
Hosted by Randall R. Greenwald · EN

We are joined in this episode by Dr. Elizabeth Pennock. Dr. Pennock is the Director of the Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan. She received her PhD at the University of Central Florida and her dissertation was titled “Trauma-Informed Clergy: An Investigation of Factors Predicting the Trauma-Related Attitudes of Christian Clergy in Florida.” She is therefore ideally situated to help pastors and others examine what they bring to ministry that is either helpful or harmful to those in their churches who have faced or are facing trauma in their lives. But it’s not just Dr. Pennock’s academic training that makes her a valuable resource. She brings to this conversation not only a love for those bearing trauma, but al a great love for the church and for those who shepherd the church. And as well she is a gentle and caring soul. I know you will benefit from her insights. This is part one of a two part conversation. I hope you are able to take in both. We encourage you to also subscribe to our newsletter where, on third Mondays and at other times there may be additional content. You can do so here. You can help support this podcast by supporting us on Patreon. You can do so here. EPISODE NOTES Notes and resources relevant to this episode: For an explanation of the name and intention of these occasional interviews, read this, or listen to it here or here. Trauma Informed Ministry Slides Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: It’s Impossible to Be Spiritually Mature, While Remaining Emotionally Immature, Peter Scazzero Attachments: Why You Love, Feel, and ACT the Way You Do, Tim Clinton and Gary Sibcy Dawn of Sunday: The Trinity and Trauma-Safe Churches, (Joshua Cockayne, Scott Harrower, Preston Hill) Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis Under the Unpredictable Plant: An Exploration in Vocational Holiness, Eugene Peterson The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out, Brennan Manning When you buy a book using a link on this page, Greatheart’s Table receives a commission. Thank you for supporting this work! Podcast music provided by Cool Hand Luke and used with permission.Intro: “Holy Vanguard” / LyricsOutro: “Wonder Tour” / Lyrics / Video To find our more about Greatheart’s Table, visit us here.

Welcome to Greatheart’s Table, the podcast for pastors and those who care for them. And really, to be frank, this is for anyone who likes to think just a little bit sideways about life and ministry. This episode may seem like it’s not really about anything, but maybe it’s about a great deal – about what it means to be human and to love our neighbor. It’s not controversial, it’s not plowing new ground. But maybe, just maybe, the important things are neither. I’d love to know what you think. If you like what you find here, do rate, review, and refer this relentlessly. I’m grateful for each of you. We encourage you to also subscribe to our newsletter where, on third Mondays and at other times there may be additional content. You can do so here. You can help support this podcast by supporting us on Patreon. You can do so here. EPISODE NOTES Notes and resources relevant to this episode: AI was not used in the writing or editing of this episode. Podcast music provided by Cool Hand Luke and used with permission.Intro: “Holy Vanguard” / LyricsOutro: “Wonder Tour” / Lyrics / Video To find our more about Greatheart’s Table, visit us here.

Welcome to Greatheart’s Table. Pull up a chair as we revisit an episode first aired in early 2022. My concern then as now is that as critical as evangelism and kingdom growth and the Great Commission are, none of that trumps the importance of the Great Commandment. We have, it seems to me, been dancing with the wrong partner. I’d love to know what you think. There is plenty of room around Greatheart’s Table, so please invite others to join us. The podcast world is a densely populated space. We will go unnoticed without your help. Link to us on social media, and tell others about us on your platforms. Every bit helps. And do rate and review this podcast so I’ll know how we are doing. Thanks! We encourage you to also subscribe to our newsletter where, on third Mondays and at other times there may be additional content. You can do so here. You can help support this podcast by supporting us on Patreon. You can do so here. EPISODE NOTES Notes and resources relevant to this episode: Peter Adam, Speaking God’s Words: A Practical Theology of Preaching Rob Edenfield is the Senior Pastor of Treasure Coast Presbyterian Church in Stuart, Florida. Podcast music provided by Cool Hand Luke and used with permission.Intro: “Holy Vanguard” / LyricsOutro: “Wonder Tour” / Lyrics / Video To find our more about Greatheart’s Table, visit us here.

Today we welcome a guest author to the table. Rob Edenfield has been the pastor of Treasure Coast Presbyterian Church in Stuart, Florida, for nearly a decade. He is astute and cares deeply for his people. And like us all, he very much wants to hear and in fact needs to hear the gospel on those rare occasions that he is not preaching. His experience tells him that this is a harder thing to find than it should be. So I’ve asked him to write about it. If you resonate with this podcast, please rate and review it and refer it to others. And any support you can give at Patreon helps us continue to get an outlet for voices like Rob’s. Thank you. We encourage you to also subscribe to our newsletter where, on third Mondays and at other times there may be additional content. You can do so here. You can help support this podcast by supporting us on Patreon. You can do so here. EPISODE NOTES Notes and resources relevant to this episode: Peter Adam, Speaking God’s Words: A Practical Theology of Preaching Rob Edenfield is the Senior Pastor of Treasure Coast Presbyterian Church in Stuart, Florida. Podcast music provided by Cool Hand Luke and used with permission.Intro: “Holy Vanguard” / LyricsOutro: “Wonder Tour” / Lyrics / Video To find our more about Greatheart’s Table, visit us here.

There is an image from the now ancient TV show Gomer Pyle of a drill sergeant in the face of his recruit berating him for his stupidity, and Gomer, the recruit, is smiling as if this is the sweetest language he’d ever heard. Without question, pastors are not to be the drill sergeant in this scenario. But neither are they to be Gomer. Sometimes the treatment pastors receive crosses the line into abuse, and when it does, to deal with it, they need to be able to name it. We encourage you to also subscribe to our newsletter where, on third Mondays and at other times there may be additional content. You can do so here. You can help support this podcast by supporting us on Patreon. You can do so here. EPISODE NOTES Notes and resources relevant to this episode: Standing Stone Ministries Eleven Steps for Responding to Criticism Podcast music provided by Cool Hand Luke and used with permission.Intro: “Holy Vanguard” / LyricsOutro: “Wonder Tour” / Lyrics / Video To find our more about Greatheart’s Table, visit us here.

One of the most suggestive songs by the band Over the Rhine is titled “All My Favorite People Are Broken.” In a sense, it expresses the heart behind this podcast, that pastors are not immune from brokenness. But pastors are not supposed to be broken. We think we are supposed to be strong, not weak, and so we hide our weaknesses. To be seen as weak is to have an asterisk of suspicion and shame attached to our name. To admit to a need, and to take that need to a counselor or a therapist, frightens many of us. However, in this reset of an episode that first aired in January of 2022, I encourage pastors to take the risk, to embrace the asterisk. We encourage you to also subscribe to our newsletter where, on third Mondays and at other times there may be additional content. You can do so here. You can help support this podcast by supporting us on Patreon. You can do so here. EPISODE NOTES Notes and resources relevant to this episode: Andrew Solomon, The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression (United States: Scribner, 2001, 2015 update), p. 363 When you buy a book using a link on this page, Greatheart’s Table receives a commission. Thank you for supporting this work! But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9. 10) Podcast music provided by Cool Hand Luke and used with permission.Intro: “Holy Vanguard” / LyricsOutro: “Wonder Tour” / Lyrics / Video To find our more about Greatheart’s Table, visit us here.

This is part two of our conversation with Dr. Hans Madueme regarding mental illness and the church. In this part we turn to how then the church can care for those suffering from a mental disorder. I’m grateful to Dr. Madueme for his time, and for you for joining us. We encourage you to also subscribe to our newsletter where, on third Mondays and at other times there may be additional content. You can do so here. You can help support this podcast by supporting us on Patreon. You can do so here. EPISODE NOTES Notes and resources relevant to this episode: For an explanation of the name and intention of these occasional interviews, read this, or listen to it here or here. Michael Emlet, Descriptions and Prescriptions: A Biblical Perspective on Psychiatric Diagnoses and Medications John Piper, Expository Exultation: Christian Preaching as Worship When you buy a book using a link on this page, Greatheart’s Table receives a commission. Thank you for supporting this work! Podcast music provided by Cool Hand Luke and used with permission.Intro: “Holy Vanguard” / LyricsOutro: “Wonder Tour” / Lyrics / Video To find our more about Greatheart’s Table, visit us here.

Welcome to another Rainy Day Conversation around Greatheart’s Table. This time we welcome Dr. Hans Madueme, Professor of Theology and Biblical Studies at Covenant College, in Lookout Mountain, Georgia to help us explore the intersection between mental illness and the church. This is part one of a two part conversation. I hope you are able to take in both. We encourage you to also subscribe to our newsletter where, on third Mondays and at other times there may be additional content. You can do so here. You can help support this podcast by supporting us on Patreon. You can do so here. EPISODE NOTES Notes and resources relevant to this episode: For an explanation of the name and intention of these occasional interviews, read this, or listen to it here or here. Michael Emlet, Descriptions and Prescriptions: A Biblical Perspective on Psychiatric Diagnoses and Medications John Piper, Expository Exultation: Christian Preaching as Worship When you buy a book using a link on this page, Greatheart’s Table receives a commission. Thank you for supporting this work! Podcast music provided by Cool Hand Luke and used with permission.Intro: “Holy Vanguard” / LyricsOutro: “Wonder Tour” / Lyrics / Video To find our more about Greatheart’s Table, visit us here.

I’m Randy Greenwald and I’m a pastor. My job is to remind others that there is complete acceptance by the kindness of a merciful God. That those who belong to Christ have received grace, a gift of forgiveness and adoption into the family of God. That this is as real today as it was when they first believed. I get to do that. If only I would believe it were true for me. And this is the problem many of us face. It’s hard to apply to ourselves a gospel we proclaim to others. How could that be? That’s what I’d like to talk about. If you like what you find here, you can support this on Patreon, or at Substack. Thanks for joining us around Greatheart’s Table. We encourage you to also subscribe to our newsletter where, on third Mondays and at other times there may be additional content. You can do so here. You can help support this podcast by supporting us on Patreon. You can do so here. EPISODE NOTES Notes and resources relevant to this episode: The letter from Luther was referenced by Dr. Kelly Kapic in a chapel message at Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando, Florida. Podcast music provided by Cool Hand Luke and used with permission.Intro: “Holy Vanguard” / LyricsOutro: “Wonder Tour” / Lyrics / Video To find our more about Greatheart’s Table, visit us here.

This is part two of the conversation we began last time with Dan, Diana, and Adria from Called to Peace Ministries. As some of you know, the namesake for this podcast is one Mr. Greatheart, a character from Part Two of John Bunyan’s allegory Pilgrim’s Progress. Mr. Greatheart is a guide, one charged with the responsibility of leading and protecting Christiana (the wife of Christian from Part One) and her children to the Celestial City. He is, that is, a pastor, and the fact that part of his charge was to protect Christiana is an apt truth to consider for this conversation. We want to fulfill that charge well. I’m grateful for these whose voices help us do that. We encourage you to also subscribe to our newsletter where, on third Mondays and at other times there may be additional content. You can do so here. You can help support this podcast by supporting us on Patreon. You can do so here. EPISODE NOTES Notes and resources relevant to this episode: EPISODE NOTES Notes and resources relevant to this episode: For an explanation of the name and intention of these occasional interviews, read this, or listen to it here or here. Called to Peace Ministries Protect the Flock Dan and Shannon Boeck, Rediscovering Christ: A Survivor’s Guide to the True Church Dan and Shannon Boeck, Domestic Abuse and the Dechurched: Are people abandoning the church or is the church abandoning its people? Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed Tyler Staton, Familiar Stranger: (Re)Introducing the Holy Spirit to Those in Search of an Experiential Spirituality C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity Timothy L. Sanford, I Have to Be Perfect When you buy a book using a link on this page, Greatheart’s Table receives a commission. Thank you for supporting this work! Podcast music provided by Cool Hand Luke and used with permission.Intro: “Holy Vanguard” / LyricsOutro: “Wonder Tour” / Lyrics / Video To find our more about Greatheart’s Table, visit us here.