Episode 6- Dwight Easler: Loss, Identity, and Leading Through the Unthinkable

Episode 8- Walt Tanner: Going After the 60%: Walt Tanner on Planting a Church for the City

Be the church, not just a church service. When Walt Tanner and Chris Barrineau moved into a Fountain Inn garage apartment on 08/08/08 — newborn in tow, both jobs left behind, house sold, no insurance, in the teeth of the Great Recession — people told them nobody wanted another church. Walt's answer became the heartbeat of everything that followed: "40% of the people love the churches here. There's 60% that'll never go there — and we're going after those 60." Seventeen years later, that conviction has reshaped a city. In this conversation, Josh and Walt go all the way back to the beginning — a country kid from Mauldin, an architecture degree from Clemson, and a mentor who taught him that an architect's job is "to create the vision, not build the vision." Along the way you'll hear: * The Brazil mission trip and the reflection-pond moment that redirected Walt from architecture to ministry * The (very persistent) love story of Walt and Betsy — and why March 4th is "the only command on the calendar" * "Double Trouble," a youth ministry full of "the wrong kind of kids," and the deacon conversation that sent Walt looking for a new field * Why Walt and Chris gave away their sound-system money to buy a struggling family a home * The Fountain Inn Egg Drop, helicopters, Chick-fil-A cows, and getting competing churches to actually work together * "Ghetto chic": five years in a 20,000-square-foot former grocery store with curtains for bathroom doors * The merger with 100-year-old Fairview Street Church — "Your church isn't dying. We're standing on your shoulders." — and Miss Diane's tears: "I'm just glad to see there's life here again." This one will preach. Listen, then go be the church. Join our email list at https://heartthemission.com [https://www.google.com/url?q=https://heartthemission.com&source=gmail&ust=1781002612076000&sa=E] for new episodes and leadership resources. CHAPTERS: 00:00 Cold open 01:33 Meet Walt Tanner - Betsy, 20 years, and the boys 05:53 17 years in Fountain Inn (it all started 08/08/08) 07:50 Growing up in Mauldin: the country, horses, and a blue-collar home 11:26 Old Greenville stories - Five Forks, the Reedy River, a Chevy Impala 14:13 Clemson architecture & Bob Ellis: "Create the vision, don't build it" 17:22 Called to ministry - Brazil, poverty, and a moment at the reflection pond 20:55 Clemson as a mission field: the Third Day logo and 9/11 24:39 The love story: the pump fake, the long pursuit, and March 4th 35:35 First youth ministry - "Double Trouble" and "the wrong kind of kids" 41:53 The North Augusta plant and the seeker/attractional years 43:13 Called back to plant something missional 46:05 Meeting Chris Barrineau - Youth Specialties, Saddleback & a rented convertible 51:04 Launching Capstone: going after the 60% 53:01 "Why another church here?" - what they chose to be known for 59:26 Serving the city: the school partnership that started it all 1:01:34 The Fountain Inn Egg Drop - helicopters and Chick-fil-A cows 1:05:16 Radical generosity: giving up the sound system to buy a family a home 1:09:45 "Ghetto chic" - five years in the old grocery store 1:13:23 Merging with 100-year-old Fairview Street Church 1:22:14 Miss Diane: "I'm just glad to see there's life here again" 1:24:16 Advice to church planters: "Where does there need to be more light?" 1:27:01 Josh's gift - a 1978 Case knife and a blessing

Episode 7- Chad Merrell: I Should Not Be a Pastor

Chad Merrell should not be a pastor. He was a 22-year-old warehouse supervisor married to a full-blown opiate addict. He found his 3-year-old son locked out in ankle-deep snow, in a diaper, while his wife watched from the window upstairs. He lost his driver's license. He drank himself into oblivion every weekend his kids weren't with him. He was the guy in your church you'd quietly wish would stop showing up. Then his pastor and his dad called him within 16 hours of each other and told him the same thing: "It might be more sinful for you to stay than to leave." Then a Pennsylvania judge, in the most father-hostile family court in America, wrote him an airtight custody order so unprecedented it's now illegal to write. Then a hungover Saturday morning happened in a pool house in Pennsylvania, where a woman named Amy grabbed his face with both hands and prophesied that he would one day pastor God's people. Six years later, he was sitting in an auditorium when the pastor of First Baptist West Monroe announced, to him and everyone else, that he was their new recovery pastor. He had no idea. This is one of the most honest pastor stories we've ever put on this channel. If you've ever felt like your past disqualifies you, this episode is for you.

Episode 6- Dwight Easler: Loss, Identity, and Leading Through the Unthinkable

What do mission and identity look like when grief has taken everything from you? In this episode I sit down with pastor and AMS leader Dwight Easler, who lost his son Benji in a tragic accident. We talk about the overwhelming weight of that loss, what it does to a leader's sense of calling, and how Dwight has continued to show up faithfully in ministry in the middle of his own devastation. This is not a how-to episode. It is a testimony, and it is one worth hearing. If this conversation resonated with you, subscribe to the Heart the Mission newsletter at heartthemission.com for regular content designed to help pastors and church leaders lead with clarity and courage.

Episode 2- Will Gunter: The Power of Leading from Your True Identity

So many leaders are burning out, driven by unsustainable momentum instead of a clear, God-given mission. The problem often starts with leading from a "borrowed identity." This episode is the solution. In this powerful conversation, I sit down with Will Gunter to discuss the most important foundation for any Christian leader: Personal Identity. We explore the "BURDEN" of leading from a place of validation-seeking or "shoulds" and how to find the "MISSION CLARITY" that comes from authentic, God-given purpose. This is the core of the Heart the Mission pathway.

Episode 5 - Adam Spurlock: Faith, Responsibility, and the Day Everything Changed

Adam didn’t get a pause button. In this episode, Adam shares what it looked like to lose his father and keep leading anyway. While his family grieved, he stepped into a new reality overnight, carrying the weight of pastoral leadership and the responsibility of becoming the patriarch in his family. This is a conversation for the leader who is still showing up while life is falling apart. In this episode, we talk about: • What grief does to your focus, energy, and leadership decisions • How to lead a church when you feel emotionally empty • What changes when you become “the man of the family” overnight • The difference between performing strength and living with steady conviction • What it means to persevere without going numb If you’re carrying weight you didn’t ask for, this one will help you name it and lead with a steadier footing. Subscribe for more conversations that help leaders see what’s blocking their mission and move forward with confidence and courage. Want coaching or a mission reset for your church or team? Visit Heart the Mission at heartthemission.com.