The Refining Fire: A Journey to Authenticity

What If There Is More to Church?

What if there’s more to church than what we’re currently experiencing? In this episode, Jonathan explores a question that has been stirring in his heart: What if church is meant to be more than a weekly gathering? What if it’s a glimpse of something greater - a foretaste of the Kingdom of God and the world to come? Together we’ll examine Scripture, wrestle with the decline of church participation, and consider whether we’ve forgotten something essential about what happens when God’s people gather. We don’t have it all figured out, and that’s intentional. Rather than arriving at a neat conclusion, Jonathan leaves this conversation open-ended as an invitation to learn together. Continue the discussion in the comments, on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/The.Average.Pursuit], with your family, or around the dinner table with friends. What if there’s more to church than what we’re currently experiencing?

Formation Over Performance

Recorded from Raleigh during chaplaincy training with the NC State Highway Patrol. In Luke 10:38–42, Martha is busy, sincere, and missing the one thing. We sit with her tension and ask why the same thing happens to us — why we can be loud, faithful, and still distracted from the only voice that matters. A story from the SHP training floor becomes the picture: one instructor giving clear orders, another knocking things off the table. We hear both. We only obey one. This episode is about the quiet, off-platform shaping no one applauds — formation over performance, faithfulness over flash.

What This Show Is For

A show for the average believer, pursuing Christ faithfully, in ordinary life. Hosted by Jon — a bi-vocational pastor who lives most of his week the same way you do: working a job, raising a family, showing up for people, trying to follow Jesus in the unglamorous middle of it all. This isn’t a podcast about platform Christianity or performance spirituality. It’s about formation over performance, faithfulness over flash, and the slow, unimpressive work of pursuing Christ in a life that nobody’s going to make a documentary about. If you’re tired of Christian content that feels like it was made for someone louder, busier, or further along than you — this is the show for you. New episodes weekly. Part of Pursuit Media.

The Silence and the Pursuit

After months of silence, The Average Pursuit is back. This episode isn’t a comeback announcement. It’s a re-entry - honest, unhurried, and grounded in the one thing the silence kept teaching: that waiting on God is not the opposite of pursuing Him. It’s part of how the pursuit gets shaped. Jon opens the season with a brief word about where he’s been, a reading of Psalm 62, and a clear picture of what The Average Pursuit is now - a show for ordinary believers pursuing Christ faithfully in ordinary lives. No performance. No platform-chasing. Just the quiet, steady work of formation. There’s also more coming than just this show. Jon hints at what’s being built around The Average Pursuit, with the full story to follow soon. New episodes weekly. The next one drops in just a few days. “For God alone my soul waits in silence.” Psalm 62:1

Step Into the River or Die on the Shore

In this episode, Jonathan Sheppard explores the critical moment in a believer's life when faith transitions from mere belief to active movement. He emphasizes the dangers of remaining stagnant on the 'shore' of faith, where comfort and safety can lead to delayed obedience and a slow fading of conviction. Through the lens of Joshua 3, he challenges listeners to identify their own 'river'—the call to action that God has placed in their lives—and encourages them to step forward in faith, despite the uncertainties that may lie ahead. Learn more by visiting us online HERE [https://www.theaveragepursuit.com]