Breaking Barriers

"We're going for 30 years, not 3." In this episode, we unpack a powerful staff retention strategy that will help your leadership team stay for the long haul: the sabbatical. We address the common objections, break down the implementation details, and share three compelling reasons this practice transforms ministry sustainability. If you're tired of constant staff turnover and want to build a team...

Pastor Andrew breaks down his complete process of sermon series planning using the "Big Idea Document" approach. Learn how he creates compelling series concepts, and develops a 12-week planning rhythm that helps you and your entire team prepare for a sermon series. Includes practical tips for crafting series titles, scripture selection, big ideas, and creative elements that will engage b...

Discover when and why your church should consider hiring an executive pastor. In this episode, we break down the crucial relationship between lead pastors and executive pastors, exploring how this partnership creates "rocket fuel" for church growth. Learn the ideal qualities to look for in a second chair leader, when to make this strategic hire, and how to clearly define roles that maximize your c...

"Generosity initiatives are discipleship initiatives." Over the past two practical episodes, we explore 5 axioms for effectively leading your church through a giving campaign. Learn why church funding isn't just about raising money but raising maturity, how to strategically allocate resources between ongoing ministry, special projects, and future vision, and why every dollar is a "kingdom dollar"...

"Generosity initiatives are discipleship initiatives." In the next two practical episodes, we explore 5 axioms for effectively leading your church through a giving campaign. Learn why church funding isn't just about raising money but raising maturity, how to strategically allocate resources between ongoing ministry, special projects, and future vision, and why every dollar is a "kingdom dollar" in...

Every growing church faces critical leadership pain points that determine its future. In this episode, we explore six essential leadership challenges—from reorganization to narrowing focus—that pastors must navigate to scale their ministry effectively. Discover why comfort and growth can never coexist and how embracing necessary pain (and the right pain) is the gateway to church multiplication. We...

In this episode, Pastor Andrew and Pastor Bobby continue their conversation on how church leaders can organize their lives to support both personal health and church growth. They explore the critical areas of fitness, family, flock, and finances, explaining why a pastor's vision for these personal areas should be as detailed and vivid as their vision for their church. Discover practical strate...

In this episode, we explore the "flywheel concept" for pastoral health and church growth. Discover how intentionally investing in your personal well-being creates momentum that carries into your family, ministry, and finances. Learn why passivity is never the pathway to health and how creating a strategic flywheel can prevent burnout while fostering sustainable church growth. If you're a pastor wi...

Why do some churches thrive while others plateau? In this episode, we explore how effective church leadership requires working across multiple time horizons simultaneously. Using Mercy Hill's new Ridge campus project as a case study, we break down the four essential time frameworks every ministry leader must navigate: vision (3-10 years), strategy (1-3 years), tactics (90 days to 1 year), and...

1 year into Breaking Barriers, we wanted to revisit the reason we started Breaking Barriers to begin with. In this episode, Pastor Andrew and Pastor Bobby continue the conversation around the false dichotomy between church growth and spiritual depth. Learn why many churches simultaneously mourn decline while refusing to celebrate growth, and discover how this mindset may be holding ministries back...

1 year into Breaking Barriers, we wanted to revisit the reason we started Breaking Barriers to begin with. In this episode, Pastor Andrew and Pastor Bobby re-tackle the false dichotomy between church growth and spiritual depth. Learn why many churches simultaneously mourn decline while refusing to celebrate growth, and discover how this mindset may be holding ministries back. They share practical...

We believe that parent-planting churches is the best way to plant churches, but partner-planting is the best pathway to parent-planting. In this episode we discuss 6 axioms, 3 to move into planting and 3 to move into parent-planting. Website: ⁠ https://breakinggrowthbarriers.com ⁠ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/breakinggrowthbarriers Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/breakinggrow...

Are you in charge of leading people? It might be an entire staff-team of 75 people, maybe it's 10 people on kids' staff, or it might just be 3 volunteers; if you lead people, this episode looks at 3 guiding principles for leading staff. Website: ⁠ https://breakinggrowthbarriers.com ⁠ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/breakinggrowthbarriers Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/breakingg...

"How does one go from the crowd to the family at my church?" This is one question can be the catalyst for growth at your church. If you don't have this clearly defined for yourself, your leadership, staff, volunteer, etc; how do you expect that it will just happen naturally? Pastor Steven Wade, Lead Pastor at Faith Baptist Church, Youngsville, NC, and Professor of Pastoral Theology at Southeastern...

In this Episode we talk about Easter/Big Day planning, preparations, projections and much more. If you're looking for ways to prepare the jars for Easter, then this is the episode for you. If you're listening to this as it is released.. then Easter is right around the corner! If you're catching this at a later date, then another Big Day is coming up (listen to Episode 15 and 16 for more on that!)...

If you Haven't listened to Episode 47, go check that out as it sets the groundwork for this episode! We take a look at our recent Executive planning meeting and how to take you 10-year vision and boil it all the way down to 90-day rocks. This is a super practical episode and we think you're really going to get alot out of it!

When planning the year ahead, looking back at the previous year is essential to see how it went. It's also so important to look at the next 10 years and what the future could look like. Vision casting is both long-term and short-term; the long-term vision informs the short-term vision. This episode focuses on the 10-year vision, and the next episode will be about reverse engineering that 10-ye...

In the church culture, we use the phrase, "Church Merger" but that is actually not a very accurate phrase. The idea is more like an adoption than a merging of two things, and this can be tough to navigate. Two visions = division. In this episode, we try to help you navigate and understand what that process can actually look like. Website: ⁠ https://breakinggrowthbarriers.com ⁠ Facebook Group: http...

Failure is something that we all experience. It is something that you kinda never get used to [Edit: hopefully], but it is a reality—especially if you are chasing big goals and big prayers. In this episode we dive into 3 frameworks for mistakes and 3 positive things we can do to grow from them. Website https://breakinggrowthbarriers.com ⁠ Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/breakinggrow...

Have you ever been sitting back and waiting for God to move in a situation so that you can step into it? Maybe God is waiting for you to take a step out in faith so that he can move in that situation. Maybe 2025 is going to be really hard for you, or maybe it will be the greatest year of your life; either way, we see from Joshua 3 that most of the time... God wants us to take a step of faith to se...

Pastor Andrew got the chance to sit down with Pastor Bryant Wright: Pastor, Author, Founder of Right From The Heart Ministries, and President of international relief organization, Send Relief. They dive into his story and a ton of other topics, we know you'll love this conversation! Website : ⁠ https://breakinggrowthbarriers.com ⁠ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/breakinggrowthbarri...

What does the actual process of building worship teams look like at Mercy Hill? We cover everything from auditions, to Essentials (how to go from auditioning to playing on a Sunday), and continued development once someone is on the team; Jon also dives into how writing music for your church can be a huge mover for musicians in your church! Lastly, one of the biggest levers for building a strong wo...

Rich Birch from Unseminary joins Pastor Bobby to talk about increasing the inviter culture at your church. Rich talks about 5 gears that move the needle on inviter culture from his new book called, " Unlocking Your Church’s Invite Culture: Strategies for Church Growth That Work Today ." Rich's Book: https://a.co/d/flbwdLJ Unseminary: https://unseminary.com/ Rich's Links: https://helpchurchleaders....

Pastor Jon Azzarello joins Pastor Andrew Hopper to discuss the Worship Culture at Mercy Hill Church. Jon has developed a pipeline for worship development at Mercy Hill called "Essentials" that every band member and singer goes through. They cover everything from auditions to continued development after someone is on the team. Don't let worship teams be a limited mindset for you and your church! We...

Pastor Andrew Hopper interviews Pastor JD Greear from the Summit Church in the Triangle area of North Carolina. Andrew and JD discuss the importance of bringing the conversation of growth and discipleship back together live from the NC Baptist State Convention. JD Greear Ministries: https://jdgreear.com/ Summit Church: https://summitchurch.com/ Website: ⁠ https://breakinggrowthbarriers.com ⁠ Faceb...