After a devastating transition of their lead pastor, Crosspoint church in Nashville was without a lead pastor and 3/4 of their executive team moved on. This is the story of Kevin’s call to leadership at Crosspoint. Kevin has now led Crosspoint through a leadership transition, a direct hit by a tornado, and now a global pandemic. In part one of this two-part series, Kevin gets real about the most important things that keep him grounded, give him perspective, and encourage him.
In this episode of Craft & Character, preacher and author of How (Not) to Save the World, Hosanna Wong, unpacks how poetry has influenced her preaching. Growing up in San Francisco, Hosanna competed in various underground slam poetry contests and she learned the art of storytelling, the rhythmic patterns within sentences, and how to speak truth using the fewest words possible. She talks candidly about what the transition was like moving from spoken word artist to preaching regularly at her church and around the world.
After a devastating transition of their lead pastor, Crosspoint church in Nashville was without a lead pastor and 3/4 of their executive team moved on. This is the story of Kevin’s call to leadership at Crosspoint. Kevin has now led Crosspoint through a leadership transition, a direct hit by a tornado, and now a global pandemic. In part one of this two-part series, Kevin gets real about the most important things that keep him grounded, give him perspective, and encourage him.
Chapelstreet church recently transitioned senior leadership from Brian Coffey to Jeff Frazier. Their story sets the bar for making room for younger leaders to rise up and then partnering with influence when the outgoing leader not only stays in the church but stays on staff. The story at Chapelstreet will open up your mind to the possibilities of leading well in transition seasons.
In the latest Craft & Character podcast, Steve Carter interviews Pastor and Author Charlie Dawes. Charlie and his team planted Hill City Church in the greater DMV ( DC + Maryland + Virginia) area. Steve and Charlie talk about how prayer plays a crucial part in the sermon prep process. Charlie wrote a fantastic book a few years ago called “Simple Prayer” about learning to speak to God. Charlie speaks candidly about the practice of prayer, not needing to hype up moments but rather how to stay wildly open to the burning bush moments that occur all around us, shaping us and the messages we get to preach.
We close out our 3-part series on Unity with Carey Nieuwhof bringing some deep thought to the conversation. Carey openly talks about how we get our identity wrapped up in things that can easily divide us, how we need to remain humble with our opinions and conclusions, and how when we move to cancel someone or something it is actually more of a statement on our own lack of ability to deal with adversity.
We continue our dive into unity with Glenn Packiam giving insights on the historicity of unity in the early church and four keys to unity: Humility, Hospitality, Solidarity, Mutuality.
In the latest Craft & Character Podcast episode, Steve Carter takes your questions about how to dive deeper into your sermon prep. Steve unpacks how every person tuning into a sermon has an ache and good desires. As communicators, we must keep searching, praying, studying, and marinating to name the ache people are feeling and also how this text can call out good desires within. Every context we speak in has unique strongholds that must be addressed when we preach. In this episode, Steve will help you identify the problem (these three words), name the premise (what the scriptures have to say about it), and articulate the promise (what a person’s life will look like if they apply it to their life).
Sean unpacks why our culture is so self-centered, why leaders are losing respect, and how that leads to a lack of unity in the church. The process of rebuilding the foundation of the unity we need is discussed using the Three Essentials for Church Unity: Commitment, Humility, and Sacrifice.
In the latest Craft & Character episode, Steve Carter interviews author, professor and Christ Church of the Valley Teaching Pastor Mark Moore about the makings of a great talk. Mark explains his process, why he believes he needs to practice preaching a message six times before ever speaking it to an audience and how he has framed talks for students, college classroom, and adult congregation. What Mark shares about the importance of character at the end is worth the whole episode.
Our 2nd of 2 episodes on the topic of preparing the church for the decisions of a new leader – particularly when it comes to making changes to your org chart, structure, and even transitioning staff off. Jud and Jeff give us great insight.
In the latest Craft & Character episode, Steve Carter interviews author, leader and former senior pastor of Connexus Church Carey Nieuwhof about how to get time, energy and priorities for every preacher working in their favor. Carey speaks candidly about what he learned from burning out and the wisdom he has acquired along the way that will help every single communicator to get out of the stress spiral and live well in the thrive cycle.
Every church needs healthy change. But many times church culture resists change of all kinds. How do leaders prepare the church for change and make those changes in the healthiest ways possible? In this episode we bring in multiple leaders’ insight and expertise.
In the latest Craft & Character episode, Steve Carter talks with Bright City Church Teaching Pastor Sharon Hodde Miller. Sharon is an accomplished author and a thoughtful communicator who has an incredible ability to put her Ph.D. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School to good use while also making her messages widely accessible. Sharon and Steve unpack her message, “We are heirs,” from Bright City Church, process how she preps for her talks, and how her words compel people towards becoming disciples of Jesus.
Nate and George Ross, pastors of Northside Christian Church in New Albany, Indiana, open up about the father-son dynamics in leadership transitions. There are both pros and cons and no matter what it takes resolve and grace.
Nate and George Ross, pastors of Northside Christian Church in New Albany, Indiana, open up about the father-son dynamics in leadership transitions. There are both pros and cons and no matter what it takes resolve and grace.
In the latest Craft & Character Podcast episode, Steve Carter interviews Pastor Noah Herrin about the seven lessons he learned in his first five years of communicating. Noah is a gifted teacher of God’s word, has a heart of gold, and offers up an honest reflection of the crucial lessons he has learned throughout his ministry. Whether you’re just starting out preaching or have been doing it for years this episode is for you.
Joel Thomas was Northpoint Community Church’s first intern back before they were even running 1000 in attendance. He went on to become their Alpharetta Campus Pastor, and while he wasn’t looking for a lead pastor gig anywhere, God called him into that role at Mission Community Church in Phoenix, AZ.
Mission had just been through a year without a pastor after a devastating moral failure of the prior lead pastor left them hurting and confused. Joel will talk about how pervasive culture was, how he began to diagnose unhealthy parts of their culture and lead them toward maturity while pastoring them through the hurt and pain they were feeling.
In the latest Craft & Character podcast, Steve Carter interviews pastor Tyler Burns about his commitment to being a local pastor and how in bearing witness to the pain of his people there comes a newfound power in his sermons. Tyler breaks down his prep for his Q Conference talk and shares a plethora of mentors, pastors and authors who have helped him shape and form a talk. What Tyler shares about his prep process is information you can immediately implement in your own talk creation process.
