Ed Stetzer on Not Wasting His Suffering, What Happened to the Quiet Revival, and Staying Bullish on Church Planting
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In today’s conversation, Jason sits down with Ed Stetzer, Dean of Talbot School of Theology at Biola University and Teaching Pastor at Mariners Church, to talk about ministry in a disorienting cultural moment, a health crisis he's still in the middle of, and what it actually takes to form pastors well. Ed opens up candidly about being six weeks out from major spinal surgery for a rare medical condition, and what it's meant to trust God's providence without knowing how much of his mobility will return. From there, Jason and Ed trace Ed's own story: planting a church at 21 in the inner city of Buffalo with no theological education, pastoring the English-language service of a Chinese church in his early twenties, and the PhD in missiology that grew out of it. Ed talks about what he's building at Talbot through a model called Talbot Embedded, cohort-based theological education planted inside local churches in cities like Chicago, Nashville, and Honolulu, designed to give pastors both rigorous scholarship and tangible spiritual formation.
The back half of the conversation turns to church planting, preaching, and the small church. Ed makes the case for why he's still bullish on planting, why he regularly offers to preach for free at churches under a hundred people, and how preaching itself has shifted toward more depth and more willingness to address controversial topics head-on. This is a rich conversation for pastors walking through their own seasons of difficultly, for anyone thinking about the future of theological education, and for leaders who are asking questions about the future of small rural churches in Canada.
Jason and Ed discuss:
What it's been like to preach and lead publicly while recovering from emergency spinal surgery and not knowing how much will heal,
His early years church planting in Buffalo at 21 with no seminary training, and pastoring the English service of a Chinese congregation,
Talbot Embedded, the model for bringing seminary-level theological education into local churches in cities without strong seminary access,
Why he thinks the wave of church planting has crested even though the need for it hasn't,
His habit of offering to preach for free at churches under a hundred people,
How multicultural and multigenerational churches, especially in Canadian cities like Vancouver and Toronto, are wrestling with what comes after being a safe cultural harbor for first generation immigrants,
How North American preaching has shifted over the last 20 years toward more depth and more willingness to address controversial topics directly.
Ed Stetzer
Ed Stetzer, Ph.D., is the Dean and Professor of Leadership and Christian Ministry at Talbot School of Theology at Biola University. He also serves as Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Wycliffe Hall at Oxford University, where he teaches twice a year. Stetzer has planted, revitalized, and pastored churches; trained pastors and church planters on six continents; earned two master’s degrees and two doctorates; and written hundreds of articles and a dozen books. He is Regional Director for Lausanne North America, the Editor-in-Chief of Outreach Magazine, and regularly writes for news outlets such as USA Today and CNN. His national radio show, Ed Stetzer Live, airs Saturdays on Moody Radio and affiliates. Stetzer serves his local church, Mariners Church, as Scholar in Residence and Teaching Pastor.
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