Over the many years that God’s church has existed and grown, there has been a desire among God’s people to reach out to their communities and to the people who do not yet know Christ; and as these people come to know Christ, there is the subsequent desire to bring these new believers into solid Christian community. In every generation and among every spiritual tradition, there is the desire to see new people reached for Christ, new Christian communities form, and new Christian churches planted in new places and in new ways.

This follows the heartbeat of that Great Mission Statement Jesus gave to His people in Matthew 28:18-20 (the Great Commission) for His church to make disciples “as they are going” of all the nations. This is a great movement of the Holy Spirit and a huge blessing to the specific nation we are called to serve.

In more recent times, there has been a need for specific leaders to help bring vision, organization, and catalyzation to these new Christian communities. They are often called “bishops” or “overseers” and they provide help with raising up leaders, mobilizing people for outreach, and establishing formal and informal churches as the Lord leads.

Within the past few years, the Lord has made it obvious to me, to my wife, to our church body, and to other believers in several places that He has called me to this particular office, which I will call a “connectional leader.” Since the summer of 2022, we have seen the Lord use me to facilitate His missional work in both Windsor, Colorado and Harrison, Arkansas. And there are several other places He has connected me with (as well as others in our church body) where He is planting seeds for more Christian communities to be born, such as Greeley, Colorado; Casper, Wyoming; Faribault, Minnesota; North Central Texas; Central Iowa; Los Angeles, California; and Nogales, Mexico.

Description of Ministry:

• Overseeing and facilitating the starting and building of Christian disciple-making communities that will eventually lead to the planting of local churches as far and wide as the Lord will allow geographically.
• Helping to appoint and train leaders for these Christian communities and new churches.
• Helping to create and facilitate vision for each of these new communities and churches, each with their own God-ordained mission for their particular communities.
• Helping these disciple-making communities and churches, which are spread apart geographically, to be relationally connected as they seek to build God’s Kingdom in similar ways.
• Helping to facilitate a teamwork mentality and good will among other pastors and church leaders in each of these communities, so that we can serve the larger spiritual needs of people in a particular city, town or region.

In 2022-23, a local school of ministry has been born in Windsor, CO. Over the life of this ministry, pastors from 7 different local churches have teamed up to provide teaching for people from up to 8 local churches in the area. Surveys of the Old Testament, New Testament, and Christian Doctrine have been taught so far.

As part of the School of Ministry, there has been a ministry leadership training and development piece that has grown. The goal of this leadership training program is to equip future ministry leaders, pastors, and church planters to shepherd, evangelize, preach, and make disciples in the current and future ministries in which they are called. Eight men are currently involved in this program, and another three men are wanting to be trained, too.

One of the men in the leadership training class and his wife started a weekly Bible study in their home in Harrison, Arkansas. Most of these folks are the “marginalized” --- young people who’ve come from rough backgrounds and who have struggled in their pasts. But all of these folks have devoted their lives to Jesus, and this past July, 11 of them got baptized as a result of what God is doing through this Bible study. Since then, more people have joined the group and these believers have grown in their faith in Jesus and in their desire to be their own local church.

Much of what I’ve described above is what I would like to help duplicate in the other areas where God is planting seeds for spiritual community to be born. With your help, I will be able to be the “connectional leader” that can help bring vision, organization, and catalyzation to these new Christian communities.