Josh Howerton's little podcast "test drive" apparently turned into a rocket ship - and now TheBlaze wants a seat on board.
The outspoken Texas megachurch pastor has announced that his increasingly popular Live Free podcast is officially partnering with TheBlaze, giving the show a potentially much larger platform while Howerton insists one thing isn't changing: nobody is telling him what to say.
"Well hey, quick but kind of a big deal update," Howerton teased before dropping the news on listeners.
The Lakepointe Church lead pastor admitted he never expected Live Free to become anything close to what it is today. In fact, Howerton said the whole thing started as what he jokingly called a "dumb test drive" intended to accompany a single sermon series.
Then things exploded.
"Lightning in a bottle, rocket ship off the pad," is how Howerton described the podcast's rapid growth, crediting his burgeoning "Live Free Nation" audience for turning the experiment into something much bigger.
But apparently success brought some headaches.
Howerton said that as the show expanded, he quickly discovered there was an entire behind-the-scenes world of distribution, technology and podcast logistics that he neither understood nor particularly wanted to spend his time learning.
His explanation was vintage Howerton.
"As a glorified youth pastor, I didn't know about a podcast that scales," he joked.
And despite becoming an increasingly recognizable Christian media personality, Howerton insists he's not planning to trade the pulpit for a podcast studio anytime soon.
"I'm a pastor and not a podcaster, and that will always be the case," he said.
That's where TheBlaze enters the picture.
Howerton revealed that Live Free had previously attracted interest from other organizations, including offers that apparently would have involved purchasing the podcast or bringing it underneath another media operation.
He said no.
The sticking point was control.
According to Howerton, he and his team were unwilling to enter a deal that might compromise their freedom to teach Scripture or determine how biblical principles are applied to controversial cultural issues.
The new arrangement with TheBlaze, however, apparently passed the test.
Howerton says the partnership will give Live Free access to the infrastructure, distribution and expertise needed to expand without surrendering control of the show's message.
For anyone familiar with Howerton's increasingly headline-making commentary, that independence could be important.
The Lakepointe pastor has become a prominent-and frequently controversial-voice in evangelical circles, weighing in on everything from marriage and masculinity to politics, immigration, forgiveness and the role Christianity should play in American culture.
His comments have repeatedly gone viral, sometimes drawing enthusiastic support from conservative Christians and sometimes igniting fierce criticism online.
Now he's stepping onto an even bigger media platform.
The partnership also represents another interesting crossover between the evangelical megachurch world and conservative media. TheBlaze, founded by Glenn Beck, has developed a large audience for conservative political and cultural commentary, while Howerton has built Live Free around biblical teaching applied directly to contemporary life.
For Howerton, however, the message to listeners is simple: don't expect a corporate makeover.
He's still the pastor.
He's still teaching the Bible.
And Live Free apparently isn't about to become Live Carefully just because a major media company has entered the picture.
What began as a temporary sermon-series experiment now has a rapidly expanding audience, its own "Live Free Nation" identity and a powerful new distribution partner.
Not bad for a "dumb test drive."
