Dan Steel
There’s a script that dominates much contemporary church planting. The planter is visionary, pioneering, and entrepreneurial. The planter moves into new territory, gathers a core team, grows a congregation through evangelism, strong preaching, and clear vision (and maybe great coffee),...
Jon Kelly
In Season and Out of Season Leadership—especially pastoral leadership and church planting—is both a sacred privilege and a profound weight. It invites you into moments of breathtaking joy and gut-wrenching sorrow, often in the same week, sometimes in the same conversation. It...
Ronnie Martin
The phrase “feeling stuck” likely elicits a visceral reaction. It recalls a moment in the past or a feeling in the present when you feel stifled, pressed in, unable to progress, or held back from moving forward. It could be...
Noah Oldham
Church planters often look at King Saul as the prototype of failure—an anxious, self-protective leader whose insecurity and disobedience eventually led to God removing his kingdom (and ending his life). That reading is true. Saul is a warning sign on...
Barnabas Piper
How many times have you been asked some version of the question, “So, what do you do between Sundays?” The impression many people have is that pastors roll into church on Sundays, preach a sermon, pray with some folks, and...
Heather Oldham
Church planting exposes a lot about us and about our kids. The expectations feel heavy, the spotlight can feel invasive, and the constant sense of being watched can make the normal messiness of parenting feel like public commentary on your...
If you’re like me (or … nothing at all like me), you have still probably seen a gazillion film or stage adaptations of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. One of the beautiful features of Dickens’ story is that it...
If you’re planting a church today, you’re doing it in Babylon. You may be in a rural town, a fast-gentrifying neighborhood, or a dense urban core—but culturally, we’re all in exile. You’re pastoring people who are discipled daily by secular...
“Even Jesus flipped tables.” If you, like me, have ever uttered these words in defense of your own anger (or heard someone do so), then I am writing to you. The story of Jesus driving out the money changers from...
And, dressed in sneakers, when he saw the crowds, he entered the rented auditorium and stood up. His core team came to him, he switched on the projectors, and he began to teach them. Blessed are the self-sufficient, for they...
J.A. Medders
Christmas truly is the most wonderful time of the year. The lights, decorations, food, gifts, family time, and gospel doctrine make it a special time of year. There are many moving pieces and items calling for a preacher’s attention during...
New Churches Podcast Season 5 Episode 12
In this episode of the New Churches podcast, host Jeff Medders is joined by Noah Oldham, Tony Merida, and Patrick Schreiner, to explore the often-overlooked role of pastoral care.
God does not use a lone individual to start a church.
New Churches Podcast Season 5 Episode 11
In this episode of the New Churches podcast, Noah Oldham sits down with pastors Will Basham, Bryan Loritts, and Jon Kelly to explore the inevitable conflicts church planters face, drawing lessons from Acts 15.
When Paul planted the church in Philippi, he didn’t just preach a sermon—he modeled what it means to live as a disciple of Jesus in a new community. For church planters and their teams, Acts 16 provides a blueprint for...
I suspect most people in church leadership have had a conversation with a church member that started something like, “Man, remember when X-and-such ministry was so much better,” or “Things used to feel so much different around here, I miss...
New Churches Podcast Season 5 Episode 10
In this episode of the New Churches Podcast, host Jeff Medders is joined by Jon Kelly, Elizabeth Woodson, and Dean Inserra to explore Acts 16 and the principles of church planting and leadership development.
In Christian ministry, few words spark as much nervousness as excellence. On the one hand, the word carries rich biblical resonance. Paul urges the Corinthians to “excel in everything—in faith, speech, knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love...
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