Storm The Gates

My personal preferences and the Kingdom of God are not perfectly aligned this side of Jesus' Second Coming. We pray for sanctifying grace and trust God will lead us into scriptural holiness if we welcome Him into our lives. In this episode, some of our friends in the MidTexas Conference returned from Bulgaria to tell us of the sanctifying work God is doing in the GMC in Bulgaria and in the established partnership between MidTexas and Bulgaria. Our friends on this episode represent faithful pastors and leaders within local churches who desire to see the Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Their sweet, simple stories and experiences will move you to reflect upon how God is speaking to you. Lean in and listen. Bulgaria is a beautiful country with a rich and long history and the GMC there is strong in the Spirit.

Seatbelts at the ready! Prepared to be blown away by passionate heart and vision for the tribe called church. This episode was reverse engineered and is backwards compared to how we normally start a podcast. Rev. Greg Oberg is the first voice you hear in the conversation. He is an Elder in the GMC who serves as the Pastor for First Methodist Church in Coleman, TX. Pastor Greg also serves on the Board of Ministry in the MidTexas Conference.Greg Oberg grew up as a NASA brat in Dickinson, TX. He went to Texas A&M University and was a member of the Corps of Cadets. After graduating from A&M, the Obergs went to Wilmore, KY for Greg to attend Asbury Theological Seminary for three years. Since 2004, Greg has served in a variety of ministry settings: suburban churches, a rural church as pastor and youth director, 11 years in campus ministry, and a year as the inaugural pastor of a church break-off in Louisiana. Greg came to Coleman in June of 2024 to serve as the 57th pastor of First Methodist of Coleman. When not serving in ministry, Greg can be found running 5Ks. Greg also loves going on cruises with his family. Greg and his wife Georgia met at the Texas A&M Wesley Foundation, and have been married since 1999. They have three kids: Wesley, Lincoln, and Lexi. Wesley graduated from A&M and now teaches English in Japan. Lincoln is at Sam Houston State.Stay tuned to the very end for some cruise tips and burger banter.Links to articles mentioned in the conversation:https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/22/upshot/how-social-isolation-is-killing-us.html?mc=aud_dev&mcid=fb-nytimes&mccr=JanHighMC&mcdt=2017-01&subid=JanHighMC&ad-keywords=AudDevGatehttps://mikefrost.net/the-lonely-crowd-churches-dying-due-to-friendlessness/

What if rest wasn’t a reward but a way of life? In this episode, we’re joined by Blaine Keene—pastor of Journey Community Church in Plain City, Ohio—for a conversation about Sabbath not as obligation, but invitation. Blaine shares how the practice of rest and the posture of surrender are deeply connected to our identity as the beloved of God.Together, we explore what it means to live from our beloved-ness instead of for our worth, how Sabbath disrupts our cultural obsession with productivity, and why surrender may be the bravest form of trust.This episode is for anyone tired of hustle and hungry for wholeness.—blaine@discoverjourneycc.comLearn more about Blaine’s ministry and the heartbeat of Journey Community Church. discoverjourneycc.com

This is the final episode in our Ecclesiology series. Who better to. bring in as a closer than Bishop Scott Jones! Scott Jameson Jones is a bishop of The Global Methodist Church. He was born in 1954 in Nashville, Tennessee, and was raised in Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana, and Colorado. He received degrees from the University of Kansas and Southern Methodist University. His Ph.D. dissertation research was focused on Wesley Studies and the history of biblical interpretation.From 1986 to 1997 he served as pastor of three United Methodist congregations in the North Texas Conference. From 1997 to 2004 he served on the faculty of Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. There he taught courses in Evangelism, History of Christianity, United Methodist Studies, and Wesley Studies.In 2004 he was elected a bishop of The United Methodist Church and served the Kansas Area 2004-2012, the Great Plains Area 2012-2016, and the Houston Area 2016-2022. In 2023 he was received as an elder and bishop in The Global Methodist Church.He is the author or co-author of eleven books, most recently The Once and Future Wesleyan Movement and Scripture and the Wesleyan Way: A Bible Study on Real Christianity.

Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Sola Scriptura. It's Reformation time! As we continue our Ecclesiology series on STG, the Protestant Reformation period is our primary subject. Dr. Brian Yeich joins the podcast to share some of the ecclesiological developments and retrievals in this period of church history. Dr. Yeich 's passion is helping people to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ whether it is in the context of the community, the local church, or the academy. He is an ordained elder in the Global Methodist Church, Trinity Conference, and has pastored 11 years in both large and small congregations as well as a church re-start. Including his previous role at Asbury Theological Seminary as Assistant Provost, Brian has over eight years in theological education leadership. He currently serves as an adjunct professor at Asbury Theological Seminary and Wesley Biblical Seminary teaching in the areas of Church History, Wesley Studies, and Pastoral Formation. Brian is currently appointed as Missional Discipleship Coordinator with World Methodist Evangelism in partnership with the Inspire Movement, a missional discipleship network based in the United Kingdom (https://inspiremovement.org/). 

Medieval, Middle Ages, Dark Ages, are all labels sometimes used for the rough period of time that ranges from 500-1500 AD, with many disagreements around the beginning and end, for this period of time in history. As we continue to explore the history of ecclesiology on STG, Dr. Justus Hunter was kind to share with us about this particular period in church history. Dr. Hunter is an Associate Professor of Church History and the Director of the Doctor of Theology Program at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, OH (united.edu). He offers great insight into the developments of doctrine, theology, and the organization of the church of Jesus Christ throughout the Medieval period. Please share with us if you have any questions or areas you'd like us to explore throughout the remainder of this four part series. Stick around to very end for a wonderful story about our dear friend in the church triumphant, Dr. Billy Abraham.

Introducing episode 1 of a 4 episode series on the history of ecclesiology. STG is grateful for Dr. Matthew Esquivel who speaks about the scriptural witness and early church expression of the church. This will not be the last time he's on the podcast. Please send us your questions or areas you feel like we need to explore further. Matthew Esquivel seeks to contribute to the field of the History of Christianity by exploring the early Church’s notion of salvation as sharing in the life of God, what it means to be the Church, and the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church. This includes how early Church communities, particularly in the Roman Province of North Africa, understood and practiced the sacraments, the charisms of the Holy Spirit, martyrdom and martyr veneration, and spiritual authority. He seeks to uncover insight as to how the Church today, including his own Pentecostal/Charismatic tradition, which he has pastored since 2009, could explore these questions in light of its own context. For resources pertinent to our conversation:Robert Louis Wilken. The Spirit of Early Christian Thought.https://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Early-Christian-Thought-Seeking/dp/0300105983Robert Louis Wilken. The First Thousand Years: A Global History of Christianityhttps://www.amazon.com/First-Thousand-Years-History-Christianity/dp/0300198388/ref=sr_1_1?crid=Q9N345KGRBUU&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.-qpZC1tdcn2JYlxDgp3bG_oGRfuGcclkci6Qc3VB-VgXqdlXgo2QqFd9IWl6eQhC.lnLK7vUvPOMXDTLDC6_yK8s_MPzH0uZ7oa54jSxDrv8&dib_tag=se&keywords=wilken+first+thousand+years&qid=1746548388&sprefix=wilken+first%2Caps%2C145&sr=8-1Forthcoming: Podcast on early church history with Dr. Matthew Esquivel. Stay tuned to my Facebook page for launch information:  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100012284504593

For those of you listening who call the Global Methodist Church home, we offer another one of her humble leaders for you to get to know, love, and pray for. Pastor Mike Schafer is the Connectional Operations Officer (COO) of the GMC. Based in Lubbock, Texas, Pastor Mike served the local church faithfully for many years before reluctantly submitting his name for consideration and then accepting the role he has now as the COO of the GMC. If there are more questions you have for Mike that we don't cover on the podcast, please reach out to him directly or let us know and we'll be glad to follow up for you. To subscribe to everything officially happening in the GMC, please go to globalmethodist.org and click subscribe at the bottom of the page. Hang in there until the very end for some banter about the Dorean Principle and the names he calls the bishops.

This is one of those times where words fail and the goodness of God is all we can muster to say. Dr. Luther Oconer is a gift from on high. He is the Associate Professor of Global Wesleyan Theology at Asbury Theological Seminary in addition to being the Conference Superintendent for the Mega Manila Conference in the Global Methodist Church. He is a man full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. Please pray for the work of the GMC in the Philippines as well as the Middle East. With leaders like Dr. Oconer, there is much to be hopeful about as revival is at the heart of his ministry and academic pursuits. Please give God glory, honor, and praise for blessing us with teachers like Dr. Oconer.

This is a special Holy Week episode of STG. While it's being published after Lent, we recorded this on the Tuesday of Holy Week. Dr. Joshua McNall of Oklahoma Wesleyan University joins is our special guest. He directs the Honors College and is an Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology. Josh has taught at OKWU since 2009. He holds a Ph.D. in Theology from the University of Manchester (UK), an MA in theology from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a BA in Pastoral Ministry from OKWU. Josh is also a Teaching Pastor at Grace Community Church in Bartlesville, OK and preaches regularly around the country as the Ambassador of Church Relations for OKWU. He blogs regularly at www.joshuamcnall.com and hosts the Outpost Theology podcast, sponsored by OKWU. You can find links and summaries to Josh's work referenced in this episode by going to his website. Josh and his wife Brianna are both graduates of OKWU, and they have four children: Lucy, Penelope, Ewan, and Teddy. For more information about Oklahoma Wesleyan: okwu.edu