A Personal Update
Since 2015, I’ve had the privilege of serving as director of Advance Church Planting Institute. It’s a part-time role alongside my role as pastor and planter of Liberty Grace Church in Toronto.
Advance is a training ministry of FEB Central Church Planting. In my ministry with Advance, I assess church planters, train them in an initial multi-day event, lead almost-monthly training sessions, and do some coaching.
FEB Central has some big plans for church planting. They want to plant 300 churches by 2030. We have a good team, and I’ve enjoyed working with them.
When people ask what keeps me encouraged, I often mention the church planters I get to meet in the process of my work with Advance. I regularly get to sit with young couples who sense a call to plant a church. I get a front-row seat to watch what God is doing across Ontario in raising up church planters.
At the end of this month, I’m wrapping up my work with Advance. I’ll still continue to help them with assessments a few times a year, but I won’t be working with them in a part-time role come February.
The reason: I’m shifting more of my energy to Liberty Grace Church, and also to write more and develop Gospel for Life.
I love Liberty Village where God has called me. The church here needs more of my energy. I want to spend more of my time in the community in this next stage of our church’s life.
I also want to spend more time writing and developing the ministry of Gospel for Life. I started working on this ministry with Char back in 2016. Its purpose is to help Christians grow by connecting truth to life, primarily by providing clear, practical, biblical resources for discipleship. I have enough work planned that I realized I need to concentrate my energies a bit more.
Please pray for me. Making this decision was a tough one because I enjoyed working with church planters, and because developing Gospel for Life is a bit of an unknown. Please pray that God gives me wisdom so that the ministry of the church I pastor thrives, and that I’m able to use my energies well.
If you want to know more about Gospel for Life, please check out the website, subscribe to our social media feeds (Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook), sign up for the newsletter, and especially subscribe to the podcast. I’m releasing a new season of the podcast at the end of January, as well as a PDF summary of the main lessons learned in the last season of the podcast.
You can also check out my Patreon page if you’re interested in supporting this work.
Mostly, please pray. Pray for the cause of church planting in Ontario and English-speaking Québec. Pray for Liberty Grace Church and other young churches in Toronto. And please pray that God gives me wisdom as I try to steward opportunities for his glory and make the most of what God has given me. I’d appreciate it.
