PODCASTS

Tag: #pastors

The Calling_Episode 19: Mark Bane

The Calling_Episode 19: Mark Bane

The Calling is a Family Life original podcast for pastors that focuses on the personal and professional challenges they face in their mission to serve the Lord. In Episode 19, Steve’s guest is Mark Bane, a retired pastor with 40 years of experience leading congregations.  Mark, who is also Steve’s longtime friend, talks about the difference between being a pastor and sitting in the congregation, how to biblically address sin in a friend.

Faith Under Fire – Hostility Toward Churches: Implications – 4/18/24

Faith Under Fire – Hostility Toward Churches: Implications – 4/18/24

Hostility Toward Churches: Causes & Implications

Faith Under Fire – 4/18/24

A six-year national study of threats, violence and vandalism aimed at churches and religious organization shows the danger spiked in 2023. This edition of Family Life’s “Faith Under Fire” feature invites back Arielle Del Turco for a second conversation. Today, we recap the results of that survey, but then go beyond the statistics to the causes and implications.

  • How do the current cultural perceptions of Christians affect how faith institutions see more threats and violence?
  • What trends are seen in what types of churches and entities are more likely to become targets, and should all religious groups band together to denounce anti-Christian hostility?
  • What advice does she have for Christians to make a positive influence on the surrounding culture?
  • Going to worship is safe, considering the 900+ incidents in six years compared to the millions of religious gatherings in that time. Still, what should leaders of congregations and faith-based networks learn from this study?

We also encourage you to listen to, share or download our earlier conversation with Del Turco (Faith Under Fire 4/04/24) when she talked about the numbers and trends which she compiled with this annual report. Other resources are also linked from that podcast at FamilyLife.org/newspodcasts.

 

Arielle Del Turco is the director of the Center for Religious Liberty at the Family Research Council.

The Calling – Episode 18: Steve Baley – Dean of Students at Clarks Summit University

The Calling – Episode 18: Steve Baley – Dean of Students at Clarks Summit University

The Calling is a Family Life original podcast for pastors that focuses on the personal and professional challenges they face in their mission to serve the Lord. In Episode 18, Steve’s guest is Steve Baley, Dean of Students at Clarks Summit University who talks about youth, sports, and faith, and how God has used all of it in his life.

The Calling – Episode 16: Pastor Christopher Powers and Pastor Sean Powers from Kingstree Church in Ohio

The Calling – Episode 16: Pastor Christopher Powers and Pastor Sean Powers from Kingstree Church in Ohio

The Calling is a Family Life original podcast for pastors that focuses on the personal and professional challenges they face in their mission to serve the Lord. In Episode 16, Steve’s guests are pastors Christopher and Sean Powers from Kingstree Church in Ohio. Christopher and Sean are not only pastors at the same church, they, along with Tim Powers of the Rise Up Morning Show, are brothers.  In this episode, they talk about the importance of family and the role their parents played in their lives.

The Calling – Episode 15: Ray Bartholomew – McClure United Methodist Church in Deposit, NY

The Calling – Episode 15: Ray Bartholomew – McClure United Methodist Church in Deposit, NY

The Calling is a Family Life original podcast for pastors that focuses on the personal and professional challenges they face in their mission to serve the Lord. In Episode 15, Steve’s guest is Pastor Ray Bartholomew from McClure United Methodist Church in Deposit, NY who talks about how the church can (at times) be too judgemental.

The Calling – Episode 14: Tyler Schutt – Youth Pastor at Crossroads Family Ministry

The Calling – Episode 14: Tyler Schutt – Youth Pastor at Crossroads Family Ministry

The Calling is a Family Life original podcast for pastors that focuses on the personal and professional challenges they face in their mission to serve the Lord. In Episode 14, Steve’s guest is Tyler Schutt, a youth pastor for Crossroads Family Ministry in Sayre, PA who talks about ministering to young hearts.

A Family Life Interview – Ron Hutchcraft on Church-Leader Burnout – 11/27/23

A Family Life Interview – Ron Hutchcraft on Church-Leader Burnout – 11/27/23

Ron Hutchcraft has spent decades as a Christian broadcaster, a ministry leader, a mission worker, and a sought-after speaker at religious conferences.

In October, he was featured at the Family Life Pastor’s Conference, providing inspiration to well over 200 pastors from Pennsylvania and New York. In conjunction with his visit to our listening area, he was interviewed by Family Life News, seeking his recommendations for clergy and for congregations.

In light of today’s difficult trends where 42 percent of congregational pastors are ready to quit, there is much which needs done to strengthen the church and reverse that reality.

In our conversation, Hutchcraft looks at the Big Three challenges identified by that research, offers practical steps to reduce stresses and loneliness, and warns that church fights over politics or social issues are against the Bible’s calling. He points to the impact of Covid shutdowns and mandates and disagreements, and gives a movie-plot parallel. You also will hear reminders that the church’s shepherds also hold responsibility to address their own misguided motivations and unhelpful mission drift.

Ron Hutchcraft leads Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, which works to provide spiritual rescue, bringing hope to unchurched people in the language of the listener. RHM also operates “On Eagles Wings”, an evagelistic and training outreach to Indigenous young people.

His daily radio story, “A Word With You”, airs multiple times each weekday on Family Life broadcasting, plus our online streams.

 

A parallel Family Life Podcast is also available:  Check our pastors’ first-person stories on “The Calling” with Steve Smith. Episodes can be found here.

 

Faith Under Fire – Clergy Appreciation – Pastors are “under fire” these days – 10/26/23

Faith Under Fire – Clergy Appreciation – Pastors are “under fire” these days – 10/26/23

Perspectives, especially during Clergy Appreciation Month: Relighting the fire in pastors’ souls

During this Clergy Appreciation Month, this Family Life interview gets an assessment on the stresses and challenges which local pastors and preachers have faced for multiple years.

The Rev. Sandy Hasenauer, a denominational official for 50+ American Baptist Churches in the Rochester/Genesee region of New York, talks about the trends of burn-out and flame-out demonstrated in national surveys. (A Barna survey says 48 to 52% of today’s pastors have “seriously considered leaving the ministry” in the past 12 months.) She offers some practical ways that congregations can boost their pastors in simple and practical ways.

Some techniques which are appreciated by clergy — and their families:

  • simple handwritten notes and cards with a word of encouragement and thanks (handwritten messages, she says, stands out in an e-mail/texting atmosphere
  • offering fair pay and benefits, and reevaluating this compensation annually
  • attending worship in person (pastors have expressed a loss of energy when significant percentages of the church stay home to worship virtually)

Hasenauer tells us that while October is Clergy Appreciation month, there are many ways that church members and congregations’ leadership councils can pray for and demonstrate care for their pastors year-round.

The Calling – Episode 12: Pastor Jeff Jones

The Calling – Episode 12: Pastor Jeff Jones

The Calling is a Family Life original podcast for pastors that focuses on the personal and professional challenges they face in their mission to serve the Lord. In Episode 12, Steve’s guest is pastor & author Jeff Jones whose book “Rebranding Christianity: When the World’s Most Important Brand Loses It’s Way” looks at how the church needs to get back to the basics of what Jesus taught.

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