In All Things

Episode 33: Innovation in ministry with Dave Wahlstedt

Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, welcomes Dave Wahlstedt, Pastor of The Table in Dallas, Texas, and author of Shift: Catalyzing Creative Change in Innovative Christian Ministry. The two discuss the ministry of The Table as a worshipping community—what Wahlstedt calls a “craft church” surrounded by megachurches in suburban north Dallas—and how spiritual formation became the focus of the ministry. They also talk about how Wahlstedt’s book is a reflection of his ministry experience, and describes ways to innovate in the local church and among its people.

Episode 32: Christian fantasy literature with Dustin Leimgruber

Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, welcomes Dustin Leimgruber, EPC Teaching Elder and author of The Sanctus Chronicles: The Plague of Tradium. Host Dean Weaver and Leimgruber discuss his journey to faith as a Jew in a rural area, to reading the Gospels in an Intervarsity Fellowship Bible study in college. Leimgruber also describes the story behind the book, and how fantasy literature in general can frame spirituality in a “I am in a struggle but the good guys win in the end” context that often is relatable for the reader.

Episode 31: 42nd General Assembly Update from Dean Weaver

Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, explains the purpose behind and activities at the 42nd General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, held June 21-24 at Ward Church in Northville, Michigan.

Episode 30: Hosting the 42nd General Assembly with Scott McKee

Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, welcomes Scott McKee, Senior Pastor of Ward Church in Northville, Michigan. The two discuss discuss preparations for the denomination’s June 21-24 annual meeting, including how the worship service speakers will help develop the theme of “Recharge” based on Acts 1:8. The two also discuss several business items coming before the Assembly—including McKee’s involvement in the Giving Culture Study Committee and how that group helped lay the groundwork for Recommendation 42:11 to change the EPC’s funding model from Per Member Asking (PMA) to Percentage of Income (POI).

Episode 29: Marketplace Ministry and Evangelism with Doug Walker

Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, welcomes Doug Walker, Pastor of River City Church in DeBary, Florida. The two discuss how evangelism is a catalyst to a growing faith, as well as Walker’s journey from the financial services industry to the pastorate. In addition, Walker describes his experience integrating his faith and work in a marketplace ministry, and his expectation as a pastor that the members of the church view themselves as missionaries.

Episode 28: Reflections on serving as EPC Moderator with Brad Strait

Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, welcomes Brad Strait, Moderator of the EPC’s 41st General Assembly. The two look back on Strait’s year as Moderator of the Assembly, and peer into the future as Strait serves the next year as Chairman of the denomination’s National Leadership Team.

Strait also describes two seminars on persecution at the EPC’s Leadership Institute on June 21-22 that he is co-leading with Andrew Brunson, EPC Teaching Elder who was imprisoned in Turkey from 2016-2018. On Tuesday afternoon at the 42nd General Assembly at Ward Church in Northville, Michigan, Brunson will share his experience of being persecuted for his faith and what believers in the western world can expect as hostility toward Jesus and the gospel grows. On Wednesday afternoon, Brunson and Strait will be joined by a panel of Christian leaders who have experienced significant persecution, including EPC Teaching Elder Setan Lee, who escaped the “killing fields” genocide of the Communist Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia in the 1970s, and Erick Schenkel, Executive Director of Cru’s “The Jesus Film Project.”

Episode 27: Tragedy, suffering, grief in light of Uvalde, Texas, shooting with Jennifer Prechter

Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, welcomes Jennifer Prechter, EPC Teaching Elder who serves as a palliative care chaplain at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies in Orlando, Florida. The two discuss Prechter's journey to hospital chaplaincy, and how her ministry provides opportunity for addressing deep questions of life with unchurched people across a wide spectrum of life experience. Prechter also discusses how “longing and lament” can help people process tragedies such as a child with a terminal illness, or the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

Episode 26: Missions mobilization and student ministry with Shawn Stewart

Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, welcomes Shawn Stewart, Mobilization Coordinator for EPC World Outreach. The two discuss what mobilization is, and how Stewart serves the denomination in his role. Stewart also describes some challenges related to finding those whom God has called for service, and how World Outreach is ministering among refugees in the U.S. and around the world. He also reflects on his early days in student ministry, including how he integrated the concept of “holy sweat: the blessing of sweating and serving” into the student groups he worked with.

Episode 25: EPC National Leadership Team reflections with Chris Danusiar

Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, welcomes Chris Danusiar, Ruling Elder for Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Warrenville, Ill., who rotated off the EPC National Leadership Team (NLT) after six years of service. The two discuss how the EPC is both the same and has changed over Danusiar’s two three-year terms, as well as some thoughts for the future of the denomination.

Episode 24: Evangelism, Africa baptisms with Glenn Meyers

Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, welcomes Glenn Meyers, Chairman of the EPC National Leadership Team (NLT) and Commissioned Pastor of Ardara United Presbyterian Church in Ardara, Pennsylvania. The two discuss Meyers’ six years serving on the NLT. As part of that discussion, Meyers expects the renewed commitment to evangelism in the EPC to inform how the denomination’s four strategic priorities of church planting, church health, global movement, and effective biblical leadership are carried out in the years to come.

In addition, Meyers relates his recent experience baptizing Muslim-background converts in a river in Sierra Leone, and how his church of 120 members has committed to a capital campaign to help the African village construct a church building.