New Churches Podcast | Season 1 | Episode 680

Serial Church Planting

Ed Stetzer & Jared Huntley

Episode 680: Serial church planting hasn’t seemed to be a valued option in the world of church planting. Ed Stetzer talks with two experienced sequential planters – John Worcester and Jared Huntley – about the nuts and bolts of planting a church, positioning it for long-term efectiveness, then moving on to plant another.

In This Episode, You’ll Discover:

  • Why it is important that we think in terms of and create pathways for serial church planting
  • What it looks like to be a sequential planter
  • What the finances of serial planting look like
  • Where the energy and motivation for sequential planting come from
  • The family implications of moving frequently

Helpful Resources:

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Sharable Quotes (#NewChurches):

I get a plant up to support level, work hard to find the takeover pastor and then turn it over. God puts it together in various kinds of ways. The denomination has helped at various times. Churches and individual friends helped us various ways. Every time we plant, we start over and piece it together. – John Worcester

If it sounds exhausting and draining to you, then it’s probably not how you’re wired and you probably shouldn’t do it. Starting new things energizes and excites me. I didn’t set out to be a serial church planter. I just realized I’m gifted at it. @Jared Huntley

One of the benefits of being a serial church planter is that you learn from your mistakes and you’re able to be a more effective church planter. @Jared Huntley

Our experience has been that it’s been really good for the family. It’s helped make us more dependent as a unit on one another rather than them getting dependent on on their peers. Our kids learned how to meet new people and go new places and do different things. – John Worcester

Most church planters in North America see church planting as an entrepreneurial beginning to something that’s probably a long-term vocation. They’re going to be pastor of this church. But many church-planting missionaries tend to birth missionaries. @EdStetzer

There’s a fine line between being wired and gifted by God as a serial church planter and being discontented and restless. That’s something each person has to wrestle through on their own and it can be helpful to invite others in to speak into that. @Jared Huntley

Some of the things to look for to discern whether this might be something God’s calling you to is if you’re energized by starting new things. Are you a self-starter? Do you have a track record of people following your leadership? Are you able to articulate and cast vision in a compelling way that other people want to get involved and jump in? Are you able to develop leaders? @Jared Huntley

Published on July 05, 2022

About the Podcast

New Churches Podcast

The New Churches podcast offers practical answers to your real ministry questions. We aren’t going to provide lofty pie-in-the-sky theories. Instead, we are going to help you in your real ministry context, with your real thoughts, questions, and issues.

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Meet the Authors

Ed Stetzer

Ed Stetzer, Ph.D., is a professor and dean at Wheaton College where he also serves as Executive Director of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center.  He is the incoming Dean of Talbot School of Theology at Biola University. He has planted, revitalized, and pastored churches; trained pastors and church planters on six continents; earned two master’s degrees and two doctorates; and he has written hundreds of articles and a dozen books. He is Regional Director for Lausanne North America, is the Editor-in-Chief of Outreach Magazine, and regularly writes for news outlets such as USA Today and CNN. His national radio show, Ed Stetzer Live, airs Saturdays on Moody Radio and affiliates. He serves at his local church, Mariners Church, as a Scholar in Residence and Teaching Pastor.

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Jared Huntley

Jared, a native Texan who grew up in Houston, recently moved to San Antonio, Texas, with his wife (Jen) and three children to plant Pillar Church of San Antonio. Before this stop, Jared was the planter and pastor of Pillar Church of Washington, D.C., and before that he planted and pastored Fellowship Oshawa in Ontario, Canada. Jared and his wife Jen are now focused on planting churches in military communities in partnership with the Praetorian Project, a family of multiplying churches in military communities around the world. To learn more about this new work outside of Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, visit www.pillarsanantonio.com.

More Resources from Jared