Canadian Church Leader's Podcast

At CCLN we’ve navigated this strange year alongside all of you and our prayer has been that these leadership conversations would be a source of encouragement and hope for you in your unique ministry context. Season 2 has featured conversations about navigating COVID as church leaders but, more than that, each interview has featured leaders and innovators with profound insights around ministry and leadership in a post-Christian culture. We hope this mash-up of season 2 highlights provides you with non-stop chills, “ah-ha” moments and a fresh injection of inspiration as you launch into 2021. ccln.ca/season 2

In this episode, Jason introduces the listener to four Canadian authors and their respective ministries and recent books. Aaron White - Jason’s conversation with Aaron White explores his ministry on the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. The DTES is a neighbourhood plagued by extreme poverty, addiction, and trafficking. But that is not the primary story that Aaron hopes to tell. Overwhelming the obvious brokenness of the DTES, is the tangible presence of God, the grace of the Gospel and the beauty of image bearers who are known and loved by their Creator — friends and neighbours who are, in many ways, our best teachers about the above spiritual realities. Andy Steiger - Andy Steiger is the director of Apologetics Canada. He has recently written a book with Zondervan titled, Reclaimed. Jason and Andy discuss the importance and relevance of Christian apologetics, which involves providing reasons for our hope in Jesus with gentleness, respect, and cultural nuance. Alastair Sterne - Alastair is a pastor and a chur

Tammy Giffen is the lead pastor of Groundswell, a multi-site church in Central Nova Scotia. Groundswell is a church plant that launched in September of 2018 with a vision to be a church unchurched people love to attend. She came to know Jesus as an adult when she was invited to attend Alpha. Since then she has been passionate about breaking down barriers to church and helping people meet Jesus. Tammy is married to Peter and has three children; Taylor, Wesley, and Mya. ccln.ca/season2 ccln.ca/compassion

Father James Mallon is pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia and founder of the Divine Renovation Ministry. Father James is also the author of the best selling book Divine Renovation: From A Maintenance To A Missional Parish, an engaging guide for parishes seeking to cultivate vibrant and dynamic faith communities centred on missionary discipleship. Jon Tyson is a Pastor and Church Planter in New York City. Originally from Adelaide, Australia, Jon moved to the United States twenty years ago with a passion to seek and cultivate renewal in the Western Church. He is the author of Sacred Roots, A Creative Minority, and The Burden is Light and his newest book Beautiful Resistance. www.ccln.ca/season2

Al Gordon leads Hackney Church, a thriving church on a mission to bring hope to the heart of East London. He is married to Olivia, an architect, and they have three children. Al is a trustee of Alpha International and Charity: water. www.ccln.ca/season2

Matt Tapley has been a part of the Senior Leadership at Lakemount Worship Centre since 2003, and the Lead Pastor since 2008.  He serves the Church by developing leaders in a culture of dependence on the Spirit with full devotion to the unchanging Word of God.  Matt is an insightful preacher, gifted worship leader and a valuable contributor to various leadership environments.  Matt’s commitment to the Manifest Presence of God and the healing gifts of the Holy Spirit are a catalyst for stirring renewed hunger for God. www.ccln.ca/season2

Michael McDonald is Director of Global Focus and Strategic Relationships for The BibleProject, a crowdfunded non-profit creative studio dedicated to communicating a single, powerful message to the world: the Bible is one unified story that leads to Jesus. Prior to joining The BibleProject his work included community empowerment projects focused on educational, micro/macro financing projects, conflict resolution, and economic development. McDonald also leads thousands of Christian leaders on more than 200 trips around the world. He has also served on a number of boards—including Remember Nhu and Fly Fishing Collaborative—with a focus on ending child sex trafficking. Mike lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife Melissa. www.ccln.ca/season2 www.ccln.ca/compassion

For the past 20 years Pastor Mike has been passionately serving the local church in Europe, Africa and here in North America through pastoring, itinerant preaching and missions. In 2017 alongside his wife Nancy they planted and currently lead Nova Church in Halifax, Canada. www.ccln.ca/season2/episode31 www.ccln.ca/compassion

Ken Shigematsu is the Senior Pastor of Tenth Church in Vancouver, BC, one of the largest and most diverse city-center churches in Canada. He is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal awarded to Canadians in recognition for their outstanding contribution to the country. Before entering pastoral ministry, he worked for the Sony Corporation in Tokyo. Ken is the author of the award-winning bestsellers ‘God in My Everything’ and ‘Survival Guide for the Soul.’ Ken lives in Vancouver with his wife, Sakiko, and their son, Joey. www.ccln.ca/season2/episode29 www.alphacanada.org/share2020

Jon Thompson serves as the Preaching and Vision Pastor at Sanctus Church in Toronto, Ontario. He has been on staff for more than 20 years. Sanctus is a regional church with a community of over 2,500 people that gather in multiple locations across Durham region. Under Jon’s leadership, Sanctus is characterized by dynamic Biblical teaching, vibrant community groups, compelling media and powerful times in worship. Jon has a Masters of Theological Studies from Tyndale Seminary, Toronto and a Doctorate of Missiology from Fuller Seminary, California. Jon is husband to his wife Joanna and Father to three kids - Hannah, Emma, and Noah. www.ccln.ca/season2/episode27

Larry Osborne is a pastor at North Coast Church in Vista CA.  Under his leadership the church has grown from 128 to over 13,000 on a weekend. North Coast Church has been acclaimed as one of the most influential and innovative churches in America. Known for pioneering the concepts of sermon-based small groups, pastoral teaching teams, and video venues, its fingerprints are found on churches throughout the world. Larry has a passion for leadership, spiritual formation and discipleship. Larry holds both a Master of Divinity and Doctorate degree from Talbot Theological Seminary.  He and his wife, Nancy, live in Oceanside, CA.  They have three married children and an increasing number of grandchildren. www.ccln.ca/season2/episode26

Glenn is the Associate Senior Pastor of New Life Church, and Lead Pastor of New Life Downtown, which is one of seven New Life congregations in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He has earned a Doctorate of Theology and Ministry from Durham University (UK) and is a visiting Fellow at St. John's College at Durham. He is the author of 6 books, including "Blessed Broken Given" and "Worship and the World to Come" as well as the worship songwriter of 65+ songs including "Your Name" (co-written with Paul Baloche). www.ccln.ca/season2/episode25

This episode features Q&R between Darrell Johnson and Tim Hughes around perhaps the most ignored and misunderstood book of the Bible - the book of Revelation. Darrell Johnson has been a preacher of the Gospel for over 50 years, and has written a comprehensive commentary on the book of Revelation called "Discipleship on the Edge." Tim Hughes is the lead pastor of St Luke's Gas Street Church in the UK, one of the pioneers of Worship Central and the writer behind well-known worship songs such as "Here I Am to Worship" and "The Way."  www.ccln.ca/season2/episode24

Ho-Ming is the Lead Pastor of Richmond Hill Christian Community Church, a multi-generational, multi-lingual church just outside of Toronto. He completed his undergraduate degree at Queen’s University, and went onto graduate studies at Tyndale Seminary in Toronto, and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Boston. Ho-Ming speaks frequently at conferences in Toronto and has traveled to Asia, Europe and Africa to teach as well. He is an avid guitarist and loves all things sci-fi. He is married to his high school sweetheart, Katie, they have three children. www.ccln.ca/season2/episode23

Brad is the former President of Catalyst and leadership consultant. Brad is a speaker, the founder of BLINC, and the author of The Catalyst Leader and H3 Leadership. He writes about leadership, the next generation, creativity, innovation, social media, teamwork, and personal growth. www.ccln.ca/season2/episode20

Alex Seeley was born and raised in Australia, and served as an Executive Pastor at a church in Melbourne for nearly 20 years. Having relocated with her family to Nashville in 2012, Alex and her husband Henry, began to open their home on Tuesday nights. By February 2014, their basement was filled to capacity and as a result The Belonging Co church was born. As Senior Pastors of the Belonging Co, Alex and Henry call Nashville home where they live with their two children, Holly and Taylor. www.ccln.ca/season2/episode19

Mark grew up in Toronto and moved to Vancouver in 2004 to attend Regent College, where he received a Master of New Testament Studies. Following over ten years of ministry, Mark, along with his wife Erin and an amazing team of people, planted Village Church in January 2010, which has now grown to a vibrant multi-site church in the Greater Vancouver Area and Calgary. He is passionate about contextualizing the gospel, teaching the Bible, seeing people transformed by Jesus, planting churches, and seeing the gospel advance across Canada. Mark resides in South Surrey with his wife and their three daughters.  www.ccln.ca/season2/episode18

Tim is the lead pastor of St Luke’s Gas Street Birmingham, which he leads alongside his wife, Rachel.  He is a worship leader and song writer known for songs such as “Here I Am to Worship”, “Happy Day”, “The Way”, and “Hope and Glory”.  He also pioneered Worship Central, a movement of worship leaders and musicians with a desire to see people encounter God, be equipped as worship leaders so that the local church can be empowered.  He is Dad to Phoebe, Simeon, Lois and Judah. www.ccln.ca/season2/episode17

Daniel Im is the Senior Associate Pastor at Beulah Alliance Church in Edmonton, Alberta. He has served and pastored in church plants and multisite churches in Vancouver, Ottawa, Montreal, Korea, Edmonton, and Nashville. He co-hosts the New Churches Q&A Podcast and a podcast with his wife on marriage and parenting called the IMbetween Podcast. His latest book is called You Are What You Do: And Six Other Lies about Work, Life, and Love.  www.ccln.ca/season2/episode14

Ben Karuhije is the pastor of Cities Church, a local church with a Canada wide mission to plant one hundred churches, in one hundred cities. After a series of direction-defining encounters with Jesus in his late teens, he left university and gave himself wholly to reaching as many people as possible with the reality of Who Jesus is and the life-changing potential of His power and love. He is married to his beautiful wife Sarah, and they live in Brandon, Manitoba.   www.ccln.ca/season2/episode13