Karl Vaters talks through some helpful guidelines with Dave Ripper about how to read, meditate, and teach from the Bible in a richer, deeper way.

Dave is the lead pastor of Crossway Christian Church, a multicongregational church in southern New Hampshire, focused on spiritual formation, and is the author of Experiencing Scripture as a Disciple of Jesus: Reading the Bible like Dallas Willard.

Karl and Dave explore who Dallas Willard was, and what his way of reading the Bible can do for us, including:

1. Willard’s four steps on how to read the Bible
2. A five-step outline for meditating on a text
3. The IMMERSE method
4. Preaching out of the overflow
5. How to let God speak to the church instead imposing your ideas into the text or onto the congregation

Links:

1. Experiencing Scripture as a Disciple of Jesus: Reading the Bible like Dallas Willard, by Dave Ripper
2. The Dallas Willard podcast
3. DaveRipper.com
4. Deeper Experiences with God Podcast, with Dave Ripper
5. Dave Ripper on Instagram
6. Dave Ripper on Facebook
7. Contact Dave Ripper

Bonus video summary

Three Warnings from Dallas Willard about How Not to Read the Bible, with Dave Ripper

In this subscriber-only bonus material, Karl Vaters talks with pastor Dave Ripper, the author of Experiencing Scripture as a Disciple of Jesus: Reading the Bible like Dallas Willard, about why Bible readers should stay away from:

1. Bible roulette
2. The “It’s all in the Bible” View
3. Bible deism

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Have you ever gone to a church growth conference and been told “all healthy things grow?”

Karl Vaters talks with Jeff Hoglen about what’s happening behind that idea, and why it can be a problem for a lot of pastors and churches. The conversation is based on an article Jeff wrote, called “The Church Growth Lie No One Talks About.”

Karl and Jeff talk about what that lie is, why we keep believing it, and what to do, instead.

They also discuss alternative ways to look at church health and growth, including:

1. How growth feels more like farming than fireworks
2. How most real growth is slow, often invisible, and always hard
3. How the slow seasons don’t have to discourage you
4. How to deepen before you broaden
5. How to pursue health over hype
6. The importance of celebrating the small stuff

And more.

Links:

1. The Church Growth Lie No One Talks About
2. ChurchPlanting.com
3. Canva
4. ChatGPT

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Karl Vaters talks with Brad Edwards about the shift that’s happened over the last decade or so in how people perceive institutions, especially the institutional church.

In this conversation they talk about how the rise of radical individualism has replaced once-trusted institutions, why a distrust in institutions is problematic, and why institutions—especially the church—still matter.

Brad is a church planter and pastor of The Table Church in Lafayette, CO. He’s also the author of, The Reason for Church: Why the Body of Christ Still Matters in an Age of Anxiety, Division, and Radical Individualism. This conversation also includes an overview of the reasons behind the loss of institutionalism, and especially five Church Defeaters:

• Church Defeater 1: Spiritual Pragmatism
• Church Defeater 2: The Sacred Self
• Church Defeater 3: Counterfeit Institutions
• Church Defeater 4: (Un)Civil religions
• Church Defeater 5: Virtuous Victimhood

(CONGRATULATIONS to Brad on his book being named Book of the Year by Christianity Today magazine!)

Links:

• The Reason for Church: Why the Body of Christ Still Matters in an Age of Anxiety, Division, and Radical Individualism
• Mere Orthodoxy

BONUS TALK

Our Role in the Grand Narrative of Scripture, with Brad Edwards

Karl Vaters talks with Brad Edwards about the importance of understanding the metanarrative of scripture as a foundational teaching for life and faith.

In particular, their conversation addresses two storytelling terms. First, Main Character Syndrome, which helps us understand and clarify the dangers of the hyper-individualism of our current age. Second, the MacGuffin, a term coined by movie director Alfred Hitchcock that helps us see what our role in God’s story really is.

Links:

• The Reason for Church: Why the Body of Christ Still Matters in an Age of Anxiety, Division, and Radical Individualism

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Do you know how to spot if someone in your congregation has a gambling problem? Once it’s been spotted or confessed, do you know what to do?

Karl Vaters talks with Dr. Don Lichi about one of the fastest-growing addictions in the world, including:

• How is gambling defined?
• Why does it have such a strong grip on some people?
• Who is most likely to be addicted?
• How to get help

And more

Donald Lichi is vice president emeritus of Emerge Counseling Ministries, and author of the article, Is Gambling a Problem in the Church? You Bet! in Influence magazine.

Links:

• Is Gambling a Problem in the Church? You Bet! (article)
• Emerge Counseling Ministries
• Broken Windows of the Soul: A Pastor and Christian Psychologist Discuss Sexual Sins and the Prescription to Heal Them
• YouVersion Bible App

Bonus Chat

What to Do if You’re a Pastor with a Gambling Problem, with Donald Lichi

Pastors are not immune to the temptations of gambling and other addictions.

In this short conversation, Karl Vaters talks with Dr. Don Lichi about how to recognize those tendencies in yourself, and what to do if you’re trapped in it. They also talk about who you should/should not share these problems with, and how to engage in preventative measures.

Links:

• Is Gambling a Problem in the Church? You Bet! (article)
• Emerge Counseling Ministries
• Broken Windows of the Soul: A Pastor and Christian Psychologist Discuss Sexual Sins and the Prescription to Heal Them

To get Bonus Content every week, click here to become a Financial Partner, or here to subscribe to the Free Weekly Newsletter.

Karl Vaters talks with Dr. Jeff Forrey about grief, recovery, and how your church can help people, both inside and outside the congregation, deal with grief in healthy ways.

Grief has no rules, but there are healthy ways through it. And churches—small churches especially—are uniquely suited to provide real comfort for people in these difficult seasons of loss.

Karl and Jeff talk about some important principles, including:

• Why do we need help with grief?
• What kind of damage can we experience if we don’t deal with grief properly?
• What's a typical time frame for experiencing grief?
• What common mistakes are made in responding to grievers?

And more

Jeff Forrey oversees GriefShare, which can come alongside your church to equip you to be a resource for people in need.

Links:

• GriefShare
• Church Initiative
• DivorceCare Session 1 Preview
• GriefShare on Facebook
• GriefShare on Instagram
• GriefShare on YouTube
• CCEF.org
• Grieving Room, by Leanne Friesen

There is no bonus material for this episode.

In recent decades, parachurch organizations have carved out an important space in church life and ministry.

Karl Vaters talks with Dr. Angie Ward about why it’s important for ministers to take a closer look at what the church is, what parachurch organizations bring to the mix, and how we can move forward more missionally, even as the emphasis on institutions diminishes.

Dr. Ward is director of the Doctor of Ministry program and associate professor of leadership and ministry at Denver Seminary. She’s also the author of Beyond Church and Parachurch: From Competition to Missional Extension, which is the basis for this conversation.

Links:

• Beyond Church and Parachurch: From Competition to Missional Extension
• Beyond the Local Church: How Apostolic Movements Can Change the World, by Sam Metcalf
• The Church and the Parachurch: An Uneasy Marriage (A Critical Concern Book), by Jerry E. White
• Polycentric Leadership: Church as a Discipleship Movement, with Dan White Jr. (The Church Lobby, Ep 039)
• Uncharted Leadership: 20 Case Studies to Help Ministry Leaders Adapt to Uncertainty, by Angie Ward

BONUS TALK

The Five Advantages Of Parachurch Organizations, with Dr. Angie Ward

Every parachurch ministry needs to flow from and/or point to the local church. So why do we need parachurch ministries, at all?

In this bonus conversation, Karl Vaters talks with Dr. Angie Ward about the five benefits that churches can gain from partnering with parachurch ministries in productive ways:

1. Reach
2. Specialization
3. Lay involvement
4. Promoting unity
5. To call the local church to mission

Links:

Beyond Church and Parachurch: From Competition to Missional Extension

To get Bonus Content every week, click here to become a Financial Partner, or here to subscribe to the Free Weekly Newsletter.

If you’re a preaching pastor, you know what it means to feel the burden and the joy of preparing and preaching a sermon every Sunday. No matter how many years we’ve done it, we can always use a little more help to do it better.

Karl Vaters talks with Austin Carty about the craft of writing and delivering a weekly sermon, based on Austin’s latest book, Some of the Words Are Theirs: The Art of Writing and Living a Sermon. Austin is the pastor of Boulevard Baptist Church, a small congregation in Anderson, SC.

Karl and Austin talk about several of the aspects that go into sermon prep, including:

• The weekly call to biblical self-reflection
• How to decide what passage to preach from
• How to hook the listeners into the essence of the message
• Setting enough time to seriously prayerfully read, study and ponder the text
• Preaching from a posture of humble conviction rather than blind certainty
• And more

Links:

• Some of the Words Are Theirs: The Art of Writing and Living a Sermon
• The Pastor’s Bookshelf: Why Reading Matters for Ministry
• Why Reading Matters for Ministry, with Austin Carty (Ep 61)
• Vanderbilt Revised Common Lectionary

BONUS EPISODE (Subscribers Only)

Five Questions to Help You Preach a Well-balanced Sermon, with Austin Carty

One of the most important aspects in sermon prep and presentation today is making sure you know and acknowledge that there are points of view that are different from yours. But how do we recognize these points of view, while preaching the truth from God’s Word?

Austin Carty helps us negotiate this potential minefield in a short conversation with Karl Vaters, based on Austin’s new book, Some of the Words Are Theirs: The Art of Writing and Living a Sermon, by helping us ask these five questions:

1. Have I made sweeping generalizations?
2. Have I overargued my point?
3. Have I taken into account my own biases?
4. Have I considered other viable points of view?
5. Have I sufficiently justified my claims?

Links:

Some of the Words Are Theirs: The Art of Writing and Living a Sermon

What happens when all the church growth principles that were working in your church, suddenly stop working when you need them the most?

Karl Vaters interviews Paul Dazet about what happened to him, as the pastor of a fast-growing church shortly after he was diagnosed with cancer. Over 100 members left, saying things like “I just can’t handle being sad at church,” and “It used to be so energetic. Your illness changed the whole vibe.” Paul’s illness and the shaved head that went with it were seen as a show of weakness, need, and vulnerability that many people were uncomfortable seeing on a church platform.

But it’s not all bad news. Paul also walks us through the positive changes he has made in his approach to pastoring, including allowing space for lament, and how he now defines ministry success.

Links:

• Paul’s article on Substack
• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/pastorpauldazet/
• Instagram - @pauldazet
• Twitter / X - @pauldazet
• Bluesky - @pastorpaul.bsky.social‬
• Libby
• Hoopla

Bonus video

The Five False Jesus’ of the “Successful” Church, with Paul Dazet

Paul Dazet found out that a numerically-growing church isn’t necessarily a healthy church. In this Bonus content, Karl Vaters talks with Paul about the 5 ways churches can be tempted to see Jesus that are not what Jesus intended for his church. They are:

1. “Jesus wants you rich” (Prosperity Jesus)
2. “Jesus votes red, white, and blue” (Nationalistic Jesus)
3. “Jesus is disappointed in you” (Judgmental Jesus)
4. “Jesus only loves people who look and believe like us” (Exclusive Jesus)
5. “Jesus is here to meet your every need” (Consumeristic Jesus)

Links:

• Paul’s article on Substack
• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/pastorpauldazet/
• Instagram - @pauldazet
• Twitter / X - @pauldazet
• Bluesky - @pastorpaul.bsky.social‬

To get Bonus Content every week, click here to become a Financial Partner, or here to subscribe to the