Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Welcome back to our series unpacking the core values of the Soma family of churches! In this episode, hosts Justin Westcott and Paul Dean dive into one of our most easily misunderstood convictions: Always Being Reformed.

Paul and Justin clarify that this value is not about tribal Calvinist-versus-Arminian theological debates. Instead, it reflects a posture of radical devotion to the Word of God and a humble willingness to follow wherever Scripture leads. Rooted in Colossians 3:12–13, they explore how theological stewardship requires patience, mutual submission, and the grace to make allowances for each other’s blind spots. They distinguish between unchanging, non-negotiable "hills to die on" (historic creeds and the Lausanne Covenant) and secondary forms that must adapt across generations to serve the mission of Jesus.

In the second half, Justin sits down with Jared Pickney, lead pastor of The Crossing in Paragould, Arkansas. Jared shares his journey of church planting in his rural hometown and leading through cultural shifts. He tackles the danger of turning missional models into untouchable "sacred cows," explaining how his church equipped missional communities with practical discipleship pathways.

Jared unpacks his five essential ingredients for continuous kingdom reformation: Humility, Curiosity, Creativity, Adaptability, and Audacity. Drawing from Canoeing the Mountains and the wisdom of childlike faith, Jared and Justin remind leaders that God is seeking our perfection —He is a loving Father who delights in partnering with us as we build, adapt, and experiment in His name.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• What "Always Being Reformed" Really Means: Posture over tribalism, guided by Scripture and Colossians 3.
• Function vs. Form: Honoring biblical commands while having the freedom to adapt outdated structures.
• Dismantling Sacred Cows: Why church planters must avoid imposing rigid, one-size-fits-all missional models.
• The Five Ingredients of Reformation: Humility, Curiosity, Creativity, Adaptability, and Audacity.
• Childlike Faith Over Perfectionism: Embracing the freedom to experiment and fail forward in ministry.
• Spiritual Gifts & Calling: Discovering God's design through holy passion, burden, and community practice.

Connect & Support

Website: We Are Soma (Connect with regional leaders and browse equipping resources).

Support: Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube and leave us a review!

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Welcome back to our series unpacking the foundational values of the Soma family of churches! In this episode, hosts Justin Westcott and Paul Dean dive into one of our most challenging and urgent convictions: Kingdom Collaboration.

Paul and Justin anchor the conversation in John 17, unpacking Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer where He pleads that His disciples would be one, just as the Father and Son are one, so that the world may believe. Moving beyond the tragic history of Christian infighting, sectarian competition, and logo-protecting tribalism, they discuss how kingdom collaboration requires setting aside ego to display a functional spiritual family. They break down the essential difference between unity and uniformity, showing how clarifying core doctrine (like the Apostles' Creed or Lausanne Covenant) allows distinct church families to partner across secondary differences without compromising their convictions.

In the second half, Justin and Paul welcome Tim Gray, Soma regional leader for the Lower Midwest, director of the St. Louis Collective, and co-leader with the Servant Leader Institute (SLI). Tim shares decades of hard-won wisdom collaborating on the ground in the St. Louis metro area alongside Acts 29, the Send Network (SBC), and independent churches.

Tim shares inspiring real-world stories of unity in action: from cross-denominational leader residencies and shared baptismal pools after natural disasters, to joint prayer walks through historically broken and violent neighborhoods like East St. Louis with Pastor Kempton Turner. Together, they issue a bold challenge to church leaders: kill the comfort idol, embrace the relational risk, and remember that our oneness in Christ is the church’s greatest apologetic to a watching world.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• The John 17 Mandate: Why our unity is directly tied to the credibility of the gospel message.
• Unity vs. Uniformity: Partnering deeply on primary truths while holding secondary issues in grace.
• The "Hills to Die On" Framework: Establishing doctrinal clarity to collaborate with freedom and wisdom.
• Dispatches from St. Louis: How the Servant Leader Institute equips planters across diverse networks without poaching leaders.
• Disaster Relief & Baptisms: Beautiful stories of churches sharing buildings and resources after crisis.
• The Cost of Risk: Why stepping into messy relational partnerships is the only antidote to cynicism and pride.

About Soma: Soma is a family of churches across North America and around the world working toward gospel saturation. We are passionate about connecting, equipping, and mobilizing disciple-makers to live out the gospel in community on the mission of Jesus in everyday life.

Connect & Support

• Website: We Are Soma (Connect with regional leaders and find equipping resources).
• Support: Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube and leave us a review!

Co-Hosts: Justin Westcott and Paul Dean

Produced by Zach Smith

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Welcome back to our series unpacking the core values of the Soma family of churches! In this episode, hosts Justin Westcott and Paul Dean confront one of the most overlooked yet vital components of sustainable disciple-making: Spirit Empowerment.

Paul and Justin open with an honest critique of modern evangelicalism's tendency to replace the Trinity with the "Father, Son, and Holy Scripture"—treating ministry as a predictable formula of human execution rather than a supernatural partnership. Turning to Romans 12, they explore how the indwelling Holy Spirit empowers everyday believers with distinct gifts to function as one interconnected body. When we strive in our own strength, ministry leads to pride, exhaustion, and burnout; but when we operate in our Spirit-given gifts, ordinary life becomes an extraordinary witness.

In the second half, Justin sits down with Brett Donald, church planter of Church 414 in Victoria, BC. Coming from a Pentecostal background combined with formal theological training, Brett offers a grounded perspective on integrating "Word and Spirit" and "Power and Plans".

Using the metaphor of a sailboat, Brett explains how strategic frameworks and intentional pathways help us raise the sails, but only the breath and wind of the Holy Spirit can move the vessel forward. He shares real-life testimonies of God changing hearts beyond intellectual arguments and outlines practical tools like S.H.A.P.E. groups (Scripture, Hearing, Action, Prayer, Exaltation) to help disciples cultivate the habit of listening to God's voice in everyday community.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• Breaking Striving: Why the Holy Spirit is the only antidote to ministry exhaustion and burnout.
• Romans 12 & Spiritual Gifts: Right-sizing our roles and valuing unseen members of the body.
• Word & Spirit Harmony: Moving past the false dichotomy between biblical theology and charismatic power.
• The Sailboat Paradigm: Combining strategic intentionality with total dependence on the breath of God.
• Hearing & Obeying: How S.H.A.P.E. journaling and listening prayer train disciples to tune into God's frequency.
• Overcoming Fear: Moving past the fear of "weirdness" to embrace the good gifts the Father promises.

Connect & Support

• Website: We Are Soma (Connect with regional leaders and browse equipping resources).
• Support: Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube and leave us a review!

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Welcome back to our series exploring the core values of the Soma family of churches! In this episode, hosts Justin Westcott and Paul Dean dive into the heartbeat of our movement: Making Disciples in Community on Mission.

Paul and Justin unpack why the New Testament prescribes community as the primary soil for spiritual formation. Moving past consumeristic models of isolated church attendance, they examine how life-on-life discipleship forms us into believers who are close to Jesus, changed by Jesus, and obeying Jesus together. They explore the friction, awkwardness, and beauty of practicing the 20+ "one another" commands in Scripture, reminding us that spiritual maturity requires relational investment and shared life.

In the second half, Justin sits down with Josh and Kelly Owen, church planters in San Marcos, Texas, with over two decades of experience leading missional communities and ten years as foster and adoptive parents. Josh and Kelly share an honest, vulnerable look at the realities of ministry in high-needs communities. They open up about church planting fatigue, processing personal wounds of infant abandonment and adoption, and unlearning the "savior complex".

Josh and Kelly outline what it means to reframe ministry success around faithfulness over fruitfulness, embracing personal limitations (the "loaves and fish" principle), and practicing radical, unpretentious hospitality with cheap hot dogs and open doors.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• Defining a Disciple: Relational, transformational, missional, and communal components of following Christ.
• Killing Consumerism: Why genuine community requires moving past superficial preferences to embrace messy, long-term relationships.
• The "One Another" Mandate: How biblical hospitality, burden-bearing, and confession naturally overflow into mission.
• Trauma-Informed Ministry: How foster care and connected parenting provide a mirror for understanding broken shalom and the gospel.
• Redefining Success: Moving from "butts in seats" metrics to faithfully helping neighbors take their next step toward Jesus.
• Unpretentious Hospitality: Why connection trumps entertainment (and why hot dogs on paper plates build real community).

About Soma: Soma is a family of churches across North America and around the world working toward gospel saturation. We are passionate about connecting, equipping, and mobilizing disciple-makers to live out the gospel in community on the mission of Jesus in everyday life.

Connect & Support

• Website: We Are Soma (Connect with regional leaders and find equipping opportunities).

• Support: Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube and leave us a review!

Co-Hosts: Justin Westcott and Paul Dean

Produced by Zach Smith

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Welcome back to the Soma Values series! In this episode, we dive into one of our most defining core convictions: Being Before Doing.

Hosts Justin Westcott and Paul Dean unpack the biblical architecture of identity found in John 13, where Jesus’ act of washing His disciples' feet flows directly from knowing who He was and where He came from. When we reverse this order and place doing before being, our obedience degenerates into performance-driven striving, legalism, and burnout. In the kingdom of God, his doing informs our being, and our being fuels our doing. We live as a family of servant missionaries not to earn the Father’s love, but because we are already securely loved, adopted, and sent.

In the second half of the episode, Justin and Paul are joined by Aaron Goodrich, church planter of Soma Grand Rapids, a bi-vocational Christian counselor specializing in attachment and trauma. Aaron unpacks the profound intersection of neuroscience, emotional health, and spiritual formation. He explains why pure left-brain informational theology often fails to heal our deepest wounds if our right-brain experiential attachment views God as an angry, distant, or critical father.

Aaron shares his own personal story of breaking free from toxic shame at a Texas Roadhouse table and provides profound insights into how family-of-origin wounds, false gospels, and counterfeit triads (Appetite, Approval, Ambition) distort our view of God.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• The John 13 Paradigm: How Jesus modeled serving out of secure authority and identity.
• The Four Core Questions: Who is God? What has He done? Who are we? How should we live?
• Whole-Brain Discipleship: Moving beyond intellectual formulas to right-brain experiential connection with the Father's face of delight.
• The 80/20 Rule: How past attachment wounds and childhood static dictate present reactions.
• Breaking the Counterfeit Triad: How Satan twists core longings for security, belonging, and significance into appetite, approval, and power.
• Practical Soul-Care Habits: Daily creation walks, the Pause App, and Joyful Journaling.

Connect & Support

• Website: We Are Soma (Connect with regional leaders and find equipping opportunities).
• Support: Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube and leave us a review!

Co-Hosts: Justin Westcott and Paul Dean

Produced by Zach Smith

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Welcome to the kickoff of our brand-new series exploring the ten core values of the Soma family of churches! In this series, we dive into the scriptural foundations behind our convictions while spotlighting leaders across our family who are actively living them out in diverse ministry contexts.

We begin with what the Apostle Paul calls matter of "first importance" (1 Corinthians 15): The Gospel.

Co-host Justin Westcott sits down with Soma Executive Director Paul Dean to examine Ephesians 1:3–8, pulling apart the scandalous reality of God’s grace. They share personal reflections on moving away from performance-based works righteousness and the deep ache of feeling merely "dealt with" by God, stepping instead into the freeing truth that the Father actively chooses, desires, and delights in adopting us into His family through Jesus Christ. As Tim Keller famously noted, the gospel is not just the ABCs of the Christian life; it is the A-to-Z of salvation.

In the second half of the episode, Justin is joined by Chris Synesael, church planter in Victoria, British Columbia, and leader with Soma Canada. Chris reflects on his journey planting in one of Canada’s most secular urban post-Christian contexts. He opens up about how early ministry pressures often lead planters to treat the gospel like a transactional "math equation" or a performance whip. He contrasts the frantic anxiety of his early twenties with the unhurried, grounded peace that comes from truly resting in the finished work of Jesus.

Together, they discuss why modern evangelicalism is tempted to drift from gospel centrality toward political tribalism, pragmatism, and false certainty, and why resting in Christ remains the only foundation for true spiritual maturity and everyday mission.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

Ephesians 1 Unpacked: Why our adoption is rooted in God’s pleasure, not our performance.

Beyond the Math Equation: Shifting from intellectual formulas to holistic heart transformation and emotional attunement.

Unhurried Ministry: How resting in Christ's finished work kills the anxiety of American individualism in church planting.

Planting in Secular Contexts: Dispatches from Victoria, BC on relational discipleship and practicing presence.

Navigating Cultural Drift: Why tribalism and pragmatism pull leaders away from Jesus as their primary center.

Soma is a family of churches across North America and around the world working toward gospel saturation. We are passionate about connecting, equipping, and mobilizing disciple-makers to live out the gospel in community on the mission of Jesus in everyday life.

Website: Check out https://wearesoma.com to connect with regional leaders and browse equipping resources.

Support: Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube and leave a review to help others find the show!

Co-Hosts: Justin Westcott and Paul Dean

Produced by Zach Smith

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Welcome to the final chapter of our special series detailing the history, trials, and forward-looking vision of the Soma family of churches! In this definitive episode, hosts Justin Westcott and Paul Dean sits down once again with founder Jeff Vanderstelt to take a deep look at the post-COVID landscape, the realities of institutional growth, and what it looks like to collaboratively build for the next generation.

The conversation starts with Paul Dean opening up about his transition into the Executive Director role during a season of heavy church fatigue and global cultural shifts. Grounding his vision in a systematic study of the Book of Acts, Paul outlines a clear, biblical blueprint: the early disciples didn’t just plant churches—they planted connected churches. Discover how this fundamental truth drove the restructuring of Soma around robust regional support teams, ensuring that no church planter ever has to struggle in isolation or face institutional crises alone.

Jeff and Paul pull no punches as they analyze the current state of North American evangelicalism. They candidly tackle major modern barriers, including the dangerous resurgence of singular-leader celebrity church models, a toxic scarcity mindset, a culture of radical individualism, and the concerning trend of disempowering women in ministry. They challenge networks to shift away from passive, consumeristic models and step back into a collective, strategic posture—where resources, treasure, and people are sent dynamically to unreached fields and hubs like Tokyo, Seattle, Austin, and Charleston.

This series finale is a powerful call to move past the temporary hype of "trendy" church movements and return to the simple, gritty, and enduring lifestyle of making disciples in the everyday stuff of life.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• The Acts Model: Moving beyond a loose confederation to true, connected regional ecosystems.
• The Watershed Meeting: A look inside the raw "players only" circle in San Diego that established radical transparency over ego.
• Intentional Obedience: Breaking down the myth of a busy schedule—learning to overlap your faith with normal rhythms like table fellowship.
• Creative Funding Models: Moving toward marketplace-minded bi-vocational and micro-church expressions.
• The Kingdom in the Tension: Why true unity requires diversity of perspective and giftings, rather than strict conformity.
• The Calling to Hurt: Real-life testimonies of neighborhood transformation, counting the cost, and why we must never grow weary of doing good.

Soma is a family of churches across North America and around the world working toward gospel saturation. We are passionate about connecting, equipping, and mobilizing disciple-makers to live out the gospel in community on the mission of Jesus in everyday life.

Connect & Support Website: https://wearesoma.com to connect with regional leaders and find equipping opportunities.

Subscribe on your favorite platform and leave us a review to help get this resource in front of more leaders!

Produced by Zach Smith

Co-Hosted by Justin Westcott & Paul Dean

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.

Welcome to the third chapter of our series uncovering the raw history of the Soma family of churches. In this highly emotional and vulnerable conversation, host Justin Westcott sits down with founder Jeff Vanderstelt to confront the most difficult years of the movement. They step directly into the seasons marked by structural attrition, leadership fumbles, intense geographic transition, and ultimately, the tragic loss of their dear friend and pastor, Randy Sheets.

Jeff takes us back to the early 2010s, reflecting on the rich, gritty, and deeply creative communal space of the downtown warehouse in Tacoma—where art, visual expression, and world-class teaching converged into a large-scale "living room" experience. But space and strategy carry real weight. Hear the story of what happened when the church was abruptly removed of their physical hub, forcing a rapid, culturally jarring migration to church gym bleachers and late-afternoon time slots.

As structural foundations fractured, the global pull of the missional movement began to hurt the local church. Leaders faced intense choices between maintaining the local home base or launching new city hubs. Jeff shares the intense internal conflict of stepping into ground zero during the historic implosion of Mars Hill in 2014, leading to the painful replanting of Doxa Church in Bellevue.

Ultimately, this episode confronts the deep cost of ministry and the vital necessity of leadership soul care. Jeff details his own experience walking through a profound "dark night of the soul" following Randy's passing, how it completely altered his understanding of internal hypervigilance, and his journey toward finding true emotional healing and redemption.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

The profound role of physical space and aesthetic beauty in shaping church culture. The high cost of sending key leaders out and the organizational blurring of lines between Soma and the nonprofit Saturate.

A look behind the curtain at the Mars Hill collapse and the massive, generational spiritual fallout in the Puget Sound area. Critical perspective shifts from merely "abounding in the work" to truly learning how to "abide in the Lord" through silence, solitude, and Sabbath.

A candid post-mortem on how the perfect storm of 2020 exposed divisions over masks and politics. The ground-zero "Council of Soma" meeting that saved the family of churches from fracturing.

Soma is a family of churches across North America and around the world working toward gospel saturation. We are passionate about connecting, equipping, and mobilizing disciple-makers to live out the gospel in community on the mission of Jesus in everyday life.

Viewer Discretion Advised: This episode handles highly sensitive topics, including relational hardship, mental health struggles, PTSD, and suicide. Visit our website https://wearesoma.com to connect with a regional leader and access equipping webinars Support: Subscribe on your favorite platform and leave us a review!