The Fellowship Community

10/08/2026

Join TFC for a Zoom Gathering for rural pastoral leaders on Tuesday, November 10, 2026 at 3:00 pm central.

The Rural Pastor Support Group through The Fellowship Community is designed to be a virtual venue for Pastors of small town/rural churches of less than 100 in attendance to share ideas, resources, and struggles. We will meet as a group via Zoom bi-monthly to share and pray together, but we will also encourage one-on-one communication and prayer. This is not meant to replace the Regional Gatherings of The Fellowship Community but to be an additional resource for rural/small town Pastors from any Region.

The facilitator for this group will be the Reverend Doctor Jim Edwards. Jim serves a church in rural northwest Iowa in a town of 600 with between 60-80 in attendance (not counting Sundays during harvest).

For more info, visit https://www.fellowship.community/regional-gatherings/rural-nov26 or email us at [email protected].

10/01/2026

Congratulations, Kristin!

A: This Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) pastor came from behind Wednesday to win Wednesday's episode of “Jeopardy!”Q: Who is the Rev. Kristin Franke of National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C.?

10/01/2026

“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12

"There’s been a lot of dying this week. Death occurs all the time, of course, but this week seemed especially poignant. First Dolly Parton passing at age 80, apparently the one person or topic in the universe that all Americans agree on. Then Wendell Berry, one of my favorite authors and poets, went home at 92. Then a woman in our congregation’s mother passed away. Then my own mother-in-law, Beverly Harris, died in Seattle at age 93. And of course, with the 25th anniversary of 9-11 this week, we remember another 3,000 people from 70 countries who did not survive the four attacks on the U.S. in 2001. It’s a lot of dying."

TFC Board member Dan Baumgartner encourages us to hold onto Jesus through all of our days. Read more at http://fellowship.community/blog/numbers.

09/29/2026

Do you have a young leader in your congregation who is interested in exploring mission and ministry? If so, read more about a new apprenticeship program from Jen Haddox, Church Engagement Director for The Antioch Partners:

"When I was 18, my pastor invited me to shadow him in ministry over the summer. That kind of experience gave me the courage to explore ministry as a vocation and led to the decision to spend the next summer overseas. My church financially sponsored me, prayed for me, and gave me opportunities to share and practice what I experienced during my mission travel. That experience continues to affirm my calling years later!

This is one reason I’m so excited to launch the Pathway Apprenticeship for young adults with The Antioch Partners (TAP). The Pathway Apprenticeship allows churches to invest in young or emerging leaders by giving them a significant formational experience in mission with a summer, semester, or year of apprenticeship with a TAP Partner (our word for missionary)."

The Antioch Partners Pathway: FORM → SERVE → LAUNCH

Form: Join a cohort for missional formation facilitated by TAP leaders, including a weekend of urban cross-cultural immersion.
Serve: Apprentice with an experienced TAP Partner and experience cross-cultural ministry firsthand.
Launch: Debrief and work with a trained coach in the church to process the experience and step into what's next.

09/23/2026

"See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." Isaiah 43:18-19

A mantra that has sustained me over decades of the ups and downs of pastoral ministry is this:

God is always present. God is always at work. God is always making things new.

We don’t have to wonder, we just have to pay attention. We need to look with new eyes to perceive and then to walk in the new way God is creating in the wilderness. We partner with what God is already up to in our lives and in the world, in our congregation and in the community.

That’s part of the joy of being part of The Fellowship Community. I get to hear stories and see the new things that are happening all across the country. Let me share with you just a few things:

- A church in Southern California with no seminarians but with a scholarship fund gave $5000 to a seminarian In our leadership pipeline.
- A church of 75 in New Mexico gave TFC $5000 and an additional $15,000 from a family foundation and $3000 from an individual elder because they are excited about our leadership pipeline and supporting our cohort in Philadelphia!
- We just started a two-month consultation with AESloan Leadership and Tod Bolsinger to help us focus and refine our leadership pipeline and the goal of raising up 250 new pastoral leaders in the next 10 years.
- We are also working on an app that will connect seminarians and those discerning a call to mentors, scholarships, seminaries, internships, and residencies and help churches and candidates connect with one another. Very exciting and more to come!
- Nine churches in Philly are beginning a six-month cohort next month with TFC and the Fuller Youth Institute to grow younger leaders in their churches.
- Next week, Ethan Collins from Frontier Fellowship and I are leading a pastor vision trip to Egypt to visit the seminary in Cairo, church planters, missionaries, and partner churches in the Synod of the Nile.
- Our program team is making a site visit to Torrance, California to scope out hotels and venues for our national gathering in April 2027.
- Two dozen interested pastors are meeting to workshop next steps for our leadership pipeline at Bel Air Church in LA the first week of November.
- We have a team of pastors from across the country working on a new TFC Lenten Guide for 2027.
- I made a new friend on a Zoom call with a retired pastor and former moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland who wanted to know how we are doing in TFC and that he is praying for us.
- For me personally, Amy and I are relocating to a home in Spokane, Washington from Glendale, California to be closer to one of our sons and his family with four grandsons 6 to 14 years old.

As you are engaged this fall in new programming and ministries, new preaching series and relationships, may you be attentive to God’s new work. Let us know how we can partner to equip and encourage you.

09/21/2026

The Connecting Mission Leaders (CML) Conference brings together pastors, mission directors, lay leaders, and mission enthusiasts—providing opportunity for missiological reflection, worship, prayer, building relationships for new collaboration in mission, sharing best practices and more.

October 22-24, 2026
Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church
Houston, TX

TFC will be there, and we hope to see you there, too. Find out more and register at https://www.connectingmissionleaders.com/.

09/18/2026

In southern California? Join TFC for lunch and conversation, featuring Tommy Givens, Associate Professor of New Testament at Fuller Seminary. Tommy will equip us for drawing from Scripture amidst the political pitfalls of our time.

Thursday, September 24, 2026
11:30 am to 1:30 pm pacific
La Cañada Presbyterian Church
$20 for lunch

La Cañada Presbyterian Church
626 Foothill Blvd.
La Cañada Flintridge, CA 91011

More info and register at https://www.fellowship.community/regional-gatherings/la-area-lunch-sept2026.

09/15/2026

"Whidbey Island is a short drive and brief ferry ride north of Seattle. It is also sort of holy ground for our family, having owned a cabin there years ago. So we were very excited to spend a week’s vacation in July at a friend’s beach house in the same general area.

Anne and I found a great rhythm in that stunningly beautiful place staring at the Olympic Mountains. We read and ran, went kayaking and paddle boarding, hiked and beach walked while sharing space with a plethora of deer, rabbits and bald eagles in the area. And then there were the osprey.

An osprey is sometimes called...a seahawk. So now you know how the Seattle NFL football team received its name, but I digress. Osprey are large, beautiful birds of prey that can look like a bald eagle until you are close enough to see the spotted underbelly, and their slightly smaller size."

TFC Board member Dan Baumgartner discusses what it means to be all in. Read more at https://www.fellowship.community/blog/all-in.

09/03/2026

If you haven't checked out TFC's regional gathering page in a bit, please do so. We have regional gatherings this fall in every region. Many are on Zoom, but we also have a lunch in DC, a gathering in Dallas, and another event in southern California with Tommy Givens from Fuller Seminary. Be sure to check them all out at https://www.fellowship.community/regional-gatherings. We look forward to connecting with you soon!

08/27/2026

The desire of The Fellowship Community is to create a pipeline of healthy leaders so that our churches can continue to thrive for generations to come.

But, healthy leaders are built one at a time, and it takes a village to encourage, support, and equip them.

Today we're encouraging you and your congregation to make that investment. Join us as we raise up 250 new pastoral leaders by 2036.

So far this summer we have received $35,000+ in new giving! Your gift of $1,000, $5,000 or $10,000 could help us meet our goal of $50,000. Investing in these leaders today helps secure the church’s future. Visit https://www.fellowship.community/give to make your donation today.