6:14 Ministries

09/07/2026

09/04/2026

This week in the circle... 🎧🐑

What happens when a runaway youth who feels entirely out of place among "pastor types" is unexpectedly called to ministry?

In this edition of Not Many Mighty, Stan sits down with Pastor David Cromie of Edison Baptist Church in Edison, Georgia. David shares his remarkable journey from being a juvenile delinquent and a self-described "D-student" to truly surrendering his life to Christ at a youth camp in upstate New York.

He offers a candid look at his unlikely path into vocational ministry, navigating the deep insecurities of feeling completely out of his depth in Bible college, and the profound ways God provided for him when he was ready to give up and join the Navy.

David also reflects on the hard-won leadership lessons he gained as a young pastor stepping into a role he felt unprepared for. Along the way, he offers honest, deeply practical counsel for anyone entering ministry: the necessity of accountability because people do what you inspect rather than what you expect, the wisdom of surrounding yourself with people who are strong where you are weak, and the importance of finding a daily devotion time that actually fits your schedule. 💯

For young men feeling unqualified for the call—and for seasoned leaders needing a reminder of God's persistent grace—David’s testimony is a powerful picture of how God delights in taking our brokenness and using it for His glory. 🙌

09/03/2026

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, JOSH GIVENS, AND HIS BRIDE, JULIA! 💍🤍

We tell a lot of stories here at 6:14 Ministries. Stories of renewal, revitalization, and rebuilding. But, every once in a while, the story we get to tell isn't about a struggling church finding new hope, a pastor receiving encouragement at exactly the right moment, a Wednesday night Bible study, a pulpit being filled, a worship night that reached countless hearts, or another mile traveled in strengthening the local church.

Sometimes the story is a little closer to home. And this one is very close to ours.

On Friday, August 28 our Communications Director Josh Givens married Julia in Greenville, South Carolina surrounded by the families and friends who have loved them, prayed for them, encouraged them, and watched God write their story. ✍️

For those of us who know Josh well, it's nearly impossible to separate his life from the work of 6:14 Ministries.

If you've read one of our newsletters, followed any of our church revitalization stories, listened to The Shepherds Circle, seen photographs from a Wednesday night at Azalea Hills, watched us celebrate a pastor, received one of our emails, attended the Shepherds Summit, or simply scrolled past something from 6:14 that encouraged you, brought a smile to your face, or made you stop for a moment and remember that the small church still matters... you've seen a little bit of Josh's fingerprints.

But long before communications became his job description, ministry was simply part of the Givens family vocabulary, a reality that would later manifest itself as a calling all his own.

Josh grew up watching his dad pastor, love people, preach the Word, navigate difficult seasons, counsel couples and families, and keep showing up when others walked away. Today, father and son get to serve side by side through 6:14 with Stan as Executive Director and Josh helping to tell the stories of pastors and churches that might otherwise go unnoticed. 👀

And somewhere along the way, while Josh was busy telling everyone else's stories, writing stories for lifestyle magazines and for the local church, God was writing a special one just for him. Her name was Julia.

Their relationship unfolded across hundreds of miles between Mobile, Alabama and Greenville, South Carolina... through flights, long drives, long phone calls, FaceTime dates, holidays, ministry events, ordinary Tuesdays, difficult conversations, laughter, tears, prayer, family dinners, and all those seemingly insignificant moments that eventually become the architecture of a life together.

They learned that life is much more than finding somebody with whom you enjoy the beautiful moments. It's learning to build a home in one another. It's choosing presence. Choosing patience. Choosing grace. Choosing, over and over again, to become a safe place where another person can become fully known and deeply loved.

And anyone who has spent much time around Josh or Julia knows that while they are very different people in plenty of ways, there is also a beautiful complementarity between them.

Josh lives much of his life in the world of pastors, churches, stories, ministry strategy, social media, creative ideas, microphones, magazines, interviews, cameras, newsletters, coaching sessions, coffee, and the occasional late night Facebook post.

Julia brings her own world of leadership, relationships, business development, hospitality, thoughtfulness, and an unmistakable ability to make people feel welcomed and valued. Not to mention some unparalleled knowledge about roads and bridges. 🌉

She has also become much more than "Josh's wife" to those of us in the 6:14 family. 🙌

Many of our pastors and ministry friends have already gotten to know her. She served alongside us at this year's Shepherds Summit. She has bonded with pastors and their wives and kids. She has sat around tables with our people, listened to their stories, laughed with them, prayed with them, encouraged them, and stepped naturally into a ministry family that very quickly began to feel like her family, too.

That matters to us. Because 6:14 has never really been an organization built around programs. It's always been built around people. Around relationships. Around pastors becoming friends. Around churches becoming family. ⛪️ Around sitting across the table from somebody long enough that ministry stops feeling like a transaction and starts feeling like life together.

In many ways, Josh and Julia's story fits beautifully into that same rhythm. Two families have now become one. The Givens family gained a daughter. Julia's family gained a son. And Josh & Julia have begun building something entirely their own...carrying with them all the people, places, traditions, lessons, laughter, faith and grace that brought them to this moment.

Their wedding weekend in Greenville was beautiful. 👰‍♀️... But perhaps the most meaningful thing about it wasn't any one photograph, detail, flower, song, dance, or perfectly planned moment.

It was what the day represented. A beginning. Not the beginning of their story, of course. God had already been writing that for quite some time. But the beginning of a marriage... The beginning of waking up and choosing one another every day. The beginning of making decisions as a family. The beginning of a thousand ordinary moments that, one day, they will look back upon and realize were never ordinary at all.

And as a ministry that spends so much of its time reminding pastors and churches that God is still at work in unfinished stories and out of the way places, we find ourselves smiling especially big at this one. 😀

Because there's something beautifully fitting about watching the guy who spends so much of his life telling stories of restoration, faithfulness, family, calling, grace and new beginnings step into a new beginning of his own.

Josh and Julia, from all of us in the 6:14 Ministries family:

We love you. We celebrate you. We are grateful for you. We are praying for you. And we cannot wait to see what God writes in the pages that are ahead. May your home always be filled with laughter. May your table always have room for people.

May grace come quickly. May forgiveness come freely. May the hard seasons drive you closer rather than farther apart. May you never lose your sense of adventure. May life never become more important than the person sitting next to you. May you keep choosing each other in every season God gives you. And may Christ and His will always remain at the center of the home you are building together. 🏠❤️

Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Givens. Welcome to the greatest story you will ever get to tell. 🤍💍

—Your 6:14 Ministries Family

📸More wedding photos coming soon.

09/03/2026

Wednesdays At Azalea Hills 📖

Tonight we reached the end of a journey. For the past several months, our Wednesday nights with the faithful family at Azalea Hills Christian Church have taken us chapter by chapter through the book of Nehemiah...from broken walls and burdened hearts to rebuilding, revival, worship, dedication and tonight, the final challenge of the book.

Stan taught from Nehemiah 13 with a lesson titled "Righting The Wrongs." 🙏 And in many ways, it's the perfect ending to Nehemiah. The wall had already been rebuilt. Worship had been restored. The people had made commitments to God. There had been celebration and tremendous joy.

But when Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem after being away, he discovered something every church and every believer needs to remember: Yesterday's obedience doesn't guarantee today's faithfulness.

Little compromises had crept in. Things that had once been set apart for God were being used for other purposes. God's servants were being neglected. Holy practices had been compromised. And Nehemiah went to work putting things back where they belonged.

Stan walked everyone through five priorities for the people of God: 👀

1) Prioritize the people you allow into your closest circle.
2) Prioritize the purity of the places where you worship and fellowship.
3) Prioritize provision and support for those who serve in ministry.
4) Prioritize and protect practices of holy obedience.
5) Prioritize purity in the lives of God's people.

The takeaway was wonderfully simple: Read the Book. Obey the Book.

And when you discover something in your life that doesn't honor God, don't learn to live with it. Change it so that it does. That's not only a lesson for ancient Jerusalem. That's a word for every Christian, every pastor, every ministry leader, and every local church.

Church revitalization isn't simply about rebuilding something that has fallen down. It's about continually bringing our lives, our churches, our priorities, and our practices back under the authority of God's Word. 💯

That's been one of the great themes of our entire journey through Nehemiah.

Rebuild what is broken.
Protect what is holy.
Correct what has drifted.
Stay faithful to the mission.
And keep giving God the glory.

We're grateful beyond words for another evening with our family at Azalea Hills... and we're also grateful for the friendships that have grown throughout these Wednesday nights. There's been a lot of Scripture, a lot of conversation, plenty of laughter, a whole lot of grace... and judging by tonight's photos, some pretty serious fried chicken 🐔 along the way. 🍗

As this study comes to a close, we are reminded that Nehemiah's work was never ultimately about a wall. It was about a people returning to God. And that's still the work.

"Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness..." — Matthew 6:33

09/02/2026

Most people never see the quiet moments.

📲 The phone call after midnight.
😣 The pastor who’s still preaching—but barely hanging on.
⛪️ The small church that hasn’t given up… but is tired.

That’s where 6:14 steps in.

Your investment doesn’t fund a program.
It breathes life into shepherds who feel alone.
It creates space for rest, clarity, and hope.
It reminds pastors they’re not forgotten—and they’re not finished.

When you give to 6:14, you’re standing in the gap for leaders who are still standing in the pulpit.

And the ripple effect?
Healthier pastors.
Stronger churches.
Communities renewed from the inside out. 💯

If you believe pastors matter—and that small and midsize churches are worth fighting for—we’d be honored to have you invest with us.

👉 Partner with us today.

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