As a college student, God gave me a dream of planting a church in a major city that would impact the city by continuing to fill it with church plants. Today I'm familiar with many models of this type of multiplication, but at the time it was a dream without any context. Then I heard Pastor Jeff Leake speak at a conference.
Jeff told his story. As senior pastor of Allison Park Church, he followed God's leading to planting five churches in five years in the Pittsburgh region. Hearing his story was a burning bush moment for me. I realized the dream God had given could happen.
A few years later God gave me a relationship with Jeff. Since then he has mentored me and supported our church planting efforts in Metro Detroit. Three years ago he even introduced me to my wife. In other words, I owe him:)
When God called Leah and I to move to a new city to plant another church, I began processing the move with Jeff. He had been carrying a growing burden for Philadelphia for several months, and asked me if I'd ever thought about Philly as an option. I hadn't, but after he brought it up God orchestrated a series of four independent messages within a few days from four different people that drew our attention specifically to Philly. Then, as we spent time researching and praying, God gripped our hearts for the city.
You can read what happened in Jeff's heart here and here.
Allison Park Church is currently in the process of launching their ninth church plant in Pittsburgh. These churches continue to relate through an emerging church planting network called Multi-Church Movements (MCM). This network carries our DNA, and we're excited to be a part of them. Yesterday I drove the city with Nick Poole and visited all of the MCM church plants. It's a great group of churches and leaders.
Our goal is to plant a church planting network in Philadelphia by expanding MCM in that city. This week I'm settling into an office at Allison Park Church, where we'll be based for the next four months while we lay the groundwork for the Philly Project. So thankful for APC's generosity and Jeff's influence as we pursue this dream!
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