We help pastors move from managing institutions to pioneering movements of disciples and simple churches in their cities.
Neal has been walking a journey of intentional disciple and simple church multiplying since 2013. He has been on this journey with his wife, Sara, and three daughters. Along the way Neal has learned a lot through trying, falling down, reorienting, and trying again. There has been a lot of refinement, and by the grace of God, a work has emerged throughout Michigan. From this movement, seeds have been sown into other cities, states, and countries. He realizes working toward multiplication is a journey for everyone. It’s not a cookie cutter process, and Neal believes it’s an honor to walk with pastors as we hear from God and do what He says.
Britton has been pioneering a simple church and discipleship movement in West Michigan since 2013. Most of that time overlapped with being a senior pastor in a growing traditional church. He now only operates in and shepherds the church that meets in homes. Britton has a passion for helping the church live into all that she is called to be according to the Word. He loves to help pastors in traditional churches see their call from the Word in fresh ways. Britton is married to Michelle, who has a heart for walking with pastors’ spouses. They have three boys who they love watching grow into active participants in the family of God.
Matt is a movement pioneer laboring in Springfield, Massachusetts and throughout New England. He started intentionally working to see movements in 2019. Before going into this work, Matt was in traditional pastoral ministry for 10 years. Besides his work in New England, he also coaches other leaders throughout North America. Matt’s dream is to see another Great Awakening with the hopes that it is the final one before Jesus returns. Investing in pioneering leaders who take ownership of their cities is his main strategy for seeing that vision fulfilled. Matt is also married to Hawley, and they have four children who are their primary mission field.
In addition to our leadership team, we have a team of volunteer coaches who help lead trainings, peer cohorts, and individualized coaching. All of our coaches have served in traditional church ministry as pastors or in similar roles. They are all now helping to pioneer multiplying movements in their cities.
All giving to Pastor to Pioneer is handled through Biglife. To invest in our mission, click the link below. Thank you!
Let’s connect. Even if the Pastor to Pioneer training isn’t right for you, we are able to train you on how to make disciples and start simple churches. We are in relationship with a lot of people around the world making disciples and being the church in simple ways. We can connect you with them for training.
No. If you are content with how things are going in your church and your role as a pastor, keep going! Keep serving the Lord faithfully there, but this training most likely isn’t right for you. If you are a pastor who has a discontentment in your heart and wants to explore a different way to shepherd God’s people and be the church, then this training might be a good fit for you. Get in touch with us. We would love to talk more about whether this training is the right step for you or not.
We designed the training for use in a group setting. While you might get something out of it by going through it on your own, we want you to go through it with a coach in the context of a cohort. The coach can encourage you and support you as you process through the content. All our coaches were once pastors and now pioneer disciple making and simple church work in their cities. Going through the training with others helps process the material on a deeper level. This is important because we aren’t just trying to give you some new tools or a new model. We want to help you make some significant paradigm shifts.
If you know pastors that you want to take through this training, go for it! You don’t need to send them to us. We want to be a support to you as you train and coach them though. We do suggest that you go through the training first yourself before you take others through it. We are happy to help you as you train others.
Yes, your spouse can do the training with you. If there is enough interest, we can even have a separate spouse’s cohort. The spouses of pastors can process the lessons together through their unique lens.
The training is ten sessions with each session lasting about 90 minutes. And you need about two hours or more each week to do the work in the lesson on your own before each group session. Most cohorts go through the training in ten consecutive weeks, adjusting for scheduling conflicts. Many cohorts will try to do an in-person retreat at the front end to connect with one another and build relationships before beginning. Some coaches might do this with an online session before the start of the training instead of in person.
There is no monetary cost to the training. The only cost to you is your time and work to prepare for each lesson and process the information.
No, we are not part of a denomination. We train pastors and ministry leaders from a wide spectrum of denominational backgrounds.
All of us at Pastor to Pioneer came to know the Lord through the traditional church. We have had powerful encounters with God through the traditional church, and we are grateful for it! While our methods look different than many church structures, we are more concerned about biblical principles than a particular model. We base our training on biblical principles of what it means to be a disciple, the church, and a church leader. While specific models come and go, we do think certain models are better at achieving desired outcomes. We don’t think the model we use is the only one, but it is a helpful way to live faithfully into biblical principles.
