BONUS | Joel and Steve on CPT's One-Year Cohorts

In this short bonus episode, Joel Lawrence and Steve Williamson introduce the Center for Pastor Theologians' two new one-year cohorts, exploring how they equip pastors and ministry leaders through theological formation, rich discussion, and practical reflection on the church, pastoral identity, and the theology of work. 

Join a CPT Cohort Program

Transcript

Joel Lawrence 2:32

Hi, everyone. Welcome to the CPT podcast. My name is Joel Lawrence, and I serve as the president of the Center for Pastor Theologians. And today we have a special bonus podcast for you, as we are inviting pastors and ministry leaders to apply for one of the CPT's one-year cohorts. And with me is CPT Managing Director Steve Williamson, who runs our cohorts. Welcome, Steve.

Steve Williamson 3:00

Thanks, Joel. It's good to be here with you in the room where it happens.

Joel Lawrence 3:04

Here we are. Here we are. Absolutely. So if folks out there, if you've been to the CPT conference over the past couple of years, you will know Steve as the worship leader at the conference and came on staff a couple of years ago. And we're delighted to have him as part of the CPT team. Steve, we're we're talking today about our one-year cohorts. We're running a couple of these. Before we talk about the two cohorts in particular, I just love to ask you to tell us about the overall vision for the cohorts.

Steve Williamson 3:40

Great. Yeah, these cohorts are designed for pastors, for ministry staff, and other church leaders. Perhaps you're connected to the CPT through something like this, our podcast, or our national conference, or our monthly newsletter. And perhaps you feel a kinship to our vision of forming pastor theologians to shepherd the church in our complex world. Well, these cohorts provide a unique opportunity over the course of one ministry year to go deeper into that vision with us through a formational opportunity. And there's three things, Joel, in particular, that I think are special about our one-year cohorts. First of all, you get to learn from one of our CPT fellows throughout the year as they lead the cohort. Our fellows are the heartbeat, they're the exemplars of the pastor theologian vision. And throughout one ministry year and on a spring retreat, you will get to interact with one of them in a small group setting. Secondly, in these cohorts, you get to engage with like-minded church leaders and pastors, each with their own unique denominational and ministry context, but you get to engage with this group in a theologically rich and collaborative conversation around a topic that's impacting the local church today. And last, what I'd love to point out about these cohorts is that during the spring retreat, you will get to experience dynamic teaching and conversation with an expert theologian and practitioner who will be serving as your retreat speaker. So there's a lot packed in these one-year cohorts.

Joel Lawrence 5:20

Yeah, there there is. And uh, as we've run them the last couple of years, it's just been so fun to see the kind of richness, how that's impacted the folks who have participated. So this year we're running two cohorts. Uh, the first is called Exploring Ecclesial Identities, Theological Foundations for the Church and the Pastor. And the second is a theology of work, pastoral reflections on human flourishing, finitude, and fallenness. So, Steve, would you tell us about each of these cohorts and how you think they will serve pastors?

Steve Williamson 5:57

Great. The the first cohort, exploring ecclesial identities, is the topic, you might say, at the heart of the CPT. It's our bread and butter. And in this cohort, we'll be exploring the nature of the church and the pastor. At the CPT, we believe that the path to understanding what the church is called to do begins with a deeper understanding of who the church is called to be. We believe that a deeply rooted theology of the church leads to rich and fruitful practices within the church. So our Exploring Ecclesial Identities cohort will dive into the theological identity of the church and the pastor. We will explore these identities from a biblical, accredal, and historical lens. One of the aspects of this cohort that I am so excited about is the collection of readings we've put together for the group. It's a curated collection of thoughts on the nature of the church and the pastor, coming from the early church, from church reformers, and then several readings collected from contemporary theologians as well. I would say that the reading list alone would be worth it. But there is more. So, Joel, do you remember back in LeBron James's heyday, when he was at the peak of his career, you always knew you always knew it was a crucial game for the team, whatever team he was on at the time, uh, when he was on the floor for the entire game, when he was never on the bench.

Joel Lawrence 7:28

Yes.

Steve Williamson 7:29

Well, this cohort is being led by the LeBron James of CPT, our very own president, Dr. Joel Lawrence. So, Joel, are you excited about leading this cohort?

Joel Lawrence 7:43

I am excited. Um, I will say that uh uh as a Dirk Navitsky guy, I'd I'd I'd actually be more encouraged if you said that. But but no, I I am I'm thrilled to be leading this cohort. As you said, it is really at the DNA of the CPT is contained in this cohort. And so I'm I'm excited to lead it. Uh I know you're going to talk about my my co-leader here in a minute, and we're just really looking forward to this group.

Steve Williamson 8:14

Uh it's going to be fantastic. Joel's co-leader uh for exploring ecclesial identities will be CPT fellow Chris Gansky from City Reform Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Chris is a brilliant teacher who has really invested himself in this topic. We heard him talk on the retreat last year. It was fabulous. Um, and Chris is also the architect behind our collection of readings for the cohort.

Joel Lawrence 8:40

And let me just jump in there real quick and say what he put together for this collection of readings. You mentioned it a little earlier. It's it's just fantastic. Um, from across church history, a really expert pastor theologian putting together the kinds of readings that that will expand our mind, but also really speak deeply to the practices of the church and the pastor when we're rooted in our identity. So I agree with what you're saying about just kind of the cost of admission, the price of admission is that reader is fantastic.

Steve Williamson 9:14

Yeah, and we're we're excited to have Joel and Chris uh leading the cohort for us this year. That's gonna be great. And then if that wasn't enough, on the retreat, CPT founder Gerald Heastand from Calvary Memorial Church here in Oak Park, he'll be joining us as an additional speaker alongside Joel and Chris.

Joel Lawrence 9:35

And I think we could say he's the Michael Jordan, right? Like he's the GOAT. LeBron's fantastic, but he's the Michael Jordan of the Pastor Theologians.

Steve Williamson 9:45

You're not implying that he's definitively a lot older than you, are you, in that analogy? Well, it's going to be a fantastic cohort, all culminating in a spring retreat here in Oak Park in early March. So now let me quickly tell you about the second cohort Joel just mentioned, titled A Theology of Work: Pastoral Reflections on Human Flourishing, Finitude, and Fallenness. So, what does a biblically faithful life of work and rest look like? What do creation and the fall teach us about God's design for our work and the challenges that come through the brokenness of the world? How do pastors shepherd their people to live out this Christian view of work? Those are some of the questions we'll be tackling in this new cohort, in addition to considering the unique challenges of living out a biblically faithful expression of our work amidst rapid technological changes, including AI. And Joel, we've got two great books along with the two fantastic authors of these books to help guide our discussion this year in the pursuit of a theology of work. First off, the cohort will be led by CPT fellow Ryan Tefelowski of Denver Seminary. Ryan just released a book he co-authored titled Worth Doing: Fallenness, Finitude, and Work in the Real World. For those of you who don't know Ryan, Joel and I can tell you that he is a brilliant, thoughtful pastor and scholar, specifically around these topics of anthropology, technology, and work. I can't wait to dive into Ryan's new book and learn from him over the course of this next ministry year. And I think you'd also agree, Joel, that Ryan is in the running for one of our funniest CPT fellows.

Joel Lawrence 11:44

I I would say not in the running. I think it's he's kind of a he's ahead by a distance. I told him that recently, that he's you know, by far the funniest. And then I said to him, that's an that's a compliment. It's it's not the greatest compliment in the world because it's a room full of pastor theologians and good senses of humor, but it's not exactly a a chuckle fest. But but Ryan is Ryan is really fun to hang out with.

Steve Williamson 12:08

There are always a few good belly laughs when Ryan Tapelowski is in the room.

Joel Lawrence 12:13

Yes.

Steve Williamson 12:13

Um in addition um to Ryan leading the cohort, our retreat speaker for our work cohort this year will be Kelly Kapik from Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia.

Joel Lawrence 12:25

Kelly's a phone twister. Kelly Kapik's. Okay, I'm gonna do that one again. You got it. Sorry, go ahead.

Steve Williamson 12:34

Kelly's book, You're Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God's Design, and Why That's Good News. Um, it's an absolutely fantastic book. I read it right after it released, and I can't wait to read it again this year and hear Kelly teach on this topic with a group during our cohort retreat in Nashville, Tennessee, right after Easter. So really looking forward to this cohort as well. We've got two really great one-year cohorts for folks this year, Joel.

Joel Lawrence 13:03

Yeah, I'm really excited about both of these. Uh, and as I said, it's been it's been fun. We've been running some other cohorts the last couple of years and seeing the impact of that and the way that that has served pastors and ministry leaders. So I'm just excited for folks to experience these. I want to encourage all of you who are out there listening to either apply for this. They're designed, you can do it as an individual. They're also designed for two or three people from a church staff to do it together. So grab some some of your fellow pastors if you're in a multi-staff church and apply together. So apply or pass along the link uh to the cohorts to someone that you think is is gonna benefit from participating. So, so Steve, why don't you tell people where they can go to sign up or to share the link to the cohorts with others?

Steve Williamson 13:51

Great. That link is pastheologians.com slash cohorts. If you go to that page, you're gonna get all the information about the cohorts, including the costs, which are very low. It's also got all the dates for each cohort. Um, if you scroll down further, information about the two cohorts we just outlined. Again, that's pastortheologians.com slash cohorts.

Joel Lawrence 14:19

Steve, thanks for everything you're doing to make these cohorts happen. Uh, again, really encourage folks to take a look at these. Uh, it's a really phenomenal opportunity to dig in, to grow in your pastoral ministry. And we at the CPT would love the opportunity to serve you and others in your network in this way. So, Steve, thanks for jumping on with us today. Thanks, Joel. Thanks for listening to today's episode of the CPT Podcast, a theology podcast for the church. If you enjoyed this episode, would you consider subscribing if you haven't already? You can also help us by leaving a rating and especially a review on Apple Podcasts wherever you're listening. We love hearing from listeners in this way, and it helps others find out about the show. The CPT Podcast is a production of the Center for Pastor Theologians. You can learn more about the CPT at our website, pastortheologians.com. Follow us on Facebook, YouTube, and X. The show is recorded and edited in partnership with Glowfire Creative and Liminal Podcasts. And I'm your host, Joel Lawrence. Thanks for listening.