Rural Pastor's Talk

About Rural Pastor's Talk

Rural pastors helping rural churches think biblically about the local church.

Publisher

TJ Freeman, Joe Wagner, & Josh MacClaren

Category

religion & spirituality · religion & spirituality

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

19 Apr 2019

Latest episode

2 Nov 2026

Latest episodes

53 of 226 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   2 Nov 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Six Bad Responses to Abortion

   Host TJ Freeman interviews Bryce Asberg about six detrimental approaches to the abortion debate, offering insights for more effective engagement.

2. 

   15 Jul 2026

   Grumpy Hearts and Holy Checks in Rural Ministry

   In this episode of Rural Pastors Talk, Joe Wagner, Josh MacClaren, and CJ Dematatis open with a humorous “Pastoralax” skit before diving into what makes pastors grumpy and why a “holy heart check” matters in rural ministry. They share personal stories including travel fatigue and traffic, tightly planned schedules getting disrupted, last-minute Sunday volunteer changes, losing a preaching slot, and discouragement over a church building situation and how the Lord used Exodus (especially ...

3. 

   3 Jun 2026

   How Do You Stay in Ministry for the Long Haul?

   In this episode of Rural Pastors Talk, TJ Freeman, Joe Wagner, and Josh MacClaren swap favorite vacation spots before pivoting to a needed conversation about rest for pastors. They discuss the common extremes: discouraged pastors who drift into laziness versus pastors who can’t shut ministry off. Then Josh lays out a biblical theology of rest from creation, the Sabbath, and the gospel, including the promised rest fulfilled in Christ and awaited in the new heavens and new earth. The guys talk ...

Inside a recent episode

Six Bad Responses to Abortion

Published 2 Nov 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] It's not about that, you know, because sometimes people will make an argument to justify abortion and say, well, look, abortion has decreased the crime rate or it's decreased the poverty rate. And I think, yeah, you could get rid of the poverty rate. You could put it to zero if you just killed all the poor people. […]

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.9 / 5

61 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

13 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 52 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

68

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

90

Contact Rural Pastor's Talk

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

Questions about Rural Pastor's Talk