Dr. William Rice is the Lead Pastor of Calvary Church in Clearwater, Florida. Dr. Rice is a graduate of Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, with a B.A. (1985), the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary with a M. Div. (1990) and a D. Min. (1996). Willy is married to Cheryl (Baker). She is a graduate of Samford University, and they have three children, Amanda, Anna and Stephen, and three grandchildren.
Dr. Jeremy Westbrook served on staff at Kirby Woods Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. He earned his M.Div. from Mid America Baptist Theological Seminary. He has a D. Min. from Southern Seminary. He was founding pastor of Living Hope Church, a church plant 35 miles north of Columbus, Ohio. In 2014, Living Hope sent out its first two missionaries and planted LifeSpring Church in Worthington, Ohio, a larger suburb 10 miles north of Columbus. He is now Senior Associate Pastor of Calvary Church in Clearwater, Florida, and focused on helping Dr. Rice lead Calvary to plant 150 churches in the next 10 years.
Before you listen to the podcast, take a simple self-assessment. Give yourself a score on a scale of 1-10, 10 being high.
___ In order to discover, develop and deploy church planting teams from within, our church has implemented the Send Network’s Multiplication Pipeline strategy.
___ Our church routinely takes time in Sunday services and creates space in social media to celebrate church planting stories and to recruit new people into the church planting pipeline.
___ As a trainer, I make a point of leaning in the relationship with the planters I’m training because I know that it’s my closeness with them, more than the curriculum, that will make the difference.
___ Total
Where did you score highest? Lowest? What does this score tell you about your ability to help the planters you are training to create a culture of multiplication? What steps might you take to help your planters better create a culture of multiplication?
Now, listen to the podcast with Willy Rice and Jeremy Westbrook. Afterwards, answer the following questions.
Calvary Church has set a goal of starting 150 churches in 10 years. That goal includes planting churches internationally, nationally and locally in addition to launching Calvary Church campuses and revitalizing local congregations. This x150 Vision caused Willy to conclude, “We are going to have to create more church planters to reach our goal.”
What is your church’s specific goal for church planting?
What is your plan to raise up more church planters and church planting teams from within your own congregation?
How can you get more and more of your local church leaders on board with a vision of multiplication?
Both Willy and Jeremy spoke of the importance of using stage time to highlight and celebrate what God is doing with the x150 Vision as a way of inviting more people into the church planting pipeline. Every campus of Calvary Church uses video, social media, mass email and personal conversations as well as stage time to invite people into the pipeline. Jeremy recognizes that some Calvary folks have a ministry “itch” that needs to be scratched. He says to the people, “If you have any interest in planting or revitalizing, we’d love to meet with you.” Often, after the church celebrates what God is already doing, the people wonder, “Can I be a part of that?”
How can your church do a better job celebrating and highlighting what God is doing in church planting, so more and more people from within are wanting to explore joining a church planting team?
Jeremy mentioned several elements in Calvary Church’s training process:
- Maintain regular, dynamic communication with the congregation about the X150 Vision in order to recruit people into the church planting pipeline.
- Develop a working partnership with NAMB/Send Network
- Establish the Multiplication Pipeline and implement the L1, L2, and L3 curriculum
- Supplement the Pipeline curriculum with additional church-specific content
- Establish an church-based internship program/process
- Send interns on an international mission trip to experience church planting in a cross-cultural context
- Build out a church planting residency program
As you think about your own local church context, which of these elements do you most need to implement? Who will help you? When will you start?
As a trainer of church planters, what can you do to help your church planters build into the very DNA of the new church, a passion and a process for multiplication?
After listening to this podcast, what is God saying to you about how you might create a great culture for multiplication in your own church?
What is God saying to you about how you can help planters become more kingdom-minded multipliers?
What are your next steps?
When will you start?
Who will help you?
Learn more about the vision of Calvary Church here: https://calvary.us/x150/ You can follow Willy on Twitter at @willyrice, and you can follow Jeremyk on Twitter at @jeremywestbrook.
Jeremy shared that in addition to using the Multiplication Pipeline material from NAMB’s Send Network, he is also using Adrian Roger’s lectures “What Every Pastor Needs to Know.” (You can find those 13 lectures here: https://www.lwf.org/products/prdvd.)
Published April 30, 2019