Shows / The Church Renewal Podcast
The Church Renewal Podcast
The Church Renewal Podcast is a conversation for church leaders eager to see our churches refreshed by the gospel. The only fully sufficient reason that today dawned is that Jesus is yet gathering a people and using the church to do it. Come and join us as we dig into the ways Jesus is renewing his church.
Episodes
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Graciousness, Self-Awareness & Christlike Character 🌱
The fastest way to derail a church decision is to treat discernment like a technique instead of a spiritual life. We sit down to name the uncomfortable truth…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Gospel Humility
Most leadership teams don’t fail because they lack information. They fail because we walk into the room needing to be right, needing to be seen, or needing the…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Asking God Without Manipulating the Answer 🙏
Praying together can either soften a church toward God or become a polished way to avoid Him. Matt and Jeremy dig into a tension we see everywhere in church…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Can We Really Hear God Together?👂
56 churches a day closing while Jesus still calls the fields “ready for harvest” should make every pastor and church leader stop and ask one question: are we…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
When Jesus Leaves the Building 🚪
Some church decisions feel routine until they quietly become make-or-break: hiring a pastor, reshaping a ministry, closing a beloved program, reallocating…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Season 5 Preview 4: It Seemed Good to the Holy Spirit and to Us 🕊️
When you get to the end, you wanna be able to say, just like the Jerusalem Council said, "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us." Mm-hmm. That is the…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Season 5 Preview 3: The Meeting After the Meeting
Your viewpoint actually is not valuable because I'm superior to you. Have you ever watched a church meeting end in agreement only to hear the real opinions…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Season 5 Preview 2: Open Hands, Dangerous Leaders ⚠️
Hasn't this idea already led to spiritual abuse? Here is a question most churches do not ask until something has already gone wrong. What happens when a leader…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Season 5 Preview 1: When A Decision Needs Discernment 🧭
Lots of churches close every year, 15,000 or something crazy like that, which is bananas. Sometimes Jesus has just left the building, and He takes the light…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
The Next Chapter: Where Our Stories Go From Here
Start here if you’ve ever wondered why church renewal efforts stall even when the plan looks solid. We trace a quieter, deeper path: personal differentiation…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
From Anxiety To Assurance
We trace the journey from anxious reactivity to settled assurance by rooting leadership and congregational life in the Father’s love. Through gospel clarity…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
When Systems Push Back
Change rarely fails because the plan is bad; it fails because anxious systems push back. We dive into the emotional mechanics of resistance—sabotage, cutoff…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Transitions: Trust, Anxiety & the Waiting Place
We explore why pastoral transitions heighten anxiety and how those moments expose deeper issues of trust, communication, and power. With Dr. Ken Quick, we walk…
The Church Renewal PodcastDave Miles Pt 2: Repentance & Renewal in Practice
What if the pastor everyone blames isn’t the problem at all? We pull back the curtain on how church systems—not just personalities—shape culture, power, and…
The Church Renewal PodcastDave Miles Pt 1: Diagnosing the System
What if the “problem person” isn’t the problem at all? We sit down with Dr. Dave Miles of Vital Church to unpack how Family Systems Theory reveals the hidden…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Discernment & Differentiation: Led by the Spirit Pt. 2
We trace how discernment and differentiation work together to form courage, humility, and psychological safety in church leadership. Acts 15 becomes a live…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Discernment & Differentiation: Led by the Spirit Pt. 1
What if the missing link in your leadership isn’t a new strategy but a deeper way of being? We open up the connection between differentiation and discernment…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Case Study: Grace Community Church - A Fable
A slammed Bible, a 2 a.m. email, and a congregation holding its breath—our fictional case study feels uncomfortably real because the patterns are everywhere…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
The Emotional Life of a Church
Change exposes what a church feels before it reveals what a church thinks. We dive into the emotional life of congregations—why two churches with the same…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
🥳 Welcome to 2026!
Happy New Year!!! Once again, our regularly scheduled program is going delayed by 1 day to give you another little break to close out 2025 and get your feet…
The Church Renewal PodcastKen Quick Pt 2: Healing Systemic Wounds
We look at how invisible loyalties and family ledgers shape leaders, congregations, and the way power moves through a church. Ken Quick helps us trade loyalty…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
🎄 Merry Christmas! 🎁
Merry, Merry Christmas, to all of you, the best podcast audience and group of friends we could hope for. We pray that the grace of Jesus would be overflowing…
The Church Renewal PodcastKen Quick Pt 1: Invisible Loyalties & Ledgers
Hidden forces decide how we relate long before we name them. We sat down with Dr. Ken Quick to unpack Ivan Nagy’s “invisible loyalties,” a family systems lens…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Dysfunction Uncovered: What’s Really Going On
Power is always present in a church—on paper and in the room—and it’s either fueling discipleship and mission or feeding anxiety and control. We pull back the…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Differentiation in the Body: Unity Not Uniformity
When does a church’s passion for truth quietly turn into pressure to conform? We take an honest look at the difference between unity and uniformity, drawing…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Back to the Gospel: Repentance that Heals Systems
What if the real problem isn’t the conflict you can see, but the quiet anxiety beneath it—fed by image management, blame, and good things loved too much? We go…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Happy Thanksgiving!
Matt and Jeremy hope that you have a very joyful and connected and Happy Thanksgiving. We are going to be with our families today, pressing to connection, and…
The Church Renewal PodcastDan Werthman Pt. 2 - Practicing Healthier Systems
Leadership under pressure isn’t about having the sharpest argument—it’s about holding steady when anxiety spikes. We sit down with Dan Werthman to explore how…
The Church Renewal PodcastSpecial Guest: Dan Werthman Pt 1 - Triggered to Transformed
Ever wondered why the same church conflict keeps showing up with different names? We sit down with intentional interim pastor and certified Christian…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Triangles & Traps: Staying Out of the Middle
Matt and Jeremy explore triangulation as one of the most common relational patterns in families and churches, often forming unconsciously as a way of managing…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Anxiety and Leadership: Be a Circuit Breaker
We explore how anxiety moves through church systems and why leaders must act as circuit breakers who stay connected, calm, and clear under pressure. We ground…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
She Came By It Honestly: Do Your Own Work
Leaders carry family baggage—patterns of conflict avoidance, expectations and wounds—into their ministry. Family of origin dynamics shape leadership instincts…
The Church Renewal PodcastJack Shitama Pt 2: Leading Through the Anxiety
Jack Shitama joins us for part two of our conversation on family systems theory, exploring how Christian leaders can move from understanding differentiation to…
The Church Renewal PodcastSpecial Guest Jack Shitama: Leading With Courage
Jack Shitama brings clarity and wisdom to family systems theory in this transformative conversation about leadership, anxiety, and healthy church…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Let It Go: Differentiated From Outcome
Matt and Jeremy explore the concept of differentiation from outcome, revealing how pastors can remain faithful without tying their identity to ministry…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Differentiation 101: Calm, Clear, Connected
Systems naturally strive for equilibrium, but when that equilibrium is dysfunctional, it fiercely resists healthy change. We explore the foundational concepts…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
The Nature of Systems: Why status quo wins
Church systems automatically resist change even when transformation is desperately needed, creating a tension between healthy spirit-led renewal and our…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Theology of Church as Family: From Me to We
Churches, like families, instinctively resist change even when it's healthy because systems naturally seek stability—even dysfunctional stability. • Family…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Why churches break: A Theology of Depravity
Dysfunction in churches stems from humanity's fallen nature and our propensity to break relationships with God, ourselves, and others. The gospel provides the…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
🚀 We are live tomorrow
Only 24 hours left until season 4 of the church renewal podcast goes live. If you are ready to discover keys that will unlock patterns of communications…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Meet some of our guests
In edition to unpacking family systems theory, we are going to talk with several guests who have extensive personal and professional knowledge and experience…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
📢 Sneak peak at season 4
Is a discussion on family systems theory more than just a psychological exercise? Absolutely! This season we're gonna unpack concepts of differentiation…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
📆 Save the date: Season 4 coming Sept. 4!
The Church Renewal Podcast is about to drop Season 4 on September 4th. This season Jeremy and Matt will unpack the many ways that Family Systems Theory is…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
When Shepherds Need Shepherding: Chris Bowen's Story
Pastor Chris Bowen opens up about his journey stepping into a church marked by what he calls "congregational trauma" and how pastoral coaching through Flourish…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
The Unholy Trinity, and Why Jesus Has Left the Building: A Discussion with Dr. Dave Miles (Part 3)
Matt and Jeremy continue their conversation with Dr. Dave Miles Founder of Vital Church Ministry and explore what Dave calls "the unholy trinity" plaguing many…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Beer World, Lost Plots, Family Systems Theory and Church Conflict: A Discussion with Dr. Dave Miles (Part 2)
What if your church's struggles aren't really about what they appear to be? In this thought-provoking second installment with Dr. Dave Miles Founder of Vital…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Holy Resuscitation: How to Save a Dying Church: A Conversation with Dr. Dave Miles (Part 1)
Dr. Dave Miles has spent 31 years walking into church buildings where hope is dwindling, relationships are fractured, and the future seems uncertain. As…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
From Turmoil to Trust: How Columbia Presbyterian Church Found Healing
A church in crisis. A pastor who suddenly departed. Deep divisions over COVID and politics. This intimate conversation with Bill Scionella, ruling elder at…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
When Pastors Retire: Preparing for the Coming Leadership Crisis in Churches: A Conversation with Dr. Tom Harris (Part 3)
Dr. Tom Harris, President of Interim Pastor Ministries returns for the final installment of our three-part conversation, delivering powerful insights into the…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
The Strategic Journey from Pastoral Vacancy to Church Renewal: A conversation with Dr. Tom Harris from Interim Pastor Ministries (Part 2)
What happens in the critical space between pastors can determine a church's future trajectory for years to come. Dr. Tom Harris President of Interim Pastor…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Navigating Church Transitions: A Conversation with Dr. Tom Harris (Part 1)
Dr. Tom Harris, President of Interim Pastor Ministries, brings three decades of hard-won wisdom to this conversation about the critical role of transitional…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Why Your Church Shouldn't Navigate Pastor Transitions Alone
Navigating a pastoral transition represents one of the most pivotal moments in a church's life. When Grace Point Church in Pennsylvania faced this challenge…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Are You Brave Enough to Ask Jesus What's Wrong With Your Church? Part 3 of a discussion with Dr. Ken Quick
Dr. Ken Quick of Blessing Point Ministry continues his conversation with Matt and Jeremy about how Jesus speaks to His church as a corporate body and why many…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
When Jesus Disciplines His Church: Learning from History to Move Forward (Conversation 2 of 3 with Dr. Ken Quick)
The Church Renewal Podcast explores how congregations can address their corporate history and discipline in the second part of our discussion with Dr. Ken…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Jesus Still Writes Letters (And Your Church Should Read Them): A Conversation with Dr. Ken Quick (Part 1)
Dr. Ken Quick of Blessing Point Ministries joins us to discuss how Jesus speaks to churches corporately, not just to individuals, and how addressing a…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
It All Starts TOMORROW!!
Season 3.5 drops tomorrow. That means in less than 24 hours, you’ll hear the conversations that wouldn’t stay quiet. Church renewal isn’t just an idea—it’s a…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
Picking Up Where We Left Off
We’re back. Season 3.5 of *The Church Renewal Podcast* launches this Thursday. This isn’t a new season—it’s an unfinished one. We’re picking up the…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
The Conversations that Couldn't Wait
"Some of the best conversations happen *after* the episode ends. That’s why Season 3.5 exists—to bring you the insights we couldn’t leave behind. This time…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
We thought we were done... But we weren't!
You know that feeling when you finish a great conversation… but later, you realize there was so much more to say? That’s exactly what happened when we wrapped…
- The Church Renewal Podcast
What is the Future of the Church Renewal podcast?
Hey! It’s me again. Are you wondering what the future of the Church Renewal Podcast is? What ideas and topics are still out there waiting to be explored. Well…