Mark Smith speaks with Mike Neglia about his love for Dublin and the need to develop truly contextualised preaching for each city that we minister in. He also speaks about “killing your darlings”, mind-maps and envisioning a preferred version of the future.   This was recorded in the summer of 2018 Mark is from Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim and is married to Philippa. He moved to Dublin in 2012 after completing his theological education at Oak Hill Theological College in London with a desire to explore starting a church in the city centre & previously worked as a ministry apprentice in Northern Ireland. He is passionate about Dublin and helping people see how the gospel impacts every area of our life. He is also the Acts 29 Ireland area lead. Together Mark and Philippa have two small children.  The Expositors Collective podcast is part of the GoodLion podcast network, for more thought provoking Christian podcasts visit https://goodlion.io

Eric Cartier serves at Rocky Mountain Calvary in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he has been on staff for the the past 20 years, initially as Jr. High Pastor, and now for many years as Senior Pastor. In this episode Nick and Eric talk about being yourself, finding your own voice as a preacher, and connecting with your audience. Eric tells his story of transitioning from teaching children and youth to adults, and shares how he prepares for his messages in a church that has Wednesday night, Saturday night, and Sunday services, as well as multiple campuses.   You can keep up with Eric on Instagram and Twitter. The Expositors Collective podcast is part of the GoodLion podcast network, for more thought provoking Christian podcasts visit https://goodlion.io/

In episode 123 David Downs speaks with Mike about clarity and precision in the pulpit, as well as the importance of “people time” and “paper time” in sermon preparation. David Downs has 14 years or church planting experience in Italy where he and his wife Denae are currently laboring to see a new church plant in the city of Torino (Turin), in Northwestern Italy. Calvary Torino’s desire is to see a solid Calvary Chapel ministry established in this city.  One that proclaims the gospel to those who do not know it, to teach those who have received it, and to become collaborators in God’s greater work in our city and beyond.  David & Denae are dedicated to using their teaching, music, and administrative gifts for the glory of God. For more details on the September 19 webinar with Ryan Huguely visit www.ExpositorsCollective.com  or check out our instagram, twitter and Facebook pages.   The Expositors Collective podcast is part of the GoodLion podcast network, for more thought provoking Christian podcasts visit https://goodlion.io/

Ray Ortlund speaks with Mike about the distinction between educational Bible teaching and heart stirring, encouraging true preaching. He believes that the goal of preaching is new life, liberation and freedom, not bondage, heaviness and law. And as the wonderful gospel of Jesus is placarded in a church, a culture of safety, warmth and welcome is created. Ray graduated from Wheaton College as a Bachelor of Arts, from Dallas Theological Seminary as a Master of Theology, from The University of California at Berkeley as a Master of Arts, and from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, as a Doctor of Philosophy.  Pastor Ortlund was ordained into the Christian ministry by Lake Avenue Congregational Church, Pasadena, California, in 1975.  He taught Old Testament and Semitic Languages at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois, from 1989 to 1998.  His primary ministry, for 28 years, has been as a pastor in California, Oregon, Georgia and Tennessee. In addition to numerous essays and articles, Ray has published eight books.  His latest, Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel, was named “2017 Christian Book of the Year” in the category Bible Study.  He also served as an Old Testament translator for The New Living Translation and The English Standard Version of the Bible.  He contributed the introduction and study notes to the book of Isaiah in The ESV Study Bible. Ray is also the President of Renewal Ministries and serves on the Council of The Gospel Coalition. Ray and his wife Jani have been married for forty-five happy years, they have four delightful children and 13 amazing grandchildren. Resources mentioned: Mark Rutherford - The Revolution in Tanner’s Lane: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0082Z054G/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 Grant Osborne - The Hermeneutical Spiral: https://www.ivpress.com/the-hermeneutical-spiral Chuck DeGroat on Faux-nerability: https://www.ivpress.com/when-narcissism-comes-to-church Quotes from the Episode: "I found a box of sermons of mine from the 1980’s.. and it was painful! I was being faithful to what I knew at the time. I was doing the best I knew how at the time. And God was so kind. I didn’t actually succeed in killing that poor church I was serving as pastor, but I did not realize how clunky, and academic, and technical and tedious and “non-Gospel-ly” my preaching was back then." "When I first started out in ministry I was very interested in the mechanics of the biblical text, what’s happening in the text, and that’s great. But that should have been left more in my study and translated more into preaching that would actually help people. Back then I was good as an educator. I was not good as a pastor and a helper and I didn’t even know the difference." "I start early in the week (with sermon preparation) because my mind needs time. And my mind needs multiple exposures to funnel down to a sermon by Sunday morning that will lift people up, that will put hope in their hearts and energy in their feet and steel in their spines and joy in their hearts. So it takes time and every day has a purpose." "A hospital visit is a part of sermon preparation. It’s a very significant part. It’s an essential part, along with everything else." "In preaching, the problem is not the Bible. The Bible is a resource. The problem is me and the underdeveloped man that I am, the underdeveloped understandings I bring to the text and to the people. And so sermon preparation, along with everything else is - in God’s mercy - a Ray expanding experience. I start out in the process as a small, narrow, unformed man with very vague concepts. And what happens is the Lord guides me, shepherds me through the week toward clarity, specificity, focus, intentionality and a greatly increased joy. Then I’m ready to preach." "If I am writing out a point in my sermon I have to stop and ask myself - “Ok Ray is this what you believe because you think it’s right or does this really help you?” And if I have to admit honestly that this doesn’t really help me, it’s just “formally obligatory” but personally not liberating, not energizing, then why am I saying it? I’m still not ready to preach if that’s where I am mentally." "A healthy church is a culture of liberation. Where we are helping one another get rid of these grave clothes that we have been wearing all our lives that have never helped us at all. The Lord called Lazarus back to life and then invited the others around him to join with him to unbind him and let him go. He didn’t say to Lazarus “tear off those grave clothes”." "A healthy church is a culture of liberation; where we are hearing the life-giving, resurrecting voice of Christ in the Gospel and helping one another to get free to live for Him and glorify Him as never before." "Powerful preaching is not just a captivating personality on stage with his Bible open. Powerful preaching is a whole congregation, a whole church, a whole community, which has - by God’s grace - stumbled it’s way into the life-giving power of Jesus through his voice in the Gospel and together they are not a culture of oppression, they are not a culture of shaming, they’re not cornering people, pressuring people, embarrassing people… that’s just the opposite of the Gospel and they know it. And the whole congregation is rejoicing to gather together on the Lord’s day to help one another, encourage one another, liberate one another, get rid of the vestiges of death that we’ve been lugging around all these years and we don’t want anymore." "When you have a pastor at the front of the church in the pulpit whose Bible is open so he has some authority and he is saying what the Bible says and he is preaching through a Gospel hermeneutic so that Jesus and His Gospel are every Sunday the Great Message, and the Holy Spirit is moving in power and the congregation knows what to do and how to respond and how not to respond - that’s very powerful."

The COVID-19 Pandemic has changed nearly every aspect of our lives and our churches. For those who are beginning to perform weddings again, we offer this episode to help you think through some of the practicalities as to how to serve the couple and their guests in the best way possible. The first half of the interview was recorded in January 2 and covers the important issues of brevity and tact, the second half of the interview [00:19:00] was recorded in August and covers issues of preaching and officiating weddings in “the new normal.” Related content: Nick and Mike discuss funerals - https://www.expositorscollective.com/podcast/2020/4/7/episode-100-preaching-funerals Mark Allan Groleau YouTube channel filled with practical tips on wedding officiating - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZYdix8J2IYImNpPWDWKTbw John Piper on deciding what to preach at weddings - https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/how-do-you-decide-what-to-preach-at-weddings

Tom Burke speaks with Mike about “The Passport Principle”; what a communicator needs in order to travel into the worldview of those listening. They also swap house church stories, sermon preparation rhythms and remember a world without the internet! Tom Burke is a native of Cork City on the South coast of Ireland. He came to faith in his late teens from a nominal Catholic background. He is married to Denise & has 2 adult children & 2 grandchildren. Along with a bunch of friends he planted Grace Christian Church in the city centre of Cork where he continues serving as the Senior Pastor. His hobbies include reading, walking & drinking unhealthy amounts of strong black coffee.

Kalácska Norbert (Norbi) speaks with Mike about the unique burden that preachers experience during the preparation, delivery and even the aftermath of a message. They also speak about the importance of collaboration and other relevant topics. To watch some of Norbert’s sermons click here: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=golgota+budapest+Kal%C3%A1cska+Norbert

Homiletics is the science and art of sermon delivery. The Expositors Collective exists to help you grow in your personal study and public proclamation of God’s Word, and this episode is focusing on the second part of that mission statement: Public proclamation. James Travis helps us hone our skill set towards clear, concise communication of Biblical truths. This was recorded in Budapest, Hungary in February of 2020. Born in Dubai, raised in England, and having lived in New Zealand and Germany, James and his wife Robyn now live in Bahrain where he is the pastor at Saar Fellowship, an international church. Their two boys were born in Bahrain, and they have family history in the country dating back to the 1960s!James is Calvary Chapel University’s first M.Div graduate, contributes to the GoodLion Network and calvarychapel.com, writes daily at jamestravis.net, and enjoys swimming, cycling, running, and good coffee! To hear an earlier interview between James and Mike tap here:  https://www.expositorscollective.com/podcast/2019/12/9/episode-78-unity-in-multicultural-churches

Joel Turner is the pastor of Mountain Springs Calvary Chapel (https://mountainspringscc.com) in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and author of the book Humor Me: How to Add Comedy to Your Brain, Your Life, and Your Message (https://www.amazon.com/Humor-Me-Comedy-Brain-Message/dp/1597510769/). Prior to the Lord calling him into the ministry, Joel was a comedian in western Canada . His first ministry position was as a youth pastor in North Carolina, after which he returned to Canada to serve as a youth pastor at a calvary chapel.In 2017, Pastor Joel felt the call of God to strengthen the churches and do the work of an evangelist through various speaking engagements in Canada, the USA and Europe. He is also a part of the CGN (https://calvaryglobalnetwork.com) Executive Leadership Team. In this episode, Joel speaks with Mike Neglia and Nick Cady about the power of humor to break down walls and help people connect with the truth of God’s word. Joel believes that preachers can grow in their use of humor and to do so is worth the effort. You can connect with Joel on: Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/reachjoelnow/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/JoelTurner5 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/joel.turner.161

What would it be like to sit under the preaching of some of the church history’s greatest preachers? Troy Frasier gives us a tour de force survey through some of the personalities and practices of the mighty expositors that have gone before us. Troy Frasier is a children's and communication's pastor at a church in Kansas City. He is also currently studying at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the host of Revived Thoughts and producer of Revived Devos. He is married to his amazing wife Elise and has two children.  Charles Spurgeon, "What the Church Lacks": https://revivedthoughts.com/charles-spurgeon-what-the-church-lacks/ Hudson Taylor, "Compassion On The Multitude": https://revivedthoughts.com/hudson-taylor-compassion-on-the-multitude/ Thomas Watson, "The Christian Joy,": https://revivedthoughts.com/thomas-watson/