New Churches Podcast | Season 1 | Episode 807
Spiritual Formation

Host Ed Stetzer meets with writer, speaker, and professor Kyle Strobel to discuss the impact of spiritual practices—both personally and corporately—in the life of the church planter. Discover what it means to find your strength in the Lord and how to lead your people to do the same.
In This Episode, You’ll Discover:
- The stark contrast between spiritual formation and self-help
- How to better dissect the work of your own entrepreneurialism versus that of the Spirit
- The basics of spiritual disciplines you may need to get back to
- Why you should add the practice of watchfulness into your prayer life
- The Apostle Paul’s words of encouragement and exhortation for church planters
Helpful Resources:
- Kyle Strobel’s new book: Formed for the Glory of God: Learning from the Spiritual Practices of Jonathan Edwards
- Jamin Goggin and Kyle Strobel’s book: The Way of the Dragon or the Way of the Lamb: Searching for Jesus’ Path of Power in a Church that Has Abandoned It
- Are you part of a new church plant? Learn more about our new church offer here.
- Interested in learning more? Check out our Church Planting Primer.
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Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches):
A lot of burnout and toxicity comes from planters building an entire ministry and an entire life, quite honestly not on the Spirit, but on their flesh. – Kyle Strobel
I need to constantly be growing so that it’s more of the Spirit of God and less of the spirit of “Entrepreneurial Ed.” – Ed Stetzer
If a church planter’s selfish ambition, jealousy, and envy are left unchecked, they become root sins that bear all sorts of sinful fruit in life. – Kyle Strobel
You can be a profoundly sick tree and bear what looks like visibly impressive fruit. – Kyle Strobel
Our spiritual practices are like cogs in a grand machine that need to mesh well for the whole thing to work. If we lose what we’re doing in the church or our individual spiritual practices, then the whole thing will come apart. – Kyle Strobel
Most preachers I know have come to realize that no matter how much preaching they do, they can’t undo the formation that is going on day in and day out in their homes by what they’re doing and consuming through media. – Kyle Strobel
Published on February 22, 2024