Today the Bridge Church leadership team  and I shared that I would be transitioning out of the role as Lead Pastor of Bridge Church in the coming weeks. This transition will take place as I follow and pursue an open door the Lord has put before me.

In 1998 God began to move in my heart regarding church planting. It was about that time that I was assessed at the highest score possible as a church planter by the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio. Our family has been blessed to been involved in re-launching a church (Lake Ridge), sponsoring a new church (Life Brand Cowboy Church) and planting a new church (Bridge Church) as a North American Mission Board missionaries. During this time God has not only opened doors for us to be involved in new works, but He has also revealed to me that I am gifted with apostolic leadership. In other words, I have been gifted in gathering and starting new churches, not to necessarily pastor them. In the very near future (August 1st), I will be transitioning from Lead Pastor of Bridge to being a regional church planting catalyst for three associations in NE Ohio. We will be leaving Bridge Church in the capable hands of a godly leadership team who are guiding the church through a transition of pastoral leadership.

In the geographical area I will be concentrating on, there are approximately 3.8 million people, which, represents twelve counties and represents one-third of the population of Ohio. In this area there are only ninety-seven Southern Baptist churches, one church for every thirty-nine thousand people. It is estimated that 90% of the population in many of the towns and cities in this region are lost without Christ. Within this region, there are three major metropolitan areas and thousands of squares miles of rural areas with towns and villages. We are working with the North American Mission Board to create a Church Planting Center in NE Ohio that will focus specifically on town and country church planting(rural). I will be responsible for identifying, assessing, and training/coaching church planters for this region. Part of my responsibility will be to help the church planter develop partnerships for their individual church plants. We believe God is at work to bring about a movement of salvation in this region.

Unfortunately this undertaking will not be fully funded as it is not in the budget of Bridge Church, our association or the state convention to do so. Bridge Church will be one of our partners. The North American Mission Board will possibly provide some funds as well for this position, but that is still yet to be seen. We will need to secure the financial support of other partners to allow me to work at this ministry on an ongoing basis. If you would like to help in funding this work, please call me at 440-796-8050 and I would be glad to share how you, your church, or denominational agency can help. If you would like to see the full plan and prospectus for this opportunity click here.

As I close this post, I want to ask you to pray for our family as we yet take another step of faith. We don’t know where the money will come from, we do not know the church planters that God will bring to us, nor do we know the people we will be reaching, but God does. I am excited by this challenge as we reach out to areas of Ohio that are not reached.

Feel free to contact me with any questions!