What motivated you to plant your church in the city that you are in?
Waterloo is known as the ‘Silicon Valley’ of Canada. While boasting an impressive growth in business, Waterloo also has three world class educational institutions making us known also for the amount of students who live in our city. Waterloo is a growing region known for its innovation, knowledge and sense of community. The gospel has always found itself at the intersection of technology and culture. Along with Emma, Luke and Victoria (lead pastors) we saw an opportunity to ensure the gospel was at the centre of this very exciting region; a region not only known for technology and education, but one known for Jesus.
What do you love about your church and community?
Slate Church is vibrant, dynamic and young at heart. In a city that is growing, Slate Church accurately represents the demographics of our city while being very distinctly ‘all about Jesus.’ I am excited to find myself leading a church that is becoming as much of an integral part of our city as anything else.
What has been one of your greatest moments since planting your church?
One of the greatest moments since planting our church would be dedicating each of our three kids, baptizing my brother and being able to officiate my little sisters wedding. I’m thankful that our church is not only reaching the nameless and faceless (to me) but also those closest to me.
What has been one of the toughest moments you’ve experienced in ministry?
The toughest moments in ministry so far have been the deaths of two integral people to our church. These individuals, amongst other things, were signposts about what Slate Church is all about. Losing people you love dearly is hard.
What is the biggest change you’ve seen in yourself or your church since you planted?
I’ve continually been humbled. At Slate Church we have four lead pastors: Emma, my wife and Luke and Victoria, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. We love each other and as is often the case in loving relationships, they can be the most honest. I’ve come head to head with my own humanity in leading Slate Church more than I ever have in my life. I thought I was getting into pastoring to make others better, God included me in that same plan, thankfully.
What do you want to share with someone thinking about becoming a church planter?
Canada NEEDS more churches. We have all read the statistics about how church planting is the most effective way to reach new believers and this should be motivation enough. It’s important to understand the commitment you’d be making. Church planting isn’t the cool thing to do, it’s the thing we are needing to do in a cultural climate that desperately needs to know the love of God.
How has being a part of ARC impacted your life + family?
ARC has impacted my life and my family’s life in so many remarkable ways. I still won’t forget the moment a package arrived in the mail while we were leading up to the launch of Slate Church. It was from one of our lead team, congratulating us on the arrival of our little girl. Besides this incredible gesture from them, there have been countless conversations, hangouts, laughs, trips, and everything in between that have confirmed that this isn’t just an organization, this is family. This kind of love is uncommon.
