by jonathan wilson
Daniel Stancil thought he was taking his students on just another mission trip. The destination? New York City. The project? PowerPlant, a ministry of the North American Mission Board (namb) designed to engage students in church planting and evangelism. What they got? A life-changing experience helping church planters reach their communities with the gospel.
“We took our student leadership team to New York City to encounter a deeper level in their spiritual walk. I knew it would expose them to radical ministries different from anything in our community,” says Daniel, who at the time was serving as youth pastor at Philippi Baptist Church in Locust Grove, Georgia. “Prior to my experience with PowerPlant, church planting was not legit to me. It was just in books and something I couldn’t wrap my hands around.”
Daniel and his students were paired with Chris High, a church planter starting Skyline Community Church (www.skylinenj.org) in New Jersey. They passed out hundreds of bottles of water with the church’s contact info on it. They also prayer-walked several neighborhoods the church was trying to reach and cleaned up a building to make it ready for large group gatherings.
“The project opened my eyes to creative types of ministry. We were challenged to share with people in the community the love of Christ through servant evangelism,” says Daniel. “PowerPlant challenged me to share my faith and to find new creative ways to share Christ with people.”
PowerPlant had such an impact on Daniel that today he is helping plant a church in north metro Atlanta. “That model of servant evangelism is one of the core principles for our church today. That’s what has grown our church,” says Daniel.
PowerPlant was birthed out of a void identified by the church planting and volunteer mobilization areas at NAMB. “While Southern Baptists have been leaders in church planting for decades, our efforts have been focused on equipping vocational workers for church planting,” says Van Kicklighter, church planting, NAMB. “There is huge untapped potential in looking for new and creative ways of training and engaging a new generation of lay people for church planting.”
PowerPlant participants are taught church planting principles and evangelism skills each morning and then are sent out to engage the community through assigned ministry team activities in the afternoon and evening. They receive hands-on missions exposure by participating in ministry assignments such as sports camps, backyard Bible clubs and servant evangelism.
“It’s been quite a ride in three short years,” says Roger Ferrell, a church planter and pastor of Woodland Creek Church in Dacula, Georgia. Roger has helped coordinate PowerPlant projects since 2003. “We have a network of PowerPlant supporters and creative partners—from youth pastors to students to state and local church planting strategists and coordinators. PowerPlant is the largest vehicle in North America for training students and giving them hands on church planting experience.”
PowerPlant also helps students see church planters in a new light. “These kids are surrounded by a culture that worships celebrities. They come to PowerPlant and see people come to Christ and work with church planters who are the real deal, and they walk away from the week thinking ‘man, church planters are the real heroes. I want to be like those guys.’”
For many years, Southern Baptists have succeeded in involving students in missions. From weekly mission education to annual short-term mission trips, Southern Baptists in many areas have led the way. But until now, there has been no real effort to educate and involve students in church planting.
The effects of PowerPlant are unmistakable. Since the first project in 2003, 82 new church starts have been strengthened by PowerPlant projects. And many participants have gone on to continue in other church planting efforts. Nathan Ray served as a worship leader at several projects last summer. His experience made quite an impact.
“God gave me a passion for church planting,” says Nathan, a semester missionary at the University of Minnesota. He’s part of a team trying to—you guessed it—plant a church on his campus. “I’m directly involved in what will be a church plant in the next year.”
This summer, more than 2,000 students will participate in 12 PowerPlant projects taking place in 12 cities in North America, supporting at least 70 new churches.
At a project several Southern Baptist church plants—like Skyline Community Church—receive help. Working with a local ministry coordinator who understands the church planting strategy for that particular city, the project coordinator pairs up church groups with church planters. Prior to the project, group leaders find out which church plant they’ll assist, so they’ll have time to prepare for specific ministry activities such as sports camps and Bible clubs.
Teams partner with these churches to help them reach their communities for Christ and get the name of the churches out into the communities. The overall thrust of a team’s effort is to share the gospel with residents while connecting them with one of the new church plants.
One of the first activities at a project is to have participants define the “ideal church.” The usual responses include “a church with a gym, a great youth facility, a media ministry.” By the end of the week students and adults begin to see that the church is not about buildings—it’s about people.
“We know of no other initiative that involves students in church planting like this,” says John Bailey, manager of NAMB’s Student Volunteer Mobilization. “If we can capture their interest now, who knows what that will translate into in the future.” For more information on how you can be involved in PowerPlant, go to www.power-plant.net.