It is difficult for the pastor to meet the needs of the church. Pastors can be exceptionally busy with the affairs of the church — staff meetings, counseling, setting the budget; making sure the building is safe, clean and ready; and of course the work of prayer, study, and preaching. But has the church created a culture that unnecessarily differentiates between the leadership of the pulpit and the leadership of day-to-day ministry? What if pastors learned to lead more effectively from within the pulpit ministry? What if church members were encouraged to take heed of the doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction they received from their pastor every Sunday? Could better expositional leadership impact the maturity and trajectory of the church and preserve ministry resources?

On today’s episode, we have invited Dr. Scott Pace, provost of the College at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He and Jim Shaddix have recently authored a book called Expositional Leadership: Shepherding God’s People from the Pulpit. We have invited Scott on the show to share some principles for preaching that will help pastors and leaders better address the needs of their church and encourage them in the work of discipleship.

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The local New Testament church is the instrument by which God is fulfilling his mission in the world today. It is a place of teaching, training, fellowship, and spiritual deployment. God has used the church for 2,000 years – in times of victory and persecution, in harvest and famine, to be his gospel ambassadors in the world.

Is it any wonder that the primary subject of Satan’s disdain is the bride of Christ? As we look at the state of the church, we discover quickly that she has not fared well in light of the enemy’s plot against her. For every two churches planted in the U.S., three churches close (Lifeway Research). Churches are dying but perhaps more concerning, they are dividing. They are dividing over culture and politics and over personal preferences. Today we have invited Pastor Troy Stogsdill, Pastor of First Baptist Church of New Philadelphia, OH to discuss how the church guards against disunity.

We sit down with Pastor Mitch Dobson, Professor of Bible Survey at Living Faith Bible Institute to discuss biblical principled efficiency in ministry in the areas of authority structures and healthy flow of communication. Mitch begins with his testimony, background in compliance within the realm of business and his current role on the pastoral team at Midtown Baptist Temple. In this episode we define the spiritual gift of "governments" (1 Cor. 12:28) and examine ways of identifying people within a body who function supernaturally in this way. Lastly, we examine the difference between principle and policy, how they differ and how they are important considerations for the local church as well as its individual ministries.

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In this episode with pastor Dan Reneau of Living Faith Lee’s Summit, we discuss from the book of Acts what a healthy church looks like. We take some time to discuss how the church in Antioch, led by Barnabas and Paul, models for us what true ministry success should look like.