Noah Filipiak interviews 2016 Christianity Today Book of the Year (in the Category of The Church/Pastoral Leadership) award winner Dr. Zack Eswine. In addition to the award-winning The Imperfect Pastor: Discovering Joy in Our Limitations through a Daily Apprenticeship with Jesus, Zack is also the author of Spurgeon’s Sorrows: Realistic Hope for those who Suffer from Depression, Preaching to a Post-Everything World: Crafting Biblical Sermons that Connect with our Culture, Recovering Eden: The Gospel According to Ecclesiastes and Kindled Fire: How the methods of CH Spurgeon can help your preaching. Zack pastors at Riverside Church in Webster Groves, MO and is the Director of Homiletics at Covenant Seminary.
Like the themes in Zack’s writing, this interview is essential listening for pastors who struggle with burnout, significance and self-striving. So much of what has become normative in church culture for pastors is the opposite of what Jesus taught and modeled for his followers. Zack exposes these things with such grace, experience, and wisdom, offering the rest of us the hope from the hamster wheel of ministry he has found in Jesus.
You can follow Zack on Twitter and Facebook. His website and blog can be found at www.ZackEswine.com
You can listen to Noah’s interview with Zack Eswine below via the Podbean Player or you can subscribe to all “Behind the Curtain” Ministry Podcast episodes on iTunes (if you like what you hear, leave some feedback!)
Related posts:
Invitation to Retreat by Ruth Haley Barton
Podcast Interview with Youth Pastor David Singleton on Race, Urban Ministry
Dennis Hammond - Episode 20 - on being raised in inner city Lansing, finding Christ and going to Hon...
What has God put on your heart? Go do it.
How my Transforming Community took me from performance-striving to deep rest
- Ep. 118: William Mack on Soul Health & Pressure - March 11, 2026
- Ep. 117: Cynthia Beach on Gender Justice & Writing Serious Fiction - February 18, 2026
- Where to Get the FULL Flip Side Podcast - February 18, 2026

Very good episode, very thought provoking as usual. I was impacted by this conversation about needing Grace.