A New Church

In Episode 38, we are joined by Steve Goyer and Dennis Whittle, a minister and an entrepreneur, who walk regularly, contemplating what is working and not working in today’s religious organizations. We wanted to talk with them about their walks and explore what has arisen from their conversations. As we interviewed them, it was clear that Steve and Dennis were giving us a peek at their own dynamic competence as they wrestled with this question of what a new church might look like for them, both internally and externally. 

Steve Goyer is the current interim Pastor at Riverside Presbyterian Church in Jax, Fl.  He has been a Senior pastor at Presbyterian Churches in Charlotte, NC, Atlanta Ga, and Jacksonville Fl. Steve retired in 2019 and was asked to stay on the interim Paster and is retiring again this year…we’ll see how that goes. 

We know many of his congregational members and Steve is a beloved figure in the church. His humbleness and devotion to his community, combined with his porousness to new ideas and approaches provides the vessel for a rich connection to the spiritual.

Dennis Whittle is a very successful entrepreneur who has spent many years focusing on entrepreneurship for good. He is the founder and president of The Whittle Group and facilitates a number of wide ranging networks that focus on global issues of change to local citizen feedback loops. Steve has worked globally as Economist, including a stint at the world bank and continues to share his knowledge as a visiting lecturer and fellow at top universities and non-profits, like the Center for Global development. 

A funny story, while we were working on the podcast, Dennis took a week off and sent a photo to us of him sitting with Yo Yo Ma, discussing social entrepreneurism, I perfect way to capture the seriousness and influence of Dennis as well as the fun he has with life.