In high school, Matt was a National Merit finalist who enrolled at the University of Iowa as a journalism major. But after hearing God’s call, he transferred to Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri. Now instead of broadcasting the bad news, he’s proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ. Matt has served as a youth minister, preaching minister, Bible college professor and is now president of Ozark Christian College. He was the president of the 2013 North American Christian Convention and he serves as a contributing editor for Christian Standard magazine. His writing includes two books, Finish-Line Faith and Victorious.  He enjoys reading, cheering for the St. Louis Cardinals, and traveling widely to preach about Jesus. Matt is especially grateful to God for his wife Katie and their six children—Luke, Lydia, Clara, Carl, Conrad and Caroline.

In this episode we have an in depth conversation with David Fincher about Central Christian College of the Bible. We talk about how CCCB is serving the needs of churches in training men and women for ministry. We cover the changes taking place in ministry as well as the growing demand to fill the ministry needs of churchs, as well as some very practical solutions. We hope you find the converstaion to be helpful!

Travis Roehm is one of the pastors at Adventure Christian Community in Davenport. I got him to hangout and talk about ministry. We are really not experts in anything, just two guys serving Jesus in the local church. We took some time to review what we learned from ministry this last year as well as project where things are headed for leading churches in 2024. We hope you find it helpful!

Dan is the Lead Pastor at Pathway Church in Johnston, Iowa. In this episode we talk about his connection with Hippo Valley Christian Mission in Zimbabwe, Africa. We cover the Kingdom work that is taking place in this spiriually hungry country and how the mission there has impacted Dan and the church. If you are interested in learning more about the work taking place in Zimbabwe feel free to contact Dan (dhudson@thepathonline.org)

We also talk about the upcoming, Real Men Iowa event coming up: 

Josh has been living in India since 2008 and has a passion to see the Kingdom of God spread throughout the world. He is overseeing the church planting school at Central India Christian Mission (CICM), which prepares church planters to go to unreached areas in India and the surrounding countries. In 2015, he launched a branch of the ministry called Ignite, which has seen over 10,000 churches started in eight years! Josh also serves as the regional director of Central Asia for the NewThing Network. He has a Master of Arts in Missional Church Movements from Wheaton College and is the co-author of the books Christian Extremism: A Life Worth Dying For and Igniting Movements: Multiplying Churches in Dark Places. He is most thankful for his wife Lashi, his two sons Josiah and Jeremiah, and his daughter Zara.

Spent Matches - Roy Moran

The Spirit & The Star Fish - Rob Wegner

From Mega Church to Multipication - Chris Galanos

In The Way: Church As We Know It Can Be A Discipleship Movement (Again) - Damian Gerke

T4T: D Discipleship Re-revolution - Kai Ying

Contagious Disciple Making - David & Paul Watson

e3partners.org

indiamission.org

Guy Hammond is the director of Strength in Weakness. This Christian organization helps bridge the gap between the Christian community and the LGBTQ community through awareness, education and support. 

Guy, a minister for more than 25 years, has taught over 100,000 people in churches, universities, and faith-based groups around the world. He has authored six books, including Gay & Christian? his most recent. 

Click here to register for Catalyst 2023

Check out Strength in Weakness ministry.

One of the shifts we are making with the ministry of CEM is to help equip church leaders to be disciple makers. The Bonhoeffer Project offers the perfect platform to help accomplish that goal. In this podcast you will listen to Dan Leitz, President & CEO of The Bonhoeffer Project talk about how Bonhoeffer turns leaders into disciple makers. 

Dan Leitz:

Dan is the lead pastor at Calvary Chapel Oceanside, in Oceanside California where he has been serving for over 13 years. He has been married to his wife Nicole for 17 years and they have 4 amazing children together - Qorban, Bryden, Elias, and Savanna. Aside from his role as lead pastor and teacher, Dan has a passion to see people trained up to be disciple-making leaders. Dan found his passion for making disciple-makers through his discovery of The Bonhoeffer Project in 2019 when a friend asked him to attend the National Disciple Making Forum. Since this discovery, Dan has dedicated his life to the pursuit of seeing the Great Commission come to fruition in every aspect of his life and ministry.

Email: dan@thebonhoefferproject.com

thebonhoefferproject.com

In this episode of the Iowa Church Leaders Podcast we talk with Renée Sproles about gender and the roles of men and women in the church. Here's the bio from Renew.org about Renée:

Renée Webb Sproles is from Murfreesboro, TN, where she directed The School of Christian Thought for five years at North Boulevard Church. She is a 15-year homeschool veteran. She is also a founder and co-director of the Discipleship Tutorial in Murfreesboro, where she has taught government, economics, personal finance, health, study skills, English grammar, and writing. She is the mother of two grown children, Houston and Emma, who is married to Thomas Goodwyn. With her husband, David, Renée has co-taught parenting classes for 20 years and currently teaches a marriage and family class of 100 students each week. Renée is the author of On Gender: What the Bible Says about Men and Women (Renew, 2019).

Make sure and check out Renew.org to purchase any of these resources. 

Just Ask Your Mom Podcast

In this episode we talk about Mike's (mike@renew.org) story, especially his time ministering in China. We also focus on what the ministery of Renew.org is all about and how you can utilize their wide array of rescources. To learn more check out Renew.org 

In this episode of the podcast we feature former CEM Director Rod Roberts. You will catch up with what Rod has been doing since leaving CEM up until his recent retirement. There is also a look back into the history of not only CEM but the Restoration Movement in the state of Iowa. 

Chad Halbach gives an update on what is happening with CEM from the last year. He also talks about the strategy CEM is working on to develop a church planting, disciplemaking culture in the state of Iowa. Lastly he addresses his 40-20-10 vision for Iowa and what he is working to accompish in the next decade. Make sure and take a few minutes and check out CEMchurchplanting.org. 

In this episode of the Iowa Church Leaders Podcast we listen to five preachers explain what it was like to collaborate on a sermon series together. The preachers include, Derek Olsen (New Testament Christian Church in Keokuk, Iowa), Kirk Evans (Indianola Church of Christ), Paul Steele (Bethlehem Church, Austin, Minnesota), Tony Brand (Central Church of Christ, Griswold, Iowa), and Tom Steele (Iowa City Church). If you would like more information about the Iowa Church Leaders Preaching Cohort send an email to tomsteele@iowacitychurch.org.

Jason is currently the associate teaching pastor at Antioch Christian Church in Marion, Iowa. He is transitioning into the postion of Lead Pastor. 

Jason was called to ministry at 12 and is doing exactly what he loves to do the most. He and his wife Brittney were married in 2006 and have 4 children. He graduated from St. Louis Christian College with a B.A. in Preaching and later from Lincoln Christian University with an M.A. in Church History/Historical Theology. If there’s anything you should know about him, it’s that he doesn’t do anything halfway. From ministry to a handful of ridiculous hobbies, he’s all in. Just ask him what he did to his kid’s power wheels toy.

Jim will be our main presenter at the upcoming Catalyst Iowa Conference on October 15. In this episode we talk about the changes taking place with Lincoln Christian University & Seminary and the roll the Institue will play going forward.  We focus most of the time on the role of elders and elder development, as well as highlighting some of the topics Jim will be addressing at Catalyst.

James Riley Estep, Jr., Ph.D.
Dean, Lincoln Christian Institute  Lincoln Christian University (Illinois)
Professor of Christian Education, Lincoln Christian Seminary
Resources Director  e2: Effective Elders Ministries
Affiliate Professor of Qualitative Research  Johnson University
Adjunct Professor of Ed. Ministries & Leadership Dallas Theological
Seminary

Check out this conversation with Mike Murphy, the Camp Director for Central Iowa Bible Camp.  We cover a wide variety of topics about ministry, the importance of church camp, and the impact camp can have on this generation.  Take a few minutes and check it out!

https://www.centraliowabiblecamp.org/

In this episode we talk with Jesse Barnett and learn about his coaching platform, Digital Disciplehsip.  Jesse helps teach pastors and church leaders on how the can maximize the content they prepare for Sunday, and utilize it on social media all week.  Take a few minutes and check out what he has to say, it's very helpful! 

To learn more, check out

https://digitaldiscipleshipcoaching.com/

or send him an email: jesse@95network.com

In this podcast you get a chance to meet Chad Halbach, the new director for CEM.  You will hear about Chad's story, why Iowa is special to him, and the vision he has for CEM going forward.  Take a few minutes and check it out, we know that you  will find it helpful!

https://www.strengthinweakness.org/

Guy's book:

Gay and Christian?

Chad Ragsdale joined the faculty at Ozark Christian College in 2005. He teaches primarily in the areas of Christian apologetics, philosophy, and biblical interpretation. In 2020, Chad was named the new Academic Dean of the institution. Chad has been married to his wife Tara since 2001 and has three kids, Logan, Adeline, and Ryane. He has a BA in preaching and an M.Div in contemporary theology both from Lincoln Christian University. He has a D.Min in engaging mind and culture from Talbot School of Theology.

Book Recommendations from the podcast:

Christian Convictions ~ Chad Ragsdale

https://www.amazon.com/Christian-Convictions-Discerning-Essential-Important/dp/1949921514/ref=sr_1_2?crid=UA0NTBJRWIUR&keywords=christian+convictions+chad+ragsdale&qid=1639610514&sprefix=Christian+Convictions%2Caps%2C193&sr=8-2

The Coddling of the American Mind ~ Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt

https://www.thecoddling.com/

Bobby is the point-leader of Renew.org and Discipleship.org, both collaborative, disciple-making organizations. He is the founding and lead pastor of Harpeth Christian Church (by the Harpeth River, just outside of Nashville, TN). He has an M.A.R. and an M.Div. from Harding School of Theology and a Doctor of Ministry degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of more than 10 books on discipleship, including Discipleshift (with Jim Putman and Robert Coleman), The Disciple Maker’s Handbook (with Josh Patrick) and Becoming a Disciple Maker: The Pursuit of Level 5 Disciple Making (with Greg Weins). He lives in the greater Nashville area with his wife and near his children and grandchildren.

Go to Renew.org to register for the upcoming Renew Gathering in Nashville on November 3rd 2021.