LEADERSHIP

Andrew Hopper saw his church plant grow to 1000 in two years, and almost nobody understood how hard that actually was. Especially when you planted at 28 years-old. In this conversation, he tackles church growth critics, and opens up about the tightrope of leading crazy growth in public. 🔗 Show Notes 🤖 AI and the...

Jimmy Mellado unpacks what the church growth movement got right and wrong from the 90s through 2010s, why concentrated power without governance breaks leaders, the ingredients that go into moral failure, and what scale costs a pastor. Plus, he shares lessons from his time as an Olympian. This one’s for leaders who’ve mistaken growth for...

John Ortberg, Ann Voskamp, and Toni Nieuwhof get personal about the questions faith doesn’t answer easily: what they’d believe if they weren’t Christians, why suffering isolates us, wanting to quit, and what Dallas Willard told John about painful seasons. Plus, all proceeds from HonestToGodBook.com go to empowering youth education in developing nations through Convoy of...

Pre-Order Pete Scazzero's forthcoming book, Emotionally Healthy Success, at http://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/success and get a free chapter. When I finished the first chapter of this book, I was ready to move on to the hopeful part. My editor sent it back with a hard word: “Pete, you can't get to the cure until you've told the truth...

Warren Bird and Sean Morgan bust the “8,000 multisite churches” myth with real numbers from the largest multisite study ever done (there are only 1800). Multisite churches are just 0.5% of all churches, yet they reach 10% of churchgoers, and that share is growing. Tune in for an hour of the most detailed data on...

Seth Godin returns to explore the problem with going viral, the truth about influencers, why you don’t want to play the game of gaining more and more influence online, how status and affiliation drive everything, and why you should avoid the race to the bottom in AI. 🔗 Show Notes 🤖 AI and the Future...

Pre-Order Pete Scazzero's forthcoming book, Emotionally Healthy Success, at http://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/success and get a free chapter. This is Part 1, and we're starting where the book starts: the lies we call success. For years I measured my ministry the way most of us do. Attendance. Budget. Baptisms. Conferences that promised the next strategy for growth. It...

Annie F. Downs joins the show to talk about why every leader needs a personal board of directors and who actually belongs there. Carey and Annie discuss why AI friendship can never replace the real thing and why Christians need to stay in the secular world instead of retreating from it. Plus, we get a...

We missed what social media would do to human flourishing. We can’t afford to miss what AI is about to do, especially to the next generation. Andy Stanley and Holly Goddard sat down with Carey Nieuwhof on AI, mental health, employment, and the isolation it’s accelerating, and why the church might be the one place...

Faith Tech’s James Kelly sits in rooms with the people building AI companies and models, and he’s blunt about what that means for your kids. He unpacks the Killer App Trap, why he won’t let his own kids use AI companions yet, and reflects on how AI itself is subject to the fall. 🔗 Show...

Pre-Order Pete Scazzero's forthcoming book, Emotionally Healthy Success, at http://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/success and get a free chapter. What if you could succeed brilliantly at something God never asked you to do? Is it possible to succeed at the wrong thing? I spent a good part of my ministry answering yes to that question without knowing it. I...

The AI Frontier labs are building AI to do what YOU do, only faster and cheaper. And most leaders have no idea what’s coming. Will Jones of the Future of Life Institute says this is the part nobody tells you: the more you lean on it to keep up, the more replaceable you make yourself....

Former Intel and VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger talks about what AI is doing to us and our churches. He unpacks the mental health toll of social media (and what’s coming next), the job loss scenarios leaders aren’t ready for, how AI will reshape giving in the church, and why engaging high-net-worth individuals matters now. Plus:...

You use AI. Have you thought about what it’s doing to your church, the people you’re reaching, or your soul? James (JP) Poulter flips the mic to interview Carey! They discuss AI girlfriends, deepfakes, and the best and worst case scenarios nobody’s naming. There’s a shift happening in your church and your community right now,...

Pre-Order Pete Scazzero's forthcoming book, Emotionally Healthy Success, at http://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/success and get a free chapter. For years, I measured ministry impact by one word: bigger. I remember walking into one of the largest churches in America, watching thousands of people fill the room, and thinking, this is it, this is critical mass. A staff member...

John Ortberg has spent decades leading churches, writing books, and teaching leaders. But every leader has parts of the job they’re not naturally good at. In this conversation, John opens up about pain in leadership, what it’s like to be an introvert in ministry, and how to handle the work you’d rather avoid. 🔗 Show...

Matt Chandler doesn’t pull punches. The lead pastor of The Village Church joins Carey to talk about why wearing a cape doesn’t help anyone, the death of secularism, and why the church is all wood and no fire. Matt also opens up about the moment he almost quit, what Spurgeon taught him about suffering, and...

Free Resource: Craft a Rule of Life for Emotionally Healthy Leaders → emotionallyhealthy.org/rule In 2004, I stood in front of a building we couldn't afford to renovate, a staff team with the wrong people in the wrong seats, and a list of problems that all traced back to my own failures as a leader. I...

Networking feels fake because most people do it wrong. Michael Bungay Stanier has a better way. In this conversation, MBS breaks down how to connect without the cringe, the seven questions you need to ask to run 1:1s that actually matter, and build a career path nobody handed you. Plus: a deep dive into self-publishing...

Six months into 2026, four church trends deserve a closer look. Algorithms are discipling your congregation 49 hours a week. AI’s biggest threat isn’t prompts—it’s disruption on a scale the church isn’t ready for. Women are still leaving, and now we know why. And a new kind of megachurch pastor is quietly emerging. Here’s what’s...

Most leaders don’t think of themselves as creative. Al Gordon says that’s the lie keeping you stuck. Al, founder of Renaissance, lead pastor of SAINT in East London, talks about why creativity is the church’s lost superpower, how stress and algorithms are quietly killing your imagination, and what it actually takes to unlock creativity in...

Free Resource: Rule of Life for Emotionally Healthy Leaders → emotionallyhealthy.org You were made for glorious work. But you were also made to stop. Most of us know how to produce, build, plan, and push through. What we struggle with is the hidden life. The stopping. The surrendering. The trusting when no one can see...

New York Times bestselling author David Epstein talks about why Malcolm Gladwell’s 10000-hour rule isn’t accurate, how he and Malcolm became friends, how creativity actually works (what you can learn from Dr. Seuss), and why constraints and limits set you free. 🔗 Show Notes 🤖 AI and the Future Church – NEW BOOK! 🗣️ Preaching...

Former pastor, minimalist, and New York Times bestselling author Joshua Becker returns to the podcast. He discusses why he left ministry to pursue a fresh calling, how minimalism can usher in an end to anxiety, when enough is enough, and how decluttering can be good for your soul. 🔗 Show Notes 🤖 AI and the...

New York Times bestselling author Eric Ries applies his startup philosophy to churches. Carey and Eric cover how to know when to take a risk, how to get past broke thinking in your church, and why the harder path is often easier. 🔗 Show Notes 🤖 AI and the Future Church – NEW BOOK! 🗣️...