We don’t often consider the impact of the pastor’s burnout on the pastor’s wife! I sit down with Tom and Karen Friedrichs to discuss their own journey with burnout, recovery, and how God used it to prepare them to help others in ministry. Often the wife is affected differently than her husband from his burnout. […] The post Podcast 147: Pastor Burnout and His Marriage (Tom & Karen Friedrichs) appeared first on Before You Quit ....
Apr 29, 2025•47 min
One Sunday after preaching, I found myself gravitating to a man I knew would compliment me for another great sermon. I found that I did this every Sunday. I bypassed others and went straight for my backslapping, always sermon-affirming, never-to-disappoint friend. The day I caught myself doing this was the day I realized this was […] The post Podcast 146: The Pastor and His Identity (Dr. Andreas Köstenberger) appeared first on Before You Quit ....
Apr 16, 2025•36 min
The Pastor taking a sabbatical has theological backing. God commanded the Old Testament doctrine of the Sabbath or rest to remember him as our creator and provider. Those who don’t rest tend to forget that. By resting, we join Him and his rest from creation, but it is also our way of preparing us for […] The post Podcast 145: The Pastor and His Sabbatical appeared first on Before You Quit ....
Mar 28, 2025•40 min
Pastors struggle to develop meaningful friendships. Imagine struggling, striving, and working for the good of others. But then, when you have a need, there is no one with whom you can be honest and share your heart. Many pastors are going through this. Almost all go through it eventually. In this podcast, Pastor Ken Cluck […] The post Podcast 144: Pastors and Friendships (Pastor Ken Cluck) appeared first on Before You Quit ....
Jan 16, 2025•41 min
Do you know what is worse than a salvation without assurance? It is an assurance without a salvation. According to Jesus that is what is going to be worse for many. This book has been written to give you the opportunity to assess your own story of salvation and the way Jesus has come to […] The post Podcast 143: Saving Evangelicals – When Many Say, Lord! Lord! (Pastor Joel Van Hoogen) appeared first on Before You Quit ....
Jan 09, 2025•44 min
When I heard the news of Steve Lawson’s sexual sin, I threw up my hands and said, “I give up! Is there anyone we can look up to anymore? Who is next?” If you need to find out who Steve Lawson is, he was right up there with giants like RC Sproul and John MacArthur. […] The post PODCAST 142: The Story of Steve Lawson (Dan and Mitch) appeared first on Before You Quit ....
Dec 10, 2024•36 min
The nation of India has over 1.4 billion people. There are 2,289–2,554 groups that are considered unreached, meaning that less than 2% of the people in those groups follow Jesus. In this podcast, I interview Dan (last name withheld) to discuss his ministry of training pastors in India. Dan and the ministry he serves travel […] The post Podcast Ep.141 The Church in India (Daniel) appeared first on Before You Quit ....
Nov 11, 2024•51 min
Many of us get stuck when we see contradictions in the Bible. Pastor John Fogal argues that exceptions in the Bible are never contradictions. This podcast interview will open a window to worship an amazing God who made the greatest exception ever when he extended to us redemption. John W. Fogal lives in Ft. Wayne, […] The post Podcast 140: Contradictions in the Bible (John Fogal) appeared first on Before You Quit ....
Sep 16, 2024•39 min
In the five previous podcasts we reviewed Dr. Rob Reimer’s Soul Care Ministry and teachings. It is appropriate that we follow those up with a discussion of spiritual abuse in the church. I had the honor of interviewing Dawn Hill for this podcast on this subject. Dawn Hill is a Christian blogger known as The Lovesick Scribe, […] The post Podcast 139: Spiritual Abuse in the Church (Dawn Hill) appeared first on Before You Quit ....
Aug 31, 2024•47 min
In this final podcast reviewing Dr. Rob Reimer’s Soul Care Ministry, Rev. Mark Barnard of Blessing Point Ministry joins the conversation with Dan Stegeman and me. We discuss Dr. Reimer’s teachings that Christians can be indwelt by demons and we offer a biblical response. To listen to the first podcast on Soul Care, click here. To […] The post Podcast 138: Christians and Demons (Dr. Rob Reimer’s Soul Care Ministry) appeared first on Before You Quit ....
Aug 22, 2024•1 hr 9 min
For the past few weeks, we have been doing an in depth critique of Rob Reimer’s Soul Care ministry. We have attempted to show why this ministry is unbiblical and even dangerous. In this podcast, we want to continue our review with a first hand account of an individual who attended a Soul Care Conference […] The post Podcast 137: Attending a Soul Care Conference (The story of Brooke and Jonathan Gangi) appeared first on Before You Quit ....
Aug 08, 2024•1 hr 24 min
Dan and I continued our conversation reviewing Dr. Rob Reimer’s Soul Care Ministry, today discussing his chapter on Inner Wounds. How does healing really happen? You’re deeply affected by childhood trauma, or abused as a child. This has left you struggling through life, often unable to trust others. Relationships are hard, and marriages affected.You find […] The post Podcast 136: Dr. Rob Reimer, Soul Care Part 3 (Healing Wounds) appeared first on Before You Quit ....
Aug 01, 2024
Most of us are unfamiliar with the Church of Christ. There is one in our town, and from all appearance it looks like any other ordinary church. When you dig into their beliefs, however, there are serious concerns. For a thorough review of the Church of Christ, read this article from Got Questions here. My […] The post Podcast 135: Leaving the Church of Christ (Pastor Gary Phillips) appeared first on Before You Quit ....
Jul 17, 2024•40 min
My cohost, Dan Stegeman and I continue our review of Soul Care Ministry by Dr. Rob Reimer. This podcast comes out of the desire to be discerning. We are instructed in scripture to test everything being taught and compare it to scripture. The apostle John writes, “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits […] The post Podcast 134: A Review of Dr. Rob Reimer’s Soul Care Teaching (Part Two) appeared first on Before You Quit ....
Jul 08, 2024•1 hr 17 min
This podcast comes out of the desire to be discerning. We are instructed in scripture to test everything being taught and compare it to scripture. The apostle John writes, “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world” […] The post Podcast 133: A Review of Dr. Rob Reimer’s Soul Care Ministry appeared first on Before You Quit ....
Jul 02, 2024•46 min
More than ever, as society around us devalues marriage, the church needs to respond with biblical conviction. While most statistics indicate that divorce is nearly as high among professing Christians from the secular world, we are also discovering that Christians who attend church regularly have a far better chance of surviving the enemies attempts at […] The post Podcast 132: Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage (Pastor Dan Samms) appeared first on Before You Quit ....
Jun 18, 2024•47 min
I grew up to missionary parents in Papua, Indonesia, formerly, Iran Jaya. My parents served there for thirty-eight years, most of those years with a primitive tribe in the Paniai Lakes region. After World War Two, hundreds of missionaries moved to Papua and a large community of churches was planted. My parents’ main role was […] The post Episode 131: Church Crisis in Papua (Barry Jordan) appeared first on Before You Quit ....
May 18, 2024•33 min
How does the church remain strong on its convictions, but convey love? How do parents respond when their adult children come out as homosexual? Do you attend a gay wedding? What do you do when your son or daughter wants to bring their partner home? Jim Domen addresses these questions, but also tells his story […] The post Podcast Ep.130: The Church and Homosexuality (Jim Domen) appeared first on Before You Quit ....
May 08, 2024•43 min
We continue our series on the twenty-plus-year pastor. What keeps a pastor serving even when the road gets rough? How does one stay resilient during seasons of little growth, opposition and even disappointments and loss? Have you ever considered that pastoring can be mundane? How do you keep yourself passionate about preaching and shepherding? What a […] The post Podcast Ep.129: The 20+ Year Pastor (Pastor Kevin Hurt) appeared first on Before You Quit ....
May 03, 2024•28 min
We continue our series on the twenty-plus-year pastor. What keeps a pastor serving even when the road gets rough? How does one stay resilient during seasons of little growth, opposition and even disappointments and loss? Have you ever considered that pastoring can be mundane? How do you keep yourself passionate about preaching and shepherding? What a […] The post Podcast Ep.128: The 20+ Year Pastor (Pastor Milan Dekich) appeared first on Before You Quit ....
Apr 29, 2024•34 min
We continue our series on the twenty-plus-year pastor. What keeps a pastor serving even when the road gets rough? How does one stay resilient during seasons of little growth, opposition and even disappointments and loss? Have you ever considered that pastoring can be mundane? How do you keep yourself passionate about preaching and shepherding? What […] The post Podcast Ep.127: The 20+ Year Pastor (Chuck Wall) appeared first on Before You Quit ....
Apr 22, 2024•31 min
Someone suggested to me recently that I interview pastors who have served in one church for twenty or more years. Great idea, I chimed. It’s actually a great subject. Most pastors don’t last five years in a church, some might stretch it to seven, or ten, but twenty? That just doesn’t happen often. There must […] The post Podcast Ep.126: The 20+ Year Pastor (Mike Franklin) appeared first on Before You Quit ....
Apr 17, 2024•45 min
In this podcast I interview author Mark Barnard on his book, The Corporate Church; Why We Need to Get Our House in Order. We live in a very individualistic time, where we fail to see God’s relationship to us as a corporate body. Many churches are hurting because they don’t understand what is causing their […] The post Podcast Ep.125: The Corporate Church (Mark Barnard) appeared first on Before You Quit ....
Apr 09, 2024•48 min
Pastor’s often meet together and talk shop. It takes a certain level of trust, though, for us to talk about matters of the heart than issues of the Church. I wrote this booklet, Building A Community of Trust: Eleven Things Pastors Struggle With, but Rarely Talk About with the aim of helping ministry leaders get […] The post Podcast Ep.124: Eleven Things Pastors Struggle With but Rarely Talk About, and How to Change That. (Mitch & Dan) appeared first on Before You Quit ....
Apr 01, 2024•48 min
When you think of race and the church you likely think of the turmoil in our nation in 2020. It woke the church up, and we found ourselves asking if we are doing a good enough job understanding race, and appreciating the stories of those who hold different ethnicities than we do. How does the […] The post Podcast Ep.123: Grace, Race and the Church (Pastor Tom Sugimura) appeared first on Before You Quit ....
Feb 13, 2024•31 min
It was AW Tozer who wrote that “what we think about God, is the most important thing about us.” Paul in 1 Timothy 4:16 tells Timothy to, “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.” What we believe, matters. What we believe […] The post Podcast Ep.122: Working Out Your Salvation, what it really means (Rev. John Fogal) appeared first on Before You Quit ....
Feb 07, 2024•57 min
Pastoring is one of the hardest jobs around. Just ask any of us. The expectations and pressures can at times become nearly unbearable. Having said that, putting the two words, PASTORING and PTSD (okay, that’s an abbreviation, not a word, but I regress) is a surprising combination of realities. But it’s all two real; many pastors […] The post Podcast Ep.121: The Pastor and PTSD (Sean Nemecek) appeared first on Before You Quit ....
Jan 30, 2024•39 min
BYQ has tackled the subject of the Alliance decision to ordain women on several podcasts. While a number of Alliance churches have left over the decision, some desire to remain and by remaining, seek to influence change. In this BYQ podcast, Pastor Jeremy Muncy and I discuss the formation of 1:9 Alliance and its purpose. […] The post Podcast Ep.120: The Alliance; Changing From the Inside (Pastor Jeremy Muncy) appeared first on Before You Quit ....
Jan 25, 2024•56 min
My cohost Dan Stegeman and I sit down together to discuss the history, the purpose and the impact of the first ten years of Fruitful Vine Ministry. Did you know the name comes from Genesis 49:22-24( NIV)? Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall. With bitterness archers […] The post Podcast Ep. 119: What is Fruitful Vine Ministry (Mitch and Dan) appeared first on Before You Quit ....
Jan 24, 2024•48 min
I’ve interviewed Ken Sande twice before on his ministry of Peacemaking. Here, in this podcast, Ken shares the most wonderful story of how Jesus proved himself to be the great Peacemaker, when Ken’s own father, a judge, embrace the gospel, (or was embraced by the gospel) moments before he died. Ken and I talk about his […] The post Podcast Ep.118: FINDING JESUS AT THE MOMENT OF DEATH (Ken Sande) appeared first on Before You Quit ....
Jan 12, 2024•43 min
