Pastors Thriving | Ministry, Leadership, Discipleship, Church Growth, Small Church Strategies · Kevin Elworth-Business & Ministry Coach, Passive Income, Entrepreneur Pastor, Ministry Marketing

097 -What Pastors Need to Remember in Hard Seasons – Feat. Aaron McBride

·54 min·3 clips

At Night of Hope, Aaron says about 2,500 people came and 45 people came to Jesus Christ.

1. Pastors Thriving features Aaron McBride discussing hard seasons, church growth, discipleship, and leadership in Fallon, Nevada. 2. Aaron McBride is the guest, and Kevin hosts the show; Aaron pastors Victory Baptist Church and wrote When the Desert Blooms. 3. The episode asks what pastors should remember when ministry feels like a desert and leadership pressure is constant. 4. Aaron says he has pastored in Nevada for five years after 10 years as a youth pastor in Royston, Georgia. 5. He describes COVID, strain with his former pastor, and his own pride as part of the move from Georgia to Nevada. 6. His wife, Renee, initially did not want to be a pastor’s wife again because of an earlier failed pastorate in Virginia. 7. Aaron says he and Renee have been married 19 years and are raising five children. 8. He explains that Victory Baptist Church grew from about 20 people to about 85 to 100 regular attenders. 9. He says the church used to center on the pastor, but after his gallbladder surgery he saw a church centered on Jesus Christ. 10. He also says his 16-year-old son Alex began having seizures in October, and the family is still in that season. 11. Aaron says an $8,000 medical bill was provided for after a community connection led to a $4,000 check and other help. 12. He describes his own breaking point during COVID, when he walked the church parking lot and told God, “I hate ministry.” 13. He says a pastor named Jonathan Velasquez and a mentor-like relationship with Josh Tice helped reshape his thinking. 14. Aaron says those mentors helped him question traditions, including why some churches tie the Lord’s Supper to baptism and church membership. 15. He says the church had almost no foundation in one-on-one discipleship, because only two people in a group of about 50 said they had ever been personally discipled. 16. He is now training leaders for home Bible studies, inviting people into homes, and preparing the church to function outside a building. 17. Aaron says Fallon is a spiritually dark place, with a large Mormon population, a Native American population, and only about 5% knowing Christ as Savior. 18. He says Night of Hope brought about 2,500 people and 45 conversions, and that local Mormons even handed out flyers for the event. 19. The conversation is practical, pastoral, and testimonial, with long answers, concrete examples, and repeated references to scripture and local ministry. 20. Pastors in rural settings and church leaders rebuilding discipleship will get the most from this episode, while listeners wanting light discussion may skip it.

As heard by us

Hard seasons prompt a useful talk on pastoral strain, mentors, and obedience.

Kevin starts broad and a little too polished, but the episode finds its footing once it gets into pastoral strain, the value of mentors, and the kind of freedom that can come from friendship across difference. Aaron's remarks about desert seasons feel especially grounded.

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Why you'd press play

When ministry feels like a desert, this gives you a steadier next step.

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