Church Plant
Church Planting Plan
Our plan to plant a church and how you can partner with us
Adoniram Judson was a Baptist missionary who devoted his life to missions work in Burma, a country near India, in the early 1800s. As Judson wrestled with what he believed God wanted him to do, he concluded that he should give himself to advancing the Gospel in a country where it was not known. And this he did, spending nearly 40 years in Burma laboring to take the Gospel to a country with no Gospel witness.
This account is one means the Lord used in me to solidify how and where He wants my family and me to give our lives to advancing His Gospel. We are excited about what we have concluded and our thoughts and excitement have been confirmed and encouraged by close peers and mentors, including our pastor.
Church planting
Halfway through my theological training at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., the Lord began to impress a desire on me to do pastoral ministry. I love to see people base their lives on God’s Word, grow in their devotion to Christ and have their attitudes, efforts and decisions be shaped by all that they have received in Christ. And pastors get to spend their lives seeing these things happen: what a joy and privilege - I cannot see myself doing anything else. As I have expressed this desire to close friends and my pastor they have all come back with a thumbs up, confirming that I have an ability to teach, lead and shepherd.
As I have completed my master of divinity over the last year and a half, I have also sensed a growing desire to start a church. The Lord has given my wife and me a burden to see the gospel take root in an area, leading to the making of disciples and start of a church that leads to the start of other gospel-rooted and centered churches. Our pastor, Bill Cook of Ninth & Baptist in Louisville, Ky., said he thinks it is wise for us to pursue church planting.
As my wife and I have thought and prayed about future ministry, we have agreed that we, like the Judsons, would like to give our lives to ministering in a certain area. We want to sink our roots into a community and dive into ministry there for as long as the Lord would see fit.
Unlike the Judsons, my wife and I do not believe we should give ourselves to a foreign missions context. But we do believe we should minister in an area where the gospel is not strongly rooted. For us, that means Denver, Colorado.
Why Denver?
There are three key practical/logistical reasons why we believe the Lord wants us to plant a church in Denver, a church that would be a part both of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Acts 29 Network:
1. Lostness
According to studies researched by another prospective Denver church planter[1] anywhere from 90-97% of Denver residents are unchurched. Another study put the percentage at 87-90%.[2] The fact that people are unchurched strongly suggests that they have not accepted the gospel.
2. Growth
The Denver Metro Area is currently at an all-time high of 2.8 million residents and has a growth rate that has consistently outpaced the national rate every decade since the 1930s. By 2030, Metro Denver’s population is anticipated to increase to almost 3.8 million.[3] The more people there are in an area, the more need there is for the gospel.
3. Gospel partnership
While Denver does not have a significant church presence, recently some new church works have begun. There are five recently started Acts 29 Network church plants in the city. There is also an established and strong Southern Baptist church in the city, Riverside Baptist, where Jim Shaddix serves as pastor.
Bryan Barley, the lead pastor of the soon to be planted Soma Church in Denver, told me recently that he has experienced an excellent spirit of cooperation among the churches I mentioned above. An attitude of partnership between churches matches the picture we see in the New Testament. One church cannot do all the work, especially in a large city like Denver. The existence of other like-minded churches also provides camaraderie and accountability among pastors and planters.
My wife and I like the prospects of a ministry partnership that looks like it is falling into place with another plant about to get started in Denver. We would like be a part of this plant as we acclimate to Denver and then be sent out from it to launch our own church. My wife and I are also excited about the prospect of ministering with some good friends from college who we have ministered with us in the past and whose long-term plan is to live in Denver. Most importantly, we really just want to move to a place that needs the gospel, plant ourselves there and minister faithfully and joyfully. Denver is a place where we can do that. We believe that the Lord is leading us to plant in Denver and unless He moves us another direction (Cf. James 4:13-17) that is what we plan to do.
Training to plant at Summit Community Church
As I have talked to respected peers and mentors, some have suggested that if we decided to pursue church planting we might consider doing a church planting internship first. This sounded like sage advice, so we have pursued different options and have settled on one we believe is a good fit.
John Ryan planted Summit Community Church near St. Louis, Missouri - in a city called O’Fallon - 12 years ago. In those 12 years, Summit has experienced slow, but steady growth. John has also had the opportunity to train and send out 3 church planters over that time, while mentoring roughly 20 planters as part of the Acts 29 church planting network.
Through a series of events, I learned about the internship opportunity, and in March I went up and met John and talked church planting with him. A couple months later, Laura and I - and our two boys, Timothy and Alex - spent three nights with the Ryans and we had a blast. In addition to us having a good time, John and his wife Fran fielded all of our questions and really opened their lives up to us regarding the joys and struggles of planting a church. All parties involved believe the internship is a fit.
In mid-to-late July my wife and I will move to the St. Louis area and I will begin a church planting internship at Summit. The training will include diving into ministry in the church and community in a variety of ways and learning from John about what goes into church planting.
This training will last 12-18 months. The plan after that will be to get involved in a recently-planted church in Denver and then plant once we believe we are ready to do so. Our plant will be a part of the Southern Baptist Convention and also the Acts 29 Network, pending an assessment by Acts 29.
Your key role
The key role you can play is financial and prayer partnership in our ministry as we train to plant and then launch our plant in Denver. We will be supported by ministry partners during our internship at Summit and then also as we launch the plant in Denver.
Adoniram Judson’s sometimes lesser known counterpart is Luther Rice. Like Judson, Rice shared a burden for reaching the lost across the Atlantic from America. But the two, and others, determined that Rice could be most effective by remaining in America and raising financial support for Judson and his family. The efforts of Rice and the ministry partners he raised up made it possible for Judson to do the work he did in Burma.
Financial and prayer partnership
Our focus right now is our time at Summit. My wife and I are currently finalizing our budget, which we will submit in its entirety to multiple trusted friends for review. We believe that we will need to raise approximately $3,000 per month. Summit has gotten things started with a gracious commitment of $450 a month, so that leaves us in need of roughly $2,500 a month, beginning in August.
This is where you come in. If you believe the Lord would have you to give to support our ministry, then we would be glad for you to partner with us in that way. You can partner by committing to $25, $50, $75 or $100 a month. Or you can give a one-time gift or a monthly gift of a greater or lesser amount.
I am also in the process of contacting several pastors about their churches being partnering/sending churches with us as we plant. We will not have one large church sending us, so we are working on developing several churches and individuals who will partner with us.
We also greatly desire to have folks who will commit to pray for us as I begin church planting training and prepare to plant. We know that a price cannot be put on the value of such support. We are looking for people to commit to praying for us weekly, as well as monthly.
If you are interested in partnering with us financially, you can send an email to gwishall[at]gmail[dot]com, letting us know of your interest and what you are committing to give. Right now, we are looking for folks to commit to a year of support, beginning August 1, as well as churches who might be interested in partnering with us now and/or in the future.
Summit Community Church will be receiving all financial gifts, so they will be tax deductible. Once we receive a commitment email, we will provide the address of Summit and explain how to set up your support of us with them.[4]
Our desire
Laura and I are excited to see how the Lord will provide as we dive into this ministry endeavor. I cannot express how grateful I am to have a wife who shares my passion for advancing the gospel and making disciples.
We would ask and invite you to share in this ministry opportunity with us. Like Adoniram Judson and Luther Rice, may we all advance the gospel to the ends of the earth until Christ returns and may we partner with those who are doing the same.
In Christ, Garrett and Laura Wishall
Garrett Wishall • gwishall[at]gmail[dot]com • 502-554-2398
Laura Wishall • laura_wishall[at]yahoo[dot]com • 502-271-9440
www.wieldingthesword.com • www.twitter.com/GarrettWishall
You can also find us both on Facebook
[1]Andy Metzger, a recent graduate of Southeastern Seminary, and part of the Soma Denver church planting team: www.baptisttwentyone.com/?p=3667; www.somadenver.org.
[2]Glenmary Research Center according to the NETS Institute for Church Planting: www.netsem.org.
[3]Metzger again and the Metro Denver website: www.metrodenver.org/demographics-communities/demographics/population.html.
[4]All giving to Summit Missions is tax deductible. The giver understands that Summit Missions has the responsibility and the right to disperse funds given toward Summit Mission endeavors in any manner they see fit.