In this episode of the Church Planter Podcast, Peyton and Andrea Jones sit down with Tiffany Stein—pastor, church planter’s wife, and author of Mourning God: Grieving Loss, Wrestling with God, and Finding Your Way Back to Life.

Tiffany shares her powerful story of faith, loss, and leadership after the death of her infant son, David, who lived for 53 days. As a pastor in a highly visible church context, her grief unfolded publicly, forcing her to wrestle not only with devastating loss, but with the haunting silence of God that followed.

This conversation goes beyond theology and into the raw, emotional terrain church planters and ministry leaders often face but rarely discuss. Tiffany unpacks:

1. What it means to “mourn the God you thought you knew”
2. Why emotional doubt can be more destabilizing than intellectual doubt
3. The danger of quick-fix theology and Christian clichés
4. Why the Church desperately needs a robust theology of lament
5. How leaders can grieve authentically while still shepherding others
6. The humbling discipline of receiving care instead of always giving it

For church planters leading through infertility, loss, burnout, unanswered prayer, or spiritual silence, this episode offers permission to be human and a pathway back to hope.

Resources and Links Mentioned in this Episode:

1. Mourning God
2. Reliant Mission: reliant.org/cpp
3. NewBreed Training

Thanks for listening to the church planter podcast. We’re here to help you go where no one else is going and do what no one else is doing to reach people, no one else is reaching.

Make sure to review and subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast service to help us connect with more church planters.

In this rich and forward-looking episode of the Church Planter Podcast, Peyton Jones sits down with two seasoned practitioners of multiplication: Larry Walkemeyer and John Teter, co-authors of The Making of a Multiplier: Four Seasons to Maximize Your Kingdom Legacy.

Between them, Larry and John bring decades of church planting, denominational leadership, mentoring, and movement-building experience. From planting 30+ churches out of Light & Life Fellowship in Long Beach to launching businesses like 5000 Pies in Compton as a discipleship engine, these leaders don’t just talk multiplication, they live it.

In this conversation, they unpack:

• Why so many leaders fail to finish well, and how to avoid it
• The four-season framework of leadership development (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter)
• Why Barnabas is the ultimate model of a multiplier
• The overlooked power of investing in others instead of chasing platform
• How multiplication legacy can outlive visible ministry

Larry shares from his own “winter” season of influence without authority, while John reflects on how nearly resigning from ministry at 25 led him into a lifetime study of finishing well.

Resources and Links Mentioned in this Episode:

1. Reliant Mission: reliant.org/cpp
2. NewBreed Training

Thanks for listening to the church planter podcast. We’re here to help you go where no one else is going and do what no one else is doing to reach people, no one else is reaching.

Make sure to review and subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast service to help us connect with more church planters.

In this episode of the Church Planter Podcast, Peyton Jones and Pete Mitchell explore a foundational idea behind Discipology: before you make disciples, you must first become one. But that doesn’t simply mean being saved, it means allowing the character of Jesus to shape your life.

Peyton explains how the New Testament qualifications for leaders ultimately describe a life that reflects Christ’s character. From there, he introduces the Shalom Star, a practical tool designed to help believers evaluate whether their lives are growing in healthy, Christ-like balance across six key areas: spiritual life, honor (responsibilities), affections, learning, others, and mental health.

Together, Pete and Peyton discuss why imbalance in a leader’s life can undermine their witness, how discipleship shapes character through proximity to Jesus, and why personal transformation must come before effective disciple-making.

Resources and Links Mentioned in this Episode:

1. TakeShalom.com
2. DiscipologyBook.com
3. Reliant Mission: reliant.org/cpp
4. NewBreed Training

Thanks for listening to the church planter podcast. We’re here to help you go where no one else is going and do what no one else is doing to reach people, no one else is reaching.

Make sure to review and subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast service to help us connect with more church planters.