We Are Send Network

In this special episode Dhati Lewis sits down with some of the leading church planting practitioners and thought leaders in the nation — Vance Pitman, Ed Kang, Sean Sears, James Roberson and Martín Vargas — to answer your questions about how to practically shepherd your church and continue to fulfill the Great Commission during COVID-19.

Supporting your husband, taking care of the kids and their schoolwork, following up with members in your church and sharing the gospel — planting wives do a lot. And now, with the COVID-19 outbreak, they do it all from their home. In this episode, Dhati Lewis sits down with Kathy Litton, director of planter spouse development for Send Network, and Seané Rice, planting wife of Connect Church in New Orleans, to talk about the unique challenges.

In a short time, COVID-19 consumed our world (literally), and the Church has been forced to adjust. The coronavirus has revealed aspects about the Church in North America that have previously been obscure. In this episode, Dhati Lewis and Brad Brisco, the director of bivocational church planting for the North American Mission Board, discuss four things every pastor and church planter should be thinking about today, before COVID-19 subsides.

What we’re seeing right now with COVID-19 is not the crisis—it’s only phase one. How can the Church be prepared for the coming phases of the COVID-19 pandemic? In this episode, Dhati Lewis interviews Ed Stetzer, executive director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College and an expert consultant on crisis management, about the Church’s response to COVID-19, the different phases we’ll experience and the hopeful new normal after the crisis subsides.

COVID-19 has brought Sunday services—and the world—to a temporary halt. These are unnerving, unpredictable times. As pastors and church planters, our initial impulse could be fear — fear of what’s going to happen to our church, our community, our family. In this special episode, Dhati Lewis sits down (virtually, of course!) with Clint Clifton, church planter and lead pastor of Pillar Church in the D.C. area and the new senior director of development for Send Network, and Noah Oldham, church planter and lead pastor of August Gate Church in St. Louis and the new senior director of deployment for Send Network. Together, they discuss what pastors need in these unprecedented times, initiatives th

Money can’t solve all of your church’s issues, but it can fund the vision. Fundraising is important, but money and finances is a prominent struggle for church planters. On this episode of We are Send Network, Dhati Lewis interviews Matt Lawson, lead pastor of Story City Church in Burbank, CA, to talk about two essential things every church planter needs to fundraise for their church.

The numbers don’t tell the whole story, but they tell an important part of it. In 2015, 4,000 churches were planted. In the same year, 3,700 churches closed their doors. Five years later, our numbers aren’t much better. We need to plant and revitalize churches. In this episode, Dhati Lewis interviews Daniel Yang, the director of Send Institute, to talk about the state and stats of North American missions.

How do pastors start residencies? Should they begin with leaders in their church or draw from people outside of their congregation? On this episode, Dhati Lewis sits down with Clint Clifton— church planter and lead pastor of Pillar Church in Dumfries, Virginia— to talk about how pastors and church planters can practically start residency programs and raise up missional leaders from within their congregation.

“70% of kids who grew up in good churches walk away from Jesus in college,” said Troy Nesbitt, Director of the Salt Network. The college campus is littered with prodigals and students who have never been exposed to Christianity. Learn why and how church plants can reach this demographic as Dhati Lewis and Troy Nesbitt talk about their strategy behind planting churches on major university campuses and why reaching the next generation is vital.

To see Acts 2 lived out today, you need not look any further than university age students living out their faith. Meeting daily, breaking bread, praying and studying God’s Word regularly—there’s perhaps no easier place to model Acts 2 than on the campus. This week, Dhati Lewis interviews Ed Kang, lead pastor of Gracepoint Church, as he shares about how they develop and train leaders on the college campus toward the vision of having “an Acts 2 church in every college town.”