Episode #10 of the “Behind the Curtain” Ministry Podcast is here! Noah Filipiak interviews Noel Heikkinen, one of the pastors at Riverview Church in Holt, Lansing and East Lansing, MI. Riverview is a church made up of around 3000 – 4000 people that has 4 venues in the Lansing area. Noel and Noah discuss the […]
What does the Bible say about insecurity?
What does the Bible say about insecurity? Failure, Insecurity as a Striving Pastor & Finding My Soul in Jesus Much of my 10 years as a church planter have been riddled with anxiety, performance and self-striving. When I started out in 2005, I envisioned leading thousands of people to Jesus…for Jesus’ glory of course. The […]
The Big Egos & Huge Insecurities of Pastors
As a pastor and church planter, I know all about the big egos and huge insecurities most pastors have.
The Church’s obsession with big crowds is so different than Jesus’
Ask any driven church planter if they have a vision of someday having a church with 500 people or a few thousand people and/or multiple campuses, (and if they are honest) they will likely tell you yes. Ask any church planting denomination, and they will definitely tell you yes! This is a successful church in today’s […]
The Message of the Gospel: You Don’t Need to Improve
I remember hearing an interview with Derek Webb several years back where he was talking about grace and what the Gospel actually is. He said something to the effect of, “We can’t make God love us any more or any less that He already does.” When I first heard this, at that point in my […]
The Plague of American Christians: Caring What Other People Think
For most of my life, my insecurities have caused me to care too much about what other people think of me. When we first started our church, I decided we would not count how many people were in attendance each week. Didn’t want to focus on the wrong things, you know? Didn’t want to make […]