Dawn Settlement: A Vision of Church as a Business Ecosystem

I was sitting in a “yoga café” on a cold January morning in Ferguson, Missouri with two young men. One was Taylor McCall, whom I’m writing this book with, and another was Jonathan Tremaine Thomas. If the name Ferguson didn’t initially jump out at you, it has become what many now call the birthplace of the modern justice movement in …

Powerful Reflection

As church planters, we may easily get bogged down from the nitty gritty of shaping organizational structures and managing the great work of investing deeply into the individuals in our communities, but there is a key way of pausing in the midst of the work that actually aids in providing wisdom and insight into both our organizational structures and the …

Discipleship, Assimilation, and Relationship

Matthew 28:18-20 is a bedrock concept for every church planter. We all can grasp what it means to make disciples of all the nations. It’s simple to understand, yet one of the hardest components of any church community to put into replicating practice. However, through a western theological lens, this activity often takes on a specific approach. Usually, it means …

Getting Ready For Christmas

At our last community meeting, we started talking about Christmas. Yep, Christmas! It still seems so far away but it needs a little more attention this year as our celebrations will probably look a little different than in previous years. Our churches won’t have Christmas pageants, carol singing or fun family gatherings, most of us won’t be traveling and Tom …

Re-Missioning Your Established Church Immersion

A 4-week Immersion in How to Awaken Your Existing Church to the Missional Impulse of God w/ Josh Hayden and Christy Foldenauer About this Immersion Many churches in the United States have either stopped growing or are in decline. Yet, what is more concerning is the drift away from following Christ deeper into their local places on mission. Many of …

Funding Your Mission Immersion

A 4-week Immersion on the nuts-n-bolts of how to raise support for your new church or new missional project through partnership. About this Immersion In partnership with The V3 Movement and Reliant Mission: In order to advance the mission of God, financial resources are a necessity. While there are many philosophies and strategies surrounding the topic of support raising, there …

Cyber Missional Pioneering

The internet is a missional and incarnational frontier The great missiologist Ralph Winter said that the future of missions was in the cities … while that is still true, we simply must acknowledge that a significant future aspect of missions is also online. Hugh Halter and Matt Smay mention in their book, “The Tangible Kingdom Primer,” that “missional” and “incarnational” …

The Moment of Disruption & Decentralization

We are facing a disruption to the Church in ways that we have not seen in our lifetime. Rather than waiting for life to go back to normal for our church activities, we need to embrace this disruption as a gift that is breaking open space for new life and new possibilities. The last great disruption was The Reformation, which …

Forming a 5-Fold Leadership Team Immersion

A 4-week Immersion in How to Awaken and Assemble an Elder Team or Church Planting Team Using the APEST w/ Aaron and Karrie Thomas About this Immersion In partnership with The V3 Movement and Seeds & Water Collective: Somewhere along the line, humanity has become clouded in our understanding of leading together: whether at work, home, or church, we’ve got …

Why Planters Are Equipped for Racial Justice

“If you are doing ministry in America and you don’t understand race, you’re not going to be an effective missionary.” – David Bailey As we witness this volcanic eruption of racial unrest spill out across the country, the urgency to end systemic racism has never felt greater. Yet the Church has never seemed so ill-equipped to live out God’s vision …