Healthy Church Podcast

HCP - Ep. 85 - Prayer Resources and Retreats On this episode of HCP, Larry and Drew welcome Pastors Advocate Heidi Sorrells to the podcast to talk about prayer. They discuss our need for intentional times of prayer where we come before the Lord in humility to seek HIS plan and will for our ministry over our own. Healthy Church Solutions also has many resources at your disposal for no cost to you (...

HCP - Ep. 84 - Counseling In the Church with (Guest Adam Thomas) On this episode of the HCP, Drew welcomes guest Pastor and Counselor Adam Thomas. Adam is the Preaching/Teaching Pastor at Wyatt Road Baptist Church in El Dorado, AR and is also a Biblical counselor. The conversation today is around the role of pastor as a counselor for his people in the church, the role of the body as they care for...

HCP - Ep. 83 - Greenhouse Leadership Development On this episode, Larry and Drew discuss the Leadership “pipeline”. Are we as church leaders investing our time and experience into other leaders?  To invest time or resources or anything at all requires sacrifice. Jesus fed the 5,000, but the little boy with the loaves and fish offered his lunch. For at least a moment, he had no lunch for the hope o...

HCP - Ep. 82 - Worship Pastor Roles and Relationship with Guest (Travis Sellers) On this episode of HCP, Larry and Drew talk with Worship Pastor Travis Sellers from Antioch Baptist Church in Conway, AR about his ministry, roles and responsibilities but also about the relationship between Senior Pastors and Worship pastors. Often the dynamic between the two can be contentious and stressful, but Tra...

HCP - Ep. 81 - Making Today Count! It’s the new year and we’re ready to get going! But sometimes that’s not the case. Sometimes we believe lies, get depressed, struggle with the task ahead of us. It’s ok - you’re human! We want to remind you that the writer of Lamentations says that God’s mercy is NEW EVERY MORNING. So embrace His goodness, His mercy and the opportunity the day brings and let’s ma...

HCP - Ep. 80 - Year End Life and Ministry Evaluation It’s that time of year where we reflect on the previous year and consider the one coming up. It’s good in ministry to do the same thing, whether it’s something you do as an individual or as a team on a church staff or leadership team. Many churches today are either declining (85%), reclining, or inclining in our growth. Which are you? On this ep...

HCP - Ep. 79 - You Don’t Have What It Takes - But God Does On this HCP episode Larry  and Drew discuss the mistake many pastors make in working out of our strengths and gifting over resting in and pursuing God’s presence and power in our lives. Often our default is to rely on our abilities and experience but is that what people need to experience - more of you? No, we’re called to first and foremo...

HCP - Ep. 78 - Faith Vs. Logic On this episode of the HCP, Larry and Drew talk about the struggle of trusting God over what sometimes seems to make more sense to our minds. Surely we’re not alone as believers in that many have gone before us in struggling to trust God over what makes the most sense to us. Characters like Gideon, Abraham, Moses, Peter, Paul and many more have questioned what God wa...

HCP - Ep. 77 - Following the Spirit and Finding God’s Will On this episode of the HCP - Larry and Drew discuss the confusing and exhilarating reality of the Holy Spirit and how to follow Him is not for the faint of heart. Following the Spirit of God means: There’s no promise of SAFETY Anything could happen (no guarantees)  We follow Him, He doesn’t follow us You might be uncomfortable  It might be...

HCP - Ep. 76 - The Vision Frame On this episode of HCP, Larry and Drew revisit the ever-so-important quality of vision. Whether you’re a church planter not on the field yet, or you’re a seasoned pastor with 30 years of ministry experience, we all need to make sure we’re still following a vision of what God wants for His church. Larry describes an idea called “The Vision Frame” and we hope it gives...

HCP - Ep. 75 - “The Nones” On this podcast of HCP, Larry and Drew discuss this ever increasing group of people who don’t want to be labeled as having any religion. How did we get here? Are we ministering to these people? Did we do something as church leaders to give rise to this group? In many ways we’ve gotten it backwards in the church. We preach to 100% of people in our services hoping 50% stic...

HCP - 74 - Bless Every Home (with Guest Margie Thompson of FamilyLIfe) Drew welcomes Heidi Sorrells to fill in for Larry Barker on this podcast where they talk with Margie Thompson of FamilyLife. Margie’s work with FamilyLife is around supporting churches who want to better their ministry in “neighboring”. Neighboring is a new term used for being missional in your local neighborhood context. One o...

HCP - 73 - Discipleship Paradigms Jesus said in the great commission to “Go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matt. 28:18-20 As pastors and church leaders, we know this is a BIG deal. We know this is what we’re to be about in the church, yet we...

HCP - 72 - Embracing LImits This may seem hard to believe, but you CAN’T do it all. You can’t be the best at every role in the church. In fact there maybe some aspects of leadership that you absolutely stink at. That’s why we need each other. That’s why God has given us the body of Christ with different giftings and interest to help shoulder the work of ministry. But what many pastors and ministry...

CP - Ep. 71 - Leading From the 2nd Seat - (with Guest Kevan Wood) On this episode of the HCP, Larry and Drew welcome veteran pastor Kevan Wood from First Baptist Church in Livingston, TX. Kevin has been on staff for over 40 years and worn every hat possible on that team, yet never been the senior leader. The guys ask Kevan how he has led so effectively over the years through different leaders and...

HCP - Ep. 70 - STOP Doing These 6 Things! We often talk about a lot of things we as pastors and ministry leaders need to be doing, but today we want to recognize that there are things in our lives and ministries that we need need to STOP doing.  The truth is that we’re all very busy in our ministries and home lives and before we know it, we’ve got more plates spinning then we know what to do with....

HCP - Ep. 69 - 5 Years Later - The South City Replant On this episode Host Larry Barker asks co-host Drew Cline questions about what God has done over the 5 years of his pastorate at Temple Baptist Church and the replant as South City Church. Larry asks questions like: 1. What are you Celebrating? 2. What are some of the things you rejoice about the most? 3. What have been some of the greatest cha...

HCP — 68 - Leading Through Insecurities On this episode of the HCP, Larry and Drew get honest about the reality of insecurities in all of our lives and how we have to acknowledge them, work through them and find our hope and identity in Christ alone. The role of pastor can be daunting and honestly we can’t do it a part from the grace and sustaining mercy of Jesus.  If we can’t see those insecuriti...

HCP - 67 -  Discipleship Dashboard On this episode of HCP, Larry and Drew talk about creating a few constant metrics to live by as a disciple of Jesus. Not unlike how we might take notes on whether we studied God’s Word or prayed, maybe we should hold ourselves accountable for being missional in our lives. We discussed thinking through an “imaginary” DISCIPLESHIP DASHBOARD - Just like your car sho...

HCP - 66 - Dominating or Motivating? On this episode Larry and Drew discuss one of the tools in the book “100 X Leader”. The Support/Challenge Matrix helps us as leaders consider how we’re leading through support and challenge. If you are HIGH CHALLENGE but LOW SUPPORT as a leader - you’ll DOMINATE If you are LOW CHALLENGE with LOW SUPPORT you will ABDICATE If you are LOW CHALLENGE with HIGH SUPPO...

Pastoring Like A Sherpa On this episode of HCP, Larry and Drew discuss making sure we are personally healthy leaders before trying to encourage others to do the same thing.  Larry gives a wonderful example of how the Sherpa of Nepal guide hikers to the highest peak in the world of Mt. Everest. They lead the way by running ahead to prepare the way, then double back and get behind the hikers so they...

HCP - 64 - Resiliency In Ministry On this episode our dear friend Heidi Sorrells sits in for Larry as we discuss what it takes to endure in ministry. Barna reports that 1 in 9 pastors are at risk of burnout, half faced depression and 1 in 5 are in danger of addiction. These numbers are from 2017 and if we factor in the difficulty of pastoring through COVID, those numbers would likely be higher. Pa...

HCP 63 - Perseverance In Ministry (Guest Dave McMurray) On this episode of the HCP, Larry and Drew welcome veteran pastor Dave McMurray from First Baptist Church of Blackwood, NJ. Pastor McMurray has been there for 48 years and shares some stories and wisdom about being able to persevere in ministry for the long haul. Though he doesn’t mention it, Pastor McMurray shares his story with humility and...

HCP 62- Pastor Role Issues On this episode Larry and Drew discuss the role of pastor and some of the issues that come with it. There can be issues when it comes to: Role Immersion Role Complexity  Role Ambiguity  We have to learn: We’re HUMAN Who can I hand this to? Give it away - let them do it their way. To find more information about The Healthy Church Podcast go to: http://www.healthychurchpod...

HCP 61 - Dr. Freddy Didier (Puerto Rico) Larry and Drew welcome Puerto Rican pastor Dr. Freddy Didier to the HCP today.  Dr. Didier has been pastoring and planting churches in Puerto Rico for many years and God is using he and his church to impact many people for God’s glory there on the island. On this podcast we discuss how he partnered with the original planting pastor David Dixon and how he is...