Plant Pod

In our Disciple-Making series we come to the topic deep spiritual truth of "Society" which we previously covered in a mini-series we titled "KDSC" on Episode 17. Rather than rehashing the conversation over again, we have decided to re-release episode 17 and we'd recommend listening to the entire KDSC mini-series. Both the topics of Society and the Ministry of Reconciliation may be one of the most encouraging and necessary topics for members of a church to listen to. Enjoy!Speakers on today's episode: Brian Hook, Rob Romej, and Makenna AyresEmail for questions: [email protected]

In our Disciple-Making series we come to the topic deep spiritual truth of "Ministry of Reconciliation" which is a topic we have previously covered here on this podcast. Rather than rehashing the conversation over again, we have decided to re-release episode 55 from our Kingdom Perspective series from 2025. If you find this podcast interesting, you should consider listening to our Kingdom Perspective series as a whole. You will have plenty of podcasts to go through as you'd like. This may be one of the most encouraging and necessary topics for members of a church to listen to. Enjoy!Speakers on today's episode: Brian Hook, Rob Romej, and Makenna AyresEmail for questions: [email protected]

One of the topics we are coving in our Disciple-Making series and class is the "Eternal Purpose of God" which is a topic we have covered previously on our podcast. Rather than rehashing the same conversation, we are re-releasing episode 35. This episode was the beginning of our "Kingdom Perspective" series from 2025. If you like this episode, consider listening to the rest of that series. Speakers on today's Episode: Brian Hook, Rob Romej, and Makenna AyresFor questions email: [email protected]

Today we talk about prayer as we continue in our Disciple-Making series. What is important for every disciple to understand about prayer and what do we fall-back on when we need to be grounded and reminded of the importance and significance of our communication with the God of all creation. Speakers on Today's Episode: Brian Hook, Rob Romej, and Makenna AyresFor any questions or feedback, you can email me at: [email protected]

What do we mean when we say "the Word of God"? Is it synonymous with the "Bible"? Join us on the conversation today as we talk through the Word of God and also talk about ways to better understand the Bible as you read it.Speakers on Today's Episode: Brian Hook, Rob Romej, and Makenna Ayres

We are continuing in our Disciple Making series. After talking about Baptism and the Body of Christ, it lends itself well to talking about the Holy Spirit. Join us today as we talk about the significance and importance of the Holy Spirit.Speakers on Today's Episode: Brian Hook, Rob Romej, and Makenna Ayres

What do we mean when we refer to the "body of Christ" and how does it work together? If we as a church truly understood how to live as the Body of Christ, what would be different? Join us for today's discussion as we continue to walk through our Disciple Making series.Speakers on Today's Episode: Brian Hook, Robert Romej, and Makenna Ayres

This is the second episode released this week. What is baptism and how can you explain it to a newer believer? Join us for the discussion today as we talk through the importance of new believers getting baptized.Speakers on Today's Episode: Brian Hook, Rob Romej, and Makenna Ayres

Join us as we talk about Repent and Believe in our podcast series: Disciple Making.Our definition of Repent is: Actively turning from who I am without Christ, to trusting who I am in Christ.Speakers on Today's Episode: Brian Hook and Rob Romej

This is the second episode released this week as part of our Disciple Makers series. Though the subject of The Cross is so closely tied to The Blood of Jesus, it deserves it's own thought and consideration. As stated in the episode: The blood is for God and the cross is for us. Tune in to hear us discuss what we mean when we say that and how the Cross plays a significant role in each of our lives as a disciple of Jesus.Speakers on Today's Episode: Brian Hook and Rob Romej

We have two podcast episodes for this week. In this episode, we are talking about the importance of the "Blood of Jesus". Out of all the subjects we could pick to be in our Disciple Making class, why would we pick this one? We talk about it on today's podcast. Speakers on Today's Episode: Brian Hook and Rob Romej

The topic of "sin" and the truth that surrounds it, is one of the topics any Jesus follower is bound to have to discuss with someone at some point. The only reason any of us have come to follow Jesus is because we have first acknowledged sin for what it is, before we then repent and put our faith in Jesus Christ. Join us as we talk through the topic of "sin" and what we hope people will gain after thinking and learning about the truth behind it.Speakers on Today's Episode: Brian Hook, Rob Romej, and Makenna Ayres

The first Deep Spiritual Truth we decided to cover was the "Kingdom of God." In this episode we talk about why we decided to begin the conversation with God's Kingdom as well as talk about how it impacts each one of us as disciples of Jesus. What could happen if you focus your attention and time on the Kingdom of God, and what could happen if you allow it to shape the way you live your life?Speakers on Today's Episode: Brian Hook, Rob Romej, and Makenna Ayres

This is our first podcast episode recorded in 2026!We begin a new series where we will spend the next 10 weeks talking through disciple-making. This will be for church planters thinking through ideas of how to equip people and make disciples as well as for our church members to learn deep spiritual truths from the Bible. This first week we will release two episodes to kick off our new series.Speakers on today's podcast: Brian Hook, Robert Romej, and Makenna Ayres

We are wrapping up our Kingdom Perspective series in this final episode with a conversation on Form vs. Essence. We want to get to the essence of our life with Jesus, and make sure we aren't just "going through the motions" with the form a Christian life. Join us as we wrap up the series and talk about seeing things for what they really are by focusing on the essence of Christ.Speakers on today's podcast: Brian Hook, Robert Romej, and Makenna Ayres

It is hard to think about our walk with Jesus without talking about "Spiritual Disciplines." There is no pre-defined list of spiritual disciplines that work for everyone. We each need to consider what works for us, ask God to reveal it to us, and sometimes just try things out to see what works or doesn't work. Join us as we talk through spiritual disciplines!Speakers on today's podcast: Brian Hook, Robert Romej, and Makenna Ayres

All of us are engaging in society either where we work every week, where we live in our different neighborhoods or where we play and hang out for our hobbies and fun activities. What if each of these places were reconciled to God and His Kingdom permeated those places. What if we looked at our lives differently and had a Kingdom Perspective as we entered those areas of society each week?Speakers on today's podcast: Brian Hook, Robert Romej, and Makenna Ayres

We are joined by a special guest, David Hook, who is soon to become the worship leader at Aspire church. David hook has been leading worship for over 45 years and is the founder of a non-profit organization called "Rooted Worship" which is designed to help worship leaders and teams go deeper in their understanding of true, biblically faithful worship. David is passionate to train up other worship leaders on how to biblically lead worship and be sent out to lead other churches and church plants. On today's podcast we talk about what "worship" really means and how it goes beyond the songs we sing in our church services. This would be a great podcast for any pastor, worship leader, and disciple of Jesus to listen to and make sure to get to the root of why we worship.  More Links and Connections:https://rooted-worship.com/ [email protected] Speakers on Today's Podcast: Brian Hook, Rob Romej, Makenna Ayres, and special guest David Hook

This is the second part to a conversation about 'Walking in the Spirit'. As we begin Walking in the Spirit, this effects how we think, feel, and what we do, or in other words, our Spirit effects our mind, will and emotions. The Bible refers to our mind, will, and emotions as the "soul". In our continued conversation on Walking in the Spirit, we touch on how the Spirit touches our soul, our soul touches our body, and our body is what touches the physical world around us. Sometimes we try to change what we do or how we think on it's own, without looking at the most important part which is the new Spirit God has given us as disciples of Jesus. Join us for today's episode!Speakers on Today's Podcast: Brian Hook, Rob Romej, and Makenna Ayres

Possibly one of the most important concepts for a disciple of Jesus to live out and understand is what the Bible calls "Walking in the Spirit". We begin our conversation on 'Walking in the Spirit" in part 1 of the conversation. If you live with a God given, Kingdom Perspective in your life, you effectively would be "Walking in the Spirit". There is no step-by-step formula for what this looks like and how this works, yet it is something all disciples of Jesus need to lean into. Speakers on Today's Podcast: Brian Hook, Rob Romej, and Makenna Ayres

In today's episode we talk about why it's important to share our faith with other people, and also give some practical steps and tips on what to include. There are unique opportunities that we as Disciples of Jesus get to share our stories with other people and we want to make sure than when we have those opportunities, that we don't miss out on sharing the most important part of our story, which is what Jesus Christ has done in our lives.Our hope is that this episode serves as a resource to come back to and be reminded of practical steps to tell others about Jesus when we share our personal stories with unbelievers.Previous episodes mentioned and referred to are: Episode 34 - Sharing Your FaithSpeakers on today's podcast: Brian Hook, Robert Romej, and Makenna Ayres

This week we talk about building things in our life that lasts and focus our attention to Matthew 7:24-29 to begin our conversation. As we continue our conversation through our series, Kingdom Perspective, we are trying to answer the question: "If I live my entire life with a Kingdom Perspective, what things would be different?"Jesus tells us what this life looks like in his "sermon on the mount" in Matthew chapters 5 through 7. Join us today as we talk about enduring the storms of life and having the right foundation.Speakers on today's podcast: Brian Hook, Robert Romej, and Makenna Ayres

What if your focus on starting a church, was as a small group? What if your focus on finding a church home was on small groups? Call them community groups, life groups, small groups... In today's episode we talk about the significance and importance of a small group of people gathering together with Jesus Christ as the center and what happens when we do that from a Kingdom Perspective. Hearing about the experience is one thing, but experiencing it is something completely different.Speakers on today's podcast: Brian Hook, Robert Romej, and Makenna Ayres

Values are what drive our decisions, therefore, what values do we need as disciples of Jesus? Join us today as be dialogue about values. We encourage you to use this as the starting point of what values you intentionally want to establish in your walk with God.Speakers on today's Podcast: Brian Hook, Robert Romej, and Makenna Ayres

Recently our senior pastor, Brian Hook, took a well deserved sabbatical. In this episode, we get the opportunity to talk about the healthy benefits of taking a sabbatical for both the senior pastor and the church body. We also talk through experiences unique to pastor Brian that hopefully will be encouraging to other pastors and church planters.Speakers on today's podcast: Brian Hook, Robert Romej, and Makenna Ayres

This is our second podcast with special guests Foster and Lauren Pace. Our church recently put together a KDSC (Kingdom Disciple Society Church) training for future church planters and domain leaders, that Foster and Lauren were a part of. Join us on today's episode to hear what their experience was and see how valuable this material is not just for church planters, but everyone in your church!Hosts of today's podcast: Rob Romej and Makenna AyresSpecial Guests: Foster Pace and Lauren Pace

Today we interview with a family within our local church to see what ways and why they live their lives so different. As we continue in our series of living with a Kingdom Perspective, the reality is that our lives SHOULD look a lot different from the world. But what is different and how hard is it to live that way? Join us on today's podcast as we talk through what it's like having a family living under God's kingdom.Hosts of today's podcast: Rob Romej and Makenna AyresSpecial Guests: Foster Pace and Lauren Pace

This episode is talking through the 3rd (of 3) relationship dynamics that we see Jesus had in the gospels. We had a brief intermission in our conversation while our senior pastor, Brian Hook, was on sabbatical and we pick up the conversation where we left off in our series on Kingdom Perspective. Our hope in this series is to see how we, as Christians, should be living our lives differently because we now have a Kingdom Perspective after what Jesus Christ did through his blood and resurrection on the cross.Speakers on today's Episode: Brian Hook, Rob Romej, and Makenna AyresFor questions, email: [email protected]

This is part 2 of 2 in our interview with Bob Roberts and Omar Reyes.In this episode we interview Bob Roberts and Omar Reyes about having a church with a Kingdom DNA. Bob Roberts, former senior pastor of Northwood Church, is the founder of four different organizations, one of them being GlocalNet, a ministry dedicated to mobilizing the church to bring about transformation in the public square. Omar Reyes is the Director of Glocalnet and the Vice President of “The Quest Life” - a ministry for men and women to come away with God and discover the heart of the Father.Hosts on today's Episode: Brian Hook and Rob RomejSpecial Guests: Bob Roberts and Omar ReyesFor questions, email: [email protected]

In this episode we interview Bob Roberts and Omar Reyes about having a church with a Kingdom DNA. Bob Roberts, former senior pastor of Northwood Church, is the founder of four different organizations, one of them being GlocalNet, a ministry dedicated to mobilizing the church to bring about transformation in the public square. Omar Reyes is the Director of Glocalnet and the Vice President of “The Quest Life” - a ministry for men and women to come away with God and discover the heart of the Father. This is part 1 of a two part interview with Bob and Omar.Hosts on today's Episode: Brian Hook and Rob RomejSpecial Guests: Bob Roberts and Omar ReyesFor questions, email: [email protected]

How important is it to surround ourselves with other believers in Jesus Christ? What did Jesus model for us to do? Can I live my life with just me and God? These are some of the questions that get addressed in this episode as we continue in our series: Kingdom Perspective. Speakers on today's Episode: Brian Hook and Rob RomejFor questions, email: [email protected]

When you look at the gospels, you see three main relationships where Jesus had relationships. On today's podcast we continue talking through our first of 3 main relationships, relationship with the Father and specifically how we relate and talk to Him.Speakers on today's Episode: Brian Hook and Rob RomejFor questions, email: [email protected]

On our last episode we talked about how "teaching" in the day of Jesus is a lot more relational than the kind of teaching we think of today. So today we look at the relationships Jesus had and what we see in the gospels, starting with the relationship Jesus prioritized above all else. His relationship with the Father.Speakers on today's episode: Brian Hook, Robert Romej, and Makenna AyresFor questions, email: [email protected]

In our series "Kingdom Perspective", we continue the conversation through the end of Matthew 28:20 and discuss what it means when Jesus commanded us to "teach them to observe..."The words "teaching" and "observe" both have a lot of baggage in today's culture, so we talk about getting to the root of what Jesus means in this verse.Speakers on today's episode: Brian Hook, Robert Romej, and Makenna AyresFor questions, email: [email protected]

We are told to "Go and Make Disciples to the ends of the earth" in Matthew 28, but where do we actually go? If I'm not going somewhere, am I being disobedient? Join us today as we continue our series and try to get a Kingdom Perspective.Speakers on today's episode: Brian Hook, Robert Romej, and Makenna AyresFor questions, email: [email protected]

We continue talking through our new series, addressing the question "How do I really follow Jesus?"Once we understand our "Why" from last episode, the next step we take today is talking through discipleship. What does discipleship mean and how does it fit into the bigger picture of our purpose?Speakers on today's episode: Brian Hook, Robert Romej, andFor questions, email: [email protected] less

We begin a brand new series where we respond to the question: "What does it look like to REALLY follow Jesus?"This first episodes kicks off by talking about the WHY.We believe this series will be valuable for all Jesus followers as they continue their journey forward with Christ.Speakers on today's episode: Brian Hook, Robert Romej, and Makenna AyresFor questions, email: [email protected]

On today's episode we discuss the importance of Sharing Your Faith and how to create a culture within your church body about sharing our faith. We also talk through our steps of training and equipping others on how to share their faith with people where they work, live, and play.Speakers on today's episode: Brian Hook, Robert Romej, and Makenna AyresFor questions, email: [email protected]

This is part two of our discussion on "Measures". We finish the conversation about doing the same things Jesus did with His time. Last episode we talked about the first two major categories: Abide, spending time with the Father, and Connect, spending time with other Jesus followers. Today we talk about Share, telling others about Jesus.We also talk about how the Bible views "family". The calling for us to live as Jesus followers will require us to view family very differently than the rest of the world. Join us today and let us know what you think!Speakers on today's episode: Brian Hook, Rob Romej, and Makenna AyresPlease send in your questions to: [email protected]

How do you know if your church is successful? Are there different ways to measure success for a church plant verses an established church? Will success look the same for everyone? Today's episode is talking about measuring success in a healthy way. There are organizations and churches out there that have measured success the wrong way, and at times many of us are guilty of measuring success using the wrong metrics. Join us for the discussion to see what the Bible says success looks like and to hear what we have done to try and live out those measures. We have by no means arrived or have it figured out, but we are willing to talk through where we are at as a church today.Speakers on today's episode: Brian Hook, Rob Romej, and Makenna Ayres.Please email your questions to: [email protected]

We just did a SHAPE class for our church at Aspire. SHAPE stands for: Spiritual Gifts, Passions, Ability, Personality, Experiences.On today's episode we talk through our experience of walking through this SHAPE tool, what we did and what we are planning to do in the coming months. This is maybe one of our most exciting experiences to mobilize our church.Speakers on Today's Episode: Brian Hook, Robert Romej, and Makenna AyresInterested to know more from this episode? You can email me at: [email protected]

Welcome back!We took a short break from releasing episodes on Plant Pod. On Today's episode, we talk through what is going on in our church right now. We just multiplied our small group and talk first hand what that experience has been like, both good and bad. Join us as we walk through the things we did well and the things we could do better next time!Speakers on today's episode: Brian Hook, Robert Romej, Makenna AyresInterested to know more from this episode? You can email me at: [email protected]

As Jesus followers, we hope for a movement of God in our cities, nation and the world. What kind of things can we do to set up the environment for a church planting movement of God to take place? Join us as we talk through the four elements of any kind of movement.Four Elements of a Movement are:1) Revelation/Vision2) Relationship3) Collaboration4) OrganizationSpeakers on Today's Podcast: Brian Hook, Robert Romej, and Makenna Ayres

When is the right time for a church or small group to multiply? When we say "multiply" we mean send off 2 or 3 people to start a brand new small group or church. We've talked in the past on the importance of multiplication, but when is the right time to do it? What challenges come with multiplying and how can we help others understand the fruit of multiplication and minimize hurts.Speakers on Today's Episode: Brian Hook, Makenna Ayres, and Robert Romej

How can we as church leaders protect ourselves from sexual immorality? What kind of things can we do to be proactive and prevent temptation before it happens. This is a vital and important topic for anyone, but especially in a day where we see many leaders fall to sin. Speakers on this podcast: Brian Hook and Robert Romej

Aspire church is going through 1 Corinthians. On today's episode we talk through confronting sin as we read through 1 Corinthians 5 and how this is very important for every church plant.Speakers on Today's Podcast: Brian Hook and Robert Romej

We go through our second set of question sent in by our listeners of the podcast. In this Question and Response episode we address the questions that our listeners sent in about our Kingdom Framework series. The questions sent in by our listeners were amazing! Join us for our final Q&R episode on Kingdom Framework!Speakers on this podcast: Brian Hook, Robert Romej and Makenna Ayres

We go through our first Question and Response episode addressing the questions that our listeners sent in about our Kingdom Framework series. The questions sent in by our listeners were amazing! Join us for our first Q&R episode!Speakers on this podcast: Brian Hook, Robert Romej and Makenna Ayres

We continue walking through 1 Corinthians 3, talking about what it means to build on top the foundation of Jesus Christ with "materials that last". All churches will go through fire, and depending on what you build your church with, it will either last or be burned up. Join us on today's discussion.Speakers on this episode: Brian Hook, Makenna Ayres, and Rob Romej

Our church, Aspire in Tucson, is going through 1 Corinthians. As we come out of the last episode of our Kingdom Framework series, it is very fitting to be in 1 Corinthians 3 as a church, so we look at this chapter to see what it has to say about planting a church that lasts.Speakers on this episode: Brian Hook, Makenna Ayres, and Rob Romej