Great preaching and communicating require a lot of hard work, and you’re willing to put in that work! This podcast is dedicated to bringing you experts in their field, through interviews, which will help you hone in on developing clear messages. These conversations will
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INTERVIEWS
PREACHING AND COMMUNICATING FOR CHURCH LEADERS
Each episode we bring you a new Church Leader, each outstanding in their fields, with fresh insight and thoughtful applications on how they approach their craft. Each interview brings passionate discussion about reaching our congregations through Biblical Applications, whatever your style or process may be.
Ep. 13 | Reza Zadeh and Digging In To Who God Created You To Be
Welcome back to the Clarity podcast for the second episode of 2020. We’re so excited to bring you another episode that strives to bring you insight and applications for communicating and preaching. Today we have an awesome guest with us, Reza Zadeh. Reza played football at Colorado State University (Go Rams!), pastored at Timberline Church in Fort Collins, CO, and in 2014, he and his wife Allyson joined staff with Athletes in Action. Listen in today as Craig and Reza discuss communicating with clarity to a variety of audiences, the amount of emphasis we place on sports in our culture and our role within that, as well as digging into who God created us to be, individually. You don’t want to miss this.
Ep. 12 | Jud Wilhite and Crossing Your Barrier
Hey, it’s 2020! We are so excited to dive back into Clarity, which is designed to improve and shepherd those looking to grow in their preaching and communicating skills as church leaders. Today, we have Jud Wilhite, who for 17 years, has been the Lead Pastor of Central Church in Las Vegas, NV. Jud is a best-selling author who has written several books including Uncaged, The God of Yes, Pursued, and a study Bible for new believers, The Uncensored Truth Bible for New Beginnings. Listen in today as Craig and Jud discuss reaching people in dark places, how teaching practical, Biblical applications can have a big impact, and what it looks like to “be liked” versus being “followed”. What a way to kick off 2020, we’re so excited to bring you this conversation!
Ep. 11 | Jeff Lucas and The Art of Preaching
Welcome back to our Clarity podcast with Craig Smith, designed to improve and shepherd those looking to grow in their preaching and communicating skills as church leaders. Today, we have Jeff Lucas from Timberline Church in Fort Collins, CO. Jeff Lucas is an international author, speaker, and broadcaster. His passion is to equip the Church with practical Bible teaching, marked by vulnerability and humor. Listen in today as he and Craig cover a variety of topics from how to be self-aware and self-reflective to the intricacies that make up the of the art(s) of preaching. You don’t want to miss this one.
Ep. 10 | Michael Fletcher on The Head, The Heart, and The Hand
Welcome back to the Clarity Podcast with our host Craig Smith. Today we have an amazing guest on, Michael Fletcher. Michael has served Manna Church as Senior Pastor for over thirty years. In that time, he has seen the church grow from 350 members in 1985 to almost 9,000 members in 2017! Listen in today as Craig and Michael tackle preaching in the context of multi-site, shoulder tapping those around you to serve, and a whole lot more. You don’t want to miss this one.
Ep. 9 | Scott Rideout and Leadership in Preaching
We’re glad to have you back for our ninth episode on our Clarity podcast, preaching and communicating for church leaders. Today, we have Scott Rideout on the podcast, an old friend of the show. Scott Rideout is the current President of Converge Worldwide, a movement of churches working to help people meet, know and follow Jesus (of which Mission Hills Church belongs to). Tune in today as Craig and Scott discuss where preaching is today, how it plays into leadership, and practical applications of those. You won’t want to miss this one.
Ep. 8 | Leith Anderson and Engaging a Changing Culture
Welcome back to another incredible conversation here on Clarity, a podcast all about preaching and communicating for church leaders. Today, we have a titan in his field, someone we’ve been looking forward to talking to for a long time, Leith Anderson. Leith is the President of the National Association of Evangelicals, while he and Craig met while Craig was just beginning as faculty at Denver Seminary. Listen in today as they discuss how culture has changed, what it looks like to engage that culture, and the pieces that we (as preachers) need to hold on fast to!
Ep. 7 | Greg Stier and The Centrality of the Gospel
We are so excited to welcome you back to Clarity after a small hiatus. Today, we welcome on a very special guest, one with a very unique perspective on preaching. Greg Stier is the founder and leader fo an organization called Dare 2 Share Ministries and has had a profound impact on the Church, not only in youth ministry. Craig and Greg cover a wide range of topics from the centrality of the Gospel in their preaching to the impact that you can have on ministry when you’re precise and clear in your communication. You won’t want to miss this one!
Ep. 6 | Mike Romberger and Unlocking Passion
Glad to have you back on the Clarify podcast for our sixth episode. We try and get these out on the second Monday of the month, but sometimes ministry happens. Today, we have an old friend on the podcast that we’ve been looking forward to since the genesis of this podcast, Mike Romberger. Mike is an old friend of Mission Hills, the staff and the congregation as he was the senior pastor before Craig came on to staff. Mike has some amazing insight on what it looks like to lead a small church through exponential growth, laying out a foundation to build growing ministries upon, and delivered a fun, sweater-vest filled perspective on life from the pulpit. Listen in as Craig and Mike talk about everything from filling big shoes to establishing solid vision for a hungry congregation.
Ep. 5 | Chris Brown and A Fresh Leadership Approach
Welcome to our first episode of the 2019 year. We are publishing this episode a week late due to the craziness of the Christmas season, as everyone can relate. On this episode, we welcome in Chris Brown, the co-Lead Pastor from North Coast Church in beautiful San Diego, California. Chris is in a unique role, sharing leadership duties and pastoral roles at the forefront of his church with Larry Osborne (to hear our conversation with Larry, head back to Ep. 1 | Laddy Osborne on Dripping Wisdom). Chris is a wonderful leader who is passionate about having fun with your ministry and its direction while being clear on international communicating. Join us today as Craig and Chris dive into what it looks like to bring people, “into the story” as communicators as well as stressing the importance of fundamental truths. You don’t want to miss this one!
Ep. 4 | Chad Moore on BEING the Church
Welcome to our final episode of the 2018 year! Today’s guest is Chad Moore, the Lead Pastor from Sun Valley Community Church in Arizona. Chad is an amazing communicator and a guy that really thinks a lot about what he does when he’s preaching, and who he’s reaching. He’s very intentional in planning out he thoughts, how they’re going to be received, and how he can work in comic book references, “trojan horsed” and spiritual road signs! He’s funny, he’s a great friend and an even better speaker. Tune in as Craig and Chad discuss what modern churches are marching towards, what it means to BE the church, and how to preach in such a way that creates culture, and moves “vision” forward.
NUTS + BOLTS
OUR CHANNEL LAUNCH SERIES ON THE NUTS + BOLTS OF PREPARING YOUR MESSAGE(S)
We wanted to provide a quick and easy look at a few quick, easy steps and tools for developing your weekly messages. We are passionate about providing insight into preaching and communicating for Church Leaders, and these episodes are here to help guide you week in and week out.
Nuts + Bolts | Ep. 4 – The Walkthrough
In one of our previous Nuts and Bolts episodes, we talked about the process or stages of developing a great message. In today’s episode, I’m just going to walk through what that actually looks like in my own life. Now, I’m not saying you should follow exactly this same pattern. I think every communicator has to find their own rhythm for message development. This is what works best for me, but you’ll have to find what works best for you.
Nuts + Bolts | Ep. 3 – Message Preparation
The focus today is on the process of preparing clear messages. One of the most common questions I’m asked about preaching is just about my process: how do I go about crafting a message from start to finish? So today I’m going to share what I believe are the six key stages of message preparation. And if I can get a little creative in the way I do that…I’m going to compare it to building a sand castle.
Nuts + Bolts | Ep. 2 – Big Ideas
Today we’re going to be talking about what I think is probably the number one most import key to clear communication: having a big idea. Listen, we preach to change lives, right? But the reality is that lives aren’t usually transformed minutes after a message, no matter how great it is. Long-term change happens most often in the hours, the days, the weeks or even the months after we’ve delivered the message…when the Holy Spirit takes truth that we’ve spoken and applies it in circumstances that you and I could never have envisioned. But here’s the thing: typically, for that to happen, what we say has to be remembered.
Nuts + Bolts | Ep. 1 – Introductions
Today we’re going to be talking about introductions, which are way more important than most people give them credit for. In fact, I would say that the quality of an introduction can actually make or break a talk. The quality of an introduction can actually make or break a talk…because your introduction gives momentum to the talk. But, here’s the thing: momentum can be either positive or negative.
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