Almost Essential

Episode 17: Season Recap 1- Pension Fund of the Christian Church

In the first of several recap episodes of season 1 of the podcast, many of the survey respondents said they wanted not only more episodes, but that the number one thing they learned was that Pension Fund of the Christian Church existed. This organization has been around since the late 1800's to serve pastors of every Stone Campbell Movement stream with retirement planning and income. Matt Shears and Jonathan Beckham-Brink, area directors at PFCC, join us to talk all things pension to help Church of Christ pastors save enough for a flourishing third age. You can learn more about Pension Fund of the Christian Church at www.pensionfund.org.

Episode 16: w/Caleb Sams

This is the final episode of our series. As a capstone, we invited Caleb Sams, a financial advisor in Nashville, TN onto the show to help pastors think about steps to take to start improving their asset accumulation for retirement. Caleb grew up in Churches of Christ as a PK, and now advises many pastors himself. Be on the lookout for a special bonus episode as Lars and I glean from this series and my research and have a wrap-up conversation about what pastors and churches can do moving forward.

Episode 15: Texas Pastors

In this episode, we interview two Church of Christ pastors from Texas: Jarrod Robinson and Aaron Scott. Jarrod currently serves as the lead pastor at Southern Hills Church of Christ in Abilene, TX, while Aaron served as a youth minister in California and most recently as lead pastor at a church in west Texas. This is the last of eight separate qualitative conversations with pastors inspired by James Knapp's suggestion from the only academic studies conducted on the retirement realities of Church of Christ pastors. Texas is home to the most Church of Christ congregations out of any state in the country, so this definitely was an anticipated conversation.

Episode 14: New England Pastors

In this episode, we interview two Church of Christ pastors from New England: Caleb Borchers and Jeff Pierpont. Caleb currently serves as the lead pastor at The Feast Church in Providence, RI, while Jeff serves in a part-time role for several churches in Vermont, and works full-time in HR in the banking industry. This is the the seventh of eight separate qualitative conversations with pastors inspired by James Knapp's suggestion from the only academic studies conducted on the retirement realities of Church of Christ pastors. New England just so happens to be the one region in the US where there are the fewest Church of Christ congregations in the country, so this was definitely an intriguing conversation.

Episode 13: California Pastors

In this episode, we interview two Church of Christ pastors from California: Kyle Sapp and Glynn Dahlke. Kyle currently serves as the lead pastor at Cordova Church of Christ in Sacramento, while Glynn serves as the youth and associate pastor at Central Church of Christ in San Jose. This is the the sixth of eight separate qualitative conversations with pastors inspired by James Knapp's suggestion from the only academic studies conducted on the retirement realities of Church of Christ pastors.