Drew Essen, Executive Pastor at The Woodlands Church near Houston, joins James Forrest for a candid conversation about leading through rapid growth. Drew's path into ministry started with a guitar and a worship team, wound through a series of "18-month assignments" building out communications and discipleship, and eventually led to seminary and the XP role — where his gift for systems and structure finally found its home.

With Woodlands having expanded from two campuses to four and added a second-language service in just a few years, Drew talks about the real work of maintaining organizational clarity and staff culture at scale — including why his church has intentionally called this a "base camp year" to pause and acclimate before the next stage of growth. He also digs into two issues showing up across churches right now: staff compensation in a high cost-of-living market, and the fast-moving questions around how (and whether) to use AI in ministry.

Drew opens up about learning to have hard conversations with both honesty and pastoral care, why patience has been one of his hardest lessons as a naturally fast-moving leader, and how an executive coach has helped him learn to "keep his peace" instead of letting the job rob him of it. He closes with a reflection every growth-minded XP will recognize: the temptation to always chase the next initiative instead of pausing to celebrate what God is already doing — plus a surprising confession about his high school theater career.