Live Free with Josh Howerton – Episode 56 Summary
“Why This Christian Podcast Is Reaching Millions (And What’s Coming Next)”
Lakepointe Church | December 29, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode serves as a "State of the Podcast" address where Pastor Josh Howerton and co-host Carlos Arazo reflect on the explosive growth of the Live Free podcast over the past year, unpack the vision and philosophy behind its success, and announce exciting developments for 2026. The conversation highlights staggering statistics, heartfelt stories of life change, and new initiatives aimed at fostering deeper discipleship—inviting listeners into the next season and seeking their direct input.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Celebrating Unprecedented Growth

• Podcast Reach and Impact
  • 7.5 million views and plays across all platforms in 2025 (02:32)
  • 3.5 million YouTube views with a 375% growth in subscribers; 481,000 new subscribers this year (02:42)
  • 4 million audio streams on Apple and Spotify; reached Top 4 in Religion and Spirituality on Apple Podcasts, peaking at #3 (03:14)
  • International audience spanning 182 countries
  • Explosive social media reach: 1.4 million Facebook followers, 600,000 new Instagram followers, and 258,000 TikTok followers (03:41)
  • Cumulative 867 million social media views (03:58)

"We literally started this as like a test drive. A year ago, we were like, let's do one sermon series... and maybe a few hundred Lake Pointers will listen to it. We have been completely stunned." — Josh Howerton (04:21)

• Church and Community Engagement
  • Significant increase in online church attendance; over 10,000 downloads of show notes/discipleship guides (04:47)
  • Average of 200,000 views/streams per episode for the last 10-15 episodes (04:47)
  • Life change stories, such as Molly from Chicago, who was baptized at Lakepointe after discovering the podcast (05:24)
  • 15% of first-time church guests in 2025 came via the podcast or social media (06:01)
  • Organic formation of “bands of brothers” and discipleship groups (06:18)

2. Underlying Philosophy: Discipleship & “Air War vs. Ground War”

• Not Just Numbers—A Mission for Discipleship
  • The podcast team emphasizes they're not in the viewership business, but the discipleship business. Their aim: equipping people to live free in Christ, not just to amass numbers (05:24)

"We are not in the viewership business. We are in the discipleship business." — Carlos Arazo (05:24)

• Discipleship Strategy
  • Ground War: Teaching and applying the Bible to individuals and families—what churches have historically done well
  • Air War: Engaging broader cultural, societal, and political issues from a biblical worldview—often neglected in church settings

"If you have ground superiority but no air superiority, the enemy just sends in their air force and takes back all the ground... Christians would get discipled in church, then they'd walk out the door, and get all these cultural voices that were doing essentially reverse discipleship." — Josh Howerton (08:00)

• The podcast serves as a platform for "air war" discipleship, countering cultural influences by addressing hot topics and helping Christians think biblically about today’s issues (08:00)

• Social Media as Areopagus

  • Social media is equated to Mars Hill (Areopagus) from Acts 17—the central forum where ideas are debated and shared (10:48)

"Social media is the modern day Areopagus... where people debate ideas. The Bible commands pastors and churches to 'destroy arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.'" — Josh Howerton (10:48)

• The podcast feels like a "2025 version of Sunday night church"—a chance for extended, more intimate, practical Bible teaching beyond the Sunday sermon (11:58)

3. Announcing New Initiatives

• Redesigned Lakepointe App (13:28)

  • Facilitates “vertically-aligned discipleship” by integrating:
    • Sermons
    • Deep-dive podcasts
    • A new, aligned Bible reading plan (one chapter per day)
    • Discipleship group resources and guides
  • How to access: Text app to 20411 for links (14:07)
  • Early podcast episode access—available by Sunday through the app (15:49)

• A New Season of Engagement

  • Aim to catalyze more life-on-life discipleship groups, focusing particularly on men forming "bands of brothers" nationwide (12:55)
  • The app and upcoming content will foster more collective Bible reading and interaction across the entire Live Free Nation (16:11)

• Vision for the Future (16:25)

  • Using the podcast as a platform for church resurgency and cultural engagement
  • Long-term hope: The podcast can become a strategic “staging ground” for Christian strategy, revival, and reformation in America (16:25)

"What I wonder is if we could start to see Live Free... leveraged as a staging ground for Christians' strategy for cultural engagement in our nation... for the resurgence of the church. Who knows?" — Josh Howerton (16:25)

4. Soliciting Listener Feedback

• Request for Input
  • Listeners are specifically asked to comment on YouTube:
    • Why do you think the podcast is working and growing so rapidly?
    • What do you love about it?
    • What should the team double down on?
  • Feedback will directly shape the next season’s strategy (07:35)

"As a leader, when you have success, autopsy the success. If you don't know why it's working, you won't know how to fix it when it breaks." — Josh Howerton (07:35)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Shout out to the social media team at Lakepointe and Jason Howerton and everybody else helping out. It's insane.” — Carlos Arazo (04:06)
• “It's fun to see social media grow. We are passionate about seeing people grow in their faith.” — Carlos Arazo (05:24)
• "Live Free—it's called Live Free, not Learn Free. We're not in the view count business, we're in the disciple business." — Josh Howerton (12:42)
• "The story we hear a lot is, 'somebody shared the podcast with me...I didn't know what to think about [an] issue...and it was actually legit helpful. Then they get hooked. That's how the thing is growing so much.'" — Josh Howerton (19:16)

Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Topic/Quote/Segment | |:----------:|--------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:25 | Explanation of why podcast stats matter: "We're pastors, not podcasters."| | 02:32 | 2025 stats: 7.5M views, breakdowns, Top 4 Apple Podcasts | | 04:21 | Reflection: Podcast started as an experiment | | 05:24 | Discipleship philosophy: "We are in the discipleship business." | | 05:54 | Personal story: Molly from Chicago | | 06:01 | Stats: 15% of first-time guests came from podcast/social | | 08:00 | Air war vs. ground war discipleship philosophy | | 10:48 | Social media as modern Areopagus | | 12:42 | Vision for vertically aligned discipleship | | 13:28 | New App Announcement and explanation | | 15:49 | App offers early access to episodes | | 16:25 | Vision for church resurgence and cultural engagement | | 17:52 | How listeners can get involved and connect | | 19:16 | Sharing is the wildfire behind podcast’s growth |

Call to Action

• Give Feedback:
  Comment on YouTube with your thoughts on what makes the podcast effective and what content/approach you love

• Get Involved/Help the Mission:

  • Email: podcast@lakepointechurch.org
  • Text connect to 20411 to get plugged in
  • Share, subscribe, and spread the word—especially with men and young adults

Tone & Style

The episode is upbeat, celebratory, conversational, and practical—driven by a sense of mission and humility. Both hosts share statistics with surprise and gratitude, always pivoting back to the heart of life-change and gospel impact. There is frequent use of informal banter (“kick this pig”), humor, and mutual respect, creating a sense of camaraderie with their core audience.

This episode is a rallying call to the Live Free Nation, blending concrete wins, transparency about challenges, and an open invitation for every listener to participate in the movement’s future.