Every Church Flourishing by the Great Commission Association

Chase Thompson
  • 5.0 (28)
  • Christianity
  • Updated Weekly

The Every Church Flourishing podcast is all about helping churches, leaders, and pastors find health, encouragement, practical advice, soul care, and resources that work together to build up your local fellowship and the broader Kingdom of God. Join hosts Pastor Chris Cole and Dr. Chase Thompson from the Great Commission Association, led by Dr. Mike Stewart, as they explore the frontiers of ministry and aim to make every church flourish! Broadcasting from the North-Central Coast of California and the beautiful redwoods, We will focus on church growth, pastoral health, church leadership, evangelism, discipleship, denominational news, West Coast church news, California Baptists, apologetics, prayer, and other facets of church health and flourishing. In addition to church health, every show features a semi-rare and interesting soda review, choosing soft drinks from all around the world.

  1. 1d ago

    Churches: Make Room for Young Leaders! The Kingdom of God is Not Competitive, But Cooperative. Santa Cruz College Discipleship.

    Today's episode features Pastor Brandon O'Sullivan from Gospel Community Church in Santa Cruz, California: https://www.gospelcommunitysc.org/leadership And Cody Bryan, from Christian Challenge at U.C. Santa Cruz.  Episode 35: How Can Parachurch and Church Ministries Work Together??  The Kingdom of God is Not Competitive, But Cooperative.  How Can Churches Make Room for Young Leaders and Not Stifle Them? Why is it CRUCIAL for churches to make room for young leaders??  How a Bible-Believing Church Can Make Disciples and Thrive in one of the most liberal Cities in America.  College Ministry at U.C. Santa Cruz  All about Christian Challenge College Ministry  Gospel Community Church and Christian Challenge UCSC are deeply integrated at the level of discipleship, leadership development, church membership, and ministry multiplication. Cody serves as a deacon at GCC; Brittany is active in women's discipleship; another Challenge staff member, Josh Simmons, is also a GCC deacon; and Henry Kaufman came to faith at UCSC, became part of Christian Challenge's core team, and is now a missions resident at GCC preparing for further ministry. GCC also explicitly lists Christian Challenge among the missionaries it supports financially and prayerfully.  What happens when a local church and a campus ministry genuinely see themselves as part of the same disciple-making mission?  Brandon O'Sullivan is the lead pastor and an elder of Gospel Community Church in Santa Cruz, where he oversees the church's teaching and vision. He has served in full-time ministry since 2010 and has a particular passion for developing younger leaders who can reach people far from God and eventually start new churches and ministries throughout Santa Cruz County. Brandon holds a B.A. from The Master's College, an M.A. from Reformed Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Educational Ministry from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Laura, originally met in Santa Cruz while serving as summer youth interns and have continued serving in ministry together. Gospel Community Church itself began as a small church-planting group meeting in a Santa Cruz living room in May 2018.  Cody Bryan, together with his wife Brittany, directs Christian Challenge at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Cody and Brittany first encountered Christian Challenge as freshmen at Chico State, where they became friends, eventually began dating while serving together, and graduated in 2013. After marrying that summer, they immediately joined Christian Challenge full-time. They later became associate directors at Chico, helping train ten additional staff members before relocating to Santa Cruz to plant a new Christian Challenge ministry at UCSC beginning in fall 2021. At UCSC, Christian Challenge combines campus evangelism with small-group Bible studies, weekly gatherings, one-on-one discipleship, retreats, mission opportunities, and intentional leadership development. Cody is also recognized in Southern Baptist collegiate ministry records as the campus minister at UC Santa Cruz.

  2. Sep 7

    It's Healthy To Need Help! Counseling is Intensive Discipleship for Wounded Believers. What are signs that you should talk to a counselor?

    How to get in touch with Jason Kovacs and Gospel Care Collective: https://www.gospelcarecollective.com/counseling/jason-kovacs/ How Jesus in the Garden models for us the need to share our burdens, pains, and needs with other believers rather than bottle them up.  What are signs and symptoms that your anxiety or stress has gone beyond the point where you can handle it on your own?  What are some signs in a leader's life that they are close to a breakdown? What are signs that you should talk to a counselor sooner rather than later?  We want to bring the whole Word of God applied with full care to the whole being in a way that is consistent and not oppositional to where we can find truth.  How can churches and pastors make the time to adequately counsel those in the congregation who need counseling help?  We do counseling in church because God cares for His church, and counseling the hurting is a reflection of God's heart.  Counseling the wounded and hurting is like intensive, focused discipleship.

  3. Aug 31

    Help For Pastors and Leaders That Are Struggling: The Mental and Emotional Health of American Pastors and Why It Matters. "Tired of Plain Old White Chase."

    Every Church Flourishing with Jason Kovacs, 33-34. Guest:  Jason Kovacs is not simply a biblical counselor who works with pastors, but even that is pretty special.  He has also been heavily involved in church planting, pastoral ministry, adoption/orphan-care advocacy, nonprofit leadership, counseling-center development, trauma-informed care, and ministry to burned-out pastors.    Jason Kovacs is the founder and Executive Director of the Gospel Care Collective, a ministry devoted to gospel-centered, clinically-informed counseling, equipping, and consulting for individuals, pastors, families, and churches. For more than twenty years, Jason has served across a remarkably broad range of ministry settings, including church planting, nonprofit leadership, orphan and adoption advocacy, pastoral care, and biblical counseling. He previously served as a Pastor of Counseling and also founded Redemption Counseling Centers in British Columbia. Jason earned his M.A. from Reformed Theological Seminary, is a Certified Biblical Counselor through the Association of Biblical Counselors, and has specialized training in trauma and foster/adoptive family care. He currently teaches biblical counseling as an adjunct professor. His counseling interests range from marriage, parenting, anxiety, and depression to trauma, addiction, leadership struggles, and the particular pressures faced by pastors and ministry leaders. Jason and his wife, Shawnda, have been married for more than 20 years and have five children; four of them were adopted. Today, much of his work focuses not merely on helping people survive crises, but on helping churches develop cultures of care and helping weary pastors recover a healthy identity and life rooted in Christ rather than simply pushing harder and working harder in ministry. Quote of the episode: "After 30 years, your wife may be tired of plain old white Chase; she may want blue Chase."  "I sometimes get tired of plain old white Chase too!"  Notes:  Beginning your day with the news is bad for your mental health.  How the never-finished task of pastoring is bad for your mental health in some ways.  Spurgeon's depression and physical issues and the "Minister's fainting fits," How Spurgeon taught the pastors under his care about the emotional turmoil of pastoring.  What kinds of counseling care belong in the local church and what kinds belong with professional counselors?  The Blue Fugates of Kentucky and a Blue Torpedo Beverage from China. This is a tea-flavored soda.  If I had to pick a cult, this would be on my list of cults to pick.  Creed Bratton famously stated on The Office that he has been involved in multiple cults as both a leader and a follower, noting that "you have more fun as a follower, but you make more money as a leader." According to one counselor, pastors and church leaders are the most threatened and spiritually vulnerable people in the world.  There's no other job that the Bible says you will be explicitly held accountable by God for other than pastoring.  Do pastors struggle more with anxiety and depression?  "We want to be real about the fact that Christians and need good counseling"  Just a few years ago, hardly anybody in the church was talking about mental health or anxiety. Now it is more common, thankfully.  The Current Mental and Emotional Health of American Pastors and Why it Matters.  Link to Gospel Care Collective.

  4. Aug 24

    Brady Bunch Sermon Illustrations + I Want to See Healthy Churches. Churches Helping Churches Outside of Their Denomination. I would love to be funny like Alistair Begg.

    Today, we continue talking with Pastor Ed Compean of Shoreline Calvary Chapel Church in Morro Bay about churches helping churches and interdenominational cooperation and unity.  Tango Mango Soda Review.  It's the most honorable thing you can do to have the humility to say, "I don't know it all, and I need help."  Resources:  David Jackson - Falling in Love with Jesus Again:  https://replantbootcamp.com/podcast/ep240/ Bob Bickford: Pathways to Partnership: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999418149?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback  If God wants the nations to be reached, He's got it - He will fund it. Can churches of different denominations work together for the Kingdom of God?  Laying aside non-essential denominational differences for the sake of building healthy, Gospel-centric churches.

  5. Aug 17

    Episode 31: Church Health Does Not Mean Sanctuary Size but Missional Mobilization. Why Should Churches Foster Other Churches? Calvary Chapel and SBC Partnership. Why Should Churches Help Other Churches? Plus a South African Soda BURSTING with Flavor.

    How can churches help other dying, declining, and plateauing churches, and WHY should they?  The Health of a Church is Not Found in its Sanctuary Size but in the Great Commissional Mobilization of its people. Why Should Churches Foster (Help) Other Churches?  Today we interview Pastor Ed Compean, a former missionary to Nairobi, Kenya, and a current Calvary Chapel pastor in Morro Bay, California, who is helping to foster an SBC church a few towns over. Why should a pastor from a different denomination invest time, resources, and care into a church that isn't local? What's the benefit?  How is pastoring in Kenya different than pastoring in the U.S., and how is it the same?  How Calvary Chapel and Southern Baptist Churches are partnering together for church health in California.  We, as the church, want the overall Kingdom win.  4000 churches are shutting down in the US every year, and much less than that are being planted, and church plants have a low rate of success, so churches should help foster and revitalize other churches for the overall benefit of the Kingdom.  The benefits of going to Replant Lab with Mark Clifton.  When you help foster another church, your church reaps some potent benefits, including building up more and more effective leaders.  A South African soda BURSTING with incredible flavor - like a rock concert turned up to 11. Rubicon Passion Fruit Soda is AMAZING.  Is malic acid bad for you?

  6. Aug 9

    Episode 30: Navigating Change: Move the Coffee Machine Away From the Men's Bathroom! How can pastors build trust in new or hurting congregations? How Vulnerable Should Pastors Be When it Comes to Confessing Sins? + Soda Review and Home Invasion.

    Every Church Flourishing Episodes 29-30 Jeff Woolstenhulme and Michael Denton  Practical Wisdom on Church Change for small and medium sized churches, and church replants.  How can pastors build trust in new or hurting congregations? How Vulnerable Should Pastors Be When it Comes to Confessing Sins? Benign Neglect: Not everything needs to be changed.  Also, during today's soda review, a possible home/office invasion happens - in progress - which may spell the end of Pastor Christopher Cole, co-host of the Every Church Flourishing podcast. Will PC survive? Listen to the end for the astonishing answer!  Also: The conquest of Hawaii and which ECF host would be in favor of it.  Pastor Christopher mentioned David Jackson's book, Falling in Love with Jesus Again, which is all about the importance of spiritual renewal in church revitalization, emphasizing soul care for leaders and congregations and helping churches by first focusing them on looking to Jesus and understanding what He desires to do with your church. Great news on that - we will have David Jackson on in the next few episodes to discuss that same book, so that's exciting!  When should a church replant or revitalize team begin to emphasize outreach and evangelism?  I don't trust people - and pastors - who aren't pretty transparent about confessing their sins.  How can new pastors triage and determine what needs to be changed immediately and what can wait?  For remaining members in a church replant situation, bring them along, don't push them aside.  The B.L.E.S.S. Book by Dave and John Ferguson - How do you love people to begin to build relationships that lead to Gospel conversations? https://www.amazon.com/dp/1684510880 How can pastors build trust in new or hurting congregations?

  7. Aug 3

    Episode 29: Leading through Change. How Does Church Transformation Happen? Church Turnaround Stories: What is Church Replanting All About? Soda Review: "When I look at this can, it does not scream Ramadan to me."

    Today we talk about change, transformation, church death, church renewal, church replanting and revitalization with Pastor Michael Denton of First Baptist Nipomo and Pastor Jeff Woolstenhulme of Foothills Baptist in Los Altos.  A church in FBC Nipomo that had 6 members left, and a church in Foothills Baptist that had 8 members - both on the verge of death very recently- now both churches are on the road to recovery. How could that happen both spiritually and practically?  God is often more concerned about our character and godliness than our mission and success.  Pro tips for church leaders and pastors leading through any kind of change.  1. OVERcommunicate and continue communicating.  2. Grieve the thing that needs to go in preparation for the next thing.  3. Know your priorities and prioritize your schedule.  4. Preach to 8 people like you'd preach to 100.  5. Remember, if you are changing, revitalizing, or replanting, you are in it for the long haul and lean into slow and steady growth.    How to preach through the book of Deuteronomy in FIVE sermons!  If we force change, such change will be human-powered and therefore won't last.  Why pastors generally lean into doing more than praying, and why that mindset is dangerous to our longterm health and the health of our church! Prayer does the work. Prayer changes people.  "When I look at this can, it does not scream Ramadan to me." Kerry Goode's testimony.  How can a church understand when the diagnosis is bad?

    Episode 29: Leading through Change. How Does Church Transformation Happen? Church Turnaround Stories: What is Church Replanting All About? Soda Review: "When I look at this can, it does not scream Ramadan to me."

  8. Jul 27

    Episode 28: Vision vs. Management + How Can Leaders Balance Confidence and Humility? + The Loneliness Epidemic + the Humility of "I Don't Know." AND Buffalo Wing Soda...SPICY!

    ECF Episode 28: Vision vs. Management, How Can Leaders Balance Confidence and Humility?  + The Loneliness Epidemic: Finding Connection Shortage in an Online Society. + the Humility of "I Don't Know."  Vision vs. Management: When Vision gets tired, Management takes over the wheel and drives the organization.  Only trillionaires in California have 8 acres.  Intro script. We are back with Missions Strategist Chris Reinolds, and today we pick up with the interview discussing leadership and pastoral loneliness, a topic we've hit a few times before.  Pastors: Don't pretend to know all the answers!  The strongest leaders realize they aren't always the smartest people in the room.  Church people looking up to their pastors as spiritual gurus with all of the answers leads to dangerous dynamics, including loneliness for the pastor, lack of accountability for the pastor, and the elevation of flawed humans to positions that they are not fit to occupy.  Why is it important for local churches and pastors to come together in associations?  Lester's Fixins Buffalo Wing Soda - Like adding Tabasco sauce to cream soda.  Chris Reinolds, host of the Kingdom over Turf Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrpOtpnXQsUo-YdeiiL-3TVSUi-R-os8B  Chris Reinolds Strategic Outsider Substack: https://associationmissionstrategist.substack.com/  The benefits of having somebody come in to your church and see it from an outsider's perspective

    Episode 28: Vision vs. Management + How Can Leaders Balance Confidence and Humility? + The Loneliness Epidemic + the Humility of "I Don't Know." AND Buffalo Wing Soda...SPICY!
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About

The Every Church Flourishing podcast is all about helping churches, leaders, and pastors find health, encouragement, practical advice, soul care, and resources that work together to build up your local fellowship and the broader Kingdom of God. Join hosts Pastor Chris Cole and Dr. Chase Thompson from the Great Commission Association, led by Dr. Mike Stewart, as they explore the frontiers of ministry and aim to make every church flourish! Broadcasting from the North-Central Coast of California and the beautiful redwoods, We will focus on church growth, pastoral health, church leadership, evangelism, discipleship, denominational news, West Coast church news, California Baptists, apologetics, prayer, and other facets of church health and flourishing. In addition to church health, every show features a semi-rare and interesting soda review, choosing soft drinks from all around the world.

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