Dean of Sydney Kanishka Raffel says the cultural change means ‘it’s now difficult if not impossible for people to be Christian, respectable and successful, and yet so many of our people are used to being all three of these.’ 

Kanishka says church leaders today face significant external and internal pressures today, in the new era post Same Sex Marriage, post George Pell’s conviction and post the Royal Commission into abuse in churches. 

Evangelism: What is working?  What can we do better? Where do we shoot ourselves in the foot?  

A panel discussion featuring Phil Colgan, Alison Napier and Dominic Steele. Chaired by Carl Matthei

Evangelism seems to be off the boil. How can we do better? Mark Dever from Capitol Hill Baptist Church joins Dominic Steele.

We look at the amazing legacy of former Sydney Vice Principal of Moore Theological College Donald Robinson, his fresh reading of the Scriptures, fathering of the Australian biblical theological movement, what became known as the ‘Knox-Robinson view of church’ and remarkable new insights into the Jew Gentile relationships in the New Testament.

What are the issues facing church leaders in regards to stress, thriving, surviving and burnout? Psychologist Valerie Ling, from the Centre For Effective Living, counsels and trains ministry workers on these issues.

How do we preach to the heart?  How do we grasp the emotion of the text and then communicate it effectively to those present?

Andrew Barry lost his son Nathan to cancer just over two years ago. Here he shares his heart about the journey that God has worked in his marriage and among their remaining four children over the last two years.

Graham Beynon says there are a variety of patterns impacting our thinking on ministry models.  He calls them: separatism, permissions, de-contextualisation and individualism. 

Graham says men and women are similar but different.  He’s encouraging us to have an honouring of the differences.  And at the same time pursue godliness rather than genderness. 

Colin Buchanan joins Dominic Steele to share his story of trusting Christ as a teenager at Hurstville Presbyterian Church, serving in the music team, writing his first song on John 15, discovering country music, writing bible verses for his primary school class, and then carving out a career in acoustic, country, Christian and children’s music.

How do you help your church members own evangelism and outreach / keep track of mission contacts - be thinking missionally and caring personally for non Christians who visit?

We’re joined by Hunter Bible Church and Unichurch, Newcastle’s Missions Pastor Sam Hilton.

29-year-old David Bennett, who describes himself as a former anti-Christian gay activist now Christian, says Jesus is good news for same sex attracted Christians.

David joins us on The Pastor’s Heart to talk through his story and his two ‘coming outs,’ one as a 14 year old, and then later a second as a Christian believer. 

We launch The Pastor's Heart for 2019 with an 'on the road' edition from the CMS Summer School in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. 

Dr Gary Millar answers questions on how to preach better so that your sermon lands with real application.

Gary is the principal of the Queensland Theological College and is the chair of the Gospel Coalition Australia.

He was the main speaker at the 2019 Church Missionary Society Summer School in NSW. During the conference he took time out with Dominic Steele to share the story of when he was put on trial in Ireland to face 27 charges of heresy. 

What’s best practice for churches and Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and TikTok?

How does a pastor’s non Christian and Christian audience impact the way we use social media?

To what extent do potential church members decide to join/not join your church, based on your social media posts?

How can we shift internal church disagreements off social media, rather than airing disputes before unbelievers?

Raising up and training ministry trainees as harvest workers!

Why those of us in local churches should? And how we should?

Our guest is Carl Matthei, who leads the ministry team in the Campus Bible Study and Unichurch UNSW at the University of New South Wales.

Carl has more ministry trainees than anyone else in evangelical ministry in Australia.

How Christians can and should wisely engage with our increasingly hostile secular culture. How can we have a posture of grace in a time of outrage?

CEO of the Gospel Coalition Australia, Akos Balogh, has a background in Campus Ministry, and is a influencial christian writer and blogger.

We feature an interview conducted in church with a domestic violence survivor.  It’s a confronting and personal interview and does deserve a ‘trigger warning.’ Jenni Woodhouse and Dominic watch as the abuse survivor tells her story, then Jenni critiques Dominic’s pastoral handling of the situation.

There’s been lots of talk recently about ‘The Leadership Pipeline’ but what exactly is it and how can the senior church leader make the most of this new pastoral practice.

The leadership pipeline is a super helpful tool to think about leadership development, for yourself as a senior church leader, but also for others.

Senior MInister of Toongabbie Anglican Church Raj Guptahas been developing a training program for senior ministers of churches built around the leadership pipeline.

How do you care for people where a spouse has just left? Or committed adultery?

There's pain and hurt. How do we care best for divorcees in the wider non Christian community?

And if they are Christian often one at least of the partners ends up leaving the church.

Michael Sheedy and Melinda Hunt have been leading Village Church Annandale's divorce care program for the last eight years.

They've seen more than 100 divorcees helped and heal through this program.

They join Dominic Steele to talk about the things they've learned along the way. Every divorce is different. But there are some common threads.