A Podcast episode with Dave Harvey
If you’ve been in leadership—whether as a pastor, teacher, missionary, or even faithfully leading your family—you know one thing for sure: it’s hard. Sometimes, unbearably so. We face struggles from within—our sins, failures, and disappointments—and struggles from without—criticism, betrayal, and suffering.
But what if those struggles aren’t roadblocks to God’s plan… but part of the plan itself?
That’s the message my guest, Dave Harvey, shares in his most personal book yet, The Clay Pot Conspiracy: God’s Plan to Use Weakness in Leaders. In this week’s podcast episode, Dave and I sat down to unpack what he calls God’s “astonishing plan for resilience in ministry.”
Drawing from 2 Corinthians 4, Dave reminds us that we are all fragile “clay pots.” Yet, instead of being disqualified by weakness, we are positioned by it. Our cracks become the very place where the light of Christ shines brightest. As Dave explains, “Our weakness + God’s power = resilient ministry.”
In our conversation, he walked me through the Seven Wonders—surprising ways God uses weakness to forge leaders who finish well:
• Embracing weakness so that Christ’s power is seen.
• Allowing loss to bring life.
• Letting repentance stoke resilience.
• Learning love when the church wounds you.
• Letting enemies enlarge your soul.
• Building strong teams through weak leaders.
• Running together to finish well.
What struck me most was Dave’s vulnerability. After four decades of ministry, he speaks with both scars and laughter. As Dane Ortlund writes in the book’s foreword, “The cynical pastor has scars but no laughter. The frothy pastor has laughter but no scars. Dave has both.”
Friend, if you are tired, discouraged, or simply wondering how to keep going, this episode is for you. God is not embarrassed by your weakness. He plans to display His glory through it.
Tune in to God-sized Stories with Patricia Holbrook to listen to the conversation.
Listen to the Interview below or on your preferred podcast Platform: God-sized Stories – Dave Harvey
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Watch the Interview below or on YouTube: God-sized Stories – Dave Harvey
