Luke Edwards, author of Becoming Church: A Trail Guide for Starting Fresh Expressions, is a Pastor and the Associate Director of Church Development for the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church. Over the past six years, he has helped launch countless micro faith communities across western North Carolina and North America. Before that, he was the founding pastor of King Street Church, a network of fresh expressions in Boone, North Carolina. With a lot of training in social work, he has spent the last 15 years exploring wholistic models of church-based community engagement. The most important lesson he’s learned is that healthy ministry begins with deep listening. Luke lives in Denver, North Carolina, where he enjoys hiking, coaching his daughter's soccer team, and cheering for Charlotte FC, his local professional soccer club. We invite you to kick back, relax, and listen in on a conversation between friends!

Corey Shores is one of the realest dudes we’ve ever met. For those of you who have been around a while, you will realize how big of a statement that is! Still, it is true. Always down for a good time, we’ve spent years making memories alongside Corey in many environments, and in every situation, he is the same. His love for God and people is apparent whether he is leading worship in a sanctuary or enjoying the Dave Matthews Band at Verizon. Our favorite thing about him is the way he is completely smitten with his wife, Hannah, and their daughter, Ruthie Faye. In this episode, Corey opens up about his newly found freedom and the way it has changed his day in day out living. We invite you to kick back, relax, and listen in on a conversation between friends!

Hayden Martin is a living, breathing inspiration to everyone he encounters. Diagnosed with Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) at six years old, Hayden did not begin to experience symptoms until he was twelve. While his body underwent significant change as a teen, his mind, soul, and spirit grew stronger. The phrase adapt and overcome has never been more appropriate to describe a human being. In this episode, Hayden opens up about the importance of authentic community in his life and encourages us all, limited and able-bodied alike, to invest our time, effort, and energy in one another. He shares about his freelance work as a writer and the work he is doing as an adaptive outdoorsman through his Westlake Outfitters project. We invite you to kick back, relax, and listen in on a conversation between friends!

Brooke Kitchens brings light and life to every environment she finds herself in. Without question, she is the consummate optimist, and our tribe is all the better because of her. She is the epitome of living simply and loving much. This year, Brooke celebrates a tenth anniversary of serving youth and college/career-aged young people at the same local church! That feat alone makes her a unicorn, which, if you know Brooke, is OK with her. Hang out with her long enough, and she will try to convince you unicorns are real. This is a great episode, y'all. We invite you to kick back, relax, and listen in on a conversation between friends!

Brandon Friebe is a husband, father, son, brother, friend, and pastor. Want to know the common thread that runs through all of those roles? The importance of authenticity in relationships! He and his family do incredible work encouraging people through their website, 3 Cord Crossing. We invite you to kick back, relax, and listen in on a conversation between friends!

Charity Lucas is a long-time friend who has a heart to love her neighbors as herself. She currently serves as the Center Manager of the Brookdale Resource Center in Macon, GA. The amount of work Brookdale does to serve its local community is staggering. The best part is that you can repeat it in any city or town with an old vacant school building! We invite you to kick back, relax, and listen in on a conversation between friends!

Gabe Barrett has been many things: an SEC college football player, a full-time innercity missional leader, a dual resident of both the US and Honduras (where he lived for 8 years in order to adopt two of his children), and most recently, a highly successful board game creator. The one constant in all of those scenarios? Gabe's sincere pursuit of authenticity in his relationship with God and with people. We invite you to kick back, relax, and listen in on a conversation between friends!

Sean King has been a prince and a pauper, experienced life in the penthouse and the outhouse, and come away from it all equipped to invest in authentic community in an extremely unique way. In this episode, Sean opens up about his experiences in a motorcycle club, welcoming men who were experiencing homelessness into his house and leading not one but two Celebrate Recovery ministries in Middle Georgia. We invite you to kick back, relax, and listen in on a conversation between friends!

Man, oh man, you don’t want to miss this conversation. David’s story is raw, real, cloaked with redemption, & drills deep into the importance of authentic community. We invite you to kick back, relax, and listen in on a conversation between friends!

*WARNING: Our conversation includes the topic of suicide. If this is a trigger for you, it might be best to skip this episode.

Connor Henderson has been a part of the movement from the very beginning. He was co-host of the first two seasons of The Simplify Podcast and has served as the lead counselor, consultant, and comedian of The Simplify Project Co. since its inception. With all of this in mind, it's only fitting that an unscripted conversation with Connor launch The Keep It Simple Podcast.