Author: esschurch

Episode 170: A Conversation with Gary Abbot and Laurel Schumacher

In this episode, Andrew sits down with Gary Abbot and Laurel Schumacher of Vital Church Ministries to talk about how churches can successfully navigate crisis. Find out more about Vital Church at discuss how churches can successfully navigate crisesvitalchurchministry.org

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Host: Andrew Arndt

Co-Host: Daniel Grothe

Episode 169: A Conversation with Sam Jolman

Andrew is joined by special guest Sam Jolman on this episode. Sam is a professional therapist with over twenty years of experience. He specializes in men’s issues and sexual trauma recovery. Sam provides both context for the new book he is releasing, as well as how his own story of sexuality — both the beauty and the baggage that come along with it (03:22). Sam and Andrew go on to discuss the nuances of discerning beauty and lust, what it means to be moved by others without it becoming deviant, along with directing the thanks of such beauty to the One who has formed it (17:32). The remainder of the episode focuses in on the shame that so frequently haunts men and their sexuality (24:25).

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Guest: Sam Jolman
Host: Andrew Arndt

Links: Sam’s new book, The Sex Talk You Never Got: Reclaiming the Heart of Masculine Sexuality

Episode 168: A Conversation with Mandy Smith

In this episode, Andrew and Jordan Lewis sit down to talk with author and pastor Mandy Smith about her new book Amateur Saints and how God uses us in and through our weaknesses.

Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel and follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to stay connected with us throughout the week!

Host: Andrew Arndt

Co-Host: Jordan Lewis

Guest: Mandy Smith

Episode 167: A Conversation with Brady Boyd

In this episode, Brady and Andrew sit down to talk about Brady’s newest book “Life-Minded,” and the challenge of unity.

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Host: Andrew Arndt

Guest: Brady Boyd

Episode 166: A Conversation with Christine Westhoff

Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel and follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to stay connected with us throughout the week!

Host: Andrew Arndt

Co-Host: Daniel Grothe

Guest: Christine Westhoff

Episode 165: A Conversation with Jared Patrick Boyd

On this episodes hosts Andrew Arndt and Daniel Grothe have a conversation with Jared Patrick Boyd, a pastor, spiritual director, and founding director of the Order of the Common Life. In this conversation, the trio dive into Jared’s complex origin story of church and the Christian ‘story.,’ as well as the topic of Christian deconstruction — and how a study of theology and contemplative prayer brought him back to a deeper need for the love of God. 

Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel and follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to stay connected with us throughout the week!

Host: Andrew Arndt

Co-Host: Daniel Grothe

Guest: Jared Patrick Boyd (see below for info on Jared’s upcoming book)

BOOK: Finding Freedom in Constraint

BOOK INFO: ⁠https://www.ivpress.com/finding-freedom-in-constraint⁠

PRESS KIT: ⁠https://www.ivpress.com/Media/Default/Press-Kits/A0431-press.pdf⁠

EXCERPT: ⁠https://www.ivpress.com/Media/Default/Downloads/Excerpts-and-Samples/A0431-excerpt.pdf⁠

Episode 164: A Conversation with Ian Simkins

On this episode of Essential Church, Andrew and Daniel sit down with Pastor Ian Simkins who joins us from Nashville. They discuss pastoring and how storytelling can shape how we pastor. 

Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel and follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to stay connected with us throughout the week!

Host: Andrew Arndt 

Co-Host: Daniel Grothe

Guests: Ian Simkins

Producer: Briggs Boyd

Episode 104: The Pastor and the Worship Leader: 5 Battles

In this episode we take you to a conversation between Pastor Brady and Pastor Jon Egan at our recent Essential Church Learning Community on the relationship between the senior pastor and the worship leader.

Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel and follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to stay connected with us throughout the week!

I firmly believe that this is one of the most vulnerable relationships in the church… it’s an area where the enemy attacks… the key for Pastor Brady and I is understanding that we have different personalities…

If you do not like conflict, you can’t lead… leadership requires conflict… conflict is where the best ideas come from…

I believe that there is an ordained leader to lead the church and that it is not the worship leader… I think the senior pastor is the worship pastor of the church… deciding that early makes things a lot simpler…

Most of the major conflict in the church is just the accumulation of minor aggravations that went unsaid… but if you’ll speak out on the minor issues, you’ll have very few major issues…

One of the things that’s helpful is that you want your worship pastors to feel like they have ownership over the process of choosing songs, but they have to be willing to submit it…

Another battle is the battle for the clock… we shouldn’t go long just because we haven’t prepared… a lot of worship can happen if everyone comes ready…

I grew up in a tradition where 20-minute worship sets felt like a joke… it was a great lesson to realize that every minute, every breath, can truly count…

A lot of the wasted time in worship is not the songs, but the transitional moments that aren’t prepared… if you’re not prepared, you’ll start rambling…

All of us need words of affirmation, but we all need to wrestle with whether we need inordinate amounts of affirmation in order to do our job… how much of the spotlight do any of us really need? 

People are coming to church when their whole world is being turned upside down… people need to know that church is predictable, stable, and safe… and sound and lights can help with that…

This is a highly relational environment, and there needs to be as much relationship as possible between the senior pastor and the worship leader… I don’t just see Jon as a gifted musician and singer… the first thing I see is a remarkable person who I enjoy as my friend and who happens to be my worship leader…

New Resource: Roman’s Preaching Guide

Hey Essential Church friends—

 

We’re really excited to share with you a resource we’ve developed.

 

Last fall our teaching team at New Life preached through the entire book of Romans. It was a thrilling and incredibly enriching experience that left both our congregation and our teaching team edified.

 

To guide us as a team on our journey, we created the Romans Preacher’s Guide; which we’re now making available to you on Amazon.

 

The guide includes:

  • A short historical and theological overview of the book of Romans
  • Big “preaching themes” to keep in mind
  • Reflections and suggested “preaching pathways” on each chapter
  • A short list of recommended resources

 

The Preacher’s Guide is available in electronic format for $6.99 or in paperback for $7.99. If you’re planning on or even considering preaching through the book of Romans (or even just working through it in an adult education or Sunday school class), go ahead and pick it up. We think it will be a big help to you.

 

And, of course, we’d love any feedback you can give. You can email aarndt@newlifechurch.org.

 

Grace to you,

 

Andrew Arndt

Associate Teaching Pastor

New Life Church

Episode 033: Drawing the Best Out of Your Team

For this conversation, we were joined by Ted Egly from the Center for Creative Leadership to talk about what leaders can do to get the best out of the teams and organizations they lead.

 

The research says that a high-performing team has three things: they celebrate wins early, they slow down in order to power up, and they are willing to change…

 

In my experience, the celebrations that are most powerful are the ones that affirm or encourage those who are actually moving the mission forward…

 

This really means that pastors have to be mindful of what is happening in their ministries… sometimes when the church gets to a certain size, ministry leaders lose a sense of what is going on…

 

We need to give ourselves white space [in our schedules] to slow down in order to be more intentional about what we’re doing…

 

Routines and rituals are all about being intentional about the script that you’re writing for your week, month, and year… you need to set them up so that you’re not just pulled by the emergency of the day…

 

I tell pastors all the time that if they’re preaching every Sunday, it’s a mistake… it’s hard to be creative that often… I use my weeks off to do exactly what we’re talking about: planning, leadership development, etc.…

 

We’re married to the mission, but we date the model… the model is going to change… sometimes we get stuck in a model that used to work…

 

The pain of staying the same has to be greater [for you] than the pain of changing… pastors need to make assess whether the pain that comes from change is worth it… a lot of times for pastors, the perceived pain is greater than the actual pain of the change… usually, it brings relief to the organization…

 

We can prepare people for the changes that are coming by having the conversation early with a core group of influencers and letting them speak into the process…

 

QUESTIONS FOR YOU AND YOUR TEAM

  • Assess yourself: which of Ted’s three elements of a high-performing team do you think you and your team are best at? Why did you give that answer?
  • Which of the three do you need the most improvement at? Why do you think that?
  • What is one thing you can begin to do this week or month that will help your team perform at a higher level?

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