The Upstream Collective Podcast

The Upstream Podcast was created to share our rich conversations about sending churches with the world. For anyone passionate about the overlap between God’s church & God’s mission, this podcast will be great food for thought.

In our first episode of season two, our host Brad interviews Lynn & Suzanne Groce who have decades of experience as a married couple devoted to full time missions. They discuss a number of things, including how the health of their marriage played into their commitment to missions & how churches can invest in the marriage of their sent ones.

Find the “Establishing Advocacy Teams” download mentioned in this episode here: https://www.theupstreamcollective.org/freedownloads/

Ready for more rich conversations about God's church & God's mission? In Season two of The Upstream Podcast we'll be covering new topics, in new ways, and a new voice will become a regular on the show!

Episode 1 of Season 2 drops September 26th. After that, enjoy a new episode every other Wednesday until Thanksgiving! 

The Upstream Podcast was created to share our rich conversations about sending churches with the world. For anyone passionate about the overlap between God’s church & God’s mission, this podcast will be great food for thought.

In this episode, Andy Jansen takes over hosting and interviews Brad Bell. Unfortunately in the Church it's sometimes the case that a strong level of service is equated with mental an spiritual health. Brad graciously shares his personal experience through burnout to help break down this misconception and shed light on the need for good soul care within the church. 

A Life Overseas blog mentioned by Brad: http://www.alifeoverseas.com/

The Upstream Podcast was created to share our rich conversations about sending churches with the world. For anyone passionate about the overlap between God’s church & God’s mission, this podcast will be great food for thought.

For this episode we dug into our archives and recovered a conversation Brad (who was still using the pseudonym Zach Bradley at the time), Larry McCrarry, and Nathan Garth had in 2017. During this episode the three discuss increasing sending capacity at your church and generally cultivating more interest in missions. The three have had experience in different environments and are able to speak into what increasing sending capacity looks like in a variety of different church environments. 

The Upstream Podcast was created to share our rich conversations about sending churches with the world. For anyone passionate about the overlap between God’s church & God’s mission, this podcast will be great food for thought.

In this episode, Brad is back (at least virtually) with Derick to discuss the topic of leader assessment. As a new church planter, Derick is able to pull much from his recent experience of going through an assessment before moving to Denver where his church plant, The Oaks Community Church is located.  The two discuss how assessment is needed for the church body to know the health and maturity of a Christian before they step into a leadership role as well as it's benefits to the person being assessed, part of which is a deeper knowledge one's story and how that plays out in relation to God and others. 

In this episode, Derick Sherfey (Upstream Director of Content Sategy & The Oaks lead pastor) joins Brad Bell for a conversation on the role of the lead pastor in sending. Derick and Brad are both lead pastors and share a passion for missions. Listen as they talk about convictions that drive them and share wisdom they've learned along the way. 

Susan McCrarry joins Brad Bell for a conversation on missionary care in the local church in this episode. Susan and her husband Larry lived in Europe for over 15 years and they both have much wisdom to share from their experiences. 

During the episode, Susan references a couple resources she has found helpful on the topic. Those links are available for you right here! 

https://www.barnabasinitiatives.org

http://www.thecultureblend.com

The Upstream Podcast was created to share our rich conversations about sending churches with the world. For anyone passionate about the overlap between God’s church & God’s mission, this podcast will be great food for thought.

In this episode, we're back with the crew from Episode 9: The Pulpit and the Table. Our guests for this conversation were Derick Sherfey, pastor of The Oaks Community Church in Denver Colorado, Nathan Shaver, pastor of Christ Community Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, and Josh Baylor, a church planter in Dusseldorf, Germany. Larry McCrarry, Upstream's co-founder also joins our host Zach Bradley for this episode. This time, everyone is joined together for a conversation on cultivating a culture of missions in a church plant. 

The Upstream Podcast was created to share our rich conversations about sending churches with the world. For anyone passionate about the overlap between God’s church & God’s mission, this podcast will be great food for thought.

Andy Jansen, Upstream’s Content Manager hosts this episode of The Upstream Podcast where he and Zach Bradley discuss the term “Sending Church”. Hear them unpack what they mean by the term, what it is, and experience Zach has had in being a part of cultivating a “Sending Church” as the lead pastor of Antioch Church in Louisville, Kentucky. 

Check out The Sending Church Defined Here: 

The Upstream Podcast was created to share our rich conversations about sending churches with the world. For anyone passionate about the overlap between God’s church & God’s mission, this podcast will be great food for thought.

In this episode of the upstream podcast, we discuss church planting with three guests in different stages of church planting as well as different cultural contexts; Nathan Shaver, Josh Baylor, and Derick Sherfey. Join us as we share our thoughts on what has become the norm in church planting, verses what is "upstream".