breaks down the importance of doing discipleship and mission together and how a robust training program facilitates that in an intergenerational context.

Got questions and thoughts? Email [email protected]

SEASON 2, EPISODE 9: In an unexpected twist, Stu is temporarily replaced as co-host by two other pastors from Soul Revival Church - Jai McMordie and Paul Tait. The guys join Joel to talk through the learnings from Soul Revival Church's next experiment in church planting and what went right and what went wrong.

Following the planting of it's first off-site gathering, Soul Revival Church wanted to do it again with an ambitious plan to plant two new gatherings under the hub-and-spoke model. Pastors Jai McMordie and Paul Tait were at the forefront of that next foray in church planting and share their experiences and learnings of that time.

By 2017, the Bishop of Wollongong suggested Soul Revival Church should think about becoming a multi-site church. That lead to the planting of a fourth gathering, the first off-site, in Woolooware. Joel and Stu chat through the finer details and what was learnt from the experiment.

With Jai McMordie on board and a new gathering to plant, developments continued apace at Soul Revival Church. But with planting it's first gathering off-site, the church faced a number of challenges it had never experienced before. The lesson of planting with the 10 established service teams was learned, especially highlighted by the lack of Arts, Youth and Communications teams at the new gathering.

04:06 - Where Soul Revival Church was in 2017
05:31 - Why off-site?
06:48 - Working with other churches while church planting
09:16 - Making the first steps
10:31 - Jai McMordie
12:11 - Putting the launch team together & greenhousing
14:40 - Hub-and-spoke model
16:43 - Using the 5Ls
18:00 - Spread too thin?
20:00 - The 4 most important service teams and what was missed
24:25 - Woolooware gathering run through
26:12 - Learnings from planting off-site
36:08 - The future of Woolooware

SEASON 2, EPISODE 7: By 2016, Soul Revival Church had reached a point of being able to plant another gathering, this time on Sunday morning. Joel and Stu sit down again to discuss the finer details and dive deep into how two particular service teams (Hospitality and Life Support) facilitated the new gathering.

After planting it's first new gathering on a Friday, Soul Revival Church looked to plant it's third gathering on a Sunday morning. The key to being able to do this was the structure of the service teams that under the Soul Revival Council, were able to facilitate three gatherings - the model of generalist pastor, gathering pastor, central coordinator and gathering coordinator was how this was achieved.

GOT QUESTIONS? Email them to [email protected]

SEASON 2, EPISODE 6: Joel and Stu get back together in the brown chairs at Soul Revival @ Kirrawee to discuss the main learnings of Soul Revival Church's planting story. In 2015, it was time to start another gathering!

In 2015 it was time to plant another gathering at Soul Revival Church's Kirrawee factory. It was the second all-age, all-stage gathering on the same night as the church's senior primary and youth community gatherings. What started as an ambitious idea to plant another service  developed into an integration of children , youth and adults as they served Jesus together.

01:41 - Soul Revival Church in 2015
03:00 - The decision on a second gathering
04:25 - Why Friday?
(10:58) - The vision of Friday night
(12:20) - How did it start?
(13:52) - All-age, all-stage or Homogeneous Unit Principle?
(15:11) - Building a bridge to a new reality
(15:58) - The Commitments
(17:05) - Integrating a youth community
(22:45) - Friday night needed a green housing process
(25:35) - The structure of Friday night
(30:25) - Leadership as a peer group
(37:55) - Youth serving in ministry
(40:00) - Commitments Week + other initiatives
(42:42) - Childrens' Ministry
(47:05) - How to start planting and involve youth community
(48:00) - Multiplying service teams

GOT QUESTIONS? Email them to [email protected]

Joel and Stu sit down again to discuss the next stage of the planting journey for Soul Revival Church 2014. They re-visit the move to a new venue and the importance of Oldenburg's Third Place Theory in fitting out the venue. They rewind to 2014 and delved into the planting history of Soul Revival Church and how it moved to a larger venue.

They discuss the thinking that went into the new venue and expand on Oldenberg's Third Place Theory and how it influenced the design and architecture. The Shock Absorber and lounge room learnings from 20 years of youth ministry heavily influenced the choices that the church made.

Joel and Stu reconvene to discuss the development and growth of Soul Revival Church in 2013. They look at the two service teams that were integral to that time - Welcoming and World.

After establishing in 2012, 2013 was a new dawn for Soul Revival Church as new people started to come along. This brought the spotlight onto two particular service teams as the church figured out how to be an all-age, all-stage gathering in the Sutherland Shire aiming to share the love of Jesus person-to-person, generation-to-generation, culture-to-culture and place-to-place.

Joel and Stu are back in the Shock Absorber saddle, and continuing the Season 2 church planting story of Soul Revival. In this episode, they go over why Saturday night was chosen for the first gathering. There's also a run through of how the gathering actually ended up operating.

The decision to plant Soul Revival Church's first gathering on Saturday night was borne from the lessons from the 20 years of youth ministry at Gymea Anglican Church. Just as in youth ministry, the choice acted as a counter-culture to the individualism, consumerism and transience had emerged due to the Homogeneous Unit Principle's ideas of segmenting church by demographics. Stu and Joel then take a tour through what a Saturday night looked like and how it operated.

GOT QUESTIONS???
Email them to [email protected]

The Shock Absorber podcast is brought to you by Soul Revival Church in Sydney, Australia.

Joel and Stu get back together to discuss what happened as Soul Revival Church was preparing to launch and how the Shock Absorber principles influenced that stage of the church planting process. Also we answer questions from Steve and Riley!

Stu chats about The Life of Pi in relation to church planting.

The Shock Absorber podcast, on church and culture, is brought to you by Soul Revival Church in Sydney, Australia.

We are back with Season 2 of The Shock Absorber podcast! Joel and Stu kick it off by discussing the very beginnings of Soul Revival Church and how the learnings of 20 years of youth ministry were used in deciding how to do it.

We're also bringing listener questions to this season, so keep an ear out for that at the end.

Check out the book Stu and Joel discuss: The Trellis and the Vine

The Shock Absorber podcast, on church and culture, is brought to you by Soul Revival Church in Sydney, Australia.