12 May LEAD Teams: an Insider’s View

J. Michael Caley, Pastor, Banner of Christ UB (Byron Center, Mich.)
The most effective way to start a church is for churches to cooperate in starting new churches. Banner Church (Byron Center, Mich.) has been part of a LEAD team, the first one in Michigan. The other members are Howard Matthews (HomeFront UB, Grandville), Scott Hergert (First UB, Lansing), Thurm Payton (Lighthouse UB, Williamston), and Darrel Bosworth (Kilpatrick UB, Woodland).

Our LEAD team gathers every 6-8 weeks to support the work of Gordon Kettel, who is planting a church in Grand Ledge, Mich. Tom Blaylock, the director of Church Multiplication, also meets with us. Our experience has been good. Gordon is so fun and entertaining; we have a great time together.

The initials stand for learn, encourage, achieve, dream. It’s a group of pastors getting together for the specific purpose of thinking and praying together about the most strategic places God might have us plant a new church.

The commitment of that team and church, by the pastor participating, is:

• Identify a potential church planter.
• Pool resources.
• Set goals for how often to start a new church.
• Do everything possible to support and encourage the planter.

We commit for a period of 2-3 years to start a church and see it through. We’re a committed group of guys who serve as a sounding board for Gordon. He shares struggles and asks questions, and we agree to always laugh at his jokes.

In the 1980s, I became a church planter. I felt entirely alone, even though I received a regular paycheck from the conference treasurer and was told the conference backed us. God used that experience to teach us, as a family, some amazing things, and we learned how to share Christ without any real support. But the LEAD team concept excites me, because I feel it’ll lead to some real success stories.