Minister looking for people interested in a church plant unlike any other.

Hello! I’m Pastor Melissa. I’m an ordained minister in good standing in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). I am a wife to a very creative artistic husband, and a mother to an elementary school boy and a girl toddler. I have an undergraduate degree in vocal music with a concentration in drama. I also have a Masters of Divinity from Candler School of Theology, at Emory University. In my graduate work I was immediately drawn to evangelism and mission. After I graduated, was was ordained, much of my continuing education has been in new church planting and church revitalization. I attended Hope Partnership’s training to be a church planter. I also took a church revitalization course with Dr. Dick Hamm, former General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciple of Christ.)

Right now I supply preach at various Disciple churches in Georgia, and I have an online ministry at Fig Tree Christian. As an online ministry, I have reached out in many ways. It has been incredibly rewarding to connect to people on Facebook, Twitter and Reddit. Fig Tree also has an image ministry through Pinterest. It’s amazing to see how God can work through a digital format to reach out to others.

Fig Tree Christian was always meant to have a digital and physical presence. Right now, it has only grown digitally. I am looking for a dedicated group of people who want to plant Fig Tree Christian physically in Paulding County, Georgia. It wouldn’t be a traditional church plant. It would follow the mission draft of St. Patrick. He learned the needs of the people and brought Christianity in a way the people would understand.

I watched a movie about two years ago that encapsulated what I am talking about. Objectified is a movie about how design is all around us and affects us and our decisions. The end of the movie discussed this man who had spent months designing a new toothbrush. Months after his work was completed he was on vacation at a beach. Walking on the sand, one day, he noticed some trash on the ground. Among the debris, he saw his design. His toothbrush. It was depressing. All his months of work and there it was, trash in the ocean.

The moment changed him. He realized dental hygiene had to change. This one line changed me, “It’s not about the future of the toothbrush, it’s about the future of oral care.” He got a group together to design something that would clean the mouth and teeth. They were called to design something other than a toothbrush.

Being on the internet I have heard the voice of those who had their “design in the trash” moment. These are people who can no longer fit in church as we have designed it. They want a connection to God through Jesus, but not the way it’s been done. This isn’t redesigning church. There are plenty of churches out there already. This is understanding the mission to the people and meeting the need. Redesigning community as understood through the Body of Christ.

Interested? I’m completely excited about the potential. If this is something you want, email me PastorMelissa@rocketmail.com. I’m ready to get this started.