Planting Partners

In their own words…

Joel Nelson — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 05:29:19 +0000

Getting ready for the Minnesota Baptist Conference Annual Meeting, as well as some opportunities in January to share the story of our church planting movement, I put together a couple of video’s.

This video speaks to our value of churches planting churches.

Here’s a snapshot of what happened in some of our church plants in 2007 and some thoughts from a couple of our planters.

Thanks!

Joel

230 New Church Plants

Mark Bjorlo — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 20:14:35 +0000

I Love Being Part of a Team with Passion

Converge Worldwide is a great organization to launch new churches with. There is a high level of commitment to church planting and an experienced network of church planters to walk alongside you. From 2000-2005 ConvergeUSA (our church planting arm) had deployed over 230 church planters across the United States.

Our 2007 Annual Report showed our churches had an:

Average Weekly Attendance in 2007: 154 impacting 22,847individuals
Average Big Sunday Attendance in 2007: 248 impacting 36,508individuals
Total Number of Baptisms in 2007: 1916
The Average Weekly Offering in 2007: $4,286.00
Total Annual Contributions Received in 2007: $32,538,844.00

Look Out Mt. Lake

Mark Bjorlo — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 04:34:33 +0000

Shawn Lovejoy, Darrin Patrick & Mark Bjorlo

Shawn Lovejoy is one of the sharpest guys in the church planting world. As a guy who is dedicated to planting churches in Minnesota, it was fun reading this on his blog tonight:

A friend of mine sent me this picture from a recent business trip he had taken. On his trip, he passed through Mountain Lake, Minnesota! When I saw this picture, I couldn’t help but dream about the day when Mountain Lake has planted churches in every state that changes the way people think about church! I dream of a day when all of North Georgia has campuses of Mountain Lake Church that’s changing the way people think about church

Church Planting in Small Towns

Jeff Gauss — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:21:08 +0000

Though I’ve only been on the ground with my new church plant. Epiphany Station, in Thief River Falls, MN for a scant 3 1/2 months, it has been long enough to gather some initial observations of church planting in smaller communities. Since my previous plant was in a large city, many of my observations are a comparison/contrast to planting in urban centers.

The Harvest is Ripe. People are hungry here - and I think in small communities around the country - for something exciting, genuine and new. Most people grew up going to church but many have checked out because they found it to be boring, irrelevant, hypocritical or insignificant. Many are seeking, but not finding. The fields are ready for new fresh works of God to reap a bountiful harvest of God-seekers.
The Culture is Very Religious. The first local ministerial meeting I went to was attended by all of the local school administrators who spent the bulk of the time apologizing for the one time last year they had to schedule an event on a Sunday night. As a rule, the school district does NOT schedule any events or activities on Wednesdays or Sundays. Coming from a city where Sunday morning activities were common place, I was just blown away. The community as a whole is very religious - respecting the role of God, church and family.
The Culture is Very Religious (Part 2). Because it is very religious, of course, there are a lot of expectations about what church is and isn’t; what it can and can’t do. There are also a lot of people who are dissatisfied with the religious status quo (see #1). It is a delicate balance trying to maintain harmony within a religious community - not needlessly offending - while at the same time trying to reach the disenfranchised and blow some of the religious misconceptions of Jesus, Christians and church out of the water.
Space is NOT an Issue. One of the reasons there is such huge potential in these small towns is because there is no shortage of space. In addition to schools, theaters and community centers, there are handfuls of abandoned churches, retail and warehouse buildings. We purchased a gas station and warehouse right downtown on the main drag for $92,000 (+ about $20K in renovations). Where else can you get 3,500 sq ft for $110K? Of course there are always potential zoning issues, but in a religious community that desires vitality, those can always be overcome.
It’s the 80’s all Over Again. In the 1980’s it seemed all you had to do was start anything new with contemporary music and casual clothes in growing communities and crowds of people would show up. Although that’s not exactly the case here and now (perhaps strictly because of the population difference), it’s pretty close. In many of these communities, there are really only two choices: Traditional (predominantly Lutheran in these parts) or Charismatic. If you offer something between those two extremes - or completely different - people are going to show up.
Core is Key. Pioneering work is tough anywhere. I think it is especially difficult in small towns to go in as an outsider and try and build something from scratch. In these small, tight-knit communities, you will always be an outsider, no longer how long you live there. And coming in people will be highly suspicious and untrusting of you. I came into a situation here where a core group had already been on the ground for nearly 2 years. They, of course, are all locals, many of whom were born and raised in this community. They know the culture, have the connections and see the vision. I came in and provided the leadership. Their connections combined with my leadership have given us credibility and trust in the community. Of all the external factors, I believe this to be the most critical to the brief success we’ve enjoyed.
We are Not Alone. Already I see huge potential for new church plants in surrounding communities like Detriot Lakes, Moorhead, East Grand Forks and Crookston. In fact, I think they may even be riper than Thief River Falls. Small towns are an overlooked and untapped mission field for church planting.

Obviously, my observations are just initial impressions, but they are not just informed by my experience, but by the experiences and research of others, as well. My observations focus mainly on gathering a crowd because that is the stage we are in. Long-term evangelism and discipleship results will be determined over time.

I’d love to hear from others who are planting in small towns and rural communities.

How’s the Planting Thing Going

Mark Bjorlo — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 20:16:55 +0000

I was reading Walt Moser’s Blog and saw that he is reporting that Converge Worldwide planted over 200 churches between 2000-2005. There was an average weekly attendance in 2007 of 154 people which impacted 22,847 individuals. In our church plants we baptized 1,916 in 2007.

TeAmerica becomes ConvergeUSA

Mark Bjorlo — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 21:08:56 +0000

Paul Johnson, Senior Vice-President of the Converge Worldwide/BGC, Tom Nebel, the Director of Global Church Planting and Leadership Development and Gary Rohrmayer, the National Director of ConvergeUSA. Listen in as they have an informative conversation on the history of TeAmerica and the future of ConvergeUSA. Click Here to Listen

Why We Value our Annual Church Planters Retreat

Joel Nelson — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 19:20:42 +0000

We (that’s the Minnesota Baptist Conference) just wrapped up our annual church planters retreat in Lanesboro, MN. Over 30 planters and spouses from across MN (and one from IA!) were there. As usual, it was a great time!

I was talking to a first-time attender who was a little new to our group and as I was sharing, I realized why this retreat is so important to our movement….the brief time that we’re together among the bluffs of the Root River Valley embodies many of the values that are a part of our church planting movement.

We value the church planter and their spouse. In an effort to make it easy for our planters to come (or impossible for them not to come!) we make it very affordable and we center the retreat around them. To be honest, the retreat is no cheap date. But we are committed to making it so affordable that the issue of finances are not even a consideration. Also, we have a schedule with different activities but we also make it very clear that if we never see you through the two days, that’s fine. Do what you need to do. Spend time with your spouse. Sleep. Canoe down the river. Stay up ’til 1:00 am playing hearts. We do this because we value the church planter and their spouse. This is a time for them to reconnect, re-energize, and renew at their pace, in their way.

We value being together. If you’ve never sat in a room with a bunch of church planters, then you’re missing something amazing. Stories are told. Notes are shared. Hearts are opened. Prayers are given. Laughter abounds. When you gather a bunch of people together who love each other, have nothing to hide, and truly enjoying hanging out with each other, ministry happens. We purposely don’t program a lot of elements into the retreat because we value being together and the result is ministry happens.

We value teamwork. Nobody should plant a church alone. Every planter has their core group of their leadership team. At our retreat, the value of teamwork is evident. Ideas are shared and encouragement is given….not because it’s the “encouragement session” but because we’re all on the same team.

We value the spiritual task before us. Church planters are often on the front line. It’s not often pretty. It’s a battle. We understand it’s a spiritual battle and a part of our time together is spiritual preparation for the battles that are yet to be fought…and won. We know the statistics of new churches and conversion growth. We live the impact new churches can have upon families and communities. That empowers us to the spiritual task before us.

We value fun. You know those times when someone you just met asks you what you do? You’re a tad reluctant to tell them you’re a pastor because you fear that they are going to pigeon-hole you into some drab, lifeless, conservative, boring box? I wish those people could come and hang out with my church-planting-pastor-comrades in a wonderful little resort at the end of little road in small one-horse town in SE MN. It’s a hint of Heaven…though in Heaven I hope to win a game or two of Hearts.

Looking forward to next year….

joel

Exponential Conference

Mark Bjorlo — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 23:04:07 +0000

The Exponential Conference is taking shape and looking hot. I am planning to be there and am looking forward to having a few potential planters with me. Here is what the line up is looking like:

Vince Antonucci - Vince became a Christian out of a completely non-Christian background and ever since his passion has been reaching the “lostest of the lost.” He is the founding Pastor of Forefront Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia, a church where 72% of the people who attend were previously unchurched non-Christians. Vince will soon be moving to Las Vegas where he will be part of planting a new church in the heart of Sin City, right on the Vegas Strip. Vince is the author of I Became a Christian and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt, and the upcoming book Guerrilla Lovers.

Mark Batterson - Mark serves as lead pastor of National Community Church in Washington, DC. NCC was recognized as one of the 25 Most Innovative Churches in America by Outreach Magazine in 2008. One church with eight services in four locations, NCC is focused on reaching emerging generations. 73% of NCCers are single twenty-somethings and 70% come from an unchurched or dechurched background. The vision of NCC is to meet in movie theaters at metro stops throughout the metro DC area. NCC also owns and operates the largest coffeehouse on Capitol Hill. In 2008, Ebenezers was recognized as the #1 coffeehouse in the metro DC area by AOL CityGuide. Mark has two Masters Degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago, Illinois. He is the author of a best-selling book, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. And he is a daily blogger @ www.markbatterson.com. Mark is married to Lora and they live on Capitol Hill with their three children: Parker, Summer, and Josiah.

Paul Becker - Paul is Founder and President of Dynamic Church Planting International. DCPI is focused on equipping leaders to plant dynamic churches worldwide and was founded in 1995. From 1995 to 2007 the Lord has used DCPI to train leaders to plant 54,216 churches in 73 countries. Prior to DCPI, Paul planted four churches and mentored more than 50 church planters. He is the author of four books including The New Church Planting Handbook and Seeing Your Vision Come True.

Jeff and Lisa Bennett - Jeff and Lisa moved from Northeast Ohio to the Northwest side of Atlanta in 2004 to plant Christ’s Church at Cobb. Jeff is the Lead Minister and Lisa has served as Children’s Minister as a paid staff position, and now as part of a Volunteer Leadership Team. They are both passionate about “doing life together” with others and have worked hand in hand with CCC’s Community Group ministry since its beginning. Jeff and Lisa have two daughters, Madison, 7, and Macy, 5.

Marcus Bigelow - Marc is the president at large for Stadia: New Church Strategies. He is responsible for vision casting, as well as serving external constituents like donors and ministry partners. Marc also serves as regional director for Stadia West. Marc’s life vision is to see new churches planted all over North America. Before he joined Stadia (then NCEA) in the mid 1990s, Marc was a church planter in Dublin, California. He holds degrees from San Jose Bible College, Fuller Theological Seminary and, as he likes to say, the School of Hard Knocks. Marc lives with his wife Jan near Sacramento, California. They have three Christian daughters and five grandchildren.

John Burke - Lead pastor John Burke is dedicated to helping unchurched people become a unified community of growing Christ-followers, no matter what their background or past. He and his wife Kathy started Gateway Church in 1998 after he did his graduate work at Trinity University in Chicago while working at Willow Creek Church. He is the author of the book No Perfect People Allowed and also of Soul Revolution, released fall 2008. John speaks internationally and is the founder and president of the Emerging Leadership Initiative, a collaboration of progressive, like-minded churches partnering to equip church planters aimed at reaching postmodern America. His favorite hobbies are sailing, soccer, playing guitar and drums. He enjoys all of these with his favorite people - his wife, Kathy, and his children, Ashley and Justin.

Francis Chan - Francis is the pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, where he has been serving for the past 14 years. He is also the Chancellor and Founder of Eternity Bible College and serves on the board of directors for Children’s Hunger Fund and World Impact. Francis spends much of his time speaking to high school and college students and has recently written his first book, “Crazy Love.” His commitment is to teach directly from the words of Scripture. It is his passion to see the next generation of American Christians display a much deeper love for Jesus. Francis is married to Lisa and they have three daughters and one son.

Matt Chandler - Matt serves as Lead Pastor of The Village Church in Highland Village, TX. He describes his 6 year tenure at The Village as a re-planting effort where he was involved in changing the theological and philosophical culture of the congregation. The church has witnessed a tremendous response growing from 160 people to over 5000 including a satellite campus in Denton. Alongside his current role as lead pastor, Matt is involved in church planting efforts both locally and internationally through The Village and various strategic partnerships. Prior to accepting the pastorate at The Village, Matt had a vibrant itinerant ministry for over ten years where he spoke to hundreds of thousands of people in America and abroad about the glory of God and beauty of Jesus. His greatest joy outside of Jesus is being married to Lauren and being a dad to their two children, Audrey and Reid.

Steve Childers - Steve is the President of Global Church Advancement, an inter-denominational ministry that provides training, consultations, and resources for church planters, pastors and missionaries throughout the world. Steve has trained Christian leaders from more than 40 countries representing over 120 denominations and mission agencies. Steve is also a Professor of Practical Theology (since 1995) and the director of the doctoral program at Reformed Theological Seminary, in Orlando, Florida, where he teaches church planting, missions, evangelism and spiritual formation. Steve and his wife Becky live in Orlando, Florida, and have three daughters, Angela, Cara and Laura.

Neil Cole - Neil is an experienced church planter and pastor. He co-founded Church Multiplication Associates (CMA) and the Greenhouse Movement which has grown to thousands of churches in 40+ states and 30+ nations. Neil has authored Organic Church, Organic Leadership, Search & Rescue, Cultivating a Life For God, TruthQuest and co-authored Raising Leaders for the Harvest, and Beyond Church Planting: Pathways for Emerging Churches with Dr. Robert Logan and Organic Church Planters’ Greenhouse with Paul Kaak. He lives in Long Beach, California with his wife Dana and their three children Heather, Erin and Zachary.

Bert Crabbe - Bert is the Lead Pastor of True North Community Church, in Long Island, NY, which he planted in September of ‘05. Since then, True North has grown to more than 700 in weekly attendance. Bert and his wife, Jen, have two daughters, Mackenzie Rae and Ryan Elizabeth, and a son, Timothy Daniel.

Patrick Dennis - Patrick is passionate about helping churches and ministries communicate more effectively with those beyond their walls. Patrick is the founder of Alliant Studios and the President of Church Marketing Solutions . Church Marketing Solutions provides full-service marketing to churches at non-profit prices.

Mark DeYmaz - Dr. Mark DeYmaz is the founding pastor of the Mosaic Church of Central Arkansas, a multi-ethnic and economically diverse church where significant percentages of Black and White Americans, together with men and women from some 30 nations currently worship God together as one. A recognized leader in the emerging Multi-ethnic Church Movement, his book, Building a Healthy Multi-ethnic Church, provides the biblical mandate for the multi-ethnic church and outlines seven core commitments required to bring it about. The book was chosen as a finalist for a 2008 Christianity Today Book of the Year Award and for a Resource of the Year Award sponsored by Outreach Magazine, in both cases a nominee in the Pastoral Leadership category. Mark is a former member of Little Rock’s Racial and Cultural Diversity Commission and past chair of the city’s Faith Alliance. Together with Dr. George Yancey, he founded the Mosaix Global Network an organization dedicated to catalyzing the movement toward multi-ethnic churches throughout America and beyond. DeYmaz posts weekly on his blog, Glue, at www.markdeymaz.com.

Derek Duncan - Derek Duncan is the Senior Pastor at East 91st Street Christian Churchin Indianapolis, Indiana, a church with a passion for church planting. Between 1984 and 2004, East 91st Street planted 30 churches. Derek joined the team in 2003 and under his leadership, the church is aggressively focused on church multiplication. Their vision is a church planting movement that will spread around the world, and they are pursuing that God-given dream with a plan to plant 65 churches over the next ten years.

Bill Easum - Bill Easum is the Vice President of Easum, Bandy & Associates, and is a highly respected church consultant and Christian futurist. Bill has been a pioneer in the church growth movement with 35 years of pastoral ministry in four churches and two denominations. During his 24 years at Colonial Hills Church in San Antonio, the church grew from 35 in worship to over 1,000…with 2,200 members. His record of service in evangelism and social justice ministries has been acknowledged by the Industrial Areas Foundation in New York as one of the finest records in North America. Bill specializes in consulting with churches, conducting seminars, small group work, church planting, multiple sites and mentoring leaders for the ministries of the future. He is the author of sixteen books, the most recent, Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by New Church Starts.

Dave Ferguson - Dave Ferguson and four friends from college launched Community Christian Church, a church that is passionate about “helping people find their way back to God”. This church has grown to 600+ leaders with more than 5,000 in attendance at nine sites every weekend throughout Chicagoland. Dave serves as a resource for other churches and leaders seeking to expand through multiple church sites and provides visionary leadership for the NewThing Network, a catalyst for a movement of reproducing churches. He is also the co-founder and serves on the Board of Directors for the Institute for Community who partner with real estate developers to accomplish their mission of “helping people build quality relationships where they live and work through the power of genuine community. Dave is the co-author of The Big Idea: Focus the Message, Multiply the Impact with Zondervan.

Jon Ferguson - Jon is co-founder of Community Christian Church, a multi-site church with nine locations in the Chicago area. He serves as teaching pastor and leads the Strategic Team of executive staff champions for adult, student, children’s, and creative arts ministries across all CCC locations. Jon is also the co-founder and executive director ofNewThing, a catalyst for a movement of reproducing churches. In addition to its network of reproducing churches, NewThing serves thousands of churches through its conferences, coaching and creative resources. He resides in Naperville, IL with his wife, Lisa, and their two children, Graham and Chloe. You can check out his blog at jonferguson.org.

Lance Ford - Lance is the co-founder and Director of Shapevine.com, and former Director of The Northwood Church Multiplication Center. With over 20 years of experience as a pastor and church planter, Lance is a free-lance (Lance doesn’t write for free) writer, coach and consultant. His passion and experience in training church planters fills most of his waking and dreaming moments. Lance has designed unique training systems currently being used by networks, seminars, and leaders throughout the world. He lives with his wife of 22 years and their kids on a small hobby farm North of St. Louis, MO.

Brent Foulke - Brent is director of special services for Stadia East and serves as a coach, consultant, and organizational executive for new church plants, church plating agencies and congregations engaged in re-engineering for maximum effectiveness. After planting Christ’s Church in Albany, NY, where he and his family continue to live, Brent has served several dozen new churches in the 1990s and 2000s. Brent’s experience and approach serve to catalyze and encourage highly effective leaders as well as refocus and advise high potential teams. Brent services church planters in the U.S. and abroad.

Craig Groeschel - Craig is the founding and senior pastor of LifeChurch.tv. Craig, his wife, Amy, and their six children live in the Edmond, Oklahoma, area where LifeChurch.tv began in 1996. Craig’s creative leadership skills are changing the way church is done worldwide. Under his leadership, LifeChurch.tv has become one of the country’s first multi-campus churches, with over fifty weekend worship experiences at thirteen different locations throughout the United States. Craig and Bobby Gruenewald write daily blog posts. You can participate in this blogging community at swerve.lifechurch.tv.

Hugh Halter - Hugh is the National Director of Missio and Co-Directs the MCAP, an online collaborative training environment for incarnational leaders, pastors, and church planters. He also leads Adullam, a congregational network of incarnational communities in Denver Colorado. As co-author of The Tangible Kingdom, Hugh is an advocate for disoriented God seekers and loves to help the existing church re-orient around the mission of God.

Bob Harrington - Bob is the President and founder of Church Coaching Solutions. An experienced church planter and lead pastor, Bob serves as the Director and trainer of Church Planting Networks for Stadia New Church Strategies, where he leads 23+ networks. He is also the current and founding pastor of Harpeth Community Church in Franklin, Tennessee.

Alan Hirsch - Alan Hirsch is co-founder of Shapevine and the founding director of Forge Mission Training Network, a highly innovative action-learning system focused on developing missional leaders in western contexts. He is (co)author of The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21st Century Church and The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church. Alan has been directly involved in church planting and mission among various subcultures in inner city Melbourne (Australia) for many years. He has also been director of Mission and Revitalization for his denomination in Australia.

Billy Hornsby - Billy is a minister that has worked for over 30 years with church leaders nationally and internationally. He is a published author who directs a nationwide church planting organization, Association of Related Churches, and serves as the Senior European Consultant for EQUIP, John Maxwell’s global leadership training organization. He is a keynote speaker for churches, conferences, and business groups speaking on the topics of team management, leadership and how to maintain productive relationships. He has been married for over 41 years to his wife Charlene.

Rick Howerton - Rick has been a small group pastor, church planter, and senior pastor. He is presently the senior pastor at The Bridge, a four year old church built around healthy small groups (his part-time, non paying expectation from God) and is the National Director of Events and Training for Serendipity by LifeWay. Rick leads over 40 conferences nationwide per year and has authored or co-authored three small group studies includingSmall-Group Kickoff Retreat: Experiential Training for Small Group Leaders, Great Beginnings: Your First Small Group Study, and Redeeming the Tears: A Journey Through Grief and Loss. Rick is also the author ofDestination Community: Small Group Ministry Manual, an all-encompassing guide to creating a small group ministry and starting and leading passionate, life-changing small groups.

George Johnson - George has initiated church planting projects in such diverse cultures as the Dominican Republic, Far East Russia, the Philippines, Liberia, Mongolia, British Columbia and the Northwestern U.S. A self-described visioneer, George is pursuing a call to begin 100 new churches in the Northwest in the next decade. Since 2002 he has served as the Executive Director of the Christian Evangelistic Association in Seattle, WA. Under his leadership the CEA has planted 25 churches in the Northwest in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, British Columbia and Alaska.

Debbie Jones - Debbie is the Associate Director for Stadia East, a church planting organization which focuses east of the Mississippi River. With 30 years of ministry experience she has conducted numerous workshops and seminars throughout the United States and provides coaching for children’s leaders and ministry spouses. Having been involved with church planting for so many years, Debbie understands the vital role that a spouse plays in planting a church. Therefore, she is passionate about providing support and resources for church planters’ spouses and families. She and her husband Tom founded Princeton Community Church in Princeton, New Jersey, and SouthBrook Christian Church in Centerville.

Tom Jones - Tom, veteran church planter and pastor for over twenty years, joined Stadia’s staff in 2004. Tom is a widely sought-after new church development coach, consultant, assessor, seminar leader and teacher and mentor. He has trained church planting personnel across several denominations. In addition to his work with Stadia, Tom directs the Supervised Ministerial Experience (SME) Program and teaches in the Christian Ministries Area at Emmanuel School of Religion. In 2004 he edited the book Church Planting from the Ground Up, a cutting-edge new church development resource. His wife Debbie also serves with Stadia’s East Region as associate regional director.

Kelly Kastens - Kelly has served for five years as the Worship Program Director atMountain Christian Church where she gets to do what she loves most - create environments for folks to encounter the living God. She is also a pastor’s wife. Her husband, Rob, is the Executive Pastor at Mountain and is also involved in regional church planting networks with Stadia and Orchard Group. Rob and Kelly have been doing life and ministry together for more than 21 years and have two awesome teenagers, Kylie and Blaine.

Tim Keller - Tim Keller is the founding and lead pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian (PCA), “one of Manhattan’s most vital congregations,” according to Christianity Today [12/04]. RPC started a Church Planting Center in 2001, and its phone has not stopped ringing since. He is committed to the church planting movement and ‘entering the culture’s stories and retelling them with the gospel’.” Redeemer’s vision is to spread the gospel, first through ourselves and then through the city by word, deed, and community; to bring about personal changes, social healing, and cultural renewal through a movement of churches and ministries that change New York City and through it, the world. Keller promotes piety, evangelistic outreach, and missions of mercy. His resent books include: “The Reason for God” (Feb 2008) and “The Prodigal God” (Oct 2008). Tim will be presenting special insights via video.

Ajai L. Lall - Ajai and his wife, Indu, began Central India Christian Mission 25 years ago. The Mission has grown from two to over 500 fulltime workers and has planted over 620 churches. CICM reaches 12 states in central and northern India and the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. The primary focus of CICM is Evangelism, Church Planting and Leadership Training. Ajai is a well-known speaker in the United States, having preached at hundreds of churches as well as the North American Christian Convention and the National Missionary Convention. He has earned a BA in criminology, an MA in Humanities, a Ph.D. in Public Administration and a D. Min. from universities in India. He is also a graduate of Roanoke Bible College in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

Indu Lall - Indu and her husband Ajai began Central India Christian Mission in December 1982. Since that time the Mission has grown from two to over 500 fulltime workers and has planted over 600 churches in central and northern India. Indu directs CICM’s children’s ministries and also contributes her time and talent to the literature ministry. Her published writings include six Christian textbooks, six Bible quiz books, Sunday school and VBS curriculum for several years, various tracts, and the first Children’s Bible in the Hindi language. Indu has earned a Bachelor of Science degree, an MA in Sociology and a Ph.D. in Sociology from universities in India.

Brad Leeper - Brad is drawn to innovative, growing churches and the challenges of helping them expand practically and spiritually. He uses his understanding of the multi-site church strategy and other pioneering and other pioneering church movements to assist them with building the finances needed to reach their ministry goals. Brad is a senior strategist withGeneris, and has experience as a consultant to churches across the nation, a staff leader in resource development for local ministries, a Campus Director for Campus Crusade for Christ, and a church elder in his own 5,000-member home church, Perimeter Church in Atlanta.

Harry Li - Harry is the Campus Pastor of the Mosaic Church of Central Arkansas, located in Little Rock. He and his family moved to Arkansas to join the pastoral staff of Mosaic in the Fall of 2002, when the church was just six months old. Prior to that, he was an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Idaho located in Moscow, Idaho. The transition from university life to ministry life and the demands of a growing multiethnic ministry has deepened his faith in ways he never thought possible. Harry and his wife, Melanie, have three precious daughters - Anna (15), Katie (13), and Meredith (9).

Amado Lobatos - Amado was born in Guadalajara, Mexico. He was smuggled into the United State at the age of 8. He was raised as a farm hand in Wyoming. At the age of ten, he heard the gospel and received Jesus Christ as his Lord and savior. The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1986 passed allowing Amado to become a legal resident of the United States. He received his social security card two weeks before he received his acceptance letter to the Moody Bible Institute. Amado was involved in planting Westbrook Christian Church as Associate Pastor with Mont Mitchell. After several years, he and his wife moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming to plant their first Hispanic church. In 2005, he returned to Westbrook and Gente Unida (United People) Ministries was born. This ministry is a bilingual ministry that has at its roots a desire to “Help People Fall in Love with Jesus Christ”.

Shawn Lovejoy - Shawn is the founding and Lead Pastor of Mountain Lake Church, in Cumming, GA, a suburb of Atlanta. Since its inception, Mountain Lake has grown in just six short years from 4 to near 2,000 in worship attendance weekly. Shawn is also the co-founder of churchplanters.com, a national coaching and resourcing ministry for church planters. Prior to planting MLC, he served on the staff of two churches and was called to ministry out of a successful business background.

Alejandro (Alex) Mandes - Alex works for ReachNational of the Evangelical Free Church of America as the Director for Hispanic Ministries. He is an experienced church planter among Hispanics. As a worker in the Evangelical Church of America he helped launch GATEWAY a nontraditional theological ministry preparation entity for ethnics and urban workers. One of his greatest passions is for justice/reconciliation for the poor and marginalized, particularly undocumented immigrants in this country.

Janet McMahon - Janet, a former social worker, joined the staff of Community Christian Church in Naperville, IL as a ministry director in 1996. Over the years she has served in various ministries including Children’s, Support and Recovery and Small Groups. In March of 2008, Janet joined her husband Troy, and a staff team of 5 others, to plant Restore Community Church in Kansas City, MO where she serves as Director of Community. Janet and Troy do life and church with their three kids, Jake 18, Mitch 15, and Judiann 9.

Troy McMahon - Troy is the lead pastor at Restore Community Church, a brand new church plant in Kansas City, MO. Before planting Restore, Troy was on staff at Community Christian Church in Chicagoland for over 10 years. He had held numerous roles during that time from business to facility design to launching a couple of new locations. Prior to coming on staff at Community Christian Church, Troy spent 10 years in the corporate world as an engineer and business unit manager. This past year, Troy’s family and about 20 friends relocated to Kansas City, Missouri to start this new church. It is their dream to launch a church that is passionate about helping people find their way back to God, focused on mobilizing Christ Followers to change the world and relentless about reproducing churches, leaders and artists.

Erwin McManus - Erwin is an author, speaker, activist, filmmaker and innovator who specializes in the field of developing and unleashing personal and organizational creativity, uniqueness, innovation and diversity. In other words, he gets bored really easily. Erwin also serves as the primary communicator and cultural architect of Mosaic in Los Angeles. He is the author of An Unstoppable Force, a Gold Medallion Award finalist; Chasing Daylight; Uprising: A Revolution of the Soul; The Barbarian Way; Stand Against the Wind, Soul Cravings, and Wide Awake. He also serves as a Research Advisor with The Gallup Organization.
Erwin is a native of El Salvador, and is a graduate of the University of North Carolina and Southwestern Theological Seminary. He and his wife Kim live in Los Angeles have two children, Aaron and Mariah, and a foster daughter Paty.

Tammy Melchien - Tammy serves as Kids’ City Champion for Community Christian Church, a multi-site church in the western suburbs of Chicago. She also provides Leadership and Children’s Ministry coaching through NewThing Networks. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Tammy spent 6 years in campus ministry at Eastern Illinois University before leaving the cornfields for the bright lights of the city in 2002. She loves identifying leaders, developing leaders, talking to leaders, leading leaders… basically if you are a leader she loves you!

Anne Milam - Anne and her husband, David, moved to Charlotte, North Carolina nearly 5 years ago to plant Kinetic Church. Currently she teaches Sunday school, leads a women’s Bible study, occasionally guest blogs, and writes for the Kinetic newsletter. Prior to church planting they were in youth ministry for 11 years in Georgia and Indiana. She is a graduate of Cincinnati Christian University. Anne is a high school English teacher who is now a stay-at-home mommy to four wonderful kids.

David Mills - David is a two-time church planter who has worked for the last 10 years developing community outreach and service programs that connect to ministry. He is passionate about connecting new churches to their communities in a way that builds credibility and results in transformation–for both the community and the church. He coordinates Compassionbydesign.org which is helping to shape the future of planting by serving. David is also the President of Angel Food America, a national charity developing solutions to hunger and its causes.

Mont Mitchell - Mont is the Sr. Pastor of Westbrook Christian Church in Bolingbrook, IL, which is a southwestern suburb of the great city of Chicago. Mont and his family moved to the Chicago area in February of 1996 and planted Westbrook in October of 1996. Westbrook is a multicultural church of nearly 1200, committed to reaching all people of all ethnicities in their region as well as planting additional church planting churches; the most recent one being Gente Unida Ministries, a Latino congregation. Mont holds a BA degree from St. Louis Christian College and a MM degree from Kentucky Christian College. Mont and his wife Christie have three sons. You can check out Mont’s blog at www.WestbrookChurch.org/colorlines.

Mark and Monica Nelson - Mark and Monica are the lead planters of Crossings in Knoxville, Tennessee that launched in February of 2007. They have been married for 21 years and have 3 children, Michael (18), Matthew (16), and Meghan (12). Mark is the lead pastor and Monica leads Kids’ City and Small Groups.

Larry Osborne - Larry Osborne is a Senior Pastor at North Coast Church in Vista, California, and the Founder and President of North Coast Leadership Network. Under his leadership, weekend attendance has grown from 128 to over 7,000. Recognized nationally as one of the Ten Most Influential Churches in America and one of the most innovative, North Coast Church pioneered the use of Video Worship Venues and is one of the leaders in the Multi-Site movement with over 20 worship options each targeted at a different missional demographic. Their Sermon-Based Small Groups incorporates 80% of their average weekend attendance and is spreading across the nation as an alternative to traditional small group methodologies. Larry’s book’s include, Sticky Church; A Contrarian’s Guide to Knowing God: Spirituality For The Rest of Us; 10 Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe and The Unity Factor: Developing A Healthy Leadership Team.

Diane Padilla - Diane is Vice-President & Assistant General Counsel with the JPMorgan Chase (”JPMC”) Legal and Compliance Department where she manages its immigration practice. Diane provides legal advice for JPMC on immigration matters such as securing work authorization, international travel permits and green cards for foreign-born professionals as well as ensuring I-9 compliance for JPMC. Diane joined JPMC from the law firm of Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy. Diane received her undergraduate degree from Loyola University of Chicago and her law degree from DePaul University-College of Law in 1996. After graduating from law school, Diane worked as Project Director and Staff Attorney for the Migrant Farmworker Project at the Legal Services Organization of Indiana. She then served as an Asylum Officer for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Diane is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the American Council of International Personnel. She is also a frequent speaker on business-related immigration topics.

Jay Pankratz - Jay has served as the Senior Pastor of Sunrise Church in Rialto, California for 19 years. In 2008, Sunrise Church was recognized by Outreach Magazine as one of the Top 100 fastest growing churches in America. This growth has been facilitated by transitioning from an Anglo church to a multi-cultural church which now has no ethnic majority in the congregation, on the pastoral staff or on the elder board. Sunrise is a multisite church currently in 3 locations. Jay has lead Sunrise in church planting and through three building programs. He is also the founder of Sunrise Life Development, a non-profit ministry which utilizes public and corporate funds to meet community needs and communicate the gospel. Jay is a graduate of Kansas State University and Grace Theological Seminary.

Darrin Patrick - Darrin founded The Journey in 2002 with a desire to plant a church in the heart of Saint Louis, Missouri. Darrin is Vice President of Acts 29 Church Planting Network, and serves as the executive director for another church planting movement called 360-St. Louis, a network which joins the church and the business community in planting gospel-centered churches. Darrin’s passion is to equip the church to live the gospel in the world. He is working on his first book, The Man, The Message, The Mission. Today, The Journey runs six services across four campuses, and continues aggressively plant churches in St. Louis and beyond.

David Putman - David is a pastor at Mountain Lake Church in Atlanta, Georgia, where he focuses on issues related to growing the church’s impact in its community and around the world. He also trains, coaches, and consults churches across North America and is a cofounder of ChurchPlanters.com. He is the co-author of Breaking the Missional Code along with Ed Stetzer and the author of Breaking the Discipleship Code. David and his wife Tami have two children.

Jim Putman - Jim is the founding pastor at Real Life Ministries in Post Falls, Idaho, where the Lord has assembled a team of Guerrilla Ministers committed to developing disciples through small groups. In the short seven-year history of the church, Real Life Ministries has grown from just five founding members to over 6,000 regular attendees, making it one of the fastest-growing churches in the nation. Prior to planting Real Life, Jim served in youth ministry for 10 years at churches in Portland, Oregon and Boise, Idaho. Jim is a graduate of Boise State College and Boise Bible College.

Bob Roberts - Bob is the founding and Senior Pastor of Northwood Church, a fast- growing church near Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX. He is the author of Transformation, Glocalization, The Multiplying Church and Real Time Connections. He is a leading practitioner and writer on glocal-local and global-transformation of individuals, churches, communities and global engagement. Roberts’ unique principles have transformed the people and ministry of Northwood and its108 (and counting) church plants and “adopted” nations throughout the world. He is the founder of Glocalnet, a network of like-minded leaders who are advancing a glocal church multiplication movement that connects the body of Christ worldwide.

Tri Robinson - Tri is Senior Pastor of Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Boise. He is also the founder of “Let’s Tend the Garden” an environmental stewardship ministry which currently serves as a model for churches across the country. He is the author of three books, including, Saving God’s Green Earth. He has done countless interviews and speaking engagements on the topic of environmental stewardship and desires to encourage and empower others to help make a difference in caring for our world.

Matt Smay - Matt works for CRM (Church Resource Ministries), where he co-leads Missio- A ministry team committed to training, developing, and apprenticing missional/incarnational leaders for the church. Within Missio, Matt directs the MCAP(Missional Church Apprenticeship Practicum), a ten-month, web-based, missional leadership and church planting process specifically geared to innovating incarnational forms of church. Matt works directly with church planters and existing church pastors as a trainer, coach, and consultant. He also balances his time and energy with a local movement of missional communities called Adullam, which he helped to start with Hugh Halter, and has grown to become an extensive leadership development hub in Denver. Hugh and Matt share much of their story and training process in their book called “The Tangible Kingdom” released in April of 2008.

Dave Smith - Dave has been involved with church planting since 1995 when he became the founding pastor of CrossWay Christian Church in Nashua, New Hampshire. The congregation grew to 400 in size during his ministry. He then served as Minister of Church Planting as East 91st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis. During that same period, he became the Director of Development for Orchard Group, Inc. In 2003 Dave became the professor of church planting at Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri, while continuing to devote a portion of his time to development with Orchard Group, Inc. He’s received a Master of Divinity degree at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. Dave and his wife, Nancy, have three children: Kaitlin; Josh; and Amy.

Efrem Smith - Efrem is an internationally recognized leader and speaker who uses storytelling, comedy, and passion to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ at a level that people can understand as well as presents principles for living the life on a daily basis. He also consults on diversity and multi-ethnic issues and has been a speaker at many high school and middle school assemblies and retreats. Efrem is co-author of the book The Hip Hop Church. Efrem is married to Donecia and has two daughters; Jaeda and Mireya. He has received many awards such as the Role Model Award from the Hennepin County Community Coalition, and the Community Service Award from Saint John’s University.

Ed Stetzer - Ed has planted churches in New York, Pennsylvania, and Georgia and transitioned declining churches in Indiana and Georgia. He has trained pastors and church planters on five continents, and holds two masters degrees and two doctorates. He has written dozens of articles and books, including Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age, Perimeters of Light: Biblical Boundaries for the Emerging Church (with Elmer Towns),Strategic Outreach (with David Putman), Planting Missional Churches, and Comeback Churches. Ed served for three years as a seminary professor at the Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky and has taught as fifteen other seminaries. He is currently the President of Lifeway Research and Lifeway’s Missiologist in Residence.

Brent Storms - Brent planted Harbor of Hope Christian Church (north of Boston, MA) in 1999. Three former staff members are now serving as the founding ministers of additional new churches in the Northeast. The church also helped to start a Cambodian Christian Church to minister to the 35,000 Cambodians living in the community. Brent became the Managing Director of Orchard Group in 2003. Additionally, Brent is on the Board of Directors for Restoration House and the Board of Directors for Church Planting Network. He also serves on the Board of Stewards for the North American Christian Convention and on the Executive Committee for the Eastern Christian Convention. Brent and his wife, Rhesa, and their two children live in New York City.

Greg Surratt - Greg is the founding pastor of Seacoast Church, one of the early adopters of the multi-site model. Located in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, Seacoast has been recognized by various media as an innovative and influential thought leader in future strategies for church growth and development. It combines a unique approach to highly participatory worship with a heart for missional evangelism. Seacoast currently has 29 weekend worship experiences in 13 separate locations. Greg is also a founding board member of the Association of Related Churches (ARC), a church planting network that has given birth to 60 churches in the last 6 years. Greg is married to a very hip grandma, has 4 children, 2 grandchildren and enjoys reading, photography, fishing, golfing and rooting for lost causes…specifically the Cubs, Broncos, and Gamecocks.

Ron Sylvia - Ron Sylvia is the founding and lead pastor of Church at the Springs in Ocala, FL. The church started in an office building 13 years ago with only 21 people and now averages 3,000 in weekly attendance. While leading a fast growing church, Ron learned the value of mentoring and coaching. As a result, he was Director of Purpose Driven Planting and has personally coached hundreds of church planters and pastors. He recently authored his story and methods in the book, Starting New Churches on Purpose. Ron is also the founder of NEXT Churches and NEXT Coaching Networks. As one of a few certified in the Tom Paterson Strategic Planning Process, Ron has a passion to help pastors think and act strategically in the local church.

John Wasem - John is a 25-year veteran in the church planting arena having established a nationally-acclaimed church planting program, taught new church leadership in four seminaries, coached over 50 planters, and planted a highly successful church southeast of Chicago in 1994. He currently is the founding Director of the Emmanuel Institutes which includes the Institute for Church Planting. John serves Emmanuel School of Religion in Johnson City, TN and as Director of Planter Care for Stadia East. He is married with three adult children and two granddaughters. He served as President of this conference in 1990.

Craig Whitney - Craig has spent over 20 years in church ministry in roles that ranged from youth guy to church planter. His passion for facilitating kingdom growth led him to createImpactPoint Strategies in 2004 where he helped pastors, churches and entrepreneurs increase their kingdom impact. As the Executive Director of ELI, he now oversees the development and implementation of ELI’s strategy for mobilizing a new generation of leaders to start thousands of new churches out of the culture. He lives in Sacramento with the cutest girl in his 4th Grade Sunday School class and their two teenage children.

Mark Williams - Mark was the founding pastor for two church plants, and has been the mother or partner church pastor for five other church plants. He served as a regional church planting director, and co-authored The Dynamic DAUGHTER Church Planting Handbook and The New Dynamic Church Planting Handbook. Since 1998 he has served full-time with Dynamic Church Planting International and is currently the Executive Vice President. Mark has taught church planters in 5 continents and countries as diverse as Pakistan, Siberia, The Congo, Ethiopia, Italy, Nepal, Myanmar, Colombia and others.

Paul Williams - Paul is the president of the Orchard Group, Inc., a church planting organization in New York that has planted over 50 churches. Paul is also Editor-at-Large and a weekly columnist with Christian Standard magazine, and a host for the Worship Television Network. Paul is the author of Laughter, Tears, and In-Between, and is a writer and editor of the Windows of Worship series of devotional books.

Todd Wilson - Todd is the director of Passion for Planting and a founding member and Director of theChurch Planting Network (the coordinator of Exponential). He is also on the national leadership team of Stadia New Church Strategies and serves as a strategist for the New Thing Network. Todd lives in Manassas, VA with his wife Anna and two boys, Ben and Chris.

Sommer Wisher - Sommer is the Family Life Minister at LifePointe Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. In February 2008, LifePointe launched its second site, intended to be the first of several multi-site locations. Through that experience, Sommer has gained valuable insight into how to effectively make family ministry work by engaging leaders, managing expectations and ultimately, delivering a successful program that ignites parents and kids to own their faith. Sommer is a graduate of Kentucky Christian University and is all about making life fun and planning her awesome wedding in June of 2009!

George Yancey - Dr. George Yancey is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of North Texas. He is the author of One Body, One Spirit: Principles of Successful Multiracial Churches (InterVarsity Press), co-author of United by Faith: The Multiracial Congregation as an Answer to the Problem of Race and the co-editor with his wife, Sherelyn, of Just Don’t Marry One: Interracial Dating, Marriage and Parenting (Judson Press). He has also authored several research articles on the topics of interracial marriage and multiracial churches and is the founder of Reconciliation Consulting - a Christian business that aids churches in dealing with racial diversity. His newest book is Beyond Racial Gridlock: Embracing Mutual Responsibility(InterVarsity Press.)

“His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find him—though He is not far from any one of us. For in Him we live and move and exist.” – Acts 17:27, 28