I talk with a lot of church leaders these days—and almost all of them feel a similar tension.

They long to be faithful. Faithful to God’s Word. Faithful to the Gospel that transformed their lives. Faithful to the people God has entrusted to their leadership. Simultaneously, they can feel the ground shifting beneath them. Their communities are changing. Culture is morphing. People’s willingness to engage with the Church is not the same as it was a generation ago.

The need for innovation in the Church in America has never been greater.

For more than two decades, my wife Andrea and I have lived the church planting story in one city—West Chester, Ohio. Over those years we’ve launched two churches and navigated a merger, all under the same call to reach one community with the gospel.

It was not twenty years of leading a stable, well-resourced church. It felt like two decades of pioneering—of wondering if we’d make budget this month, of asking whether anyone would show up next weekend, of living more in “start-up mode” than “status-quo mode.”

Early in my ministry, I thought leadership was about figuring things out on my own. I believed if I just prayed harder, studied more, and worked longer hours, I’d grow into the leader God wanted me to be. But over time, I realized something: growth doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens in relationship. That’s why coaching has been one of the most transformative forces in my life and ministry.

The words that we speak reveal a great deal about what has our heart.  Jesus said as much in Matthew 12:34 when He made the bold statement, “For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”