In this episode of the Grow Leader Podcast, Pastor Chris welcomes health innovator Clint Phillips to discuss the vital link between leadership and personal wellness. Clint shares his journey from a tough upbringing in South Africa to founding healthcare platforms like SecondMD and Medici. Inspired by his daughter’s stroke, Clint built solutions that connect people to top medical experts virtually, emphasizing the importance of early prevention and access to quality care—especially for pastors wh...
Jun 16, 2025•32 min
In this episode of the GrowLeader Podcast, Pastor Chris addresses the challenges of leadership development and discipleship that can happen in churches. Pastor Chris reveals three key disconnects and shares practical advice for developing leaders through intentional conversations about spiritual life, relationships, and calling. He closes by encouraging pastors to begin by creating small group opportunities where authentic development can flourish. All Things GrowLeader: • Learn More and Join th...
Jun 02, 2025•32 min
In this episode of the GrowLeader Podcast, Pastor Chris shares a powerful message from this year’s ARC Conference on the key to security in leadership. Drawing from 41 years of ministry experience, he unpacks five areas every leader must "die to" and offers practical solutions rooted in his personal journey. Pastor Chris closes with a challenge to "re-up" your commitment—not to just survive, but to surrender. . . . . Episode Resources: - ARC Website: https://www.arcchurches.com . . . . All Thing...
May 05, 2025•33 min
What do you do when life feels like it’s spiraling—and how can that moment become the start of something more significant? In this episode of the GrowLeader Podcast, Pastor Levi Lusko joins Pastors Chris Hodges and Matt Minor for an honest conversation about leadership, creativity, and the hidden opportunities inside seasons of struggle. They unpack what it looks like to lead through midlife, steward influence well, and embrace the shift from stage to sage. Levi shares the story behind his new b...
Apr 21, 2025•34 min
What trends are shaping the future of the Church—and how should leaders respond with wisdom and courage? In this episode of the GrowLeader Podcast, we sit down with Carey Nieuwhof, leadership expert and longtime voice in the church world, to explore some of the biggest challenges and opportunities facing pastors today. From a fresh wave of Gen Z revival to the sharp decline in evangelism, Carey shares real-time insights backed by research and frontline conversations with church leaders around th...
Apr 07, 2025•33 min
What does it look like to lead with clarity, humility, and confidence through a leadership transition? In this episode of the GrowLeader Podcast, Pastors Chris Hodges and Matt Minor sit down with Pastor Mark Pettus to talk about the heart behind the recent leadership transition at Church of the Highlands. Pastor Mark shares how calling, confirmation, and clarity guided his journey—alongside a deep honor for what came before. This conversation is packed with practical insights for leaders at ever...
Mar 24, 2025•34 min
What does a healthy church transition look like? In this episode, Pastor Chris shares the journey of transitioning from Lead Pastor to Founding Pastor at Church of the Highlands. For over two years, Pastors Chris and Mark Pettus, carefully prepared for this moment—ensuring healthy leadership succession, organizational stability, and a clear vision for the future. This conversation is packed with wisdom, practical takeaways, and behind-the-scenes insights for leaders preparing for their own trans...
Mar 02, 2025•35 min
How can you turn your ideas into a book? In this episode of the GrowLeader Podcast, Pastors Chris Hodges and Matt Minor sit down with Dudley Delffs, a bestselling author, editor, and publishing expert, to discuss the process of writing, publishing, and using books as tools for leadership and ministry. Many leaders feel called to write but don’t know where to start—this conversation breaks down the step-by-step journey from idea to published book. From structuring your message and finding your wr...
Feb 17, 2025•32 min
How can churches effectively reach and disciple the next generation of leaders? In this episode of the GrowLeader Podcast, we sit down with Pastors Mark Pettus and Bubba Massey to dive deep into how churches can build thriving student and college ministries. They discuss the key strategies that help churches engage young people, foster discipleship, and create an irresistible environment for the next generation. From rethinking youth ministry models to leveraging mentorship and discipleship, the...
Feb 03, 2025•30 min
Who will you learn from in 2025? In this episode of the GrowLeader Podcast, Pastors Chris Hodges and Matt Minor kick off the year by exploring how leaders can grow through intentional models and mentors. Pastor Chris shares personal stories of how he has applied lessons from others to create systems and strategies that have fueled the success of Church of the Highlands. The discussion dives into the power of learning from other leaders, pursuing mentorship intentionally, and crafting a personal ...
Jan 06, 2025•32 min
How can leaders use their influence to build a legacy that transforms lives and inspires the next generation? In this episode of the GrowLeader Podcast, we’re highlighting a powerful session from the 2024 Impact Leadership Conference at Highlands College featuring Ed Mylett. A renowned speaker, author, and entrepreneur, Ed shares transformative insights on leadership, legacy, and the power of vision. He challenges leaders to embrace their pain as a platform for purpose, cast a God-sized vision t...
Dec 16, 2024•52 min
How can leaders reflect, refocus, and reignite their vision to lead effectively into the new year? In this episode of the GrowLeader Podcast, Pastor Chris Hodges dives into the importance of reflecting on the past year to identify lessons, celebrate wins, and prepare for the future. He shares seven key questions every leader should ask to evaluate their leadership, align their vision and values, and uncover growth opportunities. This episode offers practical insights on focusing your efforts, em...
Dec 02, 2024•34 min
How can church leaders boldly share God’s truth while inspiring hope and love in a complex world? In this episode of the GrowLeader Podcast, Pastors Chris Hodges and Matt Minor sit down with Pastor Sammy Rodriguez to discuss how leaders can navigate today’s complex cultural landscape. They dive into the challenges of balancing truth and love while engaging with a rapidly changing world. Pastor Sammy shares powerful insights on the role of the Holy Spirit in leading with conviction and grace, and...
Nov 18, 2024•29 min
In this episode of the GrowLeader Podcast Dr. Dharius Daniels, a visionary leader and pastor, sits down with pastors Chris Hodges and Matt Minor to discuss practical strategies for ministry success. Together, they explore the power of consistency, effective discipleship of men, and the importance of establishing a rhythm for ministry through principles like the “Ideal Week.” Dr. Daniels shares his journey of finding his voice, the lessons he’s learned in growing churches, and the transformative ...
Nov 04, 2024•33 min
How do you ensure financial decisions prioritize Kingdom impact over infrastructure growth? In this episode of the GrowLeader Podcast, Pastors Chris Hodges and Matt Minor sit down with Norwood Davis, President of the Wesleyan Investment Foundation (WIF), to discuss the financial principles every church leader should know. They dive into the importance of having a clear financial strategy to support church growth. Norwood shares key financial metrics for churches and explains how WIF has helped f...
Oct 21, 2024•28 min
Ready to build momentum into the new year? Join pastors Chris Hodges and Matt Minor as they discuss how to "stack the dominoes" into the new year as well as how to navigate the often polarizing election season with grace and wisdom. They unpack leadership strategies for maintaining focus on what matters most during the holidays and year-end, including how to define vision, develop givers, and make the most of key Sundays leading up to Christmas. Packed with practical insights for pastors and lea...
Oct 07, 2024•30 min
In this episode Vance Roush, founder of Overflow, joins Pastors Chris Hodges and Matt Minor to talk about his journey of starting a church in the Silicon Valley and how it led to the creation of Overflow, a system of generosity for churches. Overflow allows churches to receive stock and cryptocurrency donations, as well as traditional forms of giving. Vance emphasizes the importance of removing friction from the giving process and the power of generosity in expanding the kingdom of God. He also ...
Sep 16, 2024•26 min
In a culture that likes to pick sides, who can we look to as a model of high road leadership? In this episode, Pastors Chris Hodges and Matt Minor discuss the importance of living out the values and principles of Jesus, which is the heart of a new book Pastor Chris co-authored with John C. Maxwell called “Jesus the High Road Leader”. They emphasize the need for an attractive spirituality that draws people to God as well as highlight the value of all people, even those we may disagree with, and t...
Sep 02, 2024•32 min
In this episode, Pastor Craig Groeschel, the Senior Pastor of Life.Church, joins Pastors Chris Hodges and Matt Minor to discuss church growth, leadership, and the power of pre-deciding. They discuss the challenges of maintaining a healthy church culture, the importance of reaching people and creating margin, and the potential of the YouVersion Bible app. Craig shares his personal disciplines and the concept of pre-decision, which involves making a plan ahead of time to be successful. He emphasiz...
Aug 19, 2024•33 min
In this episode, Pastors Chris and Matt are joined by Brad Straarup to discuss GrowLeader's newest service, the Church Health Assessment! They discuss the importance of assessing the health of various aspects of a church, such as worship, children's ministry, and overall culture. They emphasize the need for regular self-assessment and external assessment to identify areas of improvement and ensure growth. The conversation also touches on the value of feedback, the role of leadership in driving c...
Aug 05, 2024•31 min
As leaders, what can we do to reach the next generation for Jesus? In this episode, Mark Pettus– the President of Highlands College, joins Pastors Chris and Matt to discuss the importance of student ministry and leadership development in the church. They emphasize the need for a comprehensive approach that includes both large events and small group discipleship and highlight the significance of personal connections and access to pastors and leaders in the church. They touch on the challenges fac...
Jul 01, 2024•34 min
What can we do to reach the unreached? In this episode, Rob Hoskins the President of OneHope, joins pastors Chris and Matt to discuss the importance of global missions in churches today. While discussing how to prioritize missions and sharing personal stories, they highlight the impact of digital missions and the role of the local church in reaching children and young people with the Word of God. The conversation emphasizes the urgency and opportunity for global missions and encourages pastors t...
Jun 17, 2024•33 min
What is the secret to being a High Road Leader? In this conversation, Pastor Matt interviews Dr. John C. Maxwell about his new book, High Road Leadership , and the importance of being a high road leader in a divided world. They discuss the motivation behind Maxwell's continuous work and his passion for evangelism. They also touch on the upcoming book that Maxwell is co-writing with Pastor Chris, which focuses on Jesus as the ultimate High Road Leader. The conversation emphasizes the need for per...
Jun 03, 2024•32 min
Ministry can be tough and so the best way to do it is in a community! In this episode, Pastor Dino Rizzo joins us to discuss the importance of planting churches and how the Association of Related Churches (ARC) is supporting leaders to do just that. Dino emphasizes the importance of training and supporting church planters, as well as the funding model used by ARC. He also highlights the need for churches in cities that currently have a low number of churches while explaining the importance of co...
May 20, 2024•33 min
What is the best way to reach people for Jesus? Share your personal faith journey! In this conversation, Pastor Chris Hodges discusses the importance of sharing your faith and reaching out to those who are far from God. He emphasizes the need for personal evangelism and teaching church members how to share their faith. The conversation highlights the key principles of recognizing God-given moments, refocusing on how we live our lives, and relaying the message of hope to a broken world. This is a...
May 06, 2024•33 min
What is the secret to excellence and growth in ministry? In this episode, Pastor Chad Veach joins us to discuss what he has learned over the last 10 years and shares his experience visiting Highlands College. We start by discussing the importance of creating a culture of honor before delving into the principles of being a builder and the spiritual aspects of leadership. We also discuss topics from growth and challenges of starting a church to the need for counsel/outside perspectives and the imp...
Apr 22, 2024•32 min
Looking for practical ways to disciple new believers after Easter services? In this conversation, Pastors Chris and Matt discuss the importance of intentional evangelism and discipleship. They emphasize the need to preach the gospel in every service, give people a chance to respond to God, and get their information for follow-up. Pastor Chris also highlights the 12 steps every believer needs to take through 4 areas: Know God, Find Freedom, Discover Purpose, and Make a Difference. By providing cl...
Apr 01, 2024•32 min
What is the secret to membership engagement? In this episode, Blue Van Dyke, the founder of StudioC, joins Pastors Chris and Matt to discuss the importance of member engagement in church growth. He shares his background in marketing and strategy, and how he applied those principles to help churches engage their members. StudioC provides a personalized messaging platform that allows churches to target their members with personalized content based on their stage in the member lifecycle. This is a ...
Mar 18, 2024•28 min
What are the key characteristics of a growing church? In this episode, Pastors Chris and Matt discuss the importance of taking inventory and detecting problems within your church early. They introduce a new health assessment tool from GrowLeader and share the eight qualities that all growing churches possess, including passionate spirituality, gift-oriented ministry, empowering leadership, functional structures, inspiring worship, holistic small groups, need-oriented evangelism, and loving relat...
Mar 04, 2024•35 min
What is the heart of poverty and how can we confront it? In this episode, Pastors Chris and Matt are joined by Wess Stafford, President Emeritus of Compassion International, who shares stories from his life and what led him to joining Compassion International. From experiencing both poverty and abundance, to becoming a bridge for people to providing relief to those in need, Wess helps us understand the heart of poverty and what we can do to confront it. Prepare yourself for an inspiring conversa...
Feb 19, 2024•46 min
