What Are People For? With Pastor Chris Henry

Jeremy Pryor and Guy East on Family Teams and Building Multi-Gen Wealth | Honor God in the Grind

Author Jeremy Pryor and local leader Guy East challenge the modern assumption that work defines a man's identity, making the case that fatherhood is the most important team a man will ever lead. Pryor, founder of Family Teams, draws on years of research, time living in Jerusalem, and first-principles thinking rooted in Genesis 1 to reframe what it means to be a father, a builder, and a man on mission. East, an Indianapolis real estate investor and community catalyst, shares how leaving a performance-driven background as a professional athlete led him to discover Sabbath, hospitality, and intentional community as the anchors of a flourishing household. They join hosts Drew Kelley and Jackson Troxel to cover the freedom-scale-legacy business framework Pryor uses to coach families out of W-2 dependence and toward multi-generational asset building. They also address atomized identity, the collapse of disciple-making movements in the West, why Western Christians rarely discuss family wealth-building, and how the Genesis mandate to be fruitful, multiply, fill, subdue, and rule is a pre-loaded vision statement for every household. East reflects on moving from San Diego to Indianapolis and finding relational density and brotherhood he had never experienced in California. Both guests discuss the high cost of genuine community, public repentance, and what it looks like to pursue interdependence rather than independence.A conversation for fathers, entrepreneurs, and anyone wrestling with how faith, family, and work belong together rather than in separate, competing boxes. Learn more in Jeremy's book Family Revision or at https://www.jeremypryor.com/ or on his podcast Family Teams. Honor God in the Grind is a production of Citizen 7, a community focused on encouraging men in Indianapolis to live with purpose and intentionality.

Greg Ballard and Joe Loftus on Friendship within Leadership, Indianapolis and the Secretary of State Race

Greg Ballard built one of Indiana's most unlikely political careers, winning the Indianapolis mayor's race as a near-total unknown against a heavily favored incumbent. Now he's running for Indiana Secretary of State as an independent, and the coalition that helped him govern is rallying behind him again. Ballard, a 23-year Marine Corps veteran and author of "The Last Urban Republican Mayor," joins attorney and political strategist Joe Loftus for a candid conversation about how they built a city government from scratch, why Indianapolis punches above its weight on civic collaboration, and what has gone wrong in Indiana's political system. Loftus, who previously served under Mayor Steve Goldsmith and spent decades at Barnes & Thornburg, explains how he assembled a transition team, recruited talent, and handed Ballard a complete governing blueprint two days after an election almost no one expected him to win. The two discuss pre-K funding, the water and wastewater transfer to Citizens Energy, the city's long-running sports strategy, transit equity, and why cross-partisan relationships, not ideology, define effective local government. Ballard also lays out his case for opening Indiana's ballot access, ending straight-ticket voting, and pursuing a Voter's Bill of Rights as part of his Lincoln Party candidacy. For information on signing the ballot petition, visit gregballard.com [gregballard.com%20]or ballardontheballot.com [ballardontheballot.com]. To get involved with Big Hearted Indy and the Citizen 7 community, visit citizen7indy.com [citizen7indy.com].

Too Busy for Purpose: Peter Greer and Scott Pothoven on Comfort, Calling, and Showing Up

Peter Greer, president of HOPE International, and financial advisor Scott Pothoven join the Big Hearted Indy hosts to discuss what it takes to stay on mission, personally and organizationally, in a world designed for distraction and comfort. Greer traces his path from studying in Moscow to leading one of the world's leading Christ-centered microfinance organizations, now serving more than 3.8 million families across 30 nations and approaching its two-billionth dollar of investment. He reflects on the lessons behind his books "Mission Drift" and "Lead With Prayer," including why organizations and individuals drift, and why a culture of prayer is the first defense against it. Pothoven shares what a trip to Rwanda revealed about relationship-driven development, including a Rwandan entrepreneur who grew from a $20 loan to a $20,000 loan over a decade, and savings groups where members contributing the equivalent of 30 cents pooled resources to care for one another. Both guests speak candidly about the tension between striving and Sabbath, the danger of comfort, and what the global church can teach communities in Indianapolis about shared meals, generosity, and genuine belonging. Join the email list and find upcoming events, including the Restored Family cohort and the May 13 Coffee and Connection on mentoring, at citizen7indy.com.

What Are People For? With Pastor Chris Henry

Human connection is eroding quietly, and the tools promising to replace it cannot deliver what people actually need. Chris Henry, senior pastor of Second Presbyterian Church, makes the case that presence, usefulness, and committed community are not optional features of a well-lived life but its essential structure. Henry draws on thinkers including Wendell Berry, theologian David Bentley Hart, sociologist Mark Dunkelman, and researcher Jennifer Wallace to diagnose what he calls the anti-social century: a moment when convenience has become a substitute for commitment, digital companions simulate belonging, and young men in particular are being sold connection in forms that cannot deliver it. The talk moves from personal vulnerability, Henry's own reckoning over whether to attend his grandmother's funeral, to a theological argument rooted in the concept of the Imago Dei, to three direct pieces of pastoral advice for leaders: guard your experiences of deep formation, rebuild your middle ring of relationships, and find tangible ways to be useful to others. Henry closes with a question he refuses to leave rhetorical: there is someone in your life right now waiting to hear that they matter. Go find them. Chris Henry is senior pastor of Second Presbyterian Church.

Honor God in the Grind: Faith, Failure, and Entrepreneurship With Phil Daniels and Darrian Mikell

Two Indianapolis entrepreneurs share what surrendering business outcomes to God actually looks like, including the failures they didn't see coming and the peace they found afterward. Phil Daniels, a founder, investor, and co-author of "Spiritugraphics" and Darrian Mikell, co-founder of Qualify, an HR tech startup he recently sold, join host Drew Kelley for a candid panel conversation on identity, ambition, and vocational faithfulness. Daniels reflects on building a company steeped in Christian values that still ended in disappointment for employees and investors, and how that experience now equips him to guide founders through their own difficult chapters. Mikell opens up about a brutal 2023 that included personal failings, a serious car accident, multiple rounds of layoffs, and the moment he stopped trying to control the outcome. Together, they discuss what it looks like to root identity in Christ rather than in professional accomplishment, the discipline of documenting God's faithfulness in real time, how the Lord's Prayer shapes daily decision-making, and why the path to meaningful work is rarely linear. Both men are wired for ambition. The conversation is about what happens when that ambition gets submitted to something larger than a business plan. Recorded live at Meridian Hills Country Club as part of the Honor God in the Grind Growth Session series, this gathering is designed for men in sales, business development, ministry, fundraising, and entrepreneurship.