Welcome to a new year and a brand new season of The Intentional Churches podcast! We’re switching things up in 2025—shifting from a weekly release schedule to releasing longer, more in-depth conversations with leaders from around the country every other week. We’re so glad to have you along for the ride in Season 7!

To kick things off, Erin and Doug are joined by Jim Sheldon, the Executive Pastor of Mission Church in Ventura, CA. Jim helped plant Mission in 2011 along with a team of other ministry leaders, and in that time he’s learned what’s worked (and what hasn’t) in Ventura’s unique community. Together Erin and Doug invite Jim to share his ministry story, plus dive in to what he means by doing more than “ordinary” church, aka activating your people to lead and disciple rather than just preaching more head knowledge from stage. The three also hit on how Jim personally pursues the ones in his life, his advice for putting together teams that can be the hands and feet of Jesus as soon as there’s a need, and what it looks like to lead through the unexpected.

We’re excited to kick off this new season, and new format, of Intentional Churches with you! Thanks for tuning in this week!

Don’t forget to reserve your spot for The Intentional Churches Conference in April here: https://www.intentionalchurches.com/podcast.

New to Intentional Churches? Start here:
https://assessment.intentionalchurches.com/churchos

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CHAPTERS

00:00 Understanding the Desire for Depth in Faith
10:30 Creating a Culture of Activation
20:09 Relational Evangelism: The Power of Personal Connection
29:53 Navigating Crisis with Authentic Vulnerability