July 1, 2024
Church Planting in the Restoration Movement
Churches are being started by regional networks all over the country, in all kinds of places. . . .
July 1, 2024
Churches are being started by regional networks all over the country, in all kinds of places. . . .
April 19, 2022
The rapid turnover in a new church plant’s core launch team is not unusual, church-planting experts say. Of the 40 or so people who helped plant Canvas Church in North Carolina last September, almost half are gone . . . some simply disappeared without saying a word. “It’s weird, but it’s like, ‘Can you say goodbye?’” the lead planter said.
January 1, 2022
What do a lawyer, a football player, and a youth pastor have in common? It might sound like the setup to a bad joke, but it isn’t. All three are examples of professionals who recently left their jobs to plant independent Christian churches in the United States. Many of today’s church leaders are asking where tomorrow’s church leaders will come from. That’s a critical concern among church planters as well. In fact, Stadia president Greg Nettle says, “The number one challenge we face right now is our leadership pipeline of church planters.” Nettle and other church-planting leaders estimate it will
January 1, 2021
7 Counterintuitive Ways to Interpret Reality By Phil Claycomb I’ve coached, mentored, and trained church planters since 2001, so I’ve been involved in many different crisis situations. I’ve sighed deeply and asked, “OK, what just happened?” more times than I care to remember. I’ve brainstormed through a host of “where do we go from here?” discussions. I’ve rolled up my shirtsleeves and jumped in to help “pick up the pieces and move on.” And I’ve discovered that while the causes of crises may vary, and churches are amazingly creative at finding ways to get into trouble, the one thing leaders
Texas Church Takes on ‘Guest-Ready’ Initiative—and Grows in the Meantime By Chris Moon Central Christian Church in Richardson, Texas, knew it had its work cut out for it. The 55-year-old congregation had gone through hard times. In 2017, declining attendance had left just 80 people in the pews, down from more than 200. Financially, the church was struggling. It needed a pastor. And its building had some deferred maintenance needs. “They were very demoralized,” said Philip Claycomb, the church’s senior pastor. Claycomb, who also leads Nexus Church Planting & Leader Care, began working with the church quarter-time in June 2018.
February 5, 2020
By Chris Moon If you’re going to coach it, it helps to live it. And so Phil Claycomb got another job. That is, he got an additional job. The executive director of Texas-based Nexus Church Planting during the past year and a half also has worked 10 to 12 hours weekly helping out a local church that is trying to resurrect itself after falling on hard times. Central Christian Church in Richardson, Texas, saw its attendance drop in half and its finances lag. The church convinced Claycomb to come serve as its pastor in 2018. Claycomb was happy to help.
November 6, 2019
By Chris Moon A church plant is in the works at Johnson University Florida. Encounter Church is expected to launch at the Kissimmee campus in September 2020. It will be led by pastor Gonzalo Venegas and is backed by Florida Church Partners and Nexus Church Planting. “Things have gone pretty fast,” Venegas said. The church already has 53 committed adults involved in its prelaunch phase. Venegas was featured in March 2019 article in Christian Standard as he embarked on planting a church in Florida after leaving his former home in Michigan. Part of Venegas’s story is his history as a
March 27, 2019
Two new churches have started in recent weeks. Venture Christian Church, Katy, Texas, held a four-week grand opening from Jan. 20 to Feb. 10 and saw 151 different people come to its services. Lead planter Nathan Boldt wrote that Venture’s intent is to “reach people with no connection to a church.” He added, “If I were to share one stat, it would be that about 80 percent of our crowd are unchurched. . . . We are thrilled at what God has been up to!”VCC is a plant by Nexus Church Planting and is also supported by several Texas congregations. Further west, Luminous
February 20, 2019
Norfolk (Neb.) High School wrestler Conner Cowling capped a dominant season with a state championship over the weekend, and he credited his church with encouraging him along the way. The senior lost his mother and two grandparents during the last few years. Cowling told the Norfolk Daily News that at one point in high school he started to get into trouble and feel depressed. “But my friend . . . introduced me to Fuel—a youth program at my church, First Christian Church [in Norfolk], and I discovered God and Christianity, which really helped me,” Cowling said. Cowling hasn’t missed a youth