The NOW Podcast: Practical Advice for New Pastors - Episode 01, Who and What is this for?

The Podcast’s Purpose and Audience

Welcome to Not Only Water. This podcast is dedicated to providing practical advice for new pastors. In 1 Timothy 5, verse 23, Paul tells Timothy to drink not only water, but to use a little wine for his stomach's sake.

This short piece of practical advice is the inspiration for this series. Get ready to dive into today's topic. Here's your host, Keith Foskey.

Welcome to Not Only Water. This podcast is for younger and newer ministers who need practical advice for everyday things that happen in the life of pastors. My name is Keith Foskey, and I've been a pastor at Sovereign Grace Family Church for the last 16 years.

My hope is that through this program, I'm going to be able to help you with some of the things that I didn't have help with when I first began. And I wanna start by telling you my story. I became the pastor of Sovereign Grace Church before it was even Sovereign Grace Church.

Before it was the church that it is now, we used to be a church of a different name. And at that time, the church was quite a bit different. It wasn't the same church that it is now. Doctrinally, it wasn't the same church that it is now by confession.

Many things have changed. We have grown. We have hopefully, I think, become better over the years. But back when I first became the pastor, I was only 26 years old. And prior to becoming a pastor, before that, I was working alongside the previous minister of the church who himself was, in my opinion, not really a good mentor.

He wasn't a man who was dedicated to preaching the scriptures. Oftentimes, he would get in the pulpit and just tell stories. And I say that only because anybody who was here would be able to recognize that that's actually what happened.

And when it came to preaching, I really didn't have someone to reach out to, to talk to other than him. And he wasn't really a good mentor. And even in seminary, my teachers were great. They were wonderful.

Dr. Gerald Powers, Dr. Stanford Cruz. These were great men in my life. But I only got to see them in class, maybe a little bit of time before and after class. I really didn't have someone in my life who was functioning as a mentor.

And I imagine that I'm not the only one who's dealing with that similar situation. I imagine that there are some of you out there who are perhaps in a very similar state where you are a young, or like I said, don't have to be young, just a new minister.

Maybe you came to the Lord later in life. God called you into pastoring later in life. Maybe you're a little older, but you're new. And you're finding things that you didn't realize that you needed to know.

And just activities that you're having to face and things that you're having to do. Keep up with a weekly preaching schedule, preaching two or three times a week, preparing your lessons. How do you do that?

How do you stay current? How do you keep up with your workload? Maybe you're a pastor who has a second job. Maybe you're bivocational. I hope to be able to give you practical advice in many of these areas.

Why This Podcast Is Called Not Only Water

And I'm basing this podcast on a particular verse of scripture. The reason why it's called Not Only Water is based on 1 Timothy 5, verse 23. And 1 Timothy 5, verse 23 says this. No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.

Now that's the English Standard Version, which is the version I preach out of. And again, what it's saying is the Apostle Paul is speaking to Timothy. And as many of you know, Timothy was like a son to him, a son in the faith.

And the Apostle Paul is giving him some practical life advice. He's saying, don't just drink only water, but drink a little wine for your stomach's sake. And apparently it was something that would help with the ailments that he had in his stomach.

And the reason why I've chosen this verse as the primary verse for this particular podcast, and we've named it Not Only Water based on this passage where Paul says, don't drink only water, is that these are practical pieces of advice that I wanna give you as a new or young minister.

And I wanna help you to deal with some of the things that I had to deal with, and maybe give you some practical tips to get through these issues and maybe be able to overcome in some areas that you might be struggling.

The Speaker’s Experience and Need for Mentors

Now, I wanna say this right away. Some people might say, hey, you're a young minister, you're only 42. And I understand that. There are many men that are older than I am and have been doing this a lot longer than I am.

And I rest upon those men and I go to them and I ask them questions. And I'm thankful for the men in my life that are older and wiser. And there may be times where I invite some of them onto the program and we talk to you directly through this podcast.

But just understand that right away, the first thing I wanna say is I don't know everything, but I have been through quite a bit in the last 16 years. And I'm hoping that some of what I've learned, some of what I've gleaned from other ministers, some of what I now have as experience in my life will be able to benefit you and be a blessing in your ministry.

So that's who this podcast is really for. This podcast is for the younger minister or the newer minister who is just starting out. Maybe you have questions about, as I said, how to outline a sermon, how to prepare a sermon calendar, how to keep up with your workload, how to do a hospital visit, how to meet with a family if you're going to do a funeral.

All of these things are things that I hope to do on this podcast. And as well, I hope that I'll be able to interact with some of you so that I can answer specific questions that you might have to be able to address those things that you want to know about, because that's the things that to me would really be a blessing to know that I'm helping someone individually.

And again, nothing I can do on this podcast would ever take the place of you actually having a ministry mentor. So I'm not seeking to take the place of that. But I know that some of you, as I was, 26 years old, I was the pastor of the church.

And at that time, even though we had elders, the elders were not, like our elders today, function as pastors in the church. So right now, I function along with two other men who are also pastoring alongside of me.

And that's the way the elders are supposed to function. The elders are supposed to function like pastors because they are pastors. And so Brother Andy and Brother Mike, who serve with me here at Sovereign Grace Family Church, they come alongside me and we all shepherd the church together.

And that's what we believe in. We believe in a plurality of pastors, a plurality of elders. But when I first became the pastor, the elders, even though they did function in a leadership role, they didn't really function in a pastoring role.

It was really a lot was laid upon me. And as a young man who didn't have a lot of experience, even though I had been to seminary, I was really in many times in situations where it would have been great to have someone to ask questions to, it would have been great to have a mentor to go to, to talk to.

Format, Schedule, and the Companion Show

So that's what I'm kind of hoping that this will be. This will be an opportunity to speak into the lives of young ministers and newer ministers and to be able to hopefully be a blessing, as I said. And like I said, I'm not the smartest guy in the world.

I'm certainly not the best pastor in the world, but I'm making myself available and I'm hoping that there are those of you out there who will take advantage of it. So with that being said, the goal of these podcasts is that they are all going to be between 15 and 20 minutes.

So the other reason for that is I'm hoping that this will become part of maybe a weekly routine where you're listening to these, maybe when you're preparing to go to the office or when you're at the office, you take this 20 minutes of time.

And the first couple of podcasts are gonna come out sort of in rapid succession. I'm gonna do several videos today. And then they're going to come out once a week. So after I do today's series of videos, which hopefully will be three or four days in a row, where I can hopefully start getting some folks interested, getting some folks involved.

After that, the videos are not going to be every day. After that, the videos are going to be once a week. My goal is to produce these and have them out by the end of the week, Thursday or Friday at the latest.

And so this is going to coincide with my other podcasts. And perhaps you already know about that. Perhaps that's the way you came here. But I also do another podcast from this studio. And that podcast is called Conversations with a Calvinist.

Now, Conversations with a Calvinist is a weekly conversation about scripture, culture and media from a reform perspective. So that is its own show. And it's going to be independent from this show. However, it's going to be probably produced around the same time.

I'll probably produce both shows around the same time in the week. So early in the week, the goal will be to publish Conversations with a Calvinist. Later in the week will be to publish Now. And that's what we're going to call this show, Not Only Water.

The Show’s Short Name and Closing Encouragement

The shortened version, the short name of it is going to be Now. And the idea behind that is not only is it not only water, but it's also this. It's the idea that you have questions and I hope to give you answers now.

So that's my goal. So today's episode, obviously very short. This is an introduction to the podcast, an introduction to the show. My goal is to be a help to younger ministers, a help to those who need someone to come alongside them to answer questions and to give them practical advice in ministry.

So I look forward to having you listen to the program and the days to come, there's going to be rapid fire, a couple episodes at a time. And then after that, it's going to come along once a week. So thank you for listening to this introduction to the podcast.

Again, the podcast is called Not Only Water, Practical Advice for New Ministers. Thank you for listening to Now. And my name is Keith Foskey and I look forward to seeing you next time. May God bless you.