LovePastors founder Gary Underwood is thrilled to sit down with Pastor Britton Smith, who was a part of Gary's youth ministry in southwest Michigan all the way back in 1996! Britton's adventures as a pastor moved him from Taylor University to Holland, Michigan and a Lead Pastor role in his early 30's at Moran Park Church.

As a young, gifted, "successful" pastor of a fast-growing church, everything Britton thought he wanted was starting to happen. But God gently and gradually revealed the church's desperate lack of discipleship and all-too-common reliance on performance, programs, and systems.

This was Britton Smith's reality as a Lead Pastor in Holland, Michigan, when God's Spirit and Britton's deepest longings to impact people started to push back.

Was God moving Britton to lead the church in a different direction? Would the church leaders and staff jump on board and seize the opportunity to redefine church from services to relationships?

As a pastor, husband, father, and friend, would Britton actually embrace a radically-different definition of "church" and a more eternally-minded set of priorites?

Britton's internal struggle led to a firm "yes, Lord," as he stepped away from his traditional pastor job to pursue a completely different "career path" in ministry. With Pastor to Pioneer, Britton and many others are helping pastors move from "managing the institution" to a more life-giving form of ministry, where your home is the hub for worship, discipleship, and mission.

If you're a pastor or know a ministry leader who is wrestling with trying to fit their pastoral heart and calling into a dying or outdated role in the church, please visit Pastor to Pioneer and know that there are others asking the same questions.