6:14 Ministries

10/24/2026

10/23/2026

A delayed Day Three recap from Camp Pearl... but this one was too good not to share. 🙌

Our final morning in Reeves, Louisiana, brought two more sessions with Dr. Gary McCall, a couple of opportunities for the 6:14 team to share what we’ve been working on, and the kind of conversations that are exactly why we love getting pastors in a room together.

Gary began the morning in Acts 20:29–30 with a session called “Identifying Wolves From Without and Within.” 🐺 It was a sobering reminder that guarding the flock is part of shepherding the flock. 🐑 We talked about the fact that false teaching is nothing new. The methods may change, the language may change, and the cultural packaging may change, but attacks on the authority of Scripture and the Gospel are ancient.

And Paul’s warning in Acts is particularly striking because the danger doesn’t always come from somewhere “out there." Sometimes it arises from within.

Gary challenged the pastors to be prepared — to know the Bible well enough to recognize error, to take doctrine seriously, and to understand just how important it is to develop and select godly elders who care deeply about the church and are committed to continuing to grow themselves.

That flowed into our final session, which had maybe the most memorable title of the entire conference:

“Dealing With Irritating Christians.” 😂...And yes, every pastor in the room suddenly became very attentive.

Gary took us into Proverbs 10:19–32, 📖 showing how Proverbs often contains much more intentional literary structure than we may notice when we read individual verses in isolation. The discussion moved through wisdom and foolishness in our speech, our work, our desires, and the kind of life that grows out of walking in the way of the Lord.

One of the questions in the workbook was simply: How are people lazy with their mouths? That’ll preach all by itself.

It was a fitting way to close several days that kept bringing us back to the same basic challenge: handle God’s Word carefully, know the people you shepherd, recognize the dangers facing the church, and faithfully do the work God has put in front of you.

But the final day wasn’t only about what we were receiving.

We also had a chance to share a little of what 6:14 Ministries is building.

Our Director of Technology, Michael Howard, gave the pastors an early look at the pastoral app he’s been developing: Pastor Sermon Pro.

A few of the guys had been test-driving it during the week, which made the conversation especially valuable. Michael was able to walk through the app, field questions, hear what actual pastors would like to see added, and gather some really useful feedback.

And because this is Michael we’re talking about, some of those suggestions were already finding their way into the app before we even left camp. 😆 We’ll have much more to share about that project later. 👀

Josh also had a few minutes to introduce the room to 6:14 Ministries — who we are, why we exist, the churches and pastors we serve, our resources, The Shepherds Circle, The Digital Shepherd, our Ministry Partners platform, and some of the other ways we try to come alongside small and midsize churches.

That conversation even turned into an impromptu Q&A about Bonfire, church merchandise, and how pastors can set up online merch stores without creating another enormous administrative headache.

And maybe our favorite part of the whole week? The relationships...The photographs tell some of that story better than we can.

One of the new friends we’re especially thankful to have met is Pastor Jayme Nazworth, a young pastor from Texas who is serving the Lord in his twenties and already has a story we think a lot of other pastors need to hear. We’re looking forward to staying connected with Jamie, and you’ll probably be hearing from him again before too long. We’ve already got our eye on a future “Not Many Mighty” conversation on The Shepherds Circle.🎙️🐑

That’s ultimately what makes a conference like this worthwhile for us. The notebooks eventually get closed. The group picture gets taken. Everybody loads the cars and heads home. But hopefully the relationships don’t end there.

There are pastors we met at Camp Pearl that we fully expect to keep talking with, encouraging, learning from, and hopefully visiting in their churches in the months ahead.

That is 6:14. Not just attending conferences. Not just collecting contacts. Building relationships. Encouraging pastors. Strengthening churches. Helping shepherds keep shepherding.

A huge thank you again to Dr. Gary McCall for pouring so much practical biblical wisdom into the room, to Pastor Doug McBride and the Camp Pearl team for their tremendous hospitality, and to every pastor and ministry leader who welcomed us into the conversation this week.

We came home with full notebooks, some new ideas, and several new friends. That’s a pretty good conference.

All for the Gospel.
All for the Kingdom.

10/22/2026

At 6:14 Ministries, everything we do comes back to one simple mission: encouraging pastors and strengthening churches.

From The Shepherds Summit to The Shepherds Circle podcast to the relationships we’re building with pastors across our network, we have the privilege of walking alongside ministry leaders who are faithfully serving week after week.

And now, we’re opening up a new way for others to be part of that work. 🙌

We’re inviting like-minded ministries, organizations, and businesses to partner with us through our new Ministry Partner (Sponsorship) opportunities.

These partnerships help us continue encouraging pastors—while also connecting them with trusted resources and organizations that can serve them and their churches well.

If your business or organization has a heart for the local church, we’d love for you to take a look. 👀

⛪️ Let's reach more churches.
📈 Let's raise the bar for pastoral support.
❤️ Let's equip the leaders doing the work every week.
👉 Learn more about becoming a Ministry Partner: https://614ministries.org/ministry-partners

Together, we can support those who spend their lives serving others.

10/21/2026

Day two at the Camp Pearl Pastors’ Conference was a full one in the best possible way. 📖🙌

Dr. Gary McCall continued walking the room through what it means to sharpen the tools pastors use every week, and today’s sessions moved from biblical interpretation, to the role of the pastor, to theological discernment.

We began with a discussion built around Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes and the cultural “blinders” every one of us brings to the Bible.

One of the big reminders was that faithful interpretation begins by asking, “What did the Holy Spirit intend to communicate to the original audience through the biblical author?” before we rush to, “What does this mean to me?”

Every one of us approaches Scripture with assumptions shaped by our upbringing, culture, experiences, language, and expectations. Good Bible study requires enough humility to recognize those blind spots so that we don’t unknowingly read ourselves into the text instead of drawing the author’s intended meaning out of it.

That led naturally into another important session:
What is the pastor’s role?

We worked through examples of biblical leaders serving in difficult situations... Moses, David, Jeremiah, Peter, Timothy, Titus and others... asking some practical questions along the way: ❓

What was the difficult situation?
How did the leader respond?
What did he do well?
What did he mishandle?
And what can pastors today learn from the outcome?

That kind of discussion is incredibly valuable because ministry rarely happens under perfect circumstances. Shepherding people means navigating conflict, disappointment, pressure, difficult decisions, and seasons where there may not be an easy answer.

Then tonight, Dr. McCall turned toward theological discernment with a session on understanding the rise and influence of what is commonly called “Progressive Christianity.”

The conversation focused especially on the importance of pastors recognizing when language that sounds Christian begins redefining foundational truths... the authority of Scripture, the Gospel, the atonement, the identity of Jesus, and ultimately our understanding of God Himself. 💯

Whatever cultural moment the Church finds itself in, pastors have to know what they believe, why they believe it, and where those convictions come from.

And there’s been some other interesting work happening around the edges of the conference too. Our Director of Technology, Michael Howard, has been using some of his time here at Camp Pearl to continue developing a new tool specifically with pastors in mind. He’s currently building a special app... a pastoral resource with a growing collection of features designed to help pastors with the work surrounding sermon preparation and ministry. It is very much still in development, but one of the benefits of having a room full of actual pastors nearby is getting to put an early version in front of them, listen to their questions, and hear what would genuinely be useful.

One of the photos from today captures Michael showing the project to Pastor Dale Gooding, one of the Louisiana pastors in the 6:14 network. We’re not ready to pull the curtain all the way back on that one yet. 👀 But there will definitely be more to come.

And somewhere between all those pages of notes, questions, Bible passages, conversations (and apparently software development) we have also been VERY well fed. 😂

A huge thank you to Tammy Burchard, wife of Pastor Sam Burchard of Dry Creek Bible Church, for taking such incredible care of everyone today. Breakfast, lunch and dinner and every bit of it was fantastic. Hospitality is ministry too, and Tammy has certainly ministered to a room full of pastors this week! ❤️

We’re also incredibly grateful for Pastor Doug McBride, Camp Pearl’s director, for welcoming us, serving these pastors so well, and creating an environment where ministry leaders can get away for a few days, learn, ask questions, build relationships, share ideas, and simply be encouraged.

And really, that’s one of the things we love most about weeks like this. Nobody in the room has arrived. We’re all still learning. Still sharpening. Still asking questions. Still building. Still opening the Word. Still trying to find better ways to serve the people God has entrusted to us.

Sharpen the tools. Guard the truth. Love the people. Stay faithful to the Word.

More from Camp Pearl tomorrow!