A Plain Account

Tiffany Ross, a pastor at Gateway Church of the Nazarene, shares her profound insights on the significance of Lent and the means of grace. She discusses how Lent serves as a powerful time for reflection and renewal, emphasizing its transformational potential. The conversation delves into practical spiritual practices that deepen connections with God and community. Tiffany's personal anecdotes highlight how everyday tasks can embody grace, making spirituality accessible in our daily lives. It's an enlightening exploration of faith and community engagement.

Dr. Tiffany Ross from Gateway Church of the Nazarene in St. Louis, MO shares her story and the story of her church.---This week the Jasons were glad to welcome Dr. Tiffany Ross, pastor at Gateway Church of the Nazarene onto the podcast!We follow our ethnographic interviewing strategies to ask her “tell me about…” questions that get to the heart of her call from media production to full-time pastoral ministry. She recently felt called to come to Gateway Naz as their senior pastor, and she shares about that process of transition and what she learned about her people when she arrived.Tiffany will join the podcast for a two-part series that will take us into the season of Lent.Episode rundown:The season of Lent at Sacred and SmallMeet Tiffany RossTiffany’s call to ministryAn ethnographic narrative of Gateway Nazarene

The Jasons continue their exploration of the LASTS method - language, actors/actions, space, time, and symbols.----In this two-part podcast series, the Jasons tackle the LASTS method of participant observation. What is participant observation? It is an immersive ethnographic methodology where you observe a community of people as an active participant within the community. Doing this allows a small church pastor or leader to get a hands-on experience of the culture of a community in action, and helps them better reflect on its embedded theologies and embodied liturgies.In this second of two episodes, Jason Buckwalter observed a selected church worship service from Jason Hill’s church. This service was chosen because it was the first week that Cape Naz was implementing a new system to receive prayer requests.Episode Rundown:Re-introducing the LASTS methodJason B reflects on a special service at Cape Church of the NazareneWe both draw some conclusions about the culture at Cape NazWe consider the LASTS method of participant observation

Listen to this sneak peak of Earth for Lent! Everyone who orders a copy of Earth for Lent will get an audio version of the book read by none other than the author herself, Brit Bolerjack! Order your copy of Earth for Lent today!

The Jasons introduce the LASTS Method - Language, Actors/Actions, Space, Time, and Symbols - of participant observation and critically reflect on each other's church cultures.----In this two-part podcast series, the Jasons tackle the LASTS method of participant observation. What is participant observation? It is an immersive ethnographic methodology where you observe a community of people as an active participant with the community. Doing this allows you to get a more hands-on understanding of the culture of a community, like a church, and help you better reflect on it’s embedded theologies and embodied liturgies.Over the next two episodes, the Jasons will watch a selected church worship service from the other’s church, take field notes on what we experience while watching using the LASTS parameters of language, actors/actions, space, time, and symbols, and then reflecting on our experience to try to describe the culture of the church.This is something that any pastor can do in their own context to better understand the values that you express as a church.

Leading people in a church can be an act of mutual submission, discipleship, and pastoral care. Episode Rundown: * A theology of mutual submission. * Leadership in the church. * The volunteer problem in small churches. * Our approach to volunteer management

Church buildings. They're a major investment, a time-suck, and also a place of transformational ministry. Let's talk about facility management! Episode rundown: * Facility maintenance as a percentage of the church’s budget * Current facility issues that we are dealing with * Our approach to facility management * Major renovations & capital campaigns * Dealing with insurance

The Advent and Christmas seasons are over. Tis the season for some reflective criticism on what went well, where the Spirit worked, and what we could change next year. Episode Rundown: * Our Advent themes * Christmas Eve stories * Looking ahead to 2025

Retired Nazarene District Superintendent Kim Smith talks through a lifetime of pastoral lessons learned, both good and bad. --- In our final episode with retired District Superintendent Kim Smith, we talk lessons in pastoral ministry! Kim shares his decades of experience and both positive and negative lessons learned. Episode Rundown: Listening to the Spirit Leading people with relationships instead of pushing them to do what you want Pastoring as an introvert Developing leaders and starting new ministries Inspiring cultural change

Rev. Kim Smith retired as the District Superintendent of Iowa District of the Church of the Nazarene. He's now returning to the pastorate in a small church restart. He shares his story & his approach to intentional missional relationships. --- We’re pleased to have Rev. Kim Smith join with the Jasons for the next two episodes of the Sacred and Small podcast. Kim was a retired District Superintendent in the Church of the Nazarene who has now returned to pastoring, to help a church that was on the verge of closing recover it’s missional vitality. Kim brings decades of pastoral experience and a heart for intentional missional relationships to the conversation. We discuss Kim’s story, missional relationships, and the distinction and necessity of both “attractional” and “missional” outreach in a small church.