The Pastor's Letter

You can spend years in ministry and still discover there are things about being a lead pastor you simply couldn’t understand until you sat in the seat.

In Part 1 of this conversation, Pastor Brandon Cormier joins The Church Hub to talk honestly about planting Zeal Church during the uncertainty of 2020 and what he learned once he became the person carrying primary responsibility for a church.

The conversation moves into the weight of decision-making, the need for trusted pastoral voices, and a difficult staffing decision involving someone Brandon had known and invested in for years.

As Brandon puts it, “Every pastor needs a pastor.”

In this conversation:

• Planting a church during COVID
• The weight that comes with becoming a lead pastor
• Decision fatigue and carrying responsibility for others
• Why spiritual fathers and seasoned pastoral voices matter
• How to receive counsel without giving away your responsibility to lead
• Navigating a painful staffing decision when relationship and leadership collide
• Recognizing when you may be too close to a situation to see it clearly

If you’re a Lead or Senior Pastor carrying decisions that don’t have obvious answers, we hope this conversation gives you some space to think about who you trust to help you see clearly.

The Church Hub exists to strengthen pastors who carry primary leadership responsibility so they can lead healthy churches for the long haul.

Learn more about The Church Hub: https://thechurchhub.org

ABOUT PASTOR BRANDON CORMIER

Brandon Cormier is the Lead Pastor of Zeal Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He and his family planted Zeal Church in 2020.

CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION

Watch for Part 2, where Brandon and Brian turn the conversation toward making disciples, personal formation, accountability, physical health, and what it means for a pastor to remain a disciple while helping others follow Jesus.

Pastors carry a tension that never completely goes away: how do you stay close enough to genuinely care for people while still leading with the clarity and courage a healthy church requires?

Care without clarity can become avoidance. Clarity without care can leave people behind.

In this conversation, Chip Bernhard draws from 45 years of pastoral ministry to talk about building relational trust, leading people through difficult change, confronting unhealthy behavior, and knowing when a pastor needs to slow down—or speak up.

Chip shares the story of a major church decision that initially failed by four votes, only to pass nearly two years later with 99% support after trust had time to grow. He also talks honestly about the other side of pastoral leadership: the difficult conversations that sometimes have to happen even when the relationship is at risk.

One line captures much of the conversation: “What you don’t confront becomes the rule.”

If you are leading through change, navigating a difficult relationship, or trying to understand the difference between patience and avoidance, this conversation is for you.

In this conversation:

• How pastors build trust before difficult seasons
• Why strong leaders sometimes need to slow down
• When care becomes avoidance
• How to confront unhealthy behavior without losing a shepherd’s heart
• Why people can disagree with your leadership and still know they are loved
• What 45 years of ministry taught Chip about balancing care and clarity

The Pastor’s Letter is from The Church Hub, created to strengthen lead pastors through seasoned mentoring, peer wisdom, honest reflection, and practical pastoral insight.

Learn more about The Church Hub and The Barnabas Room: https://www.thechurchhub.org

A pastor can faithfully preach, lead a growing church, care for others—and still become spiritually dry, emotionally depleted, and increasingly disconnected from God.

In this conversation from the Church Hub, we sit down with Dr. Garrett Higbee to explore the difference between faithful sacrifice and personal neglect in pastoral ministry.

Garrett explains why ministry success can hide spiritual unhealth, how pastors begin to confuse their identity with their role, and why every pastor needs more than ministry allies. They need trusted confidants who care about the person beneath the position.

Together, we'll  discuss:
- Why pastors often neglect their own souls
- The difference between the ministry of “being” and the ministry of “doing”
- Warning signs of spiritual and emotional depletion
- How church growth can rapidly drain senior leaders
- The difference between an ally and a confidant
- Why vulnerability can feel dangerous for pastors
- How leadership teams can practice the biblical “one anothers”
- The first step a pastor can take toward greater health
- You do not have to wait for a crisis to care for your soul.

ABOUT GARRETT HIGBEE
Garrett Higbee has spent decades serving pastors, ministry leaders, couples, and churches through biblical counseling, soul care, leadership development, and discipleship. His work helps churches build cultures in which leaders and congregations can experience honest, relational, gospel-centered care.

EXPLORE THE RESOURCES

Learn more about The Church Hub:
www.thechurchhub.org

Learn more about Twelve Stones:
https://twelvestones.org