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. Empowering, Equipping, and Encouraging Women in Ministry in Southern Baptist Churches. SBC Women in Ministry. Complementarian Ministry

    6h ago

    Empowering, Equipping, and Encouraging Women in Ministry in Southern Baptist Churches. SBC Women in Ministry. Complementarian Ministry

    #22. On today's episode, we finish up a great interview with Dr. Cathie Smith, who is the  Great Commission Association Women in Ministry Ambassador. If you are following the news, this is a timely conversation for us, as the nation's largest Protestant denomination, the SBC, grapples with the role of women in ministry. Today, we talk with Dr. Cathie about how pastors should seek to enlist qualified and gifted women to serve in leadership roles and invite them to speak into sermon topics, schedules, etc. To give them a voice at the decision-making table. We also discuss practical ways to entrust and release women into areas of ministry in the church that are Bible-honoring, people-encouraging, and church-building. I think you will find the conversation to be both very practical, but also encouraging and inspiring, because Dr. Cathie does a great job of pushing pastors to see the women of the church as an often tragically untapped reservoir for dynamism, health, and flourishing. Seven Ways to Empower Women In the Church 1. Engage them.  Engage them in discipleship and making disciples.  See them, connect with them, open doors of opportunity for them as God allows. 2. Encourage their giftings. 3. Exhort God's calling in their lives and give them opportunities to respond to what God is calling her to do – commission/send out 4. "Equip women for ministry and disciple-making. This includes education. Educate women in theology, hermeneutics, and other Bible teaching skills to help her to be able to adequately handle the word of God. 5. Establish ministry pathways for women – both for equipping and serving in her gifting. This will involve a cost in resources, personnel and energy.  6. Enlist qualified and gifted women to serve in leadership roles and invite them to speak into sermon topics, schedules, etc. Give them a voice at the decision-making table.  Partnership not just permission.  7. Entrust and Release Women in your church – Champion/Co-Workers/Celebrate

    49 min
  2. Why are Women Leaving the Church and 7 Biblical Ways to Empower Women in the Church with Dr. Cathie Smith + What is Greater than Serving?!

    Jun 8

    Why are Women Leaving the Church and 7 Biblical Ways to Empower Women in the Church with Dr. Cathie Smith + What is Greater than Serving?!

    How can pastors and churches encourage women to use their gifts for the Kingdom of God?   Seven Ways to Empower Women In the Church:  1. Engage them.  Engage them in discipleship and making disciples.  See them, connect with them, open doors of opportunity for them as God allows. 2. Encourage their giftings. 3. Exhort God's calling in their lives and give them opportunities to respond to what God is calling her to do – commission/send out 4. "Equip women for ministry and disciple-making. This includes education. Educate women in theology, hermeneutics, and other Bible teaching skills to help her to be able to adequately handle the word of God.  5. Establish ministry pathways for women – both for equipping and serving in her gifting. This will involve a cost in resources, personnel and energy.  6. Enlist qualified and gifted women to serve in leadership roles and invite them to speak into sermon topics, schedules, etc. Give them a voice at the decision making table.  Partnership not just permission.  7. Entrust and Release Women in your church – Champion/Co-Workers/Celebrate Women are fully in the Imago Dei - in the Image of God. Jesus sees Mary and Martha, and He engages them in deep theological truths in profound ways.  "The church cannot flourish without women playing KEY ministry positions…in every realm of life, you lose what you don't value." Pastors aren't like Jerry Jones or Mark Cuban…we don't own the team the way that sports owners own their team. We don't own the church, it's Christ's church, and we are under-shepherds at best. We aren't owners who utilize church players to put trophies in our cabinet."  Jesus does not look past women.  How can pastors and churches encourage women to use their gifts for the Kingdom of God?   Generation Z women are disaffiliating from organized religion and leaving churches at unprecedented rates, outpacing their male peers for the first time in modern history. Research indicates that nearly four in ten young women now identify as religiously unaffiliated.    Data from the Survey Center on American Life shows that women make up the majority (54%) of Gen Z individuals who disaffiliate from religion, completely reversing the gender gap seen in older generations like Baby Boomers, and recent studies from the Barna Group highlight that young adult women now report the lowest rates of Bible reading, prayer, and church attendance among their generation. 1. Our own Pastor Christopher Cole has written a great article about church renewal called The God of Renewal, which you will want to read.  https://www.gcasbc.org/post/the-god-of-renewal  Also, our GCA resource of the month is also related to church renewal and is written by future podcast guest Mark Hallock and Jeremy Conrad, and is a great encouragement for churches to work together for the Gospel! All around us, pastors are discouraged, churches are competing instead of cooperating, and the witness of the gospel can feel fractured. But what if the solution isn't working harder, it's working together? In Radical Collaboration, Mark Hallock and Jeremy Conrad call God's people back to His design for unity, offering a practical vision for how churches can partner, multiply, and strengthen one another for the sake of the gospel. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G3WJSHPC?ref=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cp_ud_dp_KKM4MNGP5Q18XK8AB1YX

    49 min
  3. The Dead Sea Scrolls, Why Pastors Talk about Controversial Bible Issues, Textual Criticism, and Guarana Antarctica Soda Review with Textual Criticism Expert Dr. Anthony Ferguson

    Jun 1

    The Dead Sea Scrolls, Why Pastors Talk about Controversial Bible Issues, Textual Criticism, and Guarana Antarctica Soda Review with Textual Criticism Expert Dr. Anthony Ferguson

    Why should pastors talk about controversial Bible passages and difficult Bible origin questions with church members? Old Testament Scholar Dr. Anthony Ferguson answers... Today, we talk to Dr. Anthony Ferguson, an Old Testament Textual Criticism expert and pastor, about some pretty deep Bible nerd stuff, including how pastors can talk about the background of the Bible without turning the church into a seminary. Some of this short interview is pretty deep, but if you feel lost, never fear, we will process through a little bit of what we discussed at the end of the episode today, right after Cal Baptist Ministry student J.C. and I review Brazil's #1 Coke competitor, Guarana Antarctica.  Like me, Dr. Ferguson was taught in seminary to not use Greek or Hebrew in sermons, and also like me, he pretty routinely ignores this advice, which raises a question that the third part of our interview with Dr. Ferguson brings up: why would we focus a whole episode on some of the more academic points of the Bible, including textual variants, biblical origins, and the Dead Sea Scrolls? At least one of the answers to that question, Dr. Ferguson addressed in our opener - if you don't, somebody else well, and shouldn't a pastor be the one to shepherd the people through those issues, rather than somebody else?

    36 min
  4. Using AI For Evangelism and Ministry, The Power of Old Testament Lamentation, Dead Billionaire Soda and World Cup Evangelism with Pastor Anthony Ferguson

    May 25

    Using AI For Evangelism and Ministry, The Power of Old Testament Lamentation, Dead Billionaire Soda and World Cup Evangelism with Pastor Anthony Ferguson

    Today we have Pastor and Professor and Everton Blues superfan Anthony Ferguson with us again, and we are talking to him about World Cup evangelism with the Yellow Card Initiative, and a few other things also, including the Great Commission Value of Artificial Intelligence and the importance of preaching about the OLD Testament in church. We've also got Cal Baptist ministry student and Valley Baptist Youth minister JC Thompson with us today to review a soda that USED to be called Armless Palmer. What is it called now? Will it muster enough Spurgeons to be recommended? Well, you'll just have to listen to find out. If you like the show, please tell a friend about it…that's how podcasts like ours grow - by word of mouth. That said, let's jump into our interview now.  To get some yellow cards of your own to equip your church for evangelism! Two ways:  ⚽️ visiting the YCI website www.yellowcardinitiative.com  ⚽️ emailing us at missionadvance@gcasbc.org ⚽️Then, get trained via YouTube training videos @yellowcardinitiative on YouTube.  Seeking GCA's next Executive Director of Missions GCA's current Executive Director of Missions, Dr. Mike Stewart, has faithfully led our association for nearly three decades. As he prepares to step into retirement in the coming year, we are prayerfully seeking the next Executive Director of Missions to build on this legacy and help lead GCA into a fruitful future of ministry. Learn more about the role and consider how God might be calling you or someone you know to join the mission in California. Initial review of candidates begins May 21. https://www.vanderbloemen.com/job/executive-director-of-missions-edm-great-commission-association-of-southern-baptist-churches/

    42 min
  5. Anthony Ferguson and the Yellow Card Initiative - World Cup Soccer Evangelism. + Guardian Angels and Do Churches Have Their Own Angels? Maybe!

    May 18

    Anthony Ferguson and the Yellow Card Initiative - World Cup Soccer Evangelism. + Guardian Angels and Do Churches Have Their Own Angels? Maybe!

    Fun show today. We are going to talk about human evangelism - human messengers and heavenly messengers/angels. Our guest is Dr. Anthony Ferguson of 11th Street Baptist Church in Upland, California, which is a city of about 80,000 that borders Los Angeles. Dr. Ferguson is one of the founders of the Yellow Card initiative, bringing the Good News to World Cup attendees this Summer. We will also talk about guardian angels, and whether or not the Bible teaches that each church is assigned its very OWN angel.

    51 min
  6. The Flourishing Hispanic Church in California - Help for Spanish Pastors in the West. Spanish Language ONLY Episode with Pastor Humberto Hernandez and Dr. Chris Smith of the Great Commission Association

    May 14

    The Flourishing Hispanic Church in California - Help for Spanish Pastors in the West. Spanish Language ONLY Episode with Pastor Humberto Hernandez and Dr. Chris Smith of the Great Commission Association

    Today's episode is SPANISH ONLY and features a discussion with California Hispanic Pastor Humberto Hernandez and Dr. Chris Smith of the Great Commission Association. Pastor Humberto and Dr. Smith talk about keys to church health in the Hispanic church in America. PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU WANT MORE SPANISH ONLY EPISODES!  El episodio de hoy es solo en español y presenta una conversación con el pastor hispano de California, Humberto Hernández, y el Dr. Chris Smith, de la Great Commission Association.El pastor Humberto y el Dr. Smith hablan sobre algunas claves para la salud de la iglesia hispana en los Estados Unidos. ¡POR FAVOR, DÉJENOS SABER SI QUIEREN MÁS EPISODIOS SOLO EN ESPAÑOL!

    40 min
  7. AI Can't Love: Women in Ministry and Artificial Intelligence in the Church With Dr. Kristen Ferguson of Gateway Seminary + Cheerwine Soda Review and Pleading the Blood of Jesus in Prayer.

    May 11

    AI Can't Love: Women in Ministry and Artificial Intelligence in the Church With Dr. Kristen Ferguson of Gateway Seminary + Cheerwine Soda Review and Pleading the Blood of Jesus in Prayer.

    Another action-packed episode of the ECF podcast today. Gateway Seminary VP Dr. Kristen Ferguson joins us, and our co-hosts are school superintendent Lanette Lozano and Women's ministry expert Dr. Cathie Smith. Today, we talk about how women in the church are a fundamental key to church flourishing that no wise leader should ever overlook. We will also talk to Dr. Ferguson about AI - can AI take the place of counseling, pastors, sermon prep? How much should Christians lean on AI? We've got Cal Baptist BAT student JC back with us for a review of the South's favorite cherry beverage - Cheerwine - does it actually contain wine? And, finally, we are going to talk about prayer and pleading the blood of Jesus. Is that a thing? Is it biblical? Is there power in pleading the blood of Jesus? Maybe not…but we will discuss one key to faithful, power-packed prayer that is indeed biblical and is also often overlooked. Don't give women the light stuff…we all need meat…we all need the Word of God.  Soda Review - Cheerwine, thank you to Virginia listener Jesse W.  After Hours ministry - share the gospel with women who are in sex trafficking.  A good leader says, I don't really care about how I look, I care about the mission.  I cannot commune with God through AI - AI is not the replacement for a living active relationship with the Living God.    Idols from the Old Testament did not talk, but AI actually talks.  No one is saying that people are worshiping AI, but functionally, we can be going to AI and depending on it for so much of what we do day to day that we could be replacing God with it.  A hidden danger of AI is that people will rely on it for deep spiritual conversations that they should be having instead in the Body of Christ…it might make our relationships shallower if we scratch our itch for deep dialog with a machine rather than an Image Bearer.  AI can't love

    50 min
  8. Episode 15: "It Was Magnificent...an Extraordinary Picture of Unrestrained Praise." Women in Ministry, Special Needs Ministry, Online Education and Pastor Training with Dr. Kristen Ferguson, Vice President at Gateway Seminary.

    May 4

    Episode 15: "It Was Magnificent...an Extraordinary Picture of Unrestrained Praise." Women in Ministry, Special Needs Ministry, Online Education and Pastor Training with Dr. Kristen Ferguson, Vice President at Gateway Seminary.

    Today we've got Gateway Seminary vice president Dr. Kristen Ferguson for a fascinating conversation that ranges from women's ministry,  to being a pastor's wife, and concludes with a moving discussion of special needs ministry in the church AND special needs MINISTERING TO THE CHURCH. We will also have JC, the Cal Baptist Ministry student, back to review the World's Hottest Soda with us - does it live up to the hype? Does it injure us?  We also have a great Spanish language interview at the end with Dr. Chris Smith and Pastor Humberto Hernandez on the state of the Hispanic church in the West.

    1h 26m
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5
out of 5
28 Ratings

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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