THE NEXT GENERATION NOW
Some things are best when we patiently wait for them. The right man or woman to spend the rest of your life with. The northern lights dancing across the skyline in shades of greens and purples and reds. A cup of homebrewed coffee on a crisp Autumn morning. Other experiences, however, are better seized early on and gradually grown into. Most of us don’t wait until we’re mature enough to run—we learn as a baby to crawl and walk, eventually running when our age and experience allow us to.
During his sophomore year in college, Jeremy Peters got an itch. An itch that he wasn’t satisfied. An itch that God wasn’t satisfied. He had gone to church his whole life, even transferred to a Christian university to pursue a degree in youth ministry. That was all well and good, but he began feeling God was pushing him further as if He was saying, “You insult me ... think bigger!” So he tried thinking bigger.
Jeremy had heard about “church planting”—something like starting new churches intent on transforming entire communities. He liked the idea and was immediately on board, certain that an opportunity to take part in church planting might present itself in ten years or so. But then God challenged him again.
“What if you and a new generation of church leaders were turned loose to do my work now?”
After graduating from college and struggling to find a church position that fit him and his passions, Jeremy was approached by the CCCC and asked to consider serving as a church planting intern. This would be a unique experience tailored to Jeremy’s life situation and passions, allowing him to experience church multiplication firsthand as the CCCC invested in a future church planter. Just like a traditional church planter, Jeremy went through a training and assessment process to help him recognize his vision and gifts for ministry and to put them into action.
Jeremy accepted the internship, and in August 2009 he joined the staff of Brookwood Community Church in Shakopee, Minnesota. Continuing to serve at Brookwood as Outreach and Student Ministry Director, he has the opportunity to participate in the daily operations of an ongoing CCCC church plant while continuing to use his passion for working with teenagers. Additionally, he is working on an outreach project in Jordan, Minnesota—a small town 10 miles south of Shakopee—that might eventually become a church plant of its own.
The CCCC has giving an individual with a passion for church planting the opportunity to learn about it in the field before planting a church of their own. This radical idea that has the potential to drastically alter the landscape of church multiplication—allowing the next generation to do God’s work now.
During his sophomore year in college, Jeremy Peters got an itch. An itch that he wasn’t satisfied. An itch that God wasn’t satisfied. He had gone to church his whole life, even transferred to a Christian university to pursue a degree in youth ministry. That was all well and good, but he began feeling God was pushing him further as if He was saying, “You insult me ... think bigger!” So he tried thinking bigger.
Jeremy had heard about “church planting”—something like starting new churches intent on transforming entire communities. He liked the idea and was immediately on board, certain that an opportunity to take part in church planting might present itself in ten years or so. But then God challenged him again.
“What if you and a new generation of church leaders were turned loose to do my work now?”
After graduating from college and struggling to find a church position that fit him and his passions, Jeremy was approached by the CCCC and asked to consider serving as a church planting intern. This would be a unique experience tailored to Jeremy’s life situation and passions, allowing him to experience church multiplication firsthand as the CCCC invested in a future church planter. Just like a traditional church planter, Jeremy went through a training and assessment process to help him recognize his vision and gifts for ministry and to put them into action.
Jeremy accepted the internship, and in August 2009 he joined the staff of Brookwood Community Church in Shakopee, Minnesota. Continuing to serve at Brookwood as Outreach and Student Ministry Director, he has the opportunity to participate in the daily operations of an ongoing CCCC church plant while continuing to use his passion for working with teenagers. Additionally, he is working on an outreach project in Jordan, Minnesota—a small town 10 miles south of Shakopee—that might eventually become a church plant of its own.
The CCCC has giving an individual with a passion for church planting the opportunity to learn about it in the field before planting a church of their own. This radical idea that has the potential to drastically alter the landscape of church multiplication—allowing the next generation to do God’s work now.
:::NOW from Jeremy Peters on Vimeo.
