Journey Church

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Tom Planck the Lead Pastor of Journey Church in West Chester, OH. Tom has a GREAT story and I'm absolutely blown away at what God is doing in his life as a Christ-follower. Journey Church is the real deal. Tom really leads in his vision and the church is exploding with growth and influence. You can read a little about Journey on their website www.cincyjourney.org:

INSPIRING PEOPLE TO LIVE BIG!

Our days are mundane. Predictable. Often grating. It feels like we exist only to survive into the next day.

This is LIFE? Our dreams are of...what? Houses? Cars? A more stressful job?

And what role does the church play? We're all afraid that this thing called the spiritual life will only serve to destroy us—to rein us in and make us settle for being less than who we feel we truly are. One of our biggest fears about Christianity is that it will make us...boring.

There are few accusations in pop culture today worse than being boring. Or irrelevant. Or yesterday.

Tom is passionate about "those who are disconnected from Christ and the Church. Both matter," Tom says.

I really like this dude. I think Tom has got a heart to really reach a lot of people in the Greater Cincy area. Try to get to know this guy, you'll like him too. You can follow his Twitter updates at twitter.com/tomplanck.

Journey currently meets at Lakota East High School in Liberty Township on Sundays at 10:30AM.

The Bridge in Uptown Cincinnati

You have to check out The Bridge. Tim Dunn is the Lead Pastor and is one of the coolest guys I know in church planting. Tim meets in the Clifton area of Cincy across from the University of Cincinnati. He's reaching young professionals and college students and is taking this church thing to a whole notha level.

The Bridge is all about seeking truth and justice, exhibiting humility and mercy and finding purpose in redemption and mission. The really strive to be part of the fabric of life in Uptown Cincinnati through local outreach efforts by offering programs and ministries that are relevant to the people who live there.

For more info on The Bridge, visit the official site here. For more info on Tim, visit his blog here.

Passage Church

What up!

Spent some time today with Dave Dorr, the founding and Lead Pastor of Passage Church in West Chester, OH. First, let me say, Dave is a really great guy. We talked for about two hours about it all and he is just a regular guy who's easy to be with. Here's a little history on Dave if you're intersted.

In the spring of 2007 Dave was serving as an associate pastor at Apex Community Church in Kettering, OH when he sensed a call to start a new work in the Northern Cincinnati area. His passion was to see a church community that focused on discipleship and used that focus to pursue new church plants. That July, Dave, his family, and one other couple were launched from Apex to begin working behind the scenes to start a new church. Two months later a core group of 14 people from the area began meeting in a home and in Easter of 2008 Passage held its first public service at Endeavor Elementary school. And in the Fall of 2008, Passage moved locatons to Lakota West Freshman school and held its official Grand Opening in January 2009. In this short time, God has brought together like-minded people from all throughout the West Chester area to commit themselves to the work God is doing through Passage Church.

If you want more info on this really cool church, visit the official site here.

Urban Hills Church

Last night I got a chance to spend some time with my new friend, Ed Blackledge at Urban Hills Church (UH) in Anderson Township, OH. This was one of his 3 preview services before he launches on Easter Sunday. The church is meeting in the brand new Anderson Center Performing Arts Center. The facility is as nice as they come and it's a great place to start a church.

Ed spent nearly 10 years in entrepreneurial roles in the financial services industry. In 2002, he abandoned a personal pursuit for wealth to serve his King - Jesus Christ. Ed's passion in ministry is to connect new believers to the King of the universe and equip them to serve Him on His world wide mission. He is married to Buffie and they have two daughters, Katie (8yrs) and Anna (2yrs).

Check out Urban Hills here.