Encounter and Live
A Bridger Church Podcast
Encounter and Live
Gospel Multiplication
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In this episode we have guests from our sending church: The Church of Eleven22. We talk about our story of being sent out by Eleven22 and the bigger story of planting churches as obedience to the great commission to make disciples.
We pray this episode encourages you to take the next step of obedience in making disciples. Even if that means moving across the country.
Welcome to Encounter and Live, a Bridget Church podcast. Bridget Church is a light for the world to encounter Jesus and live life in him. We pray that this podcast becomes an additional resource for you as you live life in Christ. Thanks for taking the time to listen today. Let's lock in.
SPEAKER_02Well, hey, welcome to another fun episode of Encounter and Live. I think this will be fun because it does feel like a bit of a bonus episode. We did miss a week. I've overly apologized about that to all of you listeners that continue to send us hateful comments. I'm joking, I made that last part up. But today I think it'll be a great episode because we're talking about church planting. We're talking about some of the why behind planting Bridger Church, why it is we came across the country, some of our story. We haven't necessarily shared a ton of uh the the Bridger story, and maybe we get to do that a little bit here. But this will be good. I want to introduce you to some of my favorite people on the planet who are here in Bozeman for this week. And uh we'll talk a little bit too about why they're here. But uh to my right, your whatever on your Across Street Radio dial is the one and only Travis Willard. Travis, why don't you introduce yourself? Thanks for being here. Where do you currently reside and what do you do?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, thanks for having us, me here. My name is Travis Willard. I live in uh greater Jacksonville area, Florida. If you're from Duval County, you are very proud of that. I'm not from it. I live in Clay County. It's the sister neighborhood. But shout out Clay County. Shout out Clay County. I'm a campus pastor at the Church of 1122 in Fleming Island, Florida, and it's my joy to have been in ministry with uh Pastor Todd for seven plus years now. So it's a joy to sit in a room in Montana enjoying six inches of snow on the ground outside. What a beautiful place.
SPEAKER_02Was it shocking when y'all walked out the front door this morning where you're like, holy cow? No, it was beautiful.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Because yesterday, I honestly it is beautiful, but I didn't expect this much snow. Yeah, I don't think we did either, but yeah, yeah, it was beautiful.
SPEAKER_03It's like, holy cow.
SPEAKER_05You it's a just a different thing. You Florida bones don't know how to handle it.
SPEAKER_03Right. It's actually not that bad as far as cold, though. It's just it's it's the wet. That's uh that's yeah, it's light snow. So it's great.
SPEAKER_02It's slushy, it's spring snow. It's like walking around in the slushy. Yeah, so that's right.
SPEAKER_00Chris, welcome. I'm honored to be here and thankful. Uh my name is uh Chris Newton, and um it was just an honor to come here and uh just be here with you, man, just to be here with you, Todd. I haven't uh I haven't seen you since you you were sent, and uh I'm thankful to see you, brother. Um, but I do I also live uh in Clay County, uh, and I turn I uh um attend the Church of 1122 in Fleming Island uh with Pastor Travis, and uh I serve that church. I love that church. Uh and just serve one of the deacons. One of the deacons. Thank you, Pastor Todd. Um and uh yeah, deacon, just uh footwasher, right? Like just doing all that I can, seeing an opportunity and trying to serve in that space. So I uh I love Pastor Todd. Uh we've shared uh many years of some ministry together. We've also shared uh the hunting woods together. We've we've been hunting together before, um, and uh just uh side by side have done some things. And I just uh just absolutely love uh your heart and um just coming here and seeing all that's happened thus far in a very short amount of time. And man, I know my heart and and these brothers too. We want we're we want to be your greatest cheerleaders just watching from uh Florida and uh the ministry, the the gospel of Jesus is being is being delivered and preached, and dude, we love it. We love it, man. So yeah, thank you. I love it. Thanks for being here.
SPEAKER_02You serve super well. Thanks so love you, bro. Love you too.
SPEAKER_03David? Yeah, um, my name's David Ferreira. Um I am actually uh from the sister, I'm like a the sister uh church to uh Fleming Island. I'm over at uh Orange Park campus. Um getting to be here, getting to be involved in this planning has just been an a great opportunity. Um I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunity to come out here and see the see the mountain west. And uh it's gorgeous. Thank you for having us. Um some of our main reasons for being here is is just what uh Chris said. We're here for you, man. Anything that we can help do, we just love to be your cheerleader from afar. And uh any way we can be impactful here in in in Bozeman, we are uh ready to go. We're ready to be sent, we're ready to be called on. Um I know we're not the only three that are interested in in seeing what's going on out here, and so it's gonna be exciting to see what the future foretells. Yeah, bro.
SPEAKER_02In some ways, it feels it feels a lot like uh the men from Jerusalem are coming to check on the, you know. Amen. I've had a thought. It's but it's awesome. It's awesome. I um I was really looking forward to having you guys here. A big part of why they are here is because in September, um do we we don't have I don't have the exact dates in front of me. I want to say the 9th through the 15th, somewhere in that. Yeah, there's uh uh mission team from 1122, which is our ascending church, that's gonna come and help us do a bunch of stuff. That weekend, it'll feel like a big back to school launch 2.0 type weekend. And so we're really looking forward to that. And we spent a lot of time planning. As a matter of fact, this evening we'll spend some more time planning, just making sure I've been, you may be listening to this and you've been on mission trips either domestically or internationally, to where it feels like you are wasting a lot of time, you feel like you're wasting a lot of the missionaries' time. You've got all these people that raise money to come on a trip, and it's like, what are we gonna do today? Well, then rather than that happen, uh, which I don't think would, I think, I think folks from our our crew they show up, they'll be ready to roll and do whatever. But we want to just specifically strategically prepare for that trip. And so I'm grateful for you guys.
unknownOf course.
SPEAKER_02Uh man, when I think about ascending, we're gonna just want to talk about ascending church and a church plant relationship. When people ask about the how behind Bridger Church, I cannot give answer without mentioning the the just power of ascending church. And I'm not talking about like we're gonna send out you know some church planners, and it feels like there's a service, we're gonna pray over them. Good luck, find all the networks. As much as it was like in all the right ways, I feel like we were sent from 1122 with just rocket fuel. Yeah, and I'm not just talking about uh by way of finances, I'm talking about by this summer, there will be close to about 65 people that have moved from 1122 to Bozeman to join the mission of to live life on mission of Bridger Church. Bridger Church is a light for the world to encounter Jesus and live life in him. The mission is that we're gonna seek to glorify God. And when I say the mission is how we're gonna live out this vision, right? We're gonna seek to glorify God with all that we are and all that we have, by loving him with all that we are and all that we have, and by making disciples that cover the earth.
SPEAKER_00Amen.
SPEAKER_02That's just kind of birthed out of not just the New Testament. It's not something I just sat and made up. But when I think about ascending church, Acts 13, you're there's a church in Antioch. Um, by this time, Paul has been converted. By this time, he has shared the gospel in many places. He's in Antioch. Antioch's one of the first little places that people were called Christians. The church in Antioch is thriving. And the Spirit tells the church while they were worshiping and fasting, the Spirit of the Lord said, Set apart from me Barnabas and Saul for the work for which I had called them. Then after praying and fasting, they laid their hands on them and they sent them off. And that was like one of the first church planting send-offs. And what we know from the rest of the New Testament is this team goes on several missionary journeys, plants churches in these areas, comes back. I'm not uh reading the part where they come back and just report and celebrate all that God does. Sure. And in so many ways, that's kind of what I want to do today is talk about the relationship between ascending church and a church that's been planted, and then give way for opportunity to celebrate what God is doing. And I want to know, like from y'all, just so y'all know, what's God doing at 1122? And a lot of people do already know what God's doing at 1122, but some people don't, you know, some people have no idea. They may know who Pastor Joby is, but he pastors a flock. He pastors the flock, and the reason uh that 1122 gets this like international interest, if you will, uh sure it has to do with the great leadership of our pastor, but the people, man, the flock changes the community. I've seen it with my own eyes, and y'all are a part of it. So, anyways, um I guess I want to ask you guys a question to start with just talking about big picture vision. What does it actually mean to be ascending church versus just a supporting church?
SPEAKER_00Man, to answer that question, I mean it's a it's a pretty powerful question, right? Um I mean, as I've been praying on this, I knew this podcast was coming, right? And we'd we had talked about it, and and I'm just praying through it, and I really the desire is for Jesus to be heard. And this morning, I mean, even this morning, I woke up fresh with this on my mind, and the words uh Jesus came in came into the neighborhood and and he changed the neighborhood. And I honestly I didn't know exactly where that came from. Um quickly looked it up, and it comes from John, John 1. And I just like to share that really, really quick, if you don't mind. Yeah, so John, John starts out with in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word is God. And 114 says, and um the word became flesh and dwelt among us. I looked over into the passage because that's where this actually comes from. And uh the passage in John 1.14 says the word became flesh and blood. The message, yes, the message translation. Thank you, Pastor Todd, the message translation, which is a paraphrase, but it is used. Uh John 1.14 said, The word become flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one of a kind glory, like father, like son, generous inside and out, true from start to finish. That was just on my heart this morning. That the word just moved into the neighborhood. Jesus moved into the neighborhood, and that's what I think when I think sending. And yes, Bridger Church is coming, but Jesus is the reason for that. And there's going to be uh a changed generation, there's going to be a changed neighborhood. And uh I commend you, Pastor Todd, for bringing that message because just the years I of knowing you, I know that the reason that you do that is because you know that Jesus changes things, changes neighborhoods, it changes lives, it changes communities. Um, and and it that's amazing. I mean, we could all sit around here right now and share testimonies of our own changed lives and the communities around us that have been changed. So I think that is a giant part of ascending church, taking you know the things that uh from 1122 and bringing them here to Bozeman. Um, yeah.
SPEAKER_02And I want to be careful to like add to that last comment. Sure. Uh, what we're not trying to do is plant the church with 1123 or 1122 2.0, sure. Or any kind of hybrid, like this is we're not planting the community church in our heads. We're we're planting the church that's in the community. And so a ton of what we do is completely shaped, of course, by the influence of ascending church. The gospel's the gospel no matter where you are, but the like as far as like on the ground, in the weeds, the making of disciples, a church plan is just gonna be different. But I love the the the gospel grounding that you gave us from John because we are the body of Christ as a church, sure, and so putting on flesh and blood, moving into the neighborhood, you know, like the body of Christ moving into the neighborhood, we want the gospel to permeate from the place, the ground.
SPEAKER_05You're walking on mission, and the mission of God is the glory of God. Yeah, which we're always on mission. Yeah. And so if we just talk practically, I think as a church, we are both a sending church and a supporting church. Um, but the unique thing of a sending church isn't that we're just supporting through prayer or money, which is important and totally necessary um in supporting local churches. Um, but we actively engage in sending our people, sending people who carry a culture um that is missionally minded to be on gospel mission. And like I would tell anybody, if the Lord's calling you to go, go. You should go. The gospel is not a thing that you can just hold in your hand and do nothing with. Um you gotta do something with it. And so if he's calling you to go to uh Zimbabwe or he's calling you to go to Montana, dress differently, but yeah, uh you should go.
SPEAKER_02That's good. And I'll say this from because that's a good word about like we're both senders and supporters. Back in March of 2025, is when we were in the Titus series at 1122, and I got to preach with Pastor Britt Titus 1, and we shared the vision and plan to plant Bridger. As a result of that, not only did they let me just share and ask, I mean, I told our church, I'm praying 100 people come with us to plant. And people thought like I was crazy. I felt crazy for saying it, but I just like just we believe in a big God who's into the immeasurably more, right? And so as a result of that, both in Jacksonville and here, vision and interest, there were there were 300 people that came bridge like two interest nights. And then as a result of that, about 75 or so took the step to say, we want to come. And like I said earlier, about 65 of those actually are like coming, actually will be here by the end of the summer. Which is incredible. Yeah, it is incredible. It's amazing. That's what I mean by like the impact of us ascending church. It truly was like a, and then it was it wasn't until this past February, two months ago, that our commissioning took place to where like elders from 1122 laid hands on my wife and I and just said, go, like be blessed as you go. It was this whole, like it felt like that Acts 13 moment, you know, even though we had been here, even though we had started a bunch of stuff, like I'm super grateful. But then they're supporting churches. One of the beautiful things about planting a church anywhere is that uh the the list, the long list of churches that are around the country that said, we believe in what you're doing and we want to support by sending teams and sending monthly donations to continue. Because 90% in any church plant, the general rule is about 90% your first year of self-sustaining funds are going to come externally as you internally disciple generosity and people in that in that direction. And so there's a ton of supporting churches, but 1122 is our sending church that sent us out, that like discipled us from within, sent us out. And we want to do the same thing, by the way. God willing, we continue to do that. Anything else on that question from from you guys about like sending versus supporting?
SPEAKER_03Just something I I wrote down, but both of you kind of touched on it, is the community, right? Like the central community aspect of the relationships that were built for the years that you that you were pastor over the of the Fleming Island campus, right? It just that community that you built, that support, those people want to be here. And and they're all they're all you know, contacting you, they're they're reaching out to you, they're supporting however they can. It has everything to do with just the community of relationships that you built to help push you out.
SPEAKER_02That's good. That's a good point because you know, I think I was at Fleming Island probably five and a half, six years, I can't remember how exactly how long. Um but when you plow in one direction and you like I would I would encourage any church planter that maybe listening to this or have a desire to plant, it wasn't just like, you know what, I just want to, I think it's time. As much as it was like as well after the decision, I believe, that the Lord laid on my heart in 2020 to plant a church, we didn't leave until 2025. We just continued to disciple minister, Pastor, not just at Fleming Island, but our at our church as a whole, taking people on mission, making disciples, submitting to the spiritual authority of Pastor Joby and the elders, and then it eventually just like getting their blessing because I wasn't going to leave without it. And I think, and I've heard Pastor Joby talk about this quite a bit, but I think that when if you don't have spiritual authority that you've submitted to in the church planting process, and it may be a network, it may be some denominational influence, but for me it was my pastor and the elders at the church of 1122, and just receiving the blessing from them, as you just we just kind of laid out the plan, you know, completely being okay with them going, I I think maybe we need to wait another two years. Yeah, and I'll be like, okay, you know. But they were with us every step along the way, and that also gave us time to just like cast vision, you know, and and I think as a result of that, we're looking at a just rocket fuel being sent out from sending church.
SPEAKER_05Can I add to I think any uh any church planter can learn from that lesson of you had it in your heart years before you took action upon it, you knew where God was sending you, but our church never suffered from your mission being misaligned with who we were as missionally as a church. Uh it was it was an it's an it's incredible because I think if you attended our church, you knew Pastor Todd as your pastor, not as a pastor who was sitting in a seat until he was able to go. Uh and I think that's trim tremendously commendable and says a lot about your character as a pastor, is that where the Lord had you in that season, you were faithful to what was asked of you in that season. And then when you were released to go, he said, We're going 100%, let's go. But no ministry ever felt like it was secondary to the thing that the Lord had put in you, you were faithful in the spot where he had placed you. And that if you're a young church planner and you have the zeal for this calling, um, if if if your personal mission over you know starts to combat against the mission of the people of God, the mission of God, then I think you're in a little bit of conflict there. So I think that says a lot about you, and I uh we can already see that uh coming in the fruit that's happening already in the church right now is that you your uh your planted faithfulness is uh seeing gospel fruit already.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, man. I appreciate that. I appreciate that. Uh one of the moves that uh sending churches make and they weigh is counting the cost. Uh I think Jesus reminds us of this. I think that you know, he uses the example of if a builder's gonna build a building, he's gonna count the cost rather than building half the tower and realizing I don't have what it takes to complete this kind of a thing. Um discipleship is the same thing when you take up the cross and follow Jesus to count the cost. Planting church, same thing, count the cost. And I'm not just talking about like what is the cost gonna be to lease the building monthly? What is the what is it gonna cost to pay, you know? That's not necessarily what we're talking about. So let's unpack that a minute because I was in it. But then Travis, you and I, like you were the worship leader at our campus when we launched. Chris, you were around, you know, and you kind of walked with us through the process. David, when you showed up at Fleming Island and then we launched out Orange Park. Park, went to Orange Park. I don't know if you knew like um at what point you did know that, like, all right, we're gonna plant a church, Todd's gonna be the lead pastor.
SPEAKER_03I don't know when that No, no, not not until you had said it the first time with Britt.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Um but what what it is that we felt together. And honestly, like I've heard when I sat with Joby on the Deep In podcast, he was he was like, it's dumb, it's organizationally dumb, you know? And I think I heard Jay Owen say the same thing. He's like, businesses don't do this, man. Like, they don't send out people like this. So let's let's just unpack of like the literal in the weeds. These are things we had to think about.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I mean the cool thing about this is that it's a mindset that we've stacked hands on as a church. That we are um, I mean, it's a core pul core part of our culture and mission um that we are we even have as a as a as a code of conduct, we are um gospel-centered and mission focused. And I love the idea that the in 2016 or 2017, um God had laid it on our leaders that this was just going to be a part of our DNA, who we are as a church. And so then we started a 10-year plan to plush churches that are locally led, uh, gospel-centered churches, whether they are across the country or they are in our back. We're planting churches inside of Jacksonville, which is an incredible thing to say, hey, we're gonna plant a church and we're gonna we're gonna build up a church leader to move two miles down the road because there's still work to be done.
SPEAKER_03There's still room for there's room for one more.
SPEAKER_05Also, we're sending our goal is to send a hundred full-time missionaries, and I think we're now in the 90s. Like that's how many missionaries, full-time, long-term missionaries that we're sending. And then uh to launch 10 campuses. And the beauty of the growth of 1122, what God's doing there is that uh that number has had to be amended because at one point we shot too low. Yeah, we said, Hey, we need we're gonna plant this many campuses. And then God said, No, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna bless it in a way that you're not prepared to see. Right. And I love it. And um, being gospel-minded and or gospel-centered and mission-focused movement, we don't we don't aim to be a a collecting cul-de-sac. Pastor Joby says a lot, we're not a cul-de-sac, um, but we are a conduit of God's grace. And so conduit, it is it works through us. We go to a place and it and it and we and we take it with us. It works through us. We're not there to store up resources and and say, no, this is ours. No, the the mission of God is bigger than us.
SPEAKER_02That's right.
SPEAKER_05The church is not just what's happening in Jacksonville, Florida. Um, the gr the big sea church is happening in basements in China and underground in Iraq and in um repurposed buildings in Montana, all over the place. Like buildings that look like the inside of the upside-down ark. Praise God. It's awesome. Yeah, and it's creaky and it's messy, and it's beautiful that there are people who are getting baptized in Horthroths and in dirty creeks and all over the place, in the ocean. Um and so it's worth the cost. Whatever it takes, that's what the gospel demands, whatever it takes. And so we have just um agreed upon before that we will do whatever it takes.
SPEAKER_02I think that that is like what you just said is kind of powerful. You made a decision that will make all the other decisions, yeah. In you know, Pastor Joby, the elders, we will be a church planning church. I think that's a principle for all of life. Yeah, sure. You know, it's like working out. Why do you get up and do it? Because I decided I was gonna do it, you know, like I've already, even when it's hard. And it is hard, man. Like gospel goodbyes are hard. For sure. For sure.
SPEAKER_05You know, you don't haphazardly do anything hard. You have to pre-decide it. You don't accidentally do something worth worth doing. You have to be prepared to to do it.
SPEAKER_00I mean, my own personal testimony is you one time, I mean, you are still, but you're not as close to me. You one of my Matt carriers. And I know that might be a a little bit of a different language, but for us at 1122, we we understand that, right? We we need men around us. You also, as well as another brother that is now here in Montana, were Matt carriers for me. So I had to quickly uh to get others, and there was a there like I was uh uh there was a sorrowful goodbye, but I was so proud to send you. Why? Because there is one more here in Bozeman. There are one more, there are uh communities here in Bozeman, and uh and and I knew you and some other people coming here could um you know um put your hands to the work that is needed here, um, which is gonna change uh a lot of things. Um so uh why why is there this uh this cost to sending? Well, discipleship's costly sometimes, but it's absolutely worth it. Like the benefits outweigh uh the cost. I mean, Titus would say that the the grace of God was for all. Uh and we know that language, that we are a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. And and probably not the same language that maybe Bridger would use, but the still the heart posture behind that is the same that uh you, Todd, want to share Jesus because you know that Jesus is for all people. That's right.
SPEAKER_02I um I remember the internal conflict, like about the the staying versus going, you know? Because you never know what's on the other side of your obedience, you never know. And like this coming weekend, actually, when you have listened to this, we would have just ended Acts chapter 8 as a church and uh Philip. Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, right? Philip had a thriving ministry in Samaria. It was crushing, it was crushing. And people were being baptized, magicians were getting convicted about trying to buy God's favor and all this stuff, and then God says, Go to the desert road. And he he reached one dude, okay. I'm not by any means saying that Bozeman, Montana is the desert road. It is, however, 23 and a half thousand miles away from where I used to live. And it feels a bit like, man, my family's there, we're here, we've moved a bunch of people here. But I don't know. All I can do is just trust the Lord, you know, that generations from now, you know, and we said this the other night around the fire, men. Like the the what I want to do is stand in heaven one day, and some kid comes up and taps, you know, Matt Ballard on the shoulder. Amen. And says, Hey, thank you for your faithfulness. Because my grandfather went to a church that you guys planted out of Butte, Montana, and got heard the gospel and was saved. That church was planted out of Bridger in Bozeman, Montana. And there's this like generational, you know, people are just, yeah, as we glorify God, of course, but people come up and they're just like, Thank you for your faith because of the faithfulness of the one on the cross at work in our lives, not the one on the cross, but the one on the throne that we're worshiping in heaven. And because of his faithfulness in our lives working, there's just generations that have been transformed, communities that have been transformed.
SPEAKER_05There will be magicians in heaven who have surrendered their life to Jesus because of him.
SPEAKER_02There you go, dude. That's right. Magicians. That's right. Name Simon. Yeah. Why? Because the man on the middle cross. The magus. Yeah, dude, the man on the middle cross said I could come.
SPEAKER_03So thinking of it, not a financial cost, right? But of a cost of losing you as a lead pastor. Um, it would be selfish to not send you, right? It would be selfish to not push the gospel outside of the four walls. And um, so I think of like, is there a cost, uh, you know, spiritually cost of losing you in the flock? No. I think that's what's called for you to do. And uh, and and to have the sending church back you and and bless you on the way out is you know, a hundred biblical.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. Amen. If if you ask the why behind the why, it has everything to do with like we're Bible people, like we actually believe what it says, and the outcomes are true. All these principles, when lived out, are done God's way. They work. I think JD Greer's got the great book about gaining by losing. Sure. You know, it's a kingdom thing. Like in our God's math, just don't compute with our math. Right. But it's God's math that we can that we can trust. It looks like subtraction on one end, but it's kingdom advancement on the other end, you know. That's what we're that's what we're about. And it's hard, dude. Like it really is. If if it's easy to any for any church planner to leave a Sindy church, like, all right, I'm not there anymore, then in the first place, we weren't living the family that we were supposed to as a like church. It should be super hard, you know. And it was like the guy sitting to my right, right here, Travis, became the campus pastor after I left. And it wasn't easy. It might still not be like the easiest thing ever. But the transition, like in the middle, like the the circumstances around the transition, it was like, could this happen at a worse time? Yeah, no doubt.
SPEAKER_00No doubt.
SPEAKER_02You know what I mean? And logistically, probably we could we could spin circles around like we we could have waited, we could have done whatever. But as it happened, it was almost like God was saying, your life, Travis, as a pastor is going to be marked with how it started. You know, like doing funerals and weeping with families, you know, and all of that thing, all of that on day one, yeah. Yeah, it was a part of what we were doing, but it was hard. And the reason that we were weeping is yes, there was a transition happening, but there was a flock that we were leading in the process. There was a flock that was multiplying in the process, there was a flock that was being sent out as in in the process.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, can I just uh maybe not a non-sequitur, but as a worship pastor moving into campus pastor world, um I just want to say this to any worship leaders that would listen to this, that shouldn't be a hard change. It shouldn't be a drastic change to your ministry. You should be pastoring the flock. That's good. No matter what your role, ministry is bigger than your position. And so if you stand on a stage and lead worship, awesome. God has uniquely gifted you to do that, but your ministry does not terminate with that. Just that. Right. Yeah. So uh the the call, I listen, I hope there is a radical call for a lot of worship leaders to become campus pastors or just be pastors in general. And so if I had to be one of them, uh, well, God's leading us through it. And it's it's been incredible. It's been incredibly tough, but it's been incredible. You know, this whole sanctification thing, it's it's hard. It's it's a tough thing. And so God didn't call us to be comfortable, he called us into hard things. And whether it is um w walking into a new neighborhood, planning a church, or it is um changing your position in ministry, or it's getting up and going from your six-figure job to say, I'm gonna lay it all down for the sake of the gospel, like that's what you do because that's what God's calling you to do. Uh, don't put up the resist the resistance to it. But you talked about cost. Like, there's there's legitimately a financial cost in church planning and sending as a church. One of the things that I love in our pastor, Pastor Joby says it a lot. We're not a savings and loan. Like, we're not there to store up resources and riches. Um, the Bible's pretty clear that all of that will, you know, moth and thieves, they'll come in and steal it. So uh we are radically generous because our people are radically generous, and we are able to plant churches and send people because our people are living ready to be prepared for gospel mission. And whether that is with their checkbook or with their, you know, with a U-Haul in tow, they're on, they're ready to go. And I think that is a little maybe a piece of some of the the blessing that we've seen in our neighborhoods as and what's happening at our church is that people are on board, whether they're coming to Jacksonville to be a part of it or starting up pop-up um in in their neighborhood. They're starting uh outposts in community buildings and in pole barns and all kinds of places where people are gathering to be a part of of our unique movement. Um, but they're living missionally in their city. And so it's not a radical ask to say that I'm going to now live missionally in a new city to get up and go to the next thing because they're already a part of the mission and bought into it.
SPEAKER_02Yep. Generosity begets generosity. It also begets joy. Sure. And so, like I'll never forget it. Like, uh, on the way out, it wasn't like people were throwing cash at us, but they were instantly just like, how can we help get you there? True. You know, there were two brothers that drove our U-Haul all the way across the country so that my family and I could take the longer trip, like with my kids and see stuff, you know, like stop in these cities and enjoy as we moved, you know. People were making sure we had gas money. We had our some supporting churches say that, hey, if you got to stay in hotels along the way, we want to take care of that for you guys. It's like the amount of like overwhelming, are you kidding me? You know, and it points to like a generous God.
SPEAKER_03Um, I got a question for you. Yeah, bro. Pastor Todd. How did you discern that this was uh that this plant was from God?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Um I've I've sort of answered that question with folks in different ways. Uh, but I think it boils down to there's a few voices because the the whole like God told me thing is it can be shaky depending on who whose mouth it comes out of, and if it's not followed by like chapter and verse. But um like in 2020, COVID happens. I have a conversation with a church planner as we're about to start saturated, who it was like the roughest year of his life. The year 2020 was a year of sending for our church. Like it was uh the and by it was only by God's grace and sovereignty that Pastor Joby and the elders led our church, not knowing that COVID was going to happen, but it was like we're ready to go, we want to be sent. We signed up a ton of people on to go on mission trips, and then we couldn't go anywhere. But we were also helping plant churches, a church planted in January, got kicked out of the school that they were meeting in. This is going somewhere, but Isaiah 6 was the theme for the year for our church. So we were all just deeply in it. We were praying it, we were studying it, we were all up in it. And so what was what was happening is I'm praying that, Lord, here I am, send me, not realizing, hey, I'm trying to do this in and through you, more than just trying to equip a bunch of people to go on mission, you know, in your flock. So had that conversation with a church planner. That was one voice. It started with God's voice in Isaiah 6, saying, Who will I send? Who will go for us? Praying that prayer. Jeff's voice, Jeff Looney, pastor of Doxa Church, was just talking about how hard that year was. But his his spiritual maturity in that conversation, it blew me away. And he he just said, My prayer for the big sea church is that God would raise up men to plant churches that have been through the hardship of pastoring a flock, you know, and they're not fresh out of seminary, just looking for the new horizon as much as they are. They've been they've been matured and beautified by the current existing church and they're sent out. And I thought, man, like it just wrecked me. So then from there, so it was God's voice, Jeff's voice, and then I'd say the voice of spiritual maturity and spiritual authority in my life. I shared it with the team, Pastor Joby, and uh that he he was just like, Man, we we knew it, uh we saw it in you before you did. When the time comes, we'll send you out with everything you need. We want you to do our church planning residency, we'll equip you, we'll send you out and be your biggest cheerleaders. So if spiritual authority, and then the voice of my wife, bro, they ain't no way, there's no way that we're moving anywhere, whether it be down the road. Heck man, when we moved from at 1122, when we launched Fleming Island, moving across the city, it was like uh we ain't doing this unless we're in step, right? So uh just having her voice uh in through prayer, like just talking to the Lord, like I want us to be in unison, and also not trying to coerce, yeah, not trying to paint the picture of what could be as much as it was Lord work as she prays, as she reads scripture, as we trust, as we wrestle, and then having her just say, Todd, if Bozeman's where God wants to send us, then I'm all in. And you have what it takes to play a church. Just having, and so the fact that those things were in unison, um, I think who God calls and equips, he's also gonna affirm through other people. So if you're just like, I have this dream to plant a church, and yes, it's scriptural, you know what I mean? Like church planting is God's plan A to fulfill the Great Commission. Church is everywhere, disciples making disciples, all of that. If you look at that and say, I want to plant a church, but you've got spiritual authority in your life, that's saying not yet, but you're just like, I'm gonna do it anyway, that's not good.
SPEAKER_03Oh no, no, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02Like heed to the voice of spirit, there may be something they see in you that they want to continue to work out and develop as a disciple maker. Bro, if your wife ain't in it, I'm sorry. Like you, it may be it may suck, you know. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00It ain't happening.
SPEAKER_02Um, and so those are some things. Those are some things, and if, dude, if you don't under don't underestimate the power of prayer, like if you're not praying about it, earnestly seeking counsel, falling before the Lord, prayer is as much about talking to God about things as it is listening to the Lord. And so um I would say when you ask the question from God and not just this internal, I didn't want to. I didn't want to do it. Um I had zero desire to plant or revitalize or any of that, and then the Lord made this happen, you know, He made it happen just through through his word, what we were wrestling with, just submitting to spiritual authority, voice of my wife.
SPEAKER_03Now was there any was there any running away from that? That call? Like when you felt it, you felt it come, you were nervous to make the choice. Was there any of you turning like you know, the the Jonah situation or running to Nineveh, right? Were you trying to get away from it and then he came and got you anyways?
SPEAKER_02Or were you Yeah, I don't think so. Um I think the whole Bozeman, Montana thing, it freaked me out. That was where my uh where is the ship to Nineveh? Or where's the ship now out of here?
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_02He didn't go to he didn't go to Nineveh, he tried to go the opposite direction. It was like uh I thought we were gonna plant once we once it was like let's go, you know, we'll we'll plant a church, we'll be a beating. I thought it'd be in St.
SPEAKER_05Augustine or Palm Coast, you know, somewhere an hour and a half from as a church, we would have supported you the same. Yeah, 100%. But you have moved 30 miles south from our campus. You would have had the same people that are on mission, let's go. We're a part of it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. But it was through, honestly, I blame Dr. Adam Flint for a bunch of it, but because we we also helped, and maybe we can get into this conversation about what it means to parent plant versus partner plant. Maybe it's uh maybe it's the same thing about sending versus supporting, but um, we had partnered to plant a church in Calisbell, Montana, about four and a half hours north of here. And some of our guys were on the advisory team, like helping advise that plant. Dr. Flint being one of them, he calls me and said, Would you ever consider Montana for your church plant? And I was just like, No way, bro. Like, we're not, you can't even be serious. Like, how where'd that come from? And then the the all the statistics, all the stuff about Montana, that, and I I mean, selfishly, it's like, bro, this is a this is a paradise for anybody that loves to be outside slash hunt and kill animals. And so, and I love those things. That is not primarily why I moved here. Just hear me, please. I did not move here to kill animals, but I I moved here to disciple and make disciples and to planetary. Church. And as a part of that, yeah, you get to do that with a bunch of these men that show up, you know. It's just part of the culture, right? So um that began the well, hold on. Like, I don't I don't want to do that. You to your question, David, about was there ever a moment you wanted to go in another direction? Yeah, for sure. Especially when I got here the first time with my wife on a little vision trip. I had a panic attack. It was like uh we ain't coming here. We're there's no way. And that's when the voice of my wife really hammered down on if this is where God wants to send us, I'm in, and you have what it takes to do this, you know. Powerful words, powerful words. Yeah, for for sure. I I I wish she'd tell me that every morning when I wake up.
SPEAKER_00So I have to ask you, Pastor Todd. You move halfway, no, not halfway. You moved across the country. All the way, all the way. So, what's your why? Like, what's your driving force behind why you did this? You moved your whole family, everything that you know. You were essentially Peter. Like you're you left your nets in what you always knew, and your wife, which is always known, and you came here. Why is that?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think it has to do with a little bit of what we were saying earlier about uh just a scene in Revelation, bro, where we are gonna stand before the throne.
unknownAmen.
SPEAKER_02And hopefully I see you brothers across the way and we're just like fist pumping as we celebrate Jesus together.
SPEAKER_04Amen.
SPEAKER_02Um, but I have no idea what's on the other side of this. But I just it's for the glory of God and the mission of God.
SPEAKER_00Amen. Amen.
SPEAKER_02If it has anything to do, and so you know, I'm not sitting here saying like I just wake up every day with this missional drive and this picture tattooed of the throne, you know. Because some days I wake up and if I'm being honest with you, man, we've been going, going, going, going, going. And there's been up, there's been like personal ups and downs. And the question of not the worst and you're asking the why, but the my question of why has popped in there. Sure. Um, so it's not like every day I'm just like driven by all these people surrendering to Christ. I think it's Piper that says missions exist because worship doesn't. I want people to worship Jesus. Um, but if at any point like it's it steers and I get this like selfish mindset, because you could ask questions about okay, well, what does a church plant look like successful? Like, how do you know it's successful? It's a great question. It really is. There's measurables that were the goals that we shoot for, all of those things. But if it becomes more like prideful and self, like we want it to succeed because we want to be awesome, uh, then there for sure is a problem. That is why the gospel-centeredness, mission focus uh it has to do with Jesus, who he is, what he has done, salvation, you know, in Christ alone. Amen. Grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone.
SPEAKER_05The cool part about your story is that it's that mission-mindedness has existed throughout the the whole processing of this because you talked about Pastor Jeff and Doxa Church, which is now in Green Cove Springs, Florida. Uh, for a season, they met in our campus.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_05It was another church that met in our building because they were displaced. They didn't have a home. And um a church that is not mission-minded would say would not, yeah, that's a hard partner because we had people who were actively at our campus, at our church of 1122, who would move to attend Doxa Church. And that would be, and it's uh eight miles down the road from us. And the cool faithfulness of that is that there are people who who moved from 1122 to Doxa. One of those men is now a campus pastor at 1122, came back around and is now leading a campus at 1122. But the cool part about all of that is that the same relationship that we saw and you had with Pastor Jeff in 1122 had with Doxa, Gallatin Valley is how having with you now. Yeah, is that they said, hey, we are miss, we are more missionally minded than just what's convenient or or easy for us. And so the building that y'all are in and how well they've cared for y'all and um made it so that you're not coming in as competition. Yeah. And for churches in neighborhoods or in cities who see church planters as competition, that's the wrong mindset. That's such a dangerous place to be because the church cannot be insular. That's right. Um, there are enough lost people in the smallest city that you need more than just one gathering. And so Bozeman's got a lot of people and a lot of people that don't know Jesus. And so let's bring people who are for the greater sea church, but are also for the mission of Jesus to reach lost and one more's. So it's cool to see how that is being replicated, that relationship with a church and church planner is being replicated again. That you got to be for someone by opening the doors of our campus and saying, You guys meet here as long as you need. And then uh Gallatin Valley, I mean, I haven't met them, but from the way that they've loved y'all, it sounds like an incredible um relationship or a great church. Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_02It is a great church, pastored by a great man, a great team, uh, great group of elders. And you're right, I love the you know, from the outsider looking in, if you have like a business mind, I guess, it's unconventional. You know, it's like, but the fact that they let us roll up in there on Sunday nights out of that coffee shop we were meeting in to just continue to build. And then now, like we celebrated Good Friday together. It was powerful. Like two churches sitting under the weight of the cross. It's awesome. Man, it was so good. And then celebrating what God did through and in them on Easter Sunday, you know, they weren't ready, bro. They were there were people everywhere in that new building, and we just praise God for for that. I think God's into the things that we may fleshly press against.
SPEAKER_05Oh, for sure.
SPEAKER_02Especially when it comes to his kingdom. So I want to ask y'all a couple of questions when it comes to like leadership and culture. Because as I said earlier, you make a decision now that determines the rest of the decisions when it comes to church planning. One day I want to walk through the very, very things that we're talking about. The gospel goodbyes, sending out a team, planting a church. How do you send people as like the church? You guys were a part of it, and you know, I'm interested to hear without creating this uh scarcity mindset or this fearful mindset, how do you begin right now from like we've met twice on a Sunday morning to instill that that culture, that leadership of of sending. What are some things that you would say might this might be helpful, bro, as you continue to lead and disciple people at Bridger?
SPEAKER_05Well, first and foremost, they're God's people.
SPEAKER_00Amen.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah, they're not our people. So they're not just because you know there's a season of life where they would call our gathering home, does not mean that I have any ownership of them. My goal is to be as shepherding and discipling as I can in the time that I have them or in the time that they would be locally in our place. And then if God is calling something in them or out of them, then as a shepherd, as a disciple maker, you make a disciple and you say, Go. The gospel demands movement, it demands responsiveness. And if that is giving or sending or going, I think some church said that that was the way to do things a long time ago. For sure, you should you should do that. Um when you start thinking that these are my people, and if you're uh if your first thought is, is the bottom line going to match what we need, then I don't think that you're trusting the Lord. Not at all. And then uh secondarily so if you have the fear of sending people, then you're not living the the you're not living Matthew 28 19. Uh at the beginning, Jesus says, Come with me. I'm going to make you do this. Like I'm gonna make you a fisher of men, I'm gonna make you disciple makers. And then at the end, he says, Now go. I've made I've I've done this in you, now go. And going for some, a lot of people, the going might be I live in the same small town for the remainder of my life, and I have given generously, or I have gone to places to help, or I've just reached my neighborhood. I'll tell you what, what's really cool about everyone that we've met so far at Bridger, you know your neighbors.
SPEAKER_00That's right.
SPEAKER_05You know them by name and you've been praying for them. You're like, these are my one more's, and they live right beside me, and they live across the street. And it's not some far-off person, it's a real person that's right in front of you. And I love that when you have your your heart for the people that God has placed before you in that time. I don't think that you're you're not gonna be scared that he will send them to go somewhere else because that's the calling he's kind of had on all of us at some point. Is it we're gonna go do something? Um, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think it would be back to this, it would be selfish of us not to send, right? If that's what, if that's what there is a calling and you see it, it's evident, it'd be selfish to keep that person from not doing that thing. And it goes back to the throne room position, right? Like I talked to you about this the other night, having having discipleship group and then having plenty of people that are ready to go out and do their own discipleship group, but to purposely hold them in and just so that I can have my friends or my buddies, right? That's not the well, that's not what that's that's selfish, right?
SPEAKER_02Your group, right?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, it's like selfish for me not to do that. So, what do I want to do when I get to the throne? I want him to say, You made disciples of many, not just 20 or 25 that are in the group. I want I want those five or six people that are ready to go, go start their own group, and then they have 25 people and they have 25 people.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah. David, David kills it in uh the our context of disciple groups at 1122, because they're not life groups. It's not, hey, you found your 12 people and then we do life in perpetuity. It is disciple groups are missional. You're always looking to raise up another leader to go multiply. And that is, I mean, the the why that is probably not as hard for us as a church is because it's in the DNA of everything that we do. The goal is multiplication, the goal is sending, the goal is calling you out into the next hard thing. And mostly, you know, mostly the next hard thing is the thing that presses up against your comfort and your idol. God didn't call us to be comfortable, he called us to go. And for some of that, for some of us, that's launching a disciple group. For some of us, that's going on a short-term mission trip. For some of us, it's planting a church and leaving everything you know. And praise God for it.
SPEAKER_00Well, amen to all that, actually. And I think it's so ingrained in our culture, uh, specifically at our church, um, to to go after the One Moore's, whether it's uh, whether it's sent to your workplace, whether it's sent to uh the gas station or wherever in your discipleship groups, there it's such so ingrained in our culture to go uh and not just go after a person, but to live life uh with other people. We know the gospel moves at the speed of relationships, so to have some of these relationships uh because we do. We like we we live in this Ephesians 4.12, like equip the saints for the work of the ministry and to go out and to live uh Matthew 28, 19, to live on this great commission, to go make disciples, uh, and to uh and do that. And and we love that. That is something that we really, really love uh because we see the life change. I mean, we've seen the life change all around us. We live in that world. So um, yeah, we it's almost like um you don't want to see the people leave, but you know that so much can be done, uh, so much more can be done um through us being sent into our own individual spheres, whether it is like at our workplace or whether it's Bozeman, Montana, um, or whether it's another campus somewhere. So yeah.
SPEAKER_05Can I tell a short story about this whole mindset? And I'll and it it's just real recent in the life of our church at our campus. Uh Palm Sunday, we had someone come to church in an Uber, which praise God for it, you know. He came to church. You gotta you get to church however you can. Uh, but when she arrived at church, she invited her Uber driver to stay and come to church. Her Uber driver said, I, you know, I can't stay, I gotta kids at home. The the lady who goes to our church, she said, Go get your kids and come back. So she did. She came back for the next service and brought six children to our the next service. Um, in that time span, hearing the gospel presented, um, her kids being loved incredibly well, um, going home with a Bible, which is something that they've never had in their home before, uh, she came back the next Saturday, which was what during one of our Easter services, and our Uber driver surrendered her life to Jesus and got baptized. And then the following Monday, because it doesn't end there, you continue being obedient, taking a step. And that kind of thing is why we don't we don't have this scarcity mindset, it's God's calling us to another step. That next Monday, she's in a disciple group and she's been walking with the Lord. And uh it's that type of mentality that that's those stories aren't unique. Those are stories that we tell a lot because our people are living with the mission of God in front of them often. And so whether it is there's there's no scarcity mindset, uh, there's no like, well, what would happen if they leave? Our hope is that they would because there are lost people. That's right.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, the other thing I think that we do really well, and I I actually see it here from the first day is that we sit in humility, we sit underneath and we we everyone is willing to do one thing. Like just the first day that we were here, we have you have guys who don't need to get the tables ready, but they're over there, you know. I mean, they're serving, they're getting involved, and they're doing stuff around the building. And it's just we we do we we sit at we sit underneath the authority and we want to send people and we just do what we we're just doing what we're called to do. That's it. Yeah, smack by the gray stream. We all talk about that all the time, right? Like once you're smacked, man, you're going. You can't get off it. Yeah, you can't get off it.
SPEAKER_02One of the things you said a minute ago is we don't have life groups, we have disciple groups. Just so happens at Bridget Church, our groups are called life groups.
SPEAKER_05Wow, but what you mean and it's not the language, but it's the it's the designing. Exactly.
SPEAKER_02So, like it we call them life groups because it has everything to do with our vision statement of being light for the world to encounter Jesus and live life in him. And so, but to that point, like as we continue to train leaders to lead these life groups, you have to be missional. Like, multiplication is the goal, not like this is my living room with my group, you know, for the rest of our lives. So, what you guys are saying is very encouraging and also uh in in so many ways affirming because this year for us, like the vision for our year is encounter because we want to be highly evangelistic. We want our prayers that people encounter Jesus. And so we're doing share your faith classes, and we're doing, you know, all of these things. And to and to many, like as a part of our discipleship strategy, for me philosophically, the best way I know how to disciple people is to teach them to share their faith. One of like, and yes, it has to do with biblical literacy, but as you continue to read the Bible, one of the things that's gonna stand out more and more and more is the mission of God that we're on. We want people to be missional. That is our that is our prayer. And so that's why, yeah, dude, we're do we're doing it from the jump. The year that we're trying to build foundationally is encounter. It's very, it's very evangelistic, just reaching one more. We use the same one more language. I ask it, I don't probably every week about who who is your one more. I do have a another question about leadership as we we kind of end our time together. What kind of leaders thrive in uh sending or planting environments? How do you how do you continue to cultivate leadership? Is it all like just celebration, like the celebration around the thing you get what you celebrate, right? So I think about that story, I would share the junk out of that Uber driver story, you know, with with the church and with like people that serve, because you're just keeping the mission in front of them, you know, you're celebrating. Is it all that, or what kind of leaders thrive in this environment?
SPEAKER_00Well, I think that uh, and it's been said before that uh you're a sheep before you're a shepherd, right? And uh you sit under authority and humility and uh make no mistake about it. Jesus is the lead pastor of all, right? He is the lead pastor of churches. Um, and I often have to be reminded uh, you know, uh about that, um, just in the few spheres that I may lead, um, that it's only through uh his power, his power, and I have to acknowledge that uh daily if not hourly. Um and um if it if that ever uh if I ever sway away from that, whatever I put my hands to is not gonna go very well.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, you have to be an open-handed leader. There's a measure of humility that sometimes is sometimes is thought as is not a um a character trait of a strong leader is that they are humble. Usually you think if you're a big Enneagram person, you think a high, you know, someone who's very much an eight, someone who's a a driver, who is a force to be reckoned with. Um and while that can be true, like you know, God calls humility, it's submission first. And um to walk in that, that's the type of leader that thrives in an environment that will be a replicating church or will be a sending church, is one that realizes that this is Jesus' church, this is his bride, and we are under shepherds. And um, what he will he will receive the glory. And uh if I'm standing in the way of it, heaven forbid I do. Um, because he don't need me there. He doesn't need any of us. He's he he will get all the glory no matter what. If we don't worship, he says he's gonna make the rocks sing our songs. So uh whether I'm there or not, he's gonna receive glory, but it's just a joy. Like if you can walk in that uh I I will thrive when I when I treat this as his, yeah, and I have my hands open to it rather than trying to keep it all as mine. Yeah, that's good.
SPEAKER_02Well, gentlemen, I think this has been really, really good. And honestly, it went by quickly, and I feel like we could talk for another hour, you know. But I'm really thankful that you're here. I'm thankful for what has God has done in this whole process. If anything, just in me to like just see, okay, I think if we actually walk this out in a New Testament manner, then He will, then He will bless. It the reason we did this was not so that I could like start my preaching circuit or that we could start a podcast. You know, the reason we did this had everything to do with obedience, the glory of God and the call to the mission and obedience in that. And I uh I want to continue to walk in that manner. One of the things that I love about our relationship is I really genuinely think that you gentlemen, you brothers, are gonna always hold me to that and always point me to that. Always and not just me, but our church. You know, it all matters, and so I'm grateful, man. Thank y'all for taking your time to do this today. Pastor, you want to pray for us? Would love to. Yeah, man.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, let's pray. Father God, we love you, and we are thankful that you first loved us, that there was nothing that we could add to you, but yet in the middle of our sin, you sent your son Jesus to die on a cross, and he paid for all of our sins, even the ones we have yet committed. Um, it's a wild thing to understand or even to begin to understand the measure of grace that you have on our lives. And God, it looks like the things that we see right now. What a grace it would be to send brothers into new places, and what a grace it would be to see your church and see the lost become found and the dead to be made alive and the broken be uh brought together and fixed and healed. Um, God, you're doing it all over the nations. And so, God, I I'm just thankful that you have given us the eyes to see a little bit of it. And so, in all of this, God, we we aim to give you all glory. It is not for our name, it is not for the name of any church, but it is it to the name of Jesus that we uh bring all honor and glory and praise. And it is in his name we pray these things. Amen. Amen.
SPEAKER_01Thanks for joining us for this episode of Encounter and Live. If you have any questions, need care, or would like to reach out to us, please visit Bridget Church. We can't wait to meet you at our next gathering. Until then, Jesus peace, big love, and go live life in Him.