In this episode of the Church Planter Podcast, Peyton Jones is joined by Andrea Jones and Pamela Nelson for a conversation on ministry burnout, emotional health, and the inner life of a leader.

Pamela brings her experience as a pastor, biblical counselor, coach, and spiritual director to help church planters recognize the warning signs they often ignore: anxiety, numbness, overwork, isolation, unprocessed grief, and the pressure to keep performing when their soul is running on empty.

Together, they talk about why emotional health is not optional for leaders, how identity can become tangled up in ministry success, and why pastors need safe people, honest confession, rhythms of rest, and space to bring hidden beliefs into the light.

The conversation also gets personal as Peyton reflects on his own experience with exhaustion, anxiety, and the cost of pushing too hard for too long. If you are planting, leading, or carrying the weight of ministry, this episode is an invitation to slow down, pay attention to your soul, and let God restore what has been depleted.

Resources and Links Mentioned in this Episode:

Pamela Nelson: pamelanelson.org

NewBreed Training

Thanks for listening to the Church Planter Podcast. We’re here to help you go where no one else is going and do what no one else is doing to reach people no one else is reaching.

Make sure to review and subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast service to help us connect with more church planters

In this episode of the Church Planter Podcast, Peyton Jones and Pete Mitchell introduce a new “church planter diary” style conversation where they discuss personal updates in the field of disciplemaking.

Peyton gives an update on The Abbey, the church plant he is leading in Carlsbad, and shares what God has been doing through house gatherings, a new meeting space, team leadership, Sunday discussion groups, communion, micro-testimonies, and everyday disciple-making in the neighborhood.

The conversation unpacks what it looks like to plant a church that is not just built around a Sunday service, but around people being formed, equipped, and released into mission where they already live. Peyton also talks about using Discipology in the church to pair people off, strengthen disciple-making, and help believers step into their own “micro mission.”

If you are a church planter trying to build from the ground up, rethink Sunday gatherings, train leaders, and mobilize everyday believers, this episode gives you a real-time look at the messy, practical, and encouraging work of planting from the trenches.

Resources and Links Mentioned in this Episode:

Simplify Church: simplifychurch.com

NewBreed Training

Thanks for listening to the Church Planter Podcast. We’re here to help you go where no one else is going and do what no one else is doing to reach people no one else is reaching.

Make sure to review and subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast service to help us connect with more church planters.

In this episode of the Church Planter Podcast, Peyton Jones sits down with Dr. Michael Cooper to talk about his new book, Gods, Emperors, Philosophers, and a New Movement.

Building on his work in Ephesiology, Michael explores how archaeology helps us better understand the early church, the spread of the gospel, and the world Paul and the first Christians inhabited. From Ephesus to Laodicea, they discuss house churches, public gathering spaces, Christograms, the Hall of Tyrannus, and the evidence of Christian movement in the first centuries.

The conversation also challenges church planters to think beyond simple church growth formulas and recover the kind of patient, contextual, culturally engaged mission we see in the New Testament. The early church adapted to real places, engaged real people, and took the time to make disciples who could carry the gospel into new spaces.

If you want to understand first-century mission, think more deeply about church planting, and learn how history and archaeology can sharpen disciple-making today, this episode is for you.

Resources and Links Mentioned in this Episode:

Gods, Emperors, Philosophers, and a New Movement

NewBreed Training

Thanks for listening to the Church Planter Podcast. We’re here to help you go where no one else is going and do what no one else is doing to reach people no one else is reaching.

Make sure to review and subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast service to help us connect with more church planters.