Churchmen Podcast

Pastor Jerry and Pastor Daron unpack some key biblical truths to keep us encouraged during difficult, confusing times. 

In this episode, Pastors Jerry and Daron encourage shepherds and leaders to be ever watchful in their lives. The devil is seeking to devour, and he would happily find an "innocent" foothold somewhere in your thoughts - where a small entitlement, or perhaps a little discontentment, or the possible tinge of satisfaction as your hard work is finally being rewarded by increased influence... his options are many, and we are mere men. But the scriptures give us the armor and our Savior gives us the means to keep it effective. Here's how to watch out so that you are not devoured like so many others before and around you.

During this (or any) crisis, around every corner lurks another reason for even strong churchmen to slip into unhelpful speculation, worry, doubt and anxiety. And with every decision or situation, your responses will either provide a biblical salve or a stumbling block.  In this episode, Pastors Jerry and Daron help us regain and maintain altitude by exposing some bad habits that weigh us down, targeting flawed thinking that blurs our navigation, and leveling biblical answers and perspective for our own hearts and those who rely on us to lead. Bonus: Pastor Jerry, recommended this beloved book toward the end of the episode: Trusting God by Jerry Bridges (1988).

This time, Pastor Daron takes a deeper look at a chapter of Pastor Jerry's book, Courageous Churchmen, called Leaders God Resists to get to the bottom of detecting a dangerous character flaw - insecurity. This is a critical discussion about a threat that's worse than a mere crack in a man's armor. On the surface, it may seem hard to detect. However, with the right upgrades to your radar, you will be able to target the facade that hides a desperate fear of man and leadership-crippling pride at every level. 

Satan is all about taking down the church, but when personal holiness is well-disciplined, he only has one tactic left. He will try to make your ministry as ineffective as possible. He will send wolves into your flock, and one to your home. When the wolves are outside, your ministry will be either helped or hindered by your wife's response to the trials that arise in your ministry. Your leadership will either strengthen her against temptation or weaken her resolve.  This is probably going to be only part 1... we'll see.

You want to be useful. Don't let yourself be blinded and your ministry's usefulness decline into obscurity. 

It was never intended for you to get through your ministry years alone. But cultivating and retaining strong relationships with fellow leaders remains one of the most difficult things a man in ministry can do. Pastor Daron asks Pastor Jerry's perspective on one of the most dynamic types of relationships a leader can and must have.

Some leaders have come to believe that you can be an academic and call yourself a Shepherd. Or you can be a preacher without stepping foot into the pasture. They meant well at the start with motives couched in good-natured intentions and wrapped in lofty theological desires. But on further inspection, we often find serious ties to the fear of man and a distaste for discomfort. The results of these can be devastating, and the cost is a snuffed lampstand. On this episode, Pastor Jerry and Daron ask Dr. George Zemek to tell us how the role of the shepherd became splintered, and how to make sure you won't deviate from the mission - feeding His sheep. Dr. Zemek is a pastor on staff at Grace Immanuel Bible Church in Jupiter, FL, and a professor at The Expositor's Seminary. 

Pastor Jerry Wragg and Daron Roberts look at developing leaders. Specifically what to look for, what to watch out for, and how to best encourage a hesitator.  

As shepherds, it can seem like every one of our decisions, admonitions, words of encouragement, methods, sermons, leadership decisions, personality, home life, and just about everything else is constantly under ungracious scrutiny by others. Criticism is a daily encounter from nearly every angle and quite commonly from people who are unqualified to make such judgments.  It's made that much harder when the loudest critiques come from within your own leadership team. It's made worse when men cannot agree, sometimes resulting in relationships damaged by sinful responses. This episode is aimed right at the heart of conflict at the leadership level. The scripture is our guide to the way God has asked us to humbly accept criticism, and shepherd our hearts together with others when they disagree with us. 

Pastors Jerry and Daron attempt to assemble a Q.A. of NT Apostles to help us reveal a critical gap in the nuanced and volatile topic of social justice reform.   The podcast is now available on Stitcher, iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts and of course, our website.      

Ministry is messy. The sheep bite! The grassy valleys you envisioned can be scarce, and shepherding often isn't living up to the expectations. You had unquenchable vigor in the barracks, but then the war rages on and you seem to be losing ground. How can you keep focussed when even your own heart is busy manufacturing all manner of distractions, bent on betraying you and the ministry? Meanwhile, that other pastor across town (the one who doesn't study as hard as you do) is achieving results with just "a few small tweaks to his program".  You have unmet desires (with some good motives attached), unrealized expectations, and your trajectory appears tethered by the inadequacies in your resources, your model, your circumstances, other people, and finally yourself... all of it leading to one place - the Slough of Despond.  But what does God think about all that? Is your ministry philosophy really off-target? Is your methodology underbaked? Are your circumstances really to blame? Or did you simply forget who the church really belongs to? Pastors Jerry Wragg and Daron Roberts have a conversation on the heels of the Churchmen Conference. After 3 years of hearing men discuss what endangers their flocks from within, it has become clear that the issue of discouragement at the leadership level must be addressed. Pastor Jerry and Pastor Daron deep-dive this topic, and let a figurative panel discussion of New Testament Apostles deliver answers to our hearts on this critical topic straight from the Word of God.