Heath Hardesty on How Imagination Shapes the Way We See the World, the Disintegration of Our Present Age, and His Book All Things Together.

Show Notes

• Give to our $30,000 Match Campaign
• Contact Josh from The Pastorate to Give on Behalf of Your Church
• Contact Jon Wright from Generis
• Enter to Win 1 of 5 copies of All Things Together
• Heath’s Website
• Buy All Things Together

Episode Description

On today's episode we welcome Heath Hardesty, Lead Pastor of Valley Community Church in Pleasanton, California, and author of All Things Together: How Apprenticeship to Jesus Is the Way of Flourishing in a Fragmented World. Heath's journey into pastoral ministry began as a plumber's apprentice and eventually grew into an apprenticeship of a different kind, one where he learned to follow the call of Jesus and eventually to shepherd a local church.

This conversation traces Heath's story, from studying literature and theology, playing in bands, and apprenticing under his plumber father, before a moment of encounter through the Scripture stirred his heart toward a life in the pastorate. Jason and Heath explore Heath’s book All Things Together which offers a vision of Christian apprenticeship built on union, abiding, obeying, and imaging and they discuss why imagination shapes the way we inhabit the world, the role of story in a fragmented age, and what it means to re-inhabit reality in the way of Jesus.

In this episode you'll hear:

• Heath's journey from a plumber's truck and a music career to the pastorate, 
• How a moment under a sink, holding an orange-painted wrench like his father, became his inspiration for All Things Together, 
• Why apprenticeship to Jesus is the essence of being human, not an optional "side quest" for mature Christians,
• What disintegration looks like in our culture and in our souls, and why our age acts as an amplifier of fragmentation,
• The role of story and imagination in helping people re-inhabit reality in the way of Jesus,
• Why "technique" and efficiency are at odds with being stewards of the mysteries of God,
• How the greatest gift a pastor brings to a congregation may simply be the person they are becoming.

For every pastor learning the slow craft of shepherding, this conversation offers a frame for the work, and a reminder that you, too, are an apprentice. May it encourage you wherever you're serving.