Leadership can look healthy on the surface while quietly carrying patterns that eventually become unsustainable. After experiencing the collapse of a church he helped lead, Sats Solanki found himself reexamining everything he assumed about authority, leadership, and what a healthy church should actually look like.

Our conversation explores plurality of leadership, why shared leadership can create healthier churches and healthier pastors, and how Jesus' model of leadership challenges many of the assumptions we've inherited. If you're carrying the weight of ministry or wrestling with how leadership should function in the local church, I think you'll find plenty here that's both practical and worth reflecting on.

Resources from this episode:

• Join The Lead Pastor Community
• Subscribe to the newsletter to get our latest articles and podcasts
• Connect with Sats on LinkedIn and Instagram
• Visit Reflect Church
• Digital Rabbi
• Leadership Horticulture Podcast

In part one of this two-part conversation, Josh Gordon sits down with pastor and author Frank Friedmann to pull apart one of the most common questions in church leadership: how do I get my church to evangelize more? Frank's answer is that the question itself may be the problem. Drawing from 45 years of pastoral experience and a deep New Covenant theology, Frank argues that evangelism isn't primarily a program or a method. It's the natural overflow of believers who actually know what they have in Christ.

The conversation covers everything from the failure of guilt-based evangelism training to Ephesians 4, John MacArthur's ordination advice, and a story about a deaf woman in a burrito shop.

Resources from this episode:

• Join The Lead Pastor Community
• Subscribe to the newsletter to get our latest articles and podcasts
• Connect with Frank on Facebook and Instagram
• Our Resolute Hope
• A Frank Talk About Spiritual Warfare

Welcome to the very first episode of The Lead Pastor Podcast. In this conversation, Becca turns the tables and interviews me about my own journey into ministry—the burnout that nearly ended it, the redemption God brought through it, and why I care so deeply about encouraging pastors today. We talk honestly about the pressures so many church leaders carry, especially the loneliness that can come with pastoral ministry, and what I've learned about building a healthier, more sustainable way of leading.

My hope is that this conversation reminds you that you don't have to carry ministry alone. We explore what healthy church leadership can look like, why vulnerability matters more than perfection, and how remembering God's faithfulness gives us hope for whatever lies ahead. If you're carrying the weight of ministry, I hope this episode leaves you encouraged and pointed back to Jesus.

Resources from this episode:

• Join The Lead Pastor Community
• Subscribe to the newsletter to get our latest articles and podcasts
• Connect with Joshua on LinkedIn