Are you at the end of your rope? Today we discuss how to know you are close to running out of rope and what to do about it. PLUS: Preacher Myths. Will the lion lay down with the lamb? Did Paul fall of his horse on the Damascus Road? Did Mary ride a donkey to Bethlehem? Did Jesus leave a coded message in His tomb with a folded napkin? Does sparing the rod spoil the child? We will cover these preaching myths and more!

Welcome to episode 14 of the Every Church Flourishing Podcast, sponsored by the Great Commission Association of California. If you are a California pastor or church leader looking for a home - get in touch with us through our website GCASBC.org - we would love to partner with you!

Today Senior Director of the GCA Dr. Mike Stewart and I interview Pastor Grant Combs of Lighthouse Baptist in Seaside, California. In addition to pastoring Lighthouse, Grant is an ambassador to other pastors and church leaders, and he is going to help us know when disaster is coming, and some practical steps to avoid disaster in ministry.

We have upcoming episodes on women in ministry, with Dr. Kristen Ferguson Vice President of Gateway Seminary, mom, pastor's wife, lady in ministry, and expert on the Christian use of AI. We will also be talking to Dr. Cathie Smith about women in ministry and women on mission coming very soon AND we are recording with Dr. Cameron Schweitzer, the director of Gateway Seminary's campus in San Liandro, this week, and we've got lots more great guests lined up also.

Lions lying Down with Lambs? The Danger of Preacher Myths and Urban Legends.

Credibility and integrity are important, and I don't think that any real Christian would disagree with that statement. Jesus spoke the truth, and identified Himself as a truth-teller in John 8. In fact, He noted that some of the Jews wanted to kill Him because He told them the truth. The truth isn't always popular. Today we examine five "preacher myths," that may not be true.

2000 years of amazing preaching advice from John Piper to John Chrysostom, from Tim Keller to Augustine and Gregory the Great, From Martyn Lloyd Jones to Haddon Robinson to Gregory the Great to Thabiti Anyabwile, we've got ELEVEN fantastic tips to help YOU teach and preach the Word of God better. Not only that, but we have some amazing stories in this episode too, such as:

What preacher railed at his listeners for buying solid silver toilets? What preacher and future Pope tried to escape from the Roman Emporer in a wicker basket? What Evangelical icon preferred beer over water and NAMED HIMSELF after a dead dog? What famous pastor desired to be a doctor, but a severe bout with mononucleosis in college changed his mind, causing us to miss out on 2000 episodes of the possibly awesome Ask Doctor John Podcast?? You will find this AND MORE on this BONUD episode of the Every Church Flourishing Podcast.

This episode takes listeners on a fast-moving tour through nearly two thousand years of Christian wisdom on preaching and teaching, gathering counsel from church fathers, classic pastors, and modern evangelical voices. The central claim is simple: truly effective preaching has not fundamentally changed. Across the centuries, the best counsel still calls preachers to be prayerful, biblical, heartfelt, holy, and courageously faithful rather than clever, trendy, or applause-driven.

The episode begins with Augustine, who reminds us that preaching is born first in prayer, not in performance. Before becoming "a man of words," the preacher must become a man of prayer, drawing deeply from God before attempting to pour truth into others. From there, Thabiti Anyabwile brings the same warning into the present: a preacher without a Bible has no authority, and a preacher must never go beyond what God has actually said. Scripture governs both the substance and the limits of faithful preaching.

John Chrysostom adds a needed rebuke for every age: preaching must aim at pierced hearts, not amused intellects. Sermons are not meant to be religious entertainment or polished performances designed to win praise. Martyn Lloyd-Jones echoes that concern in a different register, insisting that preaching is theology coming through a man who is on fire and that its goal is to give people a sense of God and His presence. Together, they remind us that preaching should be spiritually weighty, not merely interesting or impressive.

Gregory the Great shifts the emphasis to the preacher's life. Those who teach others must first be corrected by the truth themselves. Hypocrisy in the pulpit is not a minor flaw; it is a scandal. Augustine returns later with another practical insight: do not drone on endlessly, and do not preach without real feeling. Preaching should be animated by genuine enthusiasm born from a heart gripped by the beauty and urgency of God's Word.

The modern voices deepen the same themes. Tim Keller argues that a good sermon should cut to the heart like a sword, not club the will into external compliance. John Piper describes preaching as "expository exultation," joining exposition and worship so that the sermon becomes truth proclaimed with wonder. C.S. Lewis closes with a sharp warning against tailoring Christianity to public demand. The preacher's job is not to guess what people want to hear, but to faithfully proclaim what God has said. The bonus insight from Haddon Robinson then adds a practical challenge: sermons need clarity, unity, and focus, not scattered good ideas. Altogether, the episode argues that the best preaching across the centuries is not man-centered performance, but God-centered proclamation that is prayerful, biblical, holy, vivid, and aimed at transformation.

Today Pastor Christopher Cole of the Great Commission Association and Dr. Chase Thompson discuss mental health among church leaders, how to lead without wearing people out, great preaching tips, helping people to tap into Jesus for rest, AND we review Dirty Dew Soda!

"He must become a man of prayer before he becomes a man of words." Augustine on preaching.
From this episodes great tips on preaching from ancients and moderns section.

Is there a mental health crisis among pastors and church leaders?

In just a few years, the percentage of pastors self-reporting excellent emotional well-being dropped from 40 percent to 15 percent. What could explain such a fast and precipitous drop?

If you are a pastor or church leader, your calling FIRST AND FOREMOST is to help people tap into Christ, the Source of Life, as opposed to assimilating them into the life of the church. Both are important, and both are biblical, but abiding in Christ must come first and be foremost.

Jesus did not say, "Come unto me and get busy," He did say, "Come unto Me, and I will give you rest." If we aren't regularly sabbathing our souls, we are missing out on one of the great invitations of Christ.

How classical spiritual disciplines can be a key component of reversing pastor's mental and emotional health slides.

Andy Addis - Rhythms of Rest.

How pastors can overdrive and wear out church members, and how NOT to do that!

How thriving in ministry can sometimes kill your marriage when priorities are out of order.

You can NOT be great at EVERYTHING, because you are HUMAN, and humans have LIMITATIONS. God is one who does not sleep - we MUST rest and we SHOULD rest and rest is a GIFT from God!

The dangers of being too busy for quiet times.

Lectio 365 - Morning noon and evening prayer

The biblical command for pastors and church leaders to enjoy life.

It is hard to have a healthy relationship with your spouse if you are overcommitted.

Wisdom from Ecclesiastes and the Psalms for Christians struggling with mental and emotional health, and how the Psalms are battlers of anxiety in your life.

How can pastors lead, encourage and exhort church members WITHOUT overdriving them or being a slave driver?? (

Healthy and Christ-honoring alternatives to pastors' guilt-tripping those who are already overwhelmed.

"They don't need you to bandaid their gaping wound; they need you to be present in their grief."

Dr. Michael Stewart, the head of California's Great Commission Association of Churches, and podcast host Dr. Chase Thompson interview Dr. Chris Smith, a former missionary and current leader of the Great Commission Training Institution, an online ministry training school, and Pastor Grant Combs, the pastor of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Seaside, California. We are talking about relationships in the church. How can pastors and leaders cultivate deep friendships inside the church, and how can pastors protect their families well inside the church? The advantage of having great deacons. How can introverts in the church manage over-peopling? How can pastors and church leaders make deep friends that are safe to confide in?

Dr. Chris Smith: "If I'm not in a good place, if I'm not serving and ministering from the overflow of what God is doing in my life, and that includes the community of others and the love that I have for others, then it's not going to be real. And it's not going to be a place where we can truly see God work in a miraculous way that we have that genuine community that's around us."

Podcast by the Great Commission Association. GCASBC.Net - NEW WEBSITE. If you are a pastor looking for a team - a family - we want to hear from you!

In the second half of the podcast, we talk deeply about grief, and how to help those who are grieving.

Liquid Death Cereal Criminal Fruity Pebbles flavor. Upcoming: Cheerwine and Irn-Bru, the soda "Made in Scotland from Girders". But not tonight because caffeine. "You think you're about to be in Heaven, but then the aftertaste kicks in, and you realize you are in soda purgatory."

"They don't need you to bandaid their gaping wound; they need you to be present in their grief."

We know about Good Friday...What about Saturday? What happened on that Silent Saturday as the disciples stewed in their hopelessness? They weren't waiting for anything, because it really appeared that they did NOT believe Jesus would be coming back on Sunday. Indeed, the only reason the women went to the graveside is that they needed to embalm and prepare His body for permanent burial, and they couldn't do that the day He died, because the Sabbath began that evening, and they didn't have time, and they couldn't work on the Sabbath.

Like the despairing disciples on the day before Jesus' resurrection, many of us are in the reality of grieving bewilderment. The reality of living in a very long, extended Friday, and a seemingly silent Saturday. We are believers in Christ. We trust Him. We look to Him. We believe His resurrection, but grief screams loudly in our lives. Sometimes - often - it is the only sound we can hear. Maybe we've lost a child, maybe we've lost a spouse. Maybe we are overwhelmed by injustice in the world, or more likely, a terrible injustice in our own life, and like MLK, we begin to doubt. Our heart begins to slide away and become cold. We stare at the walls like the disciples did on Silent Saturday in deep and utter despair.

Our focus today is on relationships in the church and the loneliness epidemic among pastors and church leaders. Hosted by Dr. Chase Thompson and Dr. Mike Stewart with guests Dr. Chris Smith of the Great Commission Training Institution, and Lighthouse Baptist pastor Grant Combs.

In today's roundtable, we discuss relationships in the church, and hit on some very important questions: Can pastors have deep friendships with church members? How are deep-rooted friendships made? There is a combination of factors that work together to keep pastors isolated…how can pastors and church leaders guard against that?

We will also talk about the loneliness epidemic among pastors, and how most pastors, who are generally men, and don't admit their problems and pains easily, usually just hero-up and pretend like everything is fine when they are starved for deep friendships and relationships. Finally, we will close out with a delicious soda review AND give you a top ten list of best quotes on the Resurrection of Jesus that YOU can use in your Easter sermon this week!

This week we continue our talk with counselor Immanuel Marsh about burnout, and helping church leaders and pastors stay healthy spiritually and emotionally. Can pastors have deep friendships with people in their churches? How do leaders cover up their burnout? What are signs burnout is imminent? ALSO: Top online apologetics YouTube channels, how to defend your faiht during Easter season and a review of the mysteriously appearing Inca Kola - which got an astounding score!

We have a great discussion today on a sneaky enemy of church leaders, a potentially delicious soda to review, a resource for church leaders that sells for $60, and we will tell you how to get it for free, AND, we will review the top 5 books on the resurrection of Jesus to get you ready for resurrection day - Easter - and also throw in a couple of bonuses.

"I've known that pastors kind of play things close to the vest in general.But I didn't realize how isolating that was. I thought that was just kind of part of the gig. That's just what you do."

Should pastors be more private with church members, or more vulnurable and authentic?

"I like to be me all the time, for better or worse. I don't want to have to look respectable to the congregation and then be dying

on the inside. or, you know, that's just my philosophy of ministry."

"There's an unhealthy way to do it also, where you don't have any personal boundaries, but my bent is that openness is better."

"I don't think anybody is particularly helped by me looking like I have it all together. And so, but it varies. There are those congregations who will eat you alive if they have personal information, but I just, I don't know if I worry about that."

"It is fatiguing. It is emotionally hard to try to put on a face,

a front, and to act like you're some sort of a different person."