Nathaniel Vanderploeg lives in Kelso, WA, with his wife Katie and their two daughters. After serving as Associate Pastor at Rose Valley Friends Church since 2018, Nathaniel is now stepping into a new season of faith—planting a Friends church in Portland, Oregon. Our conversation centers on his willingness to go all in with God, embracing the freedom that comes from surrender, risk, and wholehearted obedience.

Nathaniel also owns and operates Scenic Route Drone Media, where he brings creativity and storytelling together in meaningful ways. Learn more and get involved at https://friendsmultiply.org/vanderploegs.

Learn more about EFCP at: friendsmultiply.org

This week, we engage with co-host Brian Donahue as he’s been launching a new church plant. It might be the first time that someone has planted a church specifically for Trekkies! Learn more about Brian’s heart for the Star Trek Community and how the online model is a key method.

Aside from the Church Planting Conversations Podcast, here’s where else you can find Brian:

The Brian Donahue Podcast

The BIG Sci-fi Podcast

Reverb Nation

Facebook

Instagram

Support him on Patreon

Give to Pursuit Friends Online Community of Jesus Followers

And he wrote a book: The Darkness and the Light

The song heard at the end of this episode is an original song by Brian and is available here.

Learn more about EFCP

Brian and Lisa are back with an exciting and energetic report about the recent gathering of the members of EFCP in Canton, Ohio. This new and official board of EFC - North America is tasked with inspiring, equipping, training, and resourcing church planting within the various regions of the Evangelical Friends Church across the nation.

Brian and Lisa discuss the heartbeat of EFCP and how church planting has to be an intentional focus for spreading the gospel. You'll be inspired and challenged as they passionately talk about what God is doing and what is to come.

Learn more about EFCP: https://friendsmultiply.org/

On this episode, we interviewed Kristin Aull, Lead Pastor of Pursuit Friends Network of House Churches in Canton, OH. We discussed leadership development, opening doors for people to step into new roles, and how our limitations are just another way that God works through us.

At Pursuit, Kristin helps people build faith communities that journey together with God. She also facilitates a Women’s Planting Cohort—a reflective space for women discerning leadership and formation. She holds an engineering degree from Purdue University and is pursuing a Master’s in Leadership from Denver Seminary. She finds joy in all things water and shares life with her husband Joe, their grown children Jay and Haley, and her wonderful son-in-law Steven.

You can find out more about Kristin and connect at Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/kristin.aull) or Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/kjaull).

You can also catch the Joy and Java Podcast with Brian and Kristin here: https://pod.link/1587392027.

Follow along with the Pursuit Friends Journey at https://www.facebook.com/pursuitfriendschurch.

Learn more about Evangelical Friends Church Planting by visiting https://friendsmultiply.org and take your next step in making more disciples of Jesus.

Ryan Webster from Valley Community Church in Larned, KS, joins us on this episode of Church Planting Conversations. Ryan brings a wealth of wisdom, not only about rural church planting, but also about leadership, the importance of creating space as a pastor, and recognizing that God calls us to communities, not just churches. Ryan was born and raised in Western Kansas in the old west cow town of Dodge City. He and his wife Rachel have been married for nearly 27 years and they have three children, Ruthie, 23, Samuel, 21, and Elijah, 17. He's have been pastoring for over 25 years, 22 years at Valley Community Church, as the Lead Pastor. They've grown from 20 to over 250-300 in regular attendance in a rural community (Larned, KS) with a population of 3500. In September of 2023, they launched our second campus.

You can find him at https://www.larnedchurch.com or over on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ryantheodorewebster.

Since 2007 Gabe Kolstad has been the Lead Pastor at Westside Community Church (listed as one of Outreach Magazine's Top 100 Reproducing Churches of 2021). He is passionate about building thriving leaders and thriving churches, and has been coaching and consulting pastors and churches for over a decade. He is a Certified High Performance Coach, Founder of the Multiply PDX church planting network, and a host on multiple podcasts. On a personal note, Gabe is a fan of good food, coffee and travel. He and his wife, Melissa have three adult children (Dawson, Caitlin and Caleb) and live in Beaverton, Oregon.

gabe@gabekolstad.com

Brian and Lisa welcome special guest, JR Rozko, Director of Missional Innovation for Churches for the Sake of Others and co-founder of Canton Abbey and Common Life Church.

JR was a part of the International Friends Multiplication Conference in November at the Malone campus as he led a workshop discussing fresh expressions of church and what that could look like. He has a unique and important voice in Canton, Ohio and we hope that church leaders and church planters alike will find this episode particularly challenging and encouraging!

Learn more about the ministry work JR is a part of:

Canton Abbey

Common Life Church

Order Of The Common Life

Churches for the Sake of Others

Learn more about EFCP:

Evangelical Friends Church Planting

Brian and Lisa are back with a follow-up episode from the recent International Friends Church Multiplication Conference! Don't miss this exciting report on some of the conference's highlights and how God moved in the hearts of the participants.