Ben and his wife, Angela, founded The Village, a church in Greer, SC in September, 2019 shortly before the onslaught of COVID-19.

Intent on planting a church while maintaining a career in graphic design Ben was well-placed to flourish in the face of the pandemic. When facing the crisis, the church quickly re-organized as a congregation of online microchurches.

When possible they’ve met face-to-face, though it’s their resiliency and willingness to empower everyday Christ-followers that unlocks the success they enjoy.

You’ll benefit from Ben’s very positive, yet realistic, approach to bivocational church leadership. You might be inspired to try something new.

And the church has a vision to multiply. As The Village continues to grow and form, their prayer is God’s Kingdom would come here on earth as it is in heaven by connecting, equipping and supporting missional leaders and church planters.

Catch up with Ben at The Village Church.

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This is one of the most productive podcast interviews in my short history of these attempts.

Rob Wegner is a good friend and a super intellect. Better yet, he understands the way forward after the pandemic taught us all the fragility of church as we've known it since Constantine, and certainly the way it looked so long ago back in 2019.

You'll laugh, and perhaps cry, through this interview.

Cut the head off a spider and it dies - same result if you cut off a couple of legs.

Cut two legs off a starfish and you get three starfish. Sever all five legs and you'll have six starfish. Every cell of the starfish has the ability to regenerate the entire animal.

Cut the head off of the typical U.S. church and it dies or at least goes into a slump. We too often look more like spiders than the church Jesus planted. When the head of the church ascended to heaven he sent the Holy Spirit to live in each believer and every cluster where they gathered. When persecution dismembered the church it multiplied like parts of a starfish.

Rob Wegner, Lance Ford and Alan Hirsch partnered, with the help of Ori Brafman who wrote the original Starfish and the Spider, to write this amazing challenge to us all to be more than we've imagined.

Crucially appearing on the backside of COVID, even the timing of its release was God ordained--the book held up for two years with production delays. This book is perfect for leaders attempting to discern the way forward after the pandemic.

For more, check the Kansas City Underground or scope out the book.

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OCNWTR churches began with a 10,000 bicycle Ride.

Dr. Ryan Delamater rode his bicycle from Vancouver Island to the east coast of Canada, back to San Diego and on to the nation of Columbia.

Suffering divorce and depressed, he set out on this bicycle to heal and try to find his way in 1010. As he rode, he learned that people don't have clean water in a small village in El Salvador. Upon returning home, he returned to school for a doctorate in public health, emphasizing clean water.

After a bunch of surf trips to El Salvador and a stint as a youth pastor at Saddleback later, he launched OCNWTR, combining the water initiative with microchurch planting.

Today's five OCNWTR churches will blossom to eight by the end of 2021. In September, the church plant/desalinization project in El Salvador gets duplicated in Indonesia with another in Bangladesh at year's end.

And the larger world is noticing. Ryan helped develop a water policy at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and has contracts to build solar-powered desalinization projects for the poor in several nations. Each water system will pair with a church plant.

The "launch platform" is OCNWTR in San Clemente, California. They meet in a coffee shop (one of 35,000 specialty coffee shops in the U.S.) on Tuesday evenings for tacos and church. In the face of COVID church planting difficulties, OCNWTR has discovered that most independent coffee shops close at dinner time and are rentable after hours for little or no cost to churches. There's even a tax break available to owners as an extra incentive.

If you value innovation, microchurch or Luke 4:18, you won't miss this podcast!

For more from Ryan, click on OCNWTR.com. 

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Part two of this interview moves into more results of following the Spirit without knowing quite where he's leading.

It moves into some "how-to" information. But the kicker is what happened in the lives of these two people after they launched Ps150. Not only is the ministry progressing without them but God led and is still leading into new territory.

They moved to New Mexico, at the Lord's leading. The ministry to the Apache Nation was eventually cut short when Randall discovered a serious problem with cancer. Back in Hawaii, they're currently working their way into the "family" of regulars at a local bar. This is ground for a microchurch. If you're looking for inspiration or to motivate others you'll love this episode.

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This is the story of a police officer and a school administrator renting space (with their own money) and planting a church in one of Honolulu's most difficult neighborhoods.

A gang shooting motivated the Kalamas to do "something more." They had already spent an evening each month on the streets of Honolulu's skid row when the violence occurred. That something more took the form of a microchurch that grew into much more.

Eleven years later the church is going strong. This story will inspire you to do something more where you live. Randall left a role as key worship leader in one of Hawaii's largest churches to do this ministry. God later took the family to New Mexico where they were able to minister to the Apache Nation. A battle with cancer later they are back in Honolulu and beginning a new ministry by making friends in a bar in their hometown, but you'll hear that next week in part 2 of this story.

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Gabe Kolstad leads Westside Community Church, a multisite and church planting congregation. He also leads Multiply PDX, a collective of churches intent on changing the future of Portland Oregon.

Join the discussion as we delve into Gabe's experience leading a growing multi-site church that now plants churches, is investigating the hybrid future of the church and spearheads a collaborative, strengths-based movement intent on bringing Jesus to one of the least Christ-conscious cities in our nation.

As the church addresses the 21st century it is rapidly assuming a hybrid form, utilizing both digital and face-to-face communications. Though COVID may have hastened this, it predates the pandemic. We're all learning to maximize the opportunities we face during this often stressful, but exciting era.

Gabe openly shares mistakes along with victories. This is a podcast you can't afford to miss.

You can follow up with Gabe via Westside or through Multiply PDX.

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OCNWTR is the product of more than 10,000 miles of riding a bike.

After a painful divorce, Ryan rode across Canada, then across the United States and finally to Columbia in South America. All in a (fruitful) attempt to find peace and regain a healthy perspective.

During the ride to Columbia, he posted a blog in support of an NGO providing water filters in places where drinking water is unsafe. That drove him back to school for a doctorate in public health. After a stint on staff at Saddleback he launched OCNWTR, a church that provides free desalinization plants to coastal communities in very poor countries. And, they plant churches alongside the clean water.

Just over 18 months in existence, they've planted four microchurches (up to 70 people) with one in El Salvador and the rest in Southern California. By the end of the year, they'll be in Indonesia, Bangladesh and Argentina.

You'll enjoy Ryan's freewheeling spirit (pun intended) and innovative heart. If you're thinking about launching microchurches, this episode is perfect for you!

For more from Ryan go to www.ocnwtr.com.

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Join this discussion of the future of the church as it relates to both the New Testament and the current cultural surround.

You'll learn about "boutique" vs "franchise" as those concepts relate to the church you lead, and more importantly, to the churches you may multiply.

We'll get into the underlying differences between churches at Level 3 addition, 3.5 multisite, 4 reproduction and the kind of courage demanded of Level 5 multipliers. Finally, this talk underscores the power and necessity of friendships with people outside the safe circles of your congregation for effective evangelism to occur.

If you get into this, you may want to pick up a copy of Let Go of the Ring, the story of a tiny church that touched off a movement.

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Norman Nakanishi is a close friend.

He leads one of the largest congregations in Hawaii. Yet, his focus is on disciplemaking rather than the thrill of the crowd.

He's a disciplemaker who trains young leaders to plant churches. The fruit of his labor stretches across the state, though he tends not to talk about it.

We've been friends for more than thirty years. He's a son in the faith to me. This was a fun interview because of our history. You can catch up with Norman at the Pearlside Church website.

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Casey and I met when he attached a very practical comment to a blog post I had written.

As we became friends I found him doing most things the world needs from the church. He left a career to plant co-vocationally. He's into disciplemaking as a way of evangelism. His church is into neighboring. They are crossing ethnic divides with intentionality. This church even uses Zoom as a blessing instead of a curse. You'll need to listen to the podcast to discover how...

If you are young with a whole life ahead of you, then you should keep track of Casey and his friends. In my mind, they are a few years ahead of the church in general. Well worth watching and learning from these people.

Casey, Sanchez Fair and Stephen Knopp lead Multiply Church in Charlotte, NC. You can catch up with them via their website at multiplychurch.com.

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