Basketball, Pancakes, and the Power of Horizontal Church

Here's what's broken: Jared can work 60 hours a week, but he's not playing basketball with anyone. And basketball matters in South LA.

This conversation gets practical fast. We dig into why community is the thing that actually makes churches grow—not better preaching, not cooler programs, but people doing life together. Why serving coffee after church was once considered radical. How asking three simple questions in a small group changes everything. And why the horizontal relationships in your church matter more than you think.

We talk about the difference between being busy and being efficient. Between filling your calendar with church stuff and spending time with people who might become the next generation of leaders. Jared's wrestling with how to build real friendships at scale when his church has pockets of community but not enough.

There's a reason people leave through the back door. Usually it's not the sermon. It's that they never connected with anyone.