Discipleship happens in a place, and should affect that place.
At Praxis Gathering 2016, however, we are focusing on Shaping Disciples for Mission, but we do so with a “place-based lens.” We couldn’t do it without the help of our friend Kevin Doi.
Meet Kevin Doi
Courtesy of Epic Church
[Tweet “Meet place-based church expert Kevin Doi @kevindoi at @Praxis2016”]Kevin is the founding pastor of Epic Church and co-founder of JOYA Scholars, a non-profit organization inspiring and preparing students from the Garnet Neighborhood in Fullerton toward higher education. He has also served on the boards of Solidarity and Oasis USA. Kevin is a graduate of Fuller Seminary and is currently completing a D.Min. in Missional Leadership at Northern Seminary. Kevin is an adjunct professor in the Asian American Institute at Fuller Seminary and contributing author of “Starting Missional Churches” (IVP, 2015). He and wife Dorene have two teenage children, Jarron and Charis.
Starting Missional Churches
Kevin and Epic Church are featured in Mark Branson and Nicholas Warnes’s church planting book Starting Missional Churches: Life with God in the Neighborhood. In it, Kevin writes on the balance of location and relationships. He tells of how Epic Church “understand[s] our purpose to be intentionally serendipitous, attempting to sow faithfully the seeds of the kingdom, realizing that the harvest will appear in ways we may not expect or understand, and certainly cannot control.” This peace that Epic Church has with the serendipitous and the organic nature of placed-based church demonstrates Kevin’s aptness as a Praxis Gathering presenter.
Epic Church
From the website
Our name, of course, means “grand story.” An epic is a poetic composition with a hero at the center, an artistic expression through narrative – which we think is not only an apt description of the gospel but also how God is creating something meaningful, even beautiful, out of broken people here.
We have attempted to live true to our name by inhabiting and valuing narrative. That means valuing our own stories, the stories of others, and the story of our collective journey as a community. It is through story that we are discovering our identity as a church, our uniqueness, and our mission in the world. It is how we are discovering God.
Video courtesy of L2 Foundation
JOYA Scholars
From the JOYA Scholars About page
By supporting students through one-on-one mentoring, academic tutoring, educational workshops, parent academy, campus visits, SAT prep, JOYA Scholars comes alongside junior high and high school students to fill a relational and knowledgeable gap for students and their families for whom the school can be a confusing and intimidating process to navigate. . . . students and their families from the Garnet Neighborhood can aspire to college, be nurtured by loving and supportive mentoring, and have access to the best in educational and life-skills training so that each student can reach their goals and be successful.
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Meet Kevin at Praxis Gathering 2016
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