Creating A Church Planting Pipeline For Orlando Together

We launched OCPN less than a year ago with a vision of building a church planting pipeline in our city that would bring together like minded leaders, churches, and organizations to collaborate and partner together to see more gospel centered, missionally driven churches planted throughout the greater Orlando metro area. Now, here we are, ending the first quarter of 2023 and we are running hard after that vision. And I am more convinced than ever that this work is timely and urgent! 

I recently read two articles that have been haunting me for weeks and cementing in my heart why the work we are doing with OCPN is so important. The first article by Daniel Yang with SEND Network challenges us to think about who will be leading the church in 2050. And Yang makes a compelling case for why we need greater collaboration to increase our church planting capacity for the next generation.

The second article by Bob Thune calls to our attention that the church planting pipeline is shrinking. Thune reminds us that ready-made leaders who are theologically mature, missionally fruitful, self-aware, and ministry-experienced are harder and harder to find.

There are probably many reasons that the supply of ready-made leaders has diminished, but I wonder if the sociological factor of generations isn’t a major contributing factor. In the 2000’s, the Boomer Generation were in their leadership prime. Succession plans were an imminent and yet still distant future reality for most Boomers. Naturally then, if Gen-Xers wanted to move up the proverbial “ministry ladder”, church planting was an attractive option. However, today, 20 years later, as we begin to see more and more that the baton of leadership is passing from the remaining boomers to Gen X and Millennial leaders, it makes sense then that the supply of leaders interested in planting seems to have diminished. And yet, we indeed could see another church planting “boom” on the horizon over the next 5 to 10 years as Gen Z steps into more and more positions of ministry leadership. 

This is why pursuing greater collaboration with one another through a city wide network like OCPN and working together to build a church planting pipeline to recruit and train the next generation of church planters is a worthy investment.

Psalm 78 reminds us of the importance of passing on our faith to the next generation: 

We will not hide them from their children, tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; Psalm 78:4-7 ESV

And Paul encourages in 2 Timothy 2:2  

and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.

I am so encouraged by the progress we have made thus far in beginning to build out this pipeline. In September of 2023 we launched the OCPN Finishing Residency with three residents who are actively being developed and coached to advance God’s Kingdom in Central Florida. These men are now two thirds of the way through completing their 9 month Finishing Residency. We are witnessing God at work opening doors of ministry for these men in Hunter’s Creek, Winter Garden, and Lakeland. 

Justin Serra is planting New City Fellowship in Hunter’s Creek. He is hard at work developing his core / launch team. They are currently meeting on Friday Nights at his apartment. Justin is also actively fundraising and working towards some interest meetings for New City Fellowship in the coming months. 

George Oliveira is pursuing a revitalization opportunity. He was approached by the lead pastor of Lakeland Bible Presbyterian Church in January to consider becoming the new lead pastor when he retires in May. George has been meeting with the elders and preaching at the church as part of the pastoral candidate process. This is an exciting opportunity for George and his family. And God’s timing is incredible. 

Eduardo Rivera has been serving and leading in the Hispanic Ministry at Mosaic. He is leading a community group of 20+ people on Sundays and a bible study with 10+ people on Tuesdays. He is exploring the possibility of launching and leading a Spanish Campus of Mosaic. We are excited to see what doors God will open for Eduardo in this regard. 

We are now actively recruiting for our next round of residencies that will kick off in September of 2023. We are now accepting applications for our second round of the Finishing Residency and our first round of the Foundational Residency. These two residencies are critical to building a sustainable church planting pipeline in our city and geography. 

We are also excited about launching The Foundational Residency. The Foundational Residency is the beginning of the pipeline and will serve to plant the seeds of church planting into the hearts of young leaders setting them on a trajectory towards future involvement in church planting and gospel saturation in our city. 

As Thune reminds us, we need leaders who are theologically mature, missionally fruitful, self-aware, and ministry-experienced. This is why Internships and Pastoral Residencies in each local church context is critically important in the building of this pipeline in our city. There is a growing need for churches to create spaces and opportunities for young leaders to be invested in and given the opportunity to grow in their leadership experience. This is the middle of the pipeline. 

And for leaders who are called and qualified to plant, we have the opportunity to train and coach them through the process of pioneering a new outpost for the kingdom of God in our city. This is the end of the pipeline, the Finishing Residency, which serves to prepare and launch these leaders into reaching the unchurched and dechurched with the good news of gospel and to gather and grow them into a new local church family! 

We believe that God is at work and He has invited us to join Him in His redemptive mission to bring an ever increasing experience of His will and Kingdom here in Orlando as it is in Heaven. Our dream for Orlando is gospel saturation. And that is why we are pursuing this urgent mission to increase our church planting capacity for the next generation here in Central Florida.

We want to see Greater Orlando become a place where every man, woman, and child have repeated opportunities to see, hear, and respond to the gospel. We want to see Christians serving in every sector of our city for the sake of the Kingdom, the good of our city, and the glory of God. We want to see neighborhoods transformed from being under-resourced to empowered and flourishing. We want to see more than enough help for vulnerable families and children. We want to see the Church across our city become a welcoming refuge for immigrants and refugees. We want to see the Church across our city with a reputation for generosity, collaboration and unity rather than competition and division. We want to see the Church across our city equipped and mobilized to actively and strategically take the gospel to unreached people and places around the world.

Will you join us? Partner with us!