How can a congregation make an impact no matter its size? In this episode we speak with Joe Daniels, the pastor of Emory Fellowship in Washington, DC, and co-author of the new book Connecting for a Change: How to Engage People, Churches, and Partners to Inspire Hope in Your Community.

Transcript

Announcer: Leading Ideas Talks is brought to you by the Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC. Subscribe free to our weekly newsletter at www.churchleadership.com/leadingideas.

Leading Ideas Talks is also brought to you by Discovering God’s Future for Your Church. This turn-key video tool kit helps your congregation discern and implement God’s vision for your church’s next faithful steps. Discovering God’s Future for Your Church is available on download and DVD at churchleadership.com/shop.

How can a congregation make an impact, no matter its size? In this episode, we speak with Joe Daniels, the pastor of Emory Fellowship in Washington, DC and co-author of the new book Connecting for a Change: How to Engage People, Churches, and Partners to Inspire Hope in Your Community.

Doug Powe:  Welcome to Leading Ideas Talks, a podcast featuring thought leaders and innovative practitioners. I’m Douglas Powe, the director of the Lewis Center and your host for this talk. Joining me is Rev. Dr. Joe Daniels, the pastor of Emory Fellowship in Washington, DC. He is the co-author of the new book Connecting for a Change: How to Engage People, Churches, and Partners to Inspire Hope in Your Community. Our focus for this podcast is “Think Big.” Joe, welcome to our podcast.

Joe Daniels: Thanks for having me, Doug. It’s good to see you.

Doug: It’s good to see you. I want to begin, Joe, with having you tell a little bit of the story of Emory Fellowship. Many have heard your story, but some have not. But Emory Fellowship has always been one to “think big.” So can you share just a little bit, briefly about Emory Fellowship and your time there over the past 20 years.

Joe: Sure, sure. Well, I came to Emory at a time when Emory was really struggling to stay alive. In its history, it was a very, very strong, white congregation. But it began to lose members in the 60’s, during the time of white flight that took place during the time of the 14th Street Riots, when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. By the time Emory received its first black pastor in 1976, the church had dwindled to 30 members. It never got above 85 members between 1976 and the time I arrived. When I arrived there, I think we had, maybe, 50 people in worship, on average. And so, I inherited a church that had been threatened with closure on three occasions. It was almost sold on two occasions. So we were literally a rebuilding project. Yet, I found a remnant within the congregation that wanted to grow, that wanted to see this church be strong. I’ll never forget Mrs. Norma Vincent, who’s still with us in a profound way, saying to me at my first SPRC meeting, “I want to see my church revived. I want to see my church revived.” And so, we’ve been thinking big from that point. We started spending a lot of time with spiritual formation. There were no Bible studies when I arrived. We had one worship service for one hour and no one saw each other for the whole week until the next Sunday. So we literally had to build pieces. So we started with Bible study. We started with spiritual formation. We then went to worship, along with the Bible study pieces. And then we got to a point where we began to go out into the community.

Doug: And let me pause there for a second and interrupt you in going out to the community because I hear you talk about this all the time. That you’re the pastor of the community.

Joe: Yes.

Doug: And that’s an important phrase for you. You also say, “Claim your zip code.” So as you talk about the community, share a little bit about, what it means to be the pastor