We Are Send Network (Video): Recent Episodes
Dhati Lewis, North American Mission Board
Join Send Network VP Dhati Lewis on the front lines of ministry with church planters across North America. Dhati, a pastor and former church planter, hits the road to talk to other planters about life, ministry and the unique privileges and challenges of planting in their context. To hear their stories of community, church multiplication and neighborhood restoration, subscribe today!
Church planter, are you seeking to plant a church or start a worship service? In this episode, Dhati Lewis interviews Chris and Libby Phillips — planting couple of Journey Point Church in Denver, Colorado — to talk about the difference between planting a church and starting a church and what it means to be for the city, and not just in the city.
Whose church are you planting — God’s Church or your church? In this episode Rob Wilton, lead pastor of Vintage Church Pittsburg, shares four ways to help you ensure you’re planting God’s Church and not just your church. This episode is an excerpt from the May 21 virtual Send Network Gathering.
Watch content from previous Send Network Gatherings at SendNetworkGathering.com.
Register for the next virtual Send Network Gathering on August 20 at 1 p.m. EDT as we release an all-new resource, Undivided: More Than a Hashtag.
Every member in your church is your next potential church planter or church planting team member. This week, Dhati Lewis sits down with Brian Bowman, lead pastor of Valley Life Church in Phoenix, Arizona, to talk about how his church has raised up missional leaders from within their congregation to plant churches in metro Phoenix.
Related Article: 5 ways to generate vision and passion for church planting by Garth Leno
Whether it’s a pandemic, racial injustice, or the critical importance of spreading the gospel to communities across North America through church planting, this is the moment for the Church of Jesus Christ. Moments of crisis are always opportunities for the church to make Jesus known and invite others into His kingdom. This episode is an excerpt from Vance Pitman, senior pastor of Hope Church in Las Vegas, from the May 21 virtual Send Network Gathering.
Watch content from previous Send Network Gatherings at SendNetworkGathering.com.
Register for the next virtual Send Network Gathering on August 20 at 1 p.m. EDT as we release an all-new resource, Undivided: More Than a Hashtag.
When Noe Garcia accepted the job as lead pastor of North Phoenix Baptist Church (NPHX) — a church in desperate need of revitalization — the only other non-Anglo person on staff was the janitor. “It wasn’t the church I had always dreamed about, and in the same token, I wasn’t the pastor they’d always dreamed about,” Garcia explained. In this episode, Dhati Lewis interviews Noe Garcia about his experience with depression, ethnic identity and the immense freedom that accompanied it all while revitalizing NPHX.
The surge in racial angst may make you want to either riot or run. This episode is a round table discussion with Dhati Lewis, Vice President of Send Network and lead pastor at Blueprint Church, and Wesley Price and Domingo Guyton, shepherding elders at Blueprint Church, about the recent race-related riots throughout the country, white shame, black pain and what it means to corporately lament.
This recording is used with permission.
You can’t give what you don’t have, and in hard seasons, caring for our souls is one of the first disciplines to go. In this episode, Dhati Lewis interviews Rivers Partin — a planting wife, member of the spouse development team for Send Network and licensed professional counselor — to talk about the challenges and importance of caring for your soul in difficult seasons.
As pastors and church leaders grapple with a new phase of the COVID-19 pandemic and the reopening process, they’re having to look at the future of their church with new eyes. What aspects of life and ministry will quickly return to normal, slowly return to normal and what will never be the same again? In this episode, Dhati Lewis interviews Bruce Moore, lead pastor of Christ Fellowship Church in Tampa, Florida, to discuss churches’ reopening process.
Related Blog: Florida Send Network churches aid healthcare community
Helpful Resources:
- Practical guidelines for returning to church
- Church member return-to-church survey
Mentions:
- Recovery Shapes Document (Courtesy of Family Church in West Palm Beach, Fla.)
- Send Network Virtual Gathering
These days, it feels like we’re being engulfed with bad news. As pastors and leaders, it’s tempting to feel the pressure to say the right thing, at the right time, in the right way without first processing our own thoughts and emotions. In this episode, Dhati Lewis sits down with Noah Oldham, Send Network’s senior director of Deploy, to talk about the need for pastors and leaders to process complex emotions in challenging seasons — especially in light of the recent killing of Ahmaud Arbery.
Related Blog Post: Pastor, you need to process your grief too
Pastoral Care Line: Call 1-844-PASTORS1 to talk to trained, professional counselors, available every day from 8 a.m. – 10 p.m. ET. Confidentiality is ensured by Focus on the Family.
Pastors and church planters are wearing a lot of hats these days. And while most people see only one side of their lives, their wives see it all—the good days and the bad. This special episode of We are Send Network features Kathy Litton, director of planting spouse development for Send Network, and Angie Lewis, a church planting spouse and Send Network vice president, Dhati Lewis’ wife, to talk about how spouses can emotionally support their husbands in this season and beyond.
Related Blog Post: When your husband needs emotional support
Kevin Ezell, president of the North America Mission Board (NAMB), is caring for thousands of pastors and church planters during the present crisis. In this episode, Dhati Lewis interviews Ezell to talk about how NAMB is caring for North American missionaries and their families during the coronavirus pandemic and how he has navigated leading a organization in an ever-changing and unpredictable season.
Should churches continue to exclusively meet online after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides? In this episode, Dhati Lewis interviews Bobby Gruenewald, a pastor at Life.Church, Ed Stetzer, executive director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College and Micah Fries, senior pastor of Brainerd Baptist Church, about continuing to meet online as a church after the pandemic subsides and if our new way of gathering should be long term norm.
Mentions: Church Online
In this special episode, Dhati Lewis sits down with some of the leading church planting practitioners and thought leaders in the nation — Vance Pitman, Ed Kang, Sean Sears, James Roberson and Martín Vargas — to answer your questions about how to practically shepherd your church and continue to fulfill the Great Commission during COVID-19.
Related Blog Post: What has COVID-19 exposed about the Church in North America?
Supporting your husband, taking care of the kids and their schoolwork, following up with members in your church and sharing the gospel — planting wives do a lot. And now, with the COVID-19 outbreak, they do it all from their home. In this episode, Dhati Lewis sits down with Kathy Litton, director of planter spouse development for Send Network, and planting wife Seané Rice, who along with husband, Ryan, serve Connect Church in New Orleans, to talk about the unique challenges and fears COVID-19 presents for planting wives, how their church has continued to serve the community and practical ways their family has stayed healthy in this season.
Related Blog Post: 5 Challenges for church planting wives during COVID-19
In a short time, COVID-19 consumed our world (literally), and the Church has been forced to adjust. The coronavirus has revealed aspects about the Church in North America that have previously been obscure. In this episode, Dhati Lewis and Brad Brisco, the director of bivocational church planting for the North American Mission Board, discuss four things every pastor and church planter should be thinking about today, before COVID-19 subsides.
Mentions:
- “Covocational Church Planting” by Brad Brisco
- “ReThink: 9 Paradigm Shifts for Activating the Church” by Brad Brisco
What we’re seeing right now with COVID-19 is not the crisis—it’s only phase one. How can the Church be prepared for the coming phases of the COVID-19 pandemic? In this episode, Dhati Lewis interviews Ed Stetzer, executive director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College and an expert consultant on crisis management, about the Church’s response to COVID-19, the different phases we’ll experience and the hopeful new normal after the crisis subsides.
COVID-19 has brought Sunday services—and the world—to a temporary halt. These are unnerving, unpredictable times. As pastors and church planters, our initial impulse could be fear — fear of what’s going to happen to our church, our community, our family.
In this special episode, Dhati Lewis sits down (virtually, of course!) with Clint Clifton, church planter and lead pastor of Pillar Church in the D.C. area and the new senior director of development for Send Network, and Noah Oldham, church planter and lead pastor of August Gate Church in St. Louis and the new senior director of deployment for Send Network.
Together, they discuss what pastors need in these unprecedented times, initiatives their churches are doing to stay connected and the hope we have as God’s people.
More information about pastoring amid COVID-19 available here.
Money can’t solve all of your church’s issues, but it can fund the vision. Fundraising is important, but money and finances is a prominent struggle for church planters. On this episode of We are Send Network, Dhati Lewis interviews Matt Lawson, lead pastor of Story City Church in Burbank, CA, to talk about two essential things every church planter needs to fundraise for their church.
Related Blog Post: Maintaining an ongoing relationship with supporters
The numbers don’t tell the whole story, but they tell an important part of it. In 2015, 4,000 churches were planted. In the same year, 3,700 churches closed their doors. Five years later, our numbers aren’t much better. We need to plant and revitalize churches. In this episode, Dhati Lewis interviews Daniel Yang, the director of Send Institute, to talk about the state and stats of North American missions.
Related Blog Post: Church Planting Capacity for the Next Generation
How do pastors start residencies? Should they begin with leaders in their church or draw from people outside of their congregation? On this episode, Dhati Lewis sits down with Clint Clifton— church planter and lead pastor of Pillar Church in Dumfries, Virginia— to talk about how pastors and church planters can practically start residency programs and raise up missional leaders from within their congregation.
Mentions: Interested in receiving a baseline syllabus for your residency program? Email Clint Clifton at cclifton@namb.net.
Related Blog Post: The Essential Resource for Church Planting
“70% of kids who grew up in good churches walk away from Jesus in college,” said Troy Nesbitt, Director of the Salt Network. The college campus is littered with prodigals and students who have never been exposed to Christianity. Learn why and how church plants can reach this demographic as Dhati Lewis and Troy Nesbitt talk about their strategy behind planting churches on major university campuses and why reaching the next generation is vital.
Mentions:
- Interested in the Salt Company Conference? Learn more and register here.
- Click here, for more resources on reaching college students from the Salt Company.
Related Blog Post: The College Campus: A Plentiful Harvest
To see Acts 2 lived out today, you need not look any further than university age students living out their faith. Meeting daily, breaking bread, praying and studying God’s Word regularly—there’s perhaps no easier place to model Acts 2 than on the campus. This week, Dhati Lewis interviews Ed Kang, lead pastor of Gracepoint Church, as he shares about how they develop and train leaders on the college campus toward the vision of having “an Acts 2 church in every college town.”
Related Blog Post: 3 Ways to reach university students
“I wanted to quit so many times,” said James Roberson, lead pastor and church planter of The Bridge Church in Brooklyn, New York. On this episode of We are Send Network Roberson vulnerably shares the unique challenges and fears of planting a church in New York and two essential aspects of church planting anywhere.
Related Blog Post: 3 Ways to endure in Church Planting
Martin Vargas planted Iglesia Church out of a deep need in his community. Forty percent of the people in his community were Spanish-speaking residents, but there were no healthy Spanish-speaking churches in Hollywood, Florida. This week on We Are Send Network, Dhati Lewis sits down with Martin Vargas, lead pastor of Iglesia Church in Florida, to talk about Vargas’ church planting story and his heart to discover and develop three types of church planting leaders in his community and across the world.
Related Blog Post: 3 Things Church Planters Must Do to Multiply
No one has ever said being a multiplying church is easy. At Lifepoint Church, it’s not uncommon for life groups to become churches—and with church multiplication comes the reality of saying goodbye to key leaders and friends. On this episode of We are Send Network Dhati Lewis interviews Dean Fulks, lead pastor at Lifepoint Church in Columbus, Ohio, about how they became a multiplying church through their life groups, the sacrifice of being a multiplying church and the essentials of church planting.
Related Blog Post: The Hardest Part About Being a Multiplying Church
We say we love the lost, but do the lost feel loved by us? This week, Dhati Lewis interviews Sean Sears, lead pastor at Grace Church in Boston to discuss the need for church planters to have relationships with non-Christians, and how planters can equip their members to do the same.
Listen to the Evangelism with Johnny Hunt to learn more about how to love your neighbor and share the gospel.
Related Blog Post: Who’s Your One Sunday Initiative.
Everyone has trauma. It’s the great divider in our nation and our relationships, and it keeps us from intimacy and healing. This week, Dhati Lewis interviews Chip Dodd, author of Voice of the Heart: A Call to Full Living, to discuss how we overcome trauma through feeling our feelings, telling the truth to the right people and giving ourselves back to a process that allows us to respond to life, not react to it.
Related Blog Post: Healing from Trauma in a Divided Nation
Pastors—and anyone serving in caregiving vocations—are some of the most vulnerable to burnout. They generously pour out their lives to others, and often at the expense of their themselves. In the midst of shepherding their people and cultivating their hearts to love God and others, their own heart gets lost in the shadow of the needs of others. This week, Dhati Lewis sits down with Chip Dodd, author of Voice of the Heart: A Call to Full Living, to discuss why it is necessary for pastors to be vigilant about what’s going on in their heart.
Bruce Moore sits down with Dhati Lewis, Vice President of Send Network and founder and pastor of Blueprint Church in Atlanta, to discuss planting in the urban context, being resourceful as a church planter and the importance of being plugged in to the Send Network.
Keynon Akers and Shay Bethea sit down with Dhati Lewis, Vice President of Send Network and founder and pastor of Blueprint Church in Atlanta, to discuss the importance of restoration and the best practices while working to restore dignity to underserved people in our communities.
Read more about restoration from Dhati in his blog post Restoration through the Great Requirement.
Dhati Lewis, Vice President of Send Network and founder and pastor of Blueprint Church in Atlanta, sits down with his wife, Angie to discuss managing expectations as well as finding your own stride as a pastor’s wife.
Related Blog Post: Three ways pastors’ wives set healthy expectations
Jackie Taylor and Pam Wolfe sit down with Dhati Lewis, Vice President of Send Network and founder and pastor of Blueprint Church in Atlanta, to discuss how they navigate their roles in the church as pastors wives.
Related Blog Post: Pastor's Wives: There are no molds
Pastors Sam Calhoun and Jimmy Steele sit down with Dhati Lewis, Vice President of Send Network and founder and pastor of Blueprint Church in Atlanta, to discuss how God used their replant experience to transform, not only their church, but also their community.
Watch this video to hear more about Jimmy and Sam’s unique story.
Sam was recently honored with the inaugural Replanter of the Year Award from NAMB. Read more about this special award here.
Related Blog Post: Three Prayers for a Dying Church
What does it take to raise up leaders from within your congregation to plant local churches in another context? In this round table episode of We Are Send Network: On the Front Lines with Church Planters Dhati Lewis talks with pastors Ryan McCammack and John Onwuchekwa about their church’s leadership pipelines and the time and investment it takes to raise up qualified leaders and residents from within their congregation.
To learn more about raising up missional leaders within your congregation visit namb.net/pipeline/.
What will it take to see a gospel movement in the United States? “If we’re going to have a movement to the gospel in America, the only hope to that again is the Western U.S.,” says Vance Pitman, senior pastor of Hope Church in Las Vegas, Nevada. Join Dhati Lewis in part two of his interview with Vance Pitman, as they discuss the need for gospel influence in the West and the refreshing ways God has saved many in Las Vegas, in a pre-Christian context.
Follow Vance Pitman on Instagram and Twitter at @vancepitman.
Mentions:
- Hope Church, Las Vegas, Nevada
- Heiden Ratner, senior pastor of Walk Church, Las Vegas, Nevada
How did 16 middle class, Southern Baptist, Anglo-American families plant a church in Las Vegas, Nevada, where people speak 54 languages across a socioeconomically diverse population? Find out in part one of Dhati Lewis’ two-part interview with Vance Pitman, senior pastor of Hope Church. Vance discusses how it took getting to Las Vegas to realize the multi-ethnic church is not a new way of doing church, but is the New Testament church, and how their church has intentionally responded to the nations coming to Christ in Las Vegas.
Follow Vance Pitman on Instagram and Twitter at @vancepitman.
Mentions: * Hope Church, Las Vegas, Nevada * First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Woodstock, Georgia * Johnny Hunt, senior vice president of Evangelism and Leadership at North American Mission Board * Teddy Johnson, lead pastor of Hope Creative at Hope Church
On today’s episode of We Are Send Network: On the Front Lines with Church Planters, host Dhati Lewis interviews Steve Witt, senior pastor of The Well Church in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the southern part of the continental U.S., most have a general idea of Christianity and the Bible, but with the abundance of cultural and religious differences in Las Vegas, church planting and evangelism present particular challenges. Listen in as Steve discusses how he uses his opportunity as a football coach to share the gospel, his family’s call to move from the familiar comforts of Tennessee to the unknowns of Las Vegas, and how church planters can stay grounded and have longevity in ministry.
To keep up with Steve, follow him on Instagram at @stevethewellchurch.
Mentions: * The Well Church
On this week’s episode of We Are Send Network: On the Front Lines with Church Planters, Dhati explores Las Vegas with Heiden Ratner, a locally raised church planter who returned to be senior pastor of Walk Church in Las Vegas. Heiden describes the unique experience of having grown up in the neighborhood where his church is now planted and conducting Sunday worship services in the gym where he played middle school basketball. Join us as Heiden talks about the ethnic diversity of Las Vegas, their process of finding a location to worship and how they sought to be a blessing instead of a burden for the school where they worship.
Show Notes:
To keep up with Heiden Ratner follow him on Twitter at @HeidenRatner.
Mentions:
- Walk Church, Las Vegas
- Hope Church, Las Vegas
- The Frequency Conference
- Vance Pitman, Senior Pastor at Hope Church
- Eric Mason, Lead Pastor of Epiphany Fellowship
- Matt Chandler, Lead Pastor of The Village Church
- North American Mission Board
On today’s episode of We Are Send Network: On the Front Lines with Church Planters, Corwin Oglesby interviews Dhati Lewis, the Lead Pastor and church planter of Blueprint Church in Atlanta, GA. In this episode, they discuss the hard beginnings of planting Blueprint, including: his family and church-planting team’s move from Texas to Atlanta, the process of finding a building to meet in and Dhati’s vision for himself as a laborer in God’s kingdom.
Show Notes
- Dhati is the author of “Among Wolves: Disciple-Making in the City” and “Advocates: The Narrow Path to Racial Reconciliation”.
- Mentions:
- Blueprint Church
On today’s episode of We Are Send Network: On the Front Lines with Church Planters, Dhati sits down with Milton Campbell to talk about his experience planting The Midtown Bridge Church in Atlantic Station, Atlanta, Ga. They discuss the specific need for the gospel in Atlanta, the excitement and challenges of reaching the community around Atlantic Station (upscale commercial and residential area) and the process of grieving with his congregation about a former pastor’s moral failure.
Show Notes
To keep up with Milton, follow him on Instagram @miltoncampbell.
Learn more about The Midtown Bridge Church
Mentions:
- Who’s Your One
- UYWI
On today’s episode of We Are Send Network: On the Front Lines with Church Planters, Dhati sits down with John Onwuchekwa, Lead Pastor of Cornerstone Church, to talk about his experience planting Cornerstone in the Atlanta’s West End. They discuss the necessity of teamwork in church planting, the power of prayer, the sting of grief and more.
Show Notes
- To keep up with John Onwuchekwa, follow him on Twitter or Instagram @JawnO.
- John Onwuchekwa is the author of Prayer: How Praying Together Shapes the Church, which can be bought wherever books are sold.
- Richard Mullens, mentioned in this episode, currently serves as the Community Life Pastor at Cornerstone Church.
- Cornerstone Church
- Blueprint Church
On this week’s episode of We Are Send Network: On the Front Lines with Church Planters, Dhati sits down with Ryan McCammack to talk about his experience planting Gospel Hope Church in Decatur, on Atlanta’s east side. They discuss the joys and struggles of church planting as a family, the social and economic dynamics of living in an ethnically and generationally diverse community and church, their church’s robust church planting leadership pipeline and more.
Show Notes
Learn more about Gospel Hope Church at gospelhopechurch.com
Mentions in the video:
- Blueprint Church
- Undivided: Your Church & Racial Reconciliation
- Pipeline
- Send Network
Beginning June 9, join Send Network VP Dhati Lewis on the front lines with church planters. Hear stories of camaraderie, church multiplication and neighborhood restoration as Lewis, who started as a church planter, hits the road to chat with planters about life, ministry and the unique privileges and challenges of planting in their context.