The NewThing Network

Where are the Leadership Residents?

Written by Eric Metcalf

At NewThing we are actively pursuing Leadership Residents - those individuals who are preparing to plant a church.  We are looking high and low for candidates who want join us in this mission. Currently within NewThing there are 100 different opportunities to start new sites and or churches all around the world.  Strategically, we have placed ourselves in relationships with organizations and events to make sure we find the best candidates possible.

  To give a few examples, we are looking for Leadership Residents who will launch a site or church in:

• Joliet, IL
• Kansas City, MO
• Detroit, MI 
• Knoxville, TN
• Raleigh, NC
• Chicago, IL
• Boston, MA
• Philippines
• Los Angeles, CA
• And many more!

What an exciting time for us here at NewThing – praise God for all the opportunity!  Strategically, we have placed ourselves in relationships with organizations and events to make sure we find the best candidates possible.  Here are the four different ways we’ve been seeking out Leadership Residents

1. Colleges - Recently we were at Johnson Bible College where Jon Ferguson spoke to a student body of about 800 students.  He shared the vision of NewThing and what God is doing through the churches that are a part of this growing movement.  Not only did he speak there, but also at a lunch where students could come and learn about how to take next steps if they wanted to join the NewThing cause.  We had several students who came to the lunch, said they wanted to learn more, and expressed high interest in getting in the game.
2. Conferences - The past several months we participated in Catalyst, LeadNOW (RightNow), and Find.  Each conference has had a different emphasis, but all of them have been focused on leading people towards making an impact in the world as they follow Jesus.  Just a few weeks ago at LeadNOW (RightNow), NewThing had several breakouts where we spoke on topics like: Reproducing the Mission – how to reproduce leaders and artists; A Reproducing Church Tribe – pick a tribe and change the planet.  We also provided a lunch, dinner and a separate Q&A time where conference attenders could learn more specifically about NewThing’s vision and how they could play a significant part in it.  We had hundreds and hundreds of conversations throughout these three conferences that are already resulting in Residency applications and interviews – very exciting!
3. Church Planting Organizations - NewThing is a part of the Exponential Alliance and partners with several church planting organizations (Stadia, Orchard Group, Ignite, Forge, and Missio to name a few of the many).  Because of our relationship with these church planting organizations, we are able to network and identify the best candidates for launching new sites and churches. Recently Lance Hurley from Ignite and I interviewed candidates for a Leadership Residency. His involvement in this process has been extremely helpful.
4. Churches - This is where there real fun is! We are focusing a ton of our energy towards the local church. Our expectation for all of our NewThing Churches is that they have at least one resident per site, per year.  This vision has led to many of our NewThing Churches finding and equipping a Leadership Resident to launch a new church or site that will help more and more people find their way back to God.  Alongside of our existing NewThing Churches, we are developing relationships with churches and networks of church plants who want to join this growing movement.  Over the past few months, Dave Ferguson, co-founder of COMMUNITY and visionary for NewThing, has traveled to Greece and Australia to spend time with church planting churches and church planting networks.  The relationships we are making through these trips are already proving to be invaluable.
   

If you’re leading a network and want to develop your own church planting pipeline, maybe these strategies could prove helpful. Or maybe as you read this, you feel compelled to join us on this mission of catalyzing a reproducing church movement. To that I say, “Bring it on!”  To learn more, send an email to me, Eric Metcalf.  Join this growing movement and let’s get things done together!

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