Pastors4Pastors
24 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 2 years ago -Supporting and Celebrating Pastors of all churches hosted by Presbyterian Pastor Ken Broman-Fulks. We discuss the challenges and joys of serving a local congregation, regardless of denomination or size.
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Episodes
Encourage One Another
January 24, 2022 01:00 - 41 minutes - 28.3 MBWe are living in a world where there’s a great deal of stress and disagreement. Churches struggle to decide whether to meet in person, require masks, have singing, and figure out how to navigate the technology of hybrid worship. There is a lot of disagreement about these questions, and when there’s disagreement, pastors are going to hear about it from those who disagree with those decisions. Criticism, disappointment, anger, and division are rampant. What is in short supply is encouragement....
The Prodigal Children in Our Churches
November 22, 2021 00:00 - 45 minutes - 31.1 MBThe conversation you are about to hear is one of the most important we have had on this podcast because it is about one of the most prevalent and difficult issues folks face in every one of our congregations, but also one of the most ignored by our congregations. I’m talking about addiction. Dr. Ed Treat is a Lutheran pastor and the director of the Center of Addiction and Faith. You’re going to hear the moving story of his journey from addiction to recovery and one of the saddest parts of ...
You're Probably Doing Social Media Wrong!
November 07, 2021 23:00 - 51 minutes - 35.3 MBThis first episode of our second season is about a topic that has become an integral part of every congregation’s and every pastor’s life: our church’s presence on social media. My guest is Dee Decker, digital and social media strategist for the Presbyterian Church (USA), and you are going to very quickly learn that you are almost surely doing your social media wrong! In the first 10 minutes of our conversation, Dee completely turned my thinking about the use of social media upside down!
Pastoring One Year Into a Pandemic
June 07, 2021 23:00 - 1 hour - 44.7 MBAn insightful and stimulating conversation with 7 pastors about the challenges and lessons learned after one year into the COVID-19 pandemic.
American Liturgy: A Conversation on Thinking Theologically About American Holy Days
March 29, 2021 00:00 - 49 minutes - 34.3 MBMost pastors either embrace our American holidays without question or try to ignore them and hope our congregations won't notice, which they always do. Our conversation with James Calvin Davis, author of American Liturgy: Finding Theological Meaning in the Holy Days of US Culture, is both edifying and entertaining!
Now That I Know What I'm Doing, Do I Want to Keep Doing It? The Stages of Ministry: The Second Decade
March 18, 2021 14:00 - 34 minutes - 23.4 MBBy the second decade, most pastors have experienced the crises and joys of ministry. We chat with four pastors about what brings them joy and what saps their soul and how the pandemic, in spite of its challenges and difficulties, has confirmed their sense of call to the ministry.
The Stages of Ministry: The First Decade, Part 2
February 26, 2021 22:00 - 45 minutes - 31.2 MBContinuing the honest and insightful conversation with five pastors in their first decade of ministry about the unexpected highs and lows of being a pastor, how the pandemic has made life even tougher, and what they did NOT learn in seminary!
The Stages of Ministry: The First Decade
February 22, 2021 00:00 - 52 minutes - 36.1 MBA fascinating and inspiring conversation with five pastors in their first decade of ordained ministry, discussing the adjustments of identity, theory becoming practicality, and questions about whether this is really where God is calling them!
Get Set! Go!
January 29, 2021 14:00 - 41 minutes - 28.7 MBWe begin our series on the stages of ministry by having an inspiring conversation with three seminary students (actually, two students and one recent graduate) who are not only preparing for ministry, they are already engaged in it! You, too, will be delighted and inspired by the stories of these three amazing people!
What's Happening in Seminary?
January 17, 2021 19:00 - 37 minutes - 26 MBThis episode begins a series focusing on the stages of ministry from seminary to retirement and beyond. Each episode will feature a conversation with pastors in a different decade of their ministry, and we begin by asking the Rev. Dr. Tim Cargal, Associate Stated Clerk for Ministry Preparation and Support with the Presbyterian Church (USA) what he's seeing as he works with seminaries and seminary students. Is seminary enrollment growing or declining? Is it easier or more difficult for semin...
Pastoring in a Pandemic - 9 Months In
December 02, 2020 18:00 - 1 hour - 42 MBThe very first episode of this Podcast was published the first week of June and it was a conversation with a half-dozen pastor friends to see how they were coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. We got together again on the first week of September, and my friends were gracious enough to join me once again to check in on how their lives and congregations are doing after 9 months since the world shut down! This conversation is full of laughter but there is also a lot of stress, tiredness, and fru...
Channeling Your Inner Kornacki!
November 17, 2020 13:00 - 31 minutes - 21.7 MBPut on your khakis and get ready to crunch the numbers on your...wait for it...membership rolls! That's right! Just as in an election, church membership numbers represent people, and it is important to be knowledgeable, honest, and accurate about just how many sheep are in the flock. How else will you know when one wanders away and gets lost?
All Stressed Up and Nowhere to Blow!
October 31, 2020 18:00 - 45 minutes - 31.4 MBEveryone is feeling stressed right now, and that certainly includes pastors who, for nearly nine months now have been improvising their way through a new reality where, as one pastor put it, "all of the most enjoyable parts of ministry have been taken from us, leaving us with the hardest and least satisfying parts." How do we handle that stress? Well, I have a very special guest with me for this episode, a clinical psychologist with the same last name as mine! Tune in for a very special e...
The Blessings...and Curses...of Being a Clergy Couple, Pt. 2
October 17, 2020 12:00 - 38 minutes - 26.5 MBIn this second part of our exploration into what it is like to be a clergy couple, we talk with Josh and Lara Musser Gritter, co-senior pastors of the active 700-member First Presbyterian Church of Salisbury, NC. Lara and Josh share the joys and challenges of bringing their distinct gifts together to lead their congregation, especially in these difficult days of the Covid-19 pandemic. You're going to be inspired by their love for each other and for Christ's church!
The Blessings...and Curses...of Being a Clergy Couple
October 10, 2020 20:00 - 36 minutes - 24.7 MBLife is stressful for everyone these days, and that certainly includes pastors! But what if there were two pastors in the family? Does that mean twice as much stress? We begin a two-part exploration into what it is like to be a clergy couple where both spouses are actively engaged in pastoral ministry. We will talk with two clergy couples who are in very different settings but who also share the joys and challenges that come with this rare but growing subgroup of pastors. In this episode...
How Human Are Pastors? Very!
September 26, 2020 17:00 - 36 minutes - 25 MBAndrew Taylor-Troutman is a writer and pastor in Chapel Hill, NC, He recently wrote a column for The Presbyterian Outlook titled "Our Very Humannness". In this episode we chat with Andrew about the false fronts pastors sometimes present, the pedestals we sometimes are placed on, and how we balance professional boundaries with the need to be vulnerable about our very humanness.
Will Mainline Churches Survive the Pandemic?
September 12, 2020 13:00 - 40 minutes - 27.7 MBJill Duffield, editor and publisher of The Presbyterian Outlook news magazine, shares her observations on the state of the Presbyterian Church and most mainline denominations in the midst of declining numbers, influence, a pandemic, and dramatic social change.
Pastoring in a Pandemic Six Months In
August 30, 2020 05:00 - 35 minutes - 24.6 MBThree months ago we began Pastors4Pastors with a conversation among a half-dozen pastors about what it is like to lead a church in a pandemic that forced them to close their churches' doors. In this episode we check back in to see how things are going six months into the COVID-19 pandemic: have things begun to settle down? How are they doing pastoral care? Are congregants beginning to put pressure to return to in-person worship? How are finances and what are their plans for stewardship camp...
Six Practices that Can Unite Congregations in Times of Disagreement, Pt. 2
August 15, 2020 01:00 - 41 minutes - 28.7 MBThe Covid-19 pandemic, heightened tensions between races, and the presidential election campaigns are all combining to bring tension and division in our churches and culture. And when our churches cannot meet together for worship or fellowship events, we are left to the devices of social media that make it far too easy to use harsh language, name calling, and social shaming. In this second of a two-part episode we continue a conversation with James Calvin Davis, religion professor at Middle...
Six Practices that Can Unite Congregations in Times of Disagreement
August 08, 2020 14:00 - 33 minutes - 23.1 MBWe are living in the most controversial and divided of times. The Covid-19 pandemic, heightened tensions between races, and the presidential election campaigns are all combining to bring tension and division in our churches and culture. And when our churches cannot meet together for worship or fellowship events, we are left to the devices of social media that make it far too easy to use harsh language, name calling, and social shaming. In this first of a two-part episode we have a conversa...
A Very Special Sermon Preparation Laboratory
July 25, 2020 23:00 - 30 minutes - 21.3 MBThe Revs. Kim Priddy and Darryl Aaron are friends and colleagues who have developed a fascinating weekly pattern of sermon preparation they call a laboratory...and a playground. What makes their story even more interesting and inspiring is the diversity of their backgrounds. She's a white Presbyterian and he's an African-American Baptist. Their divergent traditions enable them to bring a richness to each other's sermons and their friendship is a delight to behold! You're going to be insp...
The Creative Spirit Between Friends
July 12, 2020 00:00 - 30 minutes - 21.3 MBThe work of the Holy Spirit in the creative process of bringing a word from the Lord for the Lord's people is an amazing thing. How do those messages come to us week by week?! And then there are special friendships that spark even more creativity to our messages. Our guest this time is an especially gifted artist whose work has inspired some pretty creative moments in me. Enjoy this enlightening and enjoyable conversation and the Spirit-led friendship!
Stop Hitting the Snooze Button: What White Churches Can Do About Racism
June 28, 2020 04:00 - 23 minutes - 16 MBAn inspiring conversation with the Rev. Randy Harris, pastor of Highland Presbyterian Church in Winston-Salem, NC, a predominantly white church that is confronting their own white privilege and working against racism. Randy gives positive, concrete suggestions of ways white congregations can "do the work" we are called to do, which begins by refusing to hit the snooze button and wake up to the reality of white privilege and black oppression. Some suggested books for church groups to read t...
Pastoring in a Pandemic
June 15, 2020 00:00 - 23 minutes - 16.2 MBConversation with 8 pastors about their experience of adapting to being the church in a time when congregations cannot meet in person, pastors have to adjust to preaching to a camera and an empty sanctuary, and the toll it takes on them and their people.