Larry Cooney is the founder of Leading In Joy. It is his deep conviction that when a young person leaves everything to go out and make a difference in the world for the Gospel he should have every opportunity to succeed, live in relative peace and joy, and rise above the hurts, trials, and burnout that often can take leaders out of the ministry .
While planting a church, Larry met and learned from Daniel Brown a brilliant and process-minded pastor. His book The Other Side of Pastoral Ministry was a lifeline for them. Daniel’s church The Coastlands in Santa Cruz, CA has sent people out to plant nearly 30 churches under Daniel’s leadership. His thinking shaped Larry’s ministry including Leading in Joy.
Then, as director of a homeless shelter on Skid Row in Seattle for ten years, Larry learned non-profit administration, and, more importantly, about outcomes and process, which literally save lives on Skid Row, or clients end up right back on the streets in their addictions; Seattle is a cold and miserable place to be in winter if you’re living outside in addiction.

Larry and his wife Sandy went on to help plant Kitsap Rescue Mission and worked with a larger Christian homeless ministry in CA for six years. Larry looks back and realizes that he struck out to do all of this without all the right tools in his tool belt; he allowed the weight of ad-ministry depress his passion for Gospel ministry: “I grew weary and pained by loneliness, isolation, and failure: I couldn’t hold back the eventual deep wave of burnout.”
“What can I say?” Cooney asks, “I even broke my neck in a bicycle accident during my recovery season, and could have been dead or paralyzed; instead God has given me a dream to pursue.” Larry and Sandy want God to use Leading in Joy to equip leaders who will transform Christ’s Church to put Gospel and people in first position before organization and status.