Announcer: 0:06

Welcome to the Leading Conversations podcast sponsored by the Excel Leadership Network. On each episode, jd Paring will have conversations with church planting pastors and leaders from around the country. You can learn more about how to connect with Excel at the end of this podcast. Let's join JD now and listen in on this leading conversation.

J.D. Pearring: 0:30

Welcome to another podcast with Excel Leadership Network. This is the Leading Conversations podcast and today we are thrilled to have the great and mighty and wonderful Don Proctor with us today. Don is the director, the president, the Grand Poobah of the City Pastors Fellowship of Sacramento, which is maybe the strongest in the United States of bringing city pastors together. Don has done a wonderful job of getting pastors to coordinate, come together, work with each other, pray for each other. So, don, thanks for being here today.

Don Proctor: 1:06

Honored to be here, JD.

J.D. Pearring: 1:09

Yeah, and you're here in wonderful Sacramento.

Don Proctor: 1:13

Amen, yes, we love Sacramento.

J.D. Pearring: 1:17

Okay, hey, tell us your story. Start at the beginning, how you came to Christ and all of that to Christ and all of that Awesome.

Don Proctor: 1:29

Well, I, interestingly enough, I didn't grow up in a Christian home, so I didn't get saved till I was 20. And how that happened was my dad told me hey, there's this guy that's got a job opening on a Saturday. You know, while you're going to junior college has an auto parts store. You can just run parts, he said. But he said, hey, he's one of those, he's one of those boarding in Christians. And so I said, well, yeah, so he's a real nice guy, but he's one of those Christians. And so I said, okay, whatever. So I went to work with him and just really fell in love with the guy because he was just a fun, good guy. Anyway, he'd grown up Catholic and just got radically saved, I think, probably about three years prior to me being there at that time, and so I, just for me, I began to just watch his life. I saw how he treated people, how he treated his wife. I go, wow, they don't even yell at each other. I go, what's wrong? That's not normal, is it? Because that's the way I grew up, which is I had great parents, my parents had. They loved us, they did everything possible for us. But, you know, nobody's perfect and they just always yelled a lot. I thought, man, I don't know if I really want to do that. You know, whenever I get married, so but anyway. So I just saw his life, how he treated people, his wife and his son, and I go, oh man, maybe there is a difference in how, being a Christian, because all I knew was my friends in high school that said they were Christians, but they really they kind of made me look like a saint, you know, at times. So I never really could see the difference. Well, if it's about good getting into heaven, I'm in. So when I saw his life, it really saw how he truly lived out the message of Jesus. It just it ministered to my heart in a huge way and I go well, maybe there is a difference. I know I want to go to heaven and so it was just one day in my room I just I, just one night, I just asked Jesus into my heart and it just began from there. So I was about 20 years old. He was currently going to Calvary Chapel churches, so I just went with him and started going. I saw, wow, they got a band in their church. You know, I'm used to the organ, you know the big organ. I go to visit my grandparents in LA. They would go to a Methodist church, you know, twice a year because that's what we'd visited around Christmas and Easter. So that's all I ever knew was seeing the big pipe organ. I saw a live band. I go wow, that's, that's different. So I just began to go with him and grow and then he would have Bible studies at his house and it just was a huge. Yeah, it just shaped my life and I was obviously never the same again. So it was a. It was a very interesting and I was obviously never the same again. So it was a very interesting journey.

Don Proctor: 4:28

You know, one of the hardest probably memorials I ever had to do was his. You know, it almost makes me cry thinking about it, because he was only. He got stomach cancer. This was probably gosh, what was this? 10, 12 years ago maybe? And he got stomach cancer. Then he ended up passing away at like 53. I think when you do those types of things, it's like, you know, god uses people to literally almost rescue you out of hell. It's hard not to, you know, get emotional about that. But yeah, was it for him, I wouldn't be probably on this Zoom call with you or this podcast with you today. So that's kind of my beginning of coming to know Jesus. And soon enough my parents came on, you know, once they met my wife and her life, you know, realized, man, this is God, you know. So that's kind of the beginning of my coming to know Jesus.

J.D. Pearring: 5:36

Wow. Well, thank you for sharing that One parched guy. Store owner.

Don Proctor: 5:44

Yeah, he changed your life. That's owner.

J.D. Pearring: 5:46

Yeah, he changed your life. That's phenomenal.

Don Proctor: 5:48

Yeah.

J.D. Pearring: 5:48

How did you step into ministry? What was that about?

Don Proctor: 5:52

Well goodness. So it was probably six years after that A friend of mine I was about 25 at the time and I was just trying to look to settle down, living in Sacramento bought my first house. At that time I was in construction, I was an electrician. My friend told me about this girl and he said do you know of her? I said no, I never heard of her. He said she's the pastor's daughter. I said well, if you know the pastor, why don't you just give him a call, make sure she's single, because I'm not going to show up at the church if she's not single. And so I ended up. He found out that she's single. I showed up at the church. I saw her from a distance.

J.D. Pearring: 6:42

So you're just going to churches to pick up girls at that time?

Don Proctor: 6:45

Yeah, well, at this point I'm ready to settle down. I'm very spiritual, jd, so I show up at this church she's leading worship. I go, okay, this is looking pretty good. So far, from a distance, I can say, okay, she's beautiful. We got a good start here. Like I said, I'm very spiritual.

Don Proctor: 7:07

Then, it was probably two weeks later, I finally met her. I went up and introduced myself to her dad, who was a pastor. I said, hey, we had a common friend. This is a friend that reached out to him, and so I met her mom and her sister. I think it was only two weeks later that I met her mom and her sister. I think it was only two weeks later that I met her. And, man, the minute she opened her mouth, I go, gosh, she's the one you know. Just the confidence. Just love the Lord. I could just tell she was the one. She didn't think I was the one at first. But so I hung out and tried to make a long story short. Three months later, we're engaged. Six months later, after that, we're married. Three months.

Announcer: 7:49

Yeah.

Don Proctor: 7:50

So, within nine months. We are married from the time that we met oh my goodness, you're a pretty quick mover there, don Pretty quick.

Don Proctor: 7:57

Yeah, I didn't mess around, I make a decision. So obviously you marry the pastor's daughter because her parents had been pastoring for 20 years. They were trying to look to make decisions into another. What's their next? They didn't know what it would be. And then here we come along, my wife's got all she's. She could do it all really, really well. And I think when she first met me she, well, this guy doesn't want to be a pastor and this probably was never on my radar, and so she was fine with that.

Don Proctor: 8:33

But then just God kind of does things in you. He used some people that were very prophetic that came to our church. We had this prophetic ministry where we'd have people praying over couples or singles, wherever they were. We it was kind of we call it a presbytery I don't know your background or if you're familiar with that and you'd have kind of we had pastors that were very perfect. They come in, they begin to just pray over you and speak things over you and they'd spoken that, hey, you guys would be like shepherds of the house one day and all this. So you know, that's a pretty strong word. So you always kind of get permission from the lead pastor beforehand and say, hey, this is what we're leaning towards. But is this something that's in them, or do you see this in them? Because they have a very much a respect for the local church and just that covering and the leadership chain. So they spoke that over us. So I had that word in me.

Don Proctor: 9:36

So when this interim period came, it just it helped me to have more peace, because if it was up to me, jd ID, I would have never been ready. I would have said, yeah, 10, 15 years down the road. I'm an electrician, my wife's doing outside sales and selling computer chips. We have really good jobs making decent money. We're just getting started having a family, and so I never thought I would be in that place a family, and so I never thought I would be in that place.

Don Proctor: 10:08

Well, that word when everything came down, when my in-laws were ready to make a change and they really had to make a sudden change because there were just things going on in their life, that in their marriage, that it had to happen. So you know this, you know here we are, we're thrust into this role, and I had never preached before. So I say this is the same year Joel Osteen took over from his dad. When his dad passed away, he never preached before. I had never preached before. It was the exact same year. I always say that you know he had a revival. We had kind of a Gideon revival.

Don Proctor: 10:42

You know we went in reverse. It was a tough time but it was obviously very much a learning curve and learning about people, learning about leadership, learning about just how sudden changes can really, how it affects everybody, even though they say they're with you, but are they really with you when you go through a, through a tough time? So, anyway, we went through that. We had a four month interim. Then they had to vote us in and so they ended up voting seems like 75. Some stuck around just to vote, then they took off. But you know, you know, here we are. That was, excuse me, that was, uh, gosh, where were we at? That was 26 years ago that that took place. So we begin that's the. That's kind of my journey coming into pastoring. That's how I kind of started. So I don't know how much more you want me to go beyond that, but that's how I started.

J.D. Pearring: 11:39

What happened? You pastored for how long?

Don Proctor: 11:41

So I ended up pastoring total for 18 years. So we ended up pastoring for 18 years and then we passed the baton to the Father's House, which is out of Vacaville, and we became a Roseville campus so that I could do City Pastors Fellowship full time. You know, I always tell people, look, if you ever feel like the grace is lifted on that role, you could probably attest to that too. You know it's time to move on. It's better sooner than later. So we just knew.

Don Proctor: 12:12

And then the timing, we had a kind of a son of the Lord that was being that was back at the Vacaville campus, cause we had a long history with Pastor David Donna for many years, probably over 30 years. So we had that connection, we had that. That DNA was all very similar. So we had a son. We had that. That dna was all very similar. So we had a son of the lord that was going to be sent out from their church to go plant a church. So I said, well, why don't you just have them come here? We'll make this a roseville campus, we'll just be kind of an associate. Just our role will just be in the city doing our thing. And that's what happened. Uh, it's going on, oh goodness, eight years ago now.

J.D. Pearring: 12:49

So the city pastors, let's back up. How did that happen?

Don Proctor: 12:53

so what happened to the pastors really city pastors kind of if I could kind of make the beginning of that how it came about, it was really in the beginning. Jd's, another pastor from another denomination reached out to me when I first started pastoring. I was just trying to keep my head above water, just surviving, and he reached out. He just had a revelation about what we're seeing now with cross-pollinating and bringing pastors together. So he brought seven of us pastors together in Roseville. I just began to hang out with these guys and begin to just minister life to me. It's like wow, there's other guys that have bigger problems, more issues going on than even I do with much bigger churches. And he just cared about me. He just had a heart. He knew I couldn't give anything back, but that's what he just kept giving out and it just really touched my life. It really marked me for when City Pastors came about later on it was because of this one pastor. So we did this for about five or six years coming together. We go on retreats, maybe once or twice a year, the seven of us. We do some things in the city together prayer events and coming together. And then when he retired after about five or six years, everybody kind of went back to their quarters. You know what I mean. They went back to their old ministry because he was kind of our, our guide. To make it all. What's that? Yes, he was a glue.

Don Proctor: 14:24

So when he left we went back to our own deals and then it was probably two years after that, so that was about 2008,. I believe we had a Slavic service going on in our church at that time and then we had a Baptist guy that was doing a church plant out here West Roseville guy that was doing a church plant out here West Roseville and I, just because of this, this pastor and the relationship I had with the other pastors, like Francis and Fuso, was a part of that in the beginning too. It just marked me and I just felt like gosh, these pastors are isolated. We need encouragement, we need I know the alone feeling and I had this heart because this other pastor would bring in other people from other like countries that saw unity and transformation happen too, and I, like I said, I didn't grow up in church, don't understand all the different denominations, but I see where Jesus is moving. It's like well, where there's unity's blessing. Why would we not want that over our city. Why are we not working together, even though we don't agree on everything?

Don Proctor: 15:32

So I'm taking all this stuff and processing it over those five, six, seven years and I thought well, why don't we just get pastors together? We'll have a lunch at our church. You reach out to your Baptist guys, I'll reach out to my guys. A Slavic pastor friend. He reached out to his and he said let's just have a lunch, we'll do a free lunch, we'll cook an amazing meal for them and just remind them hey guys, we're in this together. We love you, we want to see you succeed as you succeed, we're all succeeding.

Don Proctor: 16:04

So we started. We had our first lunch at our church all succeeding. So we started. We had our first lunch at our church. We had about 20 pastors come and that's where it began, and so from there we ended up having them each quarter.

Don Proctor: 16:17

So we probably spent the first year and a half at our church doing it there, and then, when more pastors would get on board and just see value in it, then we'd just begin to see what God's doing in Sacramento and we thought man, we've got to touch every culture and denomination, so we need to find guys around the region that would host, that wouldn't try to take it over but would pay for it, because I had no money. I didn't even get a nonprofit status for the first seven years. So I just built trust. It was very organic. It still kind of is now. It's all through trusted relationship. So we started there. Francis got on board. He would host also and really step it up, spend all kinds of money on the pastors and their and their spouse.

Don Proctor: 17:07

You know, when they came, yeah, we just begin to move around the region. And my heart was always when we first started getting together. I said, guys, we just care about you, you know, we just want to see all of us, you know, fulfill the grace on our lives because we're in this together, whether you realize or not. You know, I always believe that in Psalm it says give us a nation for inheritance. But I believe it's coming into Jesus' last prayer that we become one and it's a very dynamic thing but it's powerful, but it can take a lot of work to get there too and building trust and all that. So, yeah, we begin to move around the region and just begin to grow. And I know, jd, that and you know this, unless you. This works for you. You send out an email for an event. That doesn't mean everybody's coming. You know it's like you've got to make connections along the way, and I do.

Don Proctor: 18:05

In between those lunches I just reached out to those pastors had a lot of coffees one-on-one. I would text them on a Sunday morning, just encourage them, remind them that, hey, we're in this together, I care about you, we're just praying for you, and just so, when it came around every corner it was just a little more meaningful because they had a connection and they know that. You know this is not just another thing. They knew after the first year and a half we weren't going to. You know, drop the ball, okay, what's the agenda, and push something out there. We just knew we had to keep an agenda free and just keep loving on each other and encourage each other.

Don Proctor: 18:41

And, and through that, you know, we've seen church mergers happen. We've seen relationships that are in that room that would never have been in that room years prior, because you know they worked out their differences. They worked out things like he left this church, started this church plant, took my people. You know you got all that going on, but in the end it's like hey, guys, we're in this together and we've got to work through this stuff and I know we've done wrong. We hope everybody would apologize and, you know, take the Jesus road, but we still have to. We can't afford offenses and unforgiveness because we have our whole city to reach.

Don Proctor: 19:18

And I think it was through Jim Carmichael, that first pastor, that really brought us all together. But what it made me realize when he brought these other people in, these other pastors that saw transformation happen in their city. And I don't know if you know the story of Idi Amin in Uganda, when he was just an evil dictator People were dying at times, you didn't know if you're going to wake up the next morning. But it forced these pastors to come together. And they had to come together for their very lives, their very family, their church, their region and through that it transformed that whole region to where it was dedicated to the devil. Literally for 200 years they dedicated to Jesus Christ, they filled arenas and they prayed and they brought in righteous leadership and that's where they had so many mega churches down in that area. That's where it started, was in that season.

Don Proctor: 20:18

And honestly, I'm just a simple guy. I read it for what it is, and it's like we come together, there's blessing, we work through things. Even though we don't agree upon everything, we still, because we want to reach people and we want to see people know who they are in Christ and working together, and so that's the way I'm looking at all these things, and so it really ministered to me. It's like why can't we do it now? Why do we have to wait to our lowest point? Minister to me is like why can't we do it now? Why do we have to wait till we're at our lowest point? Why can't we work together when we're whatever season we're in, you know, but still keep bringing us together? So that's where my heart is. I truly want to see transformation and see revival that's sustainable. I don't know all the ingredients. I don't know what's enough unity that just brings God. I don't know what that's enough unity.

J.D. Pearring: 21:12

That's right.

Don Proctor: 21:13

Yeah, what's enough desperation in all the hearts of pastors and the church to bring a sustainable revival? Only God can create that stuff. I'm just trying to make a place for it and a safe place where we can work together and let God change us. You know, as we need to if we're open to it, Because I don't know about you, but I'd love to turn a switch to change people's mindset. You know, even when I was pastoring. But God had to intervene and I know he has to intervene upon his church too and the pastors that lead it. But that's what kind of brought us to this place. And, like I said, through this safe place, we've seen church murders. People pass them on to somebody that they met at one of the luncheons. We've seen more collaboration of different communities of pastors, more collaboration of different communities of pastors, and I know I'm doing all the talking. So if you want to break up stuff, you just tell me.

J.D. Pearring: 22:13

Tell us where, give us kind of a State of the Union of the City Pastors Fellowship of Sacramento right now. What's happening now?

Don Proctor: 22:22

Well, I think now, what I'm working on right now is to try to really help. As you know, you're a church planner, so you're planning churches, but we see more churches closing than opening and I think that if I can keep connecting with pastors and keep encouraging them and maybe resourcing them in whatever season that they're in, there's so many soul needs sometimes too, whether you need counseling or you need a retreat just to get away, you see the value of fellowship. That's why you're doing what you're doing. Even though you're planting a church, you're not leaving them alone. You're still connecting with them. All those things are so important.

Don Proctor: 23:05

So I'm trying to create more. How do we help every pastor in whatever season that they're in? So I'm trying to create more. How do we help every pastor in whatever season that they're in? So we're trying to create a resource page of partnerships, of ministries that are going on to help pastors in their season. So we're trying to put that together and raise funds to where. You know, if money is ever an issue, we never want that to be the reason not to reach out.

Don Proctor: 23:31

And even on the church planning side, you know, I see with you and there's a couple other church planning organizations like you know, craig Whitney, and different things. If we could create some of these things that are already in place that you guys are passionate about, these pastors hey, I want to plant a church, but I don't know how. Well, here's the group of people you could talk to and they've got different facets of how that could work, but they're ready to help you if you want help, you know, and just try to keep the church moving forward instead of backwards and seeing these guys with discouragement and churches under a hundred that don't know what to do. It's just planting them with people that do know what to do, and I think that's kind of my motivation this year is to get more of that in place and that could be the encouraging arm of city pastors, because that could help people a lot wherever they're at.

J.D. Pearring: 24:28

So how many pastors are involved?

Don Proctor: 24:30

now would you say so over the 18 years we've reached probably over 800 different pastors at one time or another. We probably average, as you know, close to a couple hundred. Come to the lunches, I would say on average of a church represented. We invite spouse too. There's probably 140, 145 churches that are represented each time and it's always different because these pastors, you know they've got emergencies, they're out of town, as you, you know you have ministry, you have different things going on, so I try to stay in touch with a lot. But you know we created something else convener pastors, which you know Tim kind of helps do at Elk Grove, reach those pastors. So we I don't know if you want me to share about that- yeah, why don't you?

Don Proctor: 25:18

talk a little bit about what the convener pastors do. So it was probably 10 years ago. We realized that pastors were getting together in different pockets all around Sacramento, were getting together in different pockets all around Sacramento, and I thought, well, gosh, why don't we? I was working with Jeff Kreiser at the time and he kind of helped me put this together. So we broke down the whole Sacramento region into the whole 2.4 million people, into 40 city communities, and so we would find those pastors that were doing something within that community, come alongside them and do like a little lunch event that would be hosted at each one of those convener pastor churches, you know, at some point or another, just so we can all know where they're at in the region. And we just said, hey, what are you guys doing? How can we learn from each other? How can we pray for you? Hey, what are you guys doing? How can we learn from each other? How can we pray for you? You know, obviously they have a heart for pastors, so they're doing something beyond their pastoring their local church, which says a lot about them and seeing the value in this. So we get together four times a year, about probably two or three weeks before the bigger luncheon and we just say, hey, how are you doing? How can we learn from each other? How can we pray for you? And, yeah, kind of learn from there. So we probably have 23 of the 40 represented at some point you know throughout the region a representative of a pastor in those areas. But it's been really good because they've got together to do different things as they build relationship and trust.

Don Proctor: 26:54

You know, it's always a challenge, jd, because you've got guys. It's like the Acts Church, it's like you've got people that come to the bigger meetings and you've got the guys that only come to the small groups. They know the meeting in the houses and that kind of thing in that way. So that's the way it is with the conveners. Some will come to that but some won't come to the bigger ones. Some will come to the bigger ones, they'll only come to the small. It's one of those things. You don't know why, but they have their little reasons. But we just feel like we're trying to touch them at one point and I always tell the conveners look, if they don't come to a prayer meeting or whatever, just meet with them for coffee. That's where they begin to open up their hearts anyway and connect and just see how they're doing so. That's where we started the convener pastors. That was probably over 10 years ago and it's been a really big help.

J.D. Pearring: 27:43

Have you had influence on some of the other cities in the US?

Don Proctor: 27:47

Yeah, I just was down in Lodi two weeks ago and they're starting a quarterly luncheon. There's about probably 30 churches represented there. There's probably about 50 in Lodi, I think there's about 100 in Stockton. So we see that I've connected across to North Carolina. What I've found is everybody has their little uniqueness of what they're doing. Some are more missional-minded, Some are more network, you know fellowship. So it's kind of like we're all doing a little bit similar things, but a little unique where we're at. But yeah, there is some others going on and I try to connect with more. So I'm always. If you ever hear of any other cities, please always give me their number.

J.D. Pearring: 28:36

I'll do that. I'll connect. So what's your biggest need right now? Don oh gosh.

Don Proctor: 28:41

I think my biggest need is to get probably more resources. I need to ask for probably more monies to be able to get more things in place to help pastors. You know what I mean. To where, hey guys, you're going through this, we can help you in this, and we've got people in place. This is what they do. I think that's probably my greatest. I mean, we always need more pastors that share the same heart like you do, you know what I mean that have a heart for other pastors that gave up their church to do what you're doing, and so I always love to see that. But I think right now, I'm in kind of a resource stage where we need more the finances to help sustain this and, uh, to grow it well, I really appreciate what you're doing.

J.D. Pearring: 29:30

It's just amazing to come together and see 150 pastors, a couple hundred churches together and just have a lunch. Learn from each other Great stuff. Hey, last question Give us a leadership tip. What's your big leadership tip?

Don Proctor: 29:47

Oh gosh, I would say my greatest, my leadership tip that I could tell today is be who you are called to be as a leader, you know. Don't try to be somebody else. You be you, who God's graced you with the gifting, the talents, the things. Don't compare yourself to other people. You just be that strong, have your identity wrapped in Him and be led by the Holy Spirit and don't compare yourself to others, because you're in your race and nobody can do it but you and know that how important it is and how valued you are and how, if you don't do what you do, it won't help have an effect on all the other things that are going on.

Don Proctor: 30:33

And I think people underestimate the power of who they are in Jesus and what is God placed in them to fulfill. And that would be probably my leadership tip is just be all that you can in Christ, because nobody can be you. It's just be all that you can in Christ, because nobody can be you. And you are more powerful and more. I say you can make a difference, more than you realize, because if we're all running in our lane, running in our race, it's going to affect everybody around us, in our city, our region and the world, and so that would probably be my leadership tip.

J.D. Pearring: 31:09

Well, that's a good one, and it comes from your story. You know one person having an impact on you and one pastor having an impact on what you're doing now. So thanks for what you're doing, keep it up, let us know how we can help, and we really appreciate you being on today.

Don Proctor: 31:27

Well, I appreciate you, JD. Thanks for all that you do.

Announcer: 31:32

Thanks for joining the Leading Conversations podcast. We hope that you found it both helpful and encouraging. At Excel Leadership Network, our focus is on the church planter rather than the church. If you'd like to find out more about us, visit our webpage at excelnetwork. org. Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss any future episodes. See you next time with another leading conversation.