The Pastor's Table

What happens when God calls you back into ministry after deep wounds?

In Part 2 of her story, Sarah Hinlicky Wilson reflects on moving from disillusionment in New Jersey to surprising renewal in Tokyo. With honesty and humor, she describes serving a fragile, English-speaking congregation during COVID, watching people show up because Jesus himself drew them, and discovering her pastoral heart restored.

🎙️ In This Episode:

• Recover...

What happens when ministry doesn’t go as planned?

In this riveting conversation, Sarah Hinlicky Wilson shares her story of growing up in a third-generation pastoral family, wrestling with her call as a woman, and stepping into a church full of both history and heartbreak. From dollar-priced communion to deep theological reflection, Sarah’s story reminds us that God often works through unexpected twists.

Learn more about Sarah's writ...

What happens when your call to ministry feels buried, but never really dies?

In this special episode, the tables turn as Tara Beth Leach and Mark Quanstrom interview their producer, and now executive pastor, Chaz Robbins. From a childhood shaped by faithful mentors to an RV road trip with his family, Chaz opens up about his winding path through ministry, media, church planting, and finally, back into pastoral leadership.

🎙️ In This...

How do pastors pour themselves out for others without losing their own soul?

In Part 2 of this conversation, Ben Cachiaras reflects on the dangers of achievement addiction, the symptoms of ministry at an unsustainable pace, and the practices that helped him and his staff find a healthier rhythm of life and leadership. From numbing emotions to creating a staff-wide REST policy, Ben shares the hard-won lessons of thriving in ministry...

What does it look like to serve a 200-year-old church that’s still bursting with life?

Pastor Ben Cachiaras of Mountain Christian Church has spent nearly three decades leading with holy ambition, holding together the call to discipleship and evangelism. His story is one of clarity, perseverance, and joy in ministry that truly “fits like a glove."

🎙️ In This Episode:

• Ben’s early call to ministry through his grandfather’s powerful...

How do pastors actually “do it all”?

In this lively, behind-the-scenes conversation, Mark Quanstrom and Tara Beth Leach pull back the curtain on their rhythms of ministry, family life, writing, and rest.

From the myth of busyness to the art of batch working, they share practical ways to sustain pastoral life without burning out—and why mornings might be the most important part of the day.

CLICK HERE to Pre-Purchase The Great Morning...

Ministry can be both deeply rewarding and painfully exhausting.

In this conversation, Tara Beth Leach and Mark Quanstrom open up about what keeps them in pastoral ministry after decades of challenges, transitions, and spiritual fatigue. From the support of their spouses to the importance of theological education, they reflect honestly on what sustains them when things get hard.

Learn more about The DMin in Pastoral Theology & Pr...

What if God’s invitation isn’t to act—but to wait?

In this episode, Tara Beth Leach and Mark Quanstrom continue their conversation with pastor and author Faith Eury Cho. Together they explore how a season of uncertainty, silence, and scarcity became fertile ground for trust, surrender, and a deeper experience of God’s presence. From living without a paycheck to planting a church from her living room, Faith shares how waiting can be ...

Author, pastor, and Honor Summit founder Faith Eury Cho shares her remarkable journey from spiritual curiosity as a child to church planting during a global pandemic. With warmth and honesty, Faith reflects on her evolving intimacy with God, how motherhood reshaped her theology of presence, and why pastors must stop chasing “moments” and start building lives centered on God’s presence.

🎙️ In This Episode:

• From mystical childhood...

What if we stopped fearing lament in church, and started embracing it as holy?

In this powerful follow-up conversation, pastor and author Aubrey Sampson joins Tara Beth and Mark to talk about leading while grieving, pastoring through pain, and creating sacred space for sorrow in the church.

🎙️ In This Episode:

• How unprocessed grief distorts our leadership and faith
• The courage it takes to bring your honest self to the pulpit
• Why l...

What if your calling was never modeled for you—and your grief hit harder than your training ever prepared you for? In this episode, pastor and author Aubrey Sampson joins Tara Beth and Mark to share the winding, beautiful, and painful road of planting a church while navigating personal loss, theological wrestling, and the loneliness of leadership.

🎙️ In This Episode:

• Why Aubrey never imagined herself as a pastor
• What it means to ...

What happens when your gender, age, and relationship status seem to speak louder than your call?

In this episode, Pastor Elizabeth Bair returns to The Pastor’s Table to reflect on the quiet tension of pastoral identity, learning to relax into the authority God has given, and why she's not chasing titles, but transformation.

🎙️ In This Episode:

• The burden of “proving yourself” in ministry as a young woman
• Singleness and the my...

What happens when you follow your calling, only to find yourself profoundly alone?

In this episode, youth pastor Elizabeth Bair opens up about stepping into ministry at age 22, navigating life in rural Michigan, and wrestling with loneliness as a single, young woman in a church leadership role. Her honesty is both refreshing and deeply relatable for pastors who feel isolated or unseen.

🎙️ In This Episode:

• Why Elizabeth almost ra...

What if the secret to church health isn’t strategy, but vulnerability?

In Part 2 of this powerful conversation, Pastor Paul Dazet opens up about pastoring through cancer, exhaustion, and loss. He found these limitations became a surprising gateway to renewal. With honesty and humility, Paul describes how letting go of performance gave birth to a church culture rooted in healing, authenticity, and radical grace.

🎙️ In This Episode:

What if success in ministry is what’s breaking you?

In Part 1 of this compelling conversation, Paul Dazet joins Tara Beth Leach and Mark Quanstrom to reflect on his unexpected path to faith, his climb through the ranks of church leadership, and the moment it all came undone. From a picnic table conversion to the painful fallout of cancer and burnout, Paul shares what it took to stop pretending—and start pastoring with honesty.

🎙...

Read Tara Beth's substack here: https://substack.com/home/post/p-163159975

How do pastors hold space when words fall short?

In this deeply personal and reflective episode, Tara Beth Leach reads from her Substack essay, “The Sacred Threshold That is Hospice,” sharing the journey of walking with her mother through dementia and hospice. Joined by co-host Mark Quanstrom, they unpack the theology of presence, the temptation to “preach th...

What happens when God leads you somewhere you never imagined—but you say yes anyway?

In Part 3, Pastor Ivan Ramirez reflects on his transition from the city streets of Chicago to leading a small-town church in Wisconsin. With humor, vulnerability, and pastoral wisdom, Ivan shares how cultural challenges, ministry mergers, and personal growth have shaped his approach to leadership—and why “let’s see where this goes” has be...

What happens when freedom finds you before a courtroom does?

In Part 2 of this gripping conversation, Pastor Ivan Ramirez shares how he left gang life, survived trial, and discovered God’s call through unlikely mentors, a Moody dorm room, and a courtroom bench. From early ministry mistakes to a doctoral degree, Ivan’s story is one of grace that keeps showing up.

🎙️ In This Episode:

• The unexpected grace that ...

How does a gang-involved teenager from Chicago become a pastor in Wisconsin? 

In Part 1 of this gripping conversation, Ivan Ramirez shares his remarkable story of searching for belonging, spiraling into despair, and encountering Jesus while facing a murder charge in solitary confinement. What begins as a tale of survival becomes a testimony of grace.

🎙️ In This Episode:

• Growing up without church but aware of ...