The Bottom Half is Red

How do I handle conflict? Conflict is an inevitable part of life, and resolving it is crucial to establishing strong relationships. Sometimes, a resolution requires responding through confrontation. Barron and Justin Anthony, Lead Pastor of Bethel Christian Ministries, discuss The Art of Confrontation. 

Justin explains how to approach a conflict and what we must know before confronting a situation. This ...

How do I gain eternal life? Jesus's answer to this question in Luke 10 is the origin of the story of The Good Samaritan. Nowadays the term Good Samaritan is commonly used to describe someone who helps those in need. 

Barron and David look at this well known parable from a different angle. They discuss the question "who is my neighbor?" and dig into why neighbors matter.

TBHIR Show Notes

Do you love TED talks? Have you ever wanted a front row seat to learn from a world-class educator? It's here in this episode. 

Rayna Longstreth talks to Dr. Janice Sjöstrand about strategies to defend our homes from the outside world. The home should be more than a place you eat and sleep between times when you're at work and church. It is meant to be a place of peace and safety.

Dr. Sjöstr...

Barron and Rayna sit down with Chris Rumph to discuss his ongoing journey through the wilderness of grief. This is an emotionally heavy episode where Chris speaks candidly about the death of his wife and his brother, which brought him to the lowest point in his life. The story doesn’t end there; he shares his methods to deal with indescribable pain. Chris also offers advice on how to best help someone in the middle of grief.

Teams aren’t just for sports. They are the key ingredient for a healthy organization that can grow and continuously improve. Barron and Dr. Eric Monsebais discuss why team-based models outperform other organizational methods. They talk about the importance of a shared vision and how, just like in sports, there are teams within a team, but they are all driving for the same shared goal. Dr. Monsebais brings a practical ...

The discussion of the personality continues as Barron talks with Josh Krebs not about the origin but rather the impact of the day-to-day living of concept on his life. Josh is now the pastor of one of The Church Today’s campuses, but his story didn’t start there. Like all great stories, Josh was in a place he didn’t want to be looking for that thing that could change his life. What he came across was excellence lived ...

What is personality? Personality is the unique and distinctive behavior that characterizes an individual or organization. Simply put, it’s what makes you, You.  Barron and Rayna discuss the importance of understanding your organization’s personality and intentionally shaping it. They talk about Hey, You Matter, the motto of The Church Today, and how it has become the personality verbalized. Rayna tells about the sloga...

Have you ever had someone point something out, like a sound, smell, or sight, that you hadn’t noticed before, but once they did, it was so glaringly obvious you aren’t sure how you missed it?

In this episode Barron and Rayna discuss one such discovery…about trash cans. It was a revelation about a small thing but it had an outsized impact on their organizational culture. Barron explains their systematic evaluation process, and how y...

Do you want to increase your church’s effectiveness? Do you like TED Talks? It sounds like clickbait, but this episode is a 30-minute power session on how to practically and dynamically improve your organizational culture.

Barron discusses three critical core culture components with Pastor Justin Anthony, lead pastor at Bethel Christian Ministries in Bellevue, Nebraska. Justin breaks down each of these points with surgical precisio...

Why is delegation important in organizational leadership? It's far more than just getting someone else to do the work. Barron and Rayna discuss effective delegation and why it's essential for growth and success. They share personal experiences and insights, highlighting the value of creating a culture of excellence and developing a team that can operate without the leader's constant presence.

Join us in ...

Have you ever wondered what elements go into creating an effective team? How do you find the right people to lead? Building a great team and choosing the right leaders is essential to the growth of an organization. In the last episode, Pastor Terry Shock talked about how church leaders are responsible for the failure or success of the mission.

In this episode, Barron and Rayna tackle this topic and brea...

We didn’t just walk off the Ark; our church organization should reflect this fact. How do you incorporate contemporary culture without compromising biblical foundations? 

Pastors Barron Longstreth and Terry Shock explore the crucial topic of establishing a biblically-centered culture within a church setting.

Pastor Shock identifies the group of people who are most responsible for the succes...

How do you recognize the need for change? Change can be painful, but it's nowhere near as painful as being stuck in a place you don't belong.

On this episode, Barron Longstreth and Jeff Ralston, lead pastor of First Pentecostal Church of Lake Charles, discuss distinguishing the difference between embracing change for relevance and compromising core beliefs, identifying key indicators for organizational change, providing spiritual a...

What do military helicopters and music practice have in common? You're going to discover that today! In a world that often demands perfection, is it possible to achieve excellence without falling into the trap of perfectionism? Discover the psychological roots of perfectionism and how it hinders creativity, productivity, and even mental health. On the flip side, we'll explore the art of setting high standards while embracing imperf...

When is the best time to have a life-changing transformative moment? How about driving in small-town Oklahoma? Barron and Rayna Longstreth co-host the inaugural episode of The Bottom Half is Red to dive into the profound effects of that Genesis moment and why they started this podcast.

Hint: It's not to teach leaders how to micromanage.

They discuss the critical need for cultural excellence...