What if your calling was never modeled for you—and your grief hit harder than your training ever prepared you for? In this episode, pastor and author Aubrey Sampson joins Tara Beth and Mark to share the winding, beautiful, and painful road of planting a church while navigating personal loss, theological wrestling, and the loneliness of leadership.

🎙️ In This Episode:

• Why Aubrey never imagined herself as a pastor
• What it means to plant a church with conviction and complexity
• The emotional toll of leadership and stepping into grief while serving
• How theological clarity became a freeing force

⏱️ Timestamps:

03:00 – From volunteer to pastor: discovering a hidden call

06:00 – Wrestling with guilt, theology, and spiritual authority

09:00 – Why church planting was the only path forward

12:00 – Honeymoon seasons, heartbreak, and sacred disappointment

17:00 – Co-pastoring through sabbatical and spiritual weariness

24:00 – Grief, illness, and loss behind the scenes of ministry

28:00 – Pastors and the cost of not being allowed to lament

💡 Thought to ponder:

Ministry doesn’t protect you from pain; it shapes you in it.

Aubrey’s story is a reminder that faithful leadership isn’t found in perfection, but in showing up anyway, trusting that God meets us in the dark.

What happens when your gender, age, and relationship status seem to speak louder than your call?

In this episode, Pastor Elizabeth Bair returns to The Pastor’s Table to reflect on the quiet tension of pastoral identity, learning to relax into the authority God has given, and why she's not chasing titles, but transformation.

🎙️ In This Episode:

• The burden of “proving yourself” in ministry as a young woman
• Singleness and the myth of being “incomplete” in church culture
• When call becomes confirmation: living into the identity God speaks
• Learning to lead with grace when you're underestimated

⏱️ Timestamps:

03:00 – Proving yourself vs. resting in your call

07:00 – The “triple threat”: young, single, female pastor

13:00 – Finding spiritual authority in the midst of critique

20:00 – When ministry fits “like a glove”

27:00 – What Gen Z pastors wish older leaders knew

🧭 Takeaway:

God doesn’t define you by what others see as limitations. He calls you by name. That is enough.

What happens when you follow your calling, only to find yourself profoundly alone?

In this episode, youth pastor Elizabeth Bair opens up about stepping into ministry at age 22, navigating life in rural Michigan, and wrestling with loneliness as a single, young woman in a church leadership role. Her honesty is both refreshing and deeply relatable for pastors who feel isolated or unseen.

🎙️ In This Episode:

• Why Elizabeth almost ran from her calling
• The hidden costs of ministry that no one talks about
• What to do when your prayers for community go unanswered
• How Propel and community theater became lifelines of grace

⏱️ Timestamps:

03:00 – The surprising moment she accepted her call

07:00 – Moving in with her grandmother

10:00 – Confessing loneliness and finding lifelines

17:00 – God’s unexpected answer through art and community

23:00 – The cost of being a woman in ministry

28:00 – Age bias and the challenge of pastoral authority

🔗 Learn more about Propel Cohorts at https://cohorts.propelwomen.org/

💡 Takeaway:

Ministry can be lonely, but you are not alone. God often brings community in unexpected places, and you don’t have to carry the weight of your calling by yourself.