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. 10h ago

    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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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?

  4. 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?

  5. 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."

  6. 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!

  7. Jul 20

    Episode 27: Why are churches drifting away from their main purpose of discipleship? What is the cure? New Segment: Pastor Disaster - The (ALMOST) Missing Finger and MORE: with Chris Reinolds, the Strategic Outsider of Jacksonville, Florida

    Today we talk to the Strategic Outsider, Chris Reinolds, a missions strategist from Northeast Florida. Chris is a great writer and thinker about the mission of the church, and he encourages us today to focus on those practices and programs that align with the church's primary mission, and to cut those things we don't which don't line up with our primary purpose. In addition, we also discuss:   The aspects of pastoring that seminary doesn't prepare you for.  Why church bylaws are probably more important than most pastors and church leaders realize. A church that isn't abiding by its bylaws opens itself up to big trouble in legal and lawsuit terms, even for unrelated issues.  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  Clarity House: https://clarityhouse.us/clarity-assessment/  Why are churches drifting away from their main purpose of discipleship? What is the cure for purpose drift?  The most valuable insights lie in the most difficult things to measure. Florida Man/Aligators/Shark Attacks Four questions to bring YOUR church to clarity in its mission and purpose:  1. Whose church is this? Christ's Church!  2. If this is Christ's church, what has He called us to do? Answer: The Great Commission by the means of the Great Commandment.  3. What are we currently doing in light of the Great Commission and the Great Commandment?  4. What are we going to do about the things we are doing that are NOT helping us to accomplish the Great Commission and the Great Commandment?  Asking these questions, answering them, and then making changes based on the answers will sometimes bring about battles and battle scars for pastors and leaders, because change is often difficult and painful for everybody concerned.  The dangers of seminary-trained pastors talking over the heads of church members about important biblical truths.

    Episode 27: Why are churches drifting away from their main purpose of discipleship? What is the cure? New Segment: Pastor Disaster - The (ALMOST) Missing Finger and MORE: with Chris Reinolds, the Strategic Outsider of Jacksonville, Florida

  8. Jul 13

    Episode 26: The Danger of Hypocrisy, Christian Conspiracy Theories, Baptists and the Nicene Creed, How Does Love Your Enemies Factor Into Politics? With Dr. Cameron Schweitzer of Gateway Seminary

    Also: A Beginner's Course on Coffee Roasting!  We begin today's episode in the middle of an interview with Gateway Seminary Bay Area Director Dr. Cameron Schweitzer, and his is discussing the upcoming Bay Area Theology symposium which will address issues like Christian Nationalism, politics and Christian leadership, and other hot-button topics right now. How can pastors effectively lead in a politically polarized atmosphere?  The sufficiency of Scripture should inform all aspects of how we do theology, including politics. According to survey after survey of Christians and those who aren't Christians, the NUMBER ONE REASON people don't consider becoming a Christian is…HYPOCRISY. We are not an other-worldly, alien, exile-like people journeying through life as we should be.  In the early church, the most common way early church apologists or defenders argued for the legitimacy of the Christian faith was to tell people, "Look at the way we live." Because the early Christian communities lived radically different lives. Not so much now.  Churches face a lack of serious engagement with the necessity of holiness. The dangers of a pragmatic focus to ministry that does things and builds programs merely because they work.  The conflation of Cultural Christianity vs. Biblical truth.  The Deadly Danger of Hypocrisy and How Early Christians Defended the Faith Plus the Conflation of Cultural Christianity and Biblical Truth With Gateway Seminary Director Dr. Cameron Schweitzer. How Does "Love Your Enemies" Factor into Politics? Also: Christian Conspiracy Theories, Secret Insider Knowledge, or Modern Gnosticism?  The Enduring Relevance of the Nicene Creed. Should Baptists Adopt The Nicene Creed? Do Southern Baptists Affirm the Nicene Creed?    We proclaim that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life out of one side of our mouth, and then with the other, with great confidence, say that the government is killing us via chemtrails. How the Nicene Creed was the grid within which early Christians were discipled and trained.  Jonathan Edwards, America's Augustin, one of the most studied figures in American history prior to the Civil War. A Beginner's Course on Coffee Roasting. Dr. Schweitzer explains roasting your own coffee beans to us, and testifies that Folgers, Keurig, and other normal kinds of coffee are like baloney or spam, and home-roasted and well-prepared coffee is like a prime rib from a premium steakhouse.

    Episode 26: The Danger of Hypocrisy, Christian Conspiracy Theories, Baptists and the Nicene Creed, How Does Love Your Enemies Factor Into Politics? With Dr. Cameron Schweitzer of Gateway Seminary
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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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