Speaker: 0:06

Welcome to the Leading Conversations Podcast, sponsored by the Excel Leadership Network. On each episode, JD Pering 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.

Speaker 1: 0:29

Welcome to another edition of Leading Conversations with the Excel Leadership Network. This is our podcast, and today we are thrilled to have with us the great, the wonderful Garrett Nates, all the way from uh Longmont, Colorado. Thanks for being here, Garrett.

Speaker 3: 0:47

Yeah, thanks, JD. Thanks for having me. It's a great time to connect with you.

Speaker 1: 0:51

Hey, tell us about Longmont. What's Longmont known for?

Speaker 3: 0:55

Ah, interesting. Longmont uh is positioned in between Boulder and uh then you've got Fort Collins to the north of us. And so we're kind of this community that's kind of sandwiched in between two college towns, uh, and yet um we don't have a college really in our town. So it's this really interesting kind of pocket in between two towns that are really well known for a lot of young people. So um, so demographically, you know, maybe a little bit older uh age category uh in general, but Longmont itself is known for kind of being the gateway to the Rockies. So if you've been to Estes Park or you plan on going to Estes Park, you kind of have to go through Longmont to get to the mountains. And so it's sits right in this position, uh beautiful location. Um, but uh it's it's very kind of unique. Uh the size of the town, maybe 100,000 people, uh, and it's positioned for some pretty massive growth uh going forward into the future. So it's and how far from Denver? Uh to Denver, maybe 45 minutes, maybe 40 minutes, depending on the traffic. Um, but uh yeah, we're just north of there. Uh to that, so like the DIA uh Denver airport, maybe 45 minutes.

Speaker 1: 2:12

Great, great, great. Well, hey, tell us your story, tell us growing up and how you came to Christ, all of that.

Speaker 3: 2:17

Yeah, thanks so much. Yeah, uh, I grew up in Colorado Springs. So I grew up uh, you know, down south of Denver and um was born into a family where my parents had become Christians after they uh were married. And so they didn't really grow up as believers. Uh, and so it was all brand new to them. Uh and so uh went to church as a very young, a young boy, uh, because they were just getting into the faith. Uh, and it was about the age of seven that I gave my life to the Lord. Uh, but as most seven-year-olds would go, you know, you don't really understand a whole lot at that time. You understand some things about the gospel. Uh, but it wasn't until I was about the age of 15 that really started to make sense of like what Jesus had done for me, why I needed a savior, uh, and what was what was this whole Christian thing about? Uh, and so about that time I was uh, you know, a 15-year-old boy playing a lot of soccer, and soccer was everything to me. Uh, and uh it had become basically where my identity was found, and um and that kind of got rocked in multiple ways, but realizing that my identity couldn't be in a sport, it had to be in my savior, and uh that's really when the gospel started to make sense to me of who I was, why I needed Jesus in my life, uh, and um since that time, you know, just trusting that the Lord's continuing to shape me into who he wants me to be and and uh helping me grow as a follower of Jesus. So that's a little bit of my story, but um growing up in the springs was a was a great, great place to grow up in and um realizing uh how much Jesus had done for me really was through a a VBS event when I was seven, a little boy, of going through the gospel at that time, of understanding, you know, my sin, my need for a savior. Um so that's some of my background.

Speaker 1: 4:12

Wow, wow. Was there a call to ministry in there at all?

Speaker 3: 4:16

Uh maybe so. I was probably the seeds of that were probably planted because part of that story is around the age of 15, uh, I was going on a missions trip to use the game of soccer uh as a platform for sharing the gospel. So we were going to Denmark and Norway to play in the Dana Cup and the Norway Cup. And uh what would happen on those trips is that teams from all over Europe were coming together for these tournaments. But as we came together, we were all staying in schools, so like a middle school or a high school in our kind of uh context. So our team was staying in one kind of classroom, and next door to us was another team from like Germany. Next door to them was it maybe a team from England. And so during that time, we would invite the other teams into our room uh to share the gospel with them. And it dawned on me in preparation for that trip that if I was gonna go share the gospel with someone, it had better be real in my life. And uh so I really started growing as a Christian. But on that trip, uh, in that trip, I think it was in Denmark, it was the first time I led someone to the Lord and uh in the context of using the platform of soccer. And so I think probably the seeds of my call to ministry were at that time as a young boy and age of 15 or so in the context of soccer. Um, but uh obviously it came to fruition much probably later in life, but realizing maybe God's got a call on my life that's that's beyond just you know something I can imagine for myself. We maybe have something bigger for me.

Speaker 1: 5:52

Cool. Well, that's an interesting experience. So did you go off to college or what?

Speaker 3: 5:58

Yep. So I went to um Biola University down there in Southern California and uh loved my time at Biola. Um, and that's really where soccer was taken out of my life because I got cut from the soccer team there at in uh at Biola University. And uh the Lord removed that from my life, I think, for a lot of reasons. One, I think, is you know, particularly related to your question about a call to ministry. Um and so soccer was removed from my life. Uh, my time at Biola was really a shaping time for what the future was going to look like. Studying the Bible more, uh, understanding the scriptures, uh, getting deeper in my faith. And then that led me to go to Wheaton College, uh, to graduate school in the Midwest, and got connected to a great church uh there in Wheaton called College Church. And uh it was really connecting there with junior high kids. That was my first ministry experience was working with seventh and eighth graders and absolutely loved it. Uh call me sick, call me crazy, but uh we absolutely loved working with junior high kids. Uh, we did that for eight years, but it was that was really the context with which my call to ministry really kind of came to shape because I had men in my life who recognized giftings uh that I really couldn't see, uh, gave me opportunities to express those giftings in leadership and in teaching uh and just in in pastoral ministry. And people saw things in my life and tapped me on the shoulder basically and said, Hey, you've you've got a call. Uh, you need to you need to be preaching the Bible, you need to be in ministry, you need to do this. And so I don't think I, JD, I don't think I planned this like grand plan of like ending up where I am. I think it was just steps along the way where the Lord gave me opportunities uh and gave me ability uh and gave me a passion uh to do ministry. Uh and so it's been it's been this series of things that have been just making it clear that God had a call on my life.

Speaker 1: 8:06

Um, things getting cut from a team. I think uh nothing changes your life like getting cut from a team. True. Everybody should do it just uh to have that scar in your life that you survived. Yes. Um but why did you go to Wheaton? What was that about? What what would cause you to say, hey, you know, I'm gonna go to I'm gonna go to Wheaton? I mean, not that it's I mean, it's just uh there must have been some sort of ministry idea there, or no. Uh maybe, but it was more my my uh fiance at this point.

Speaker 3: 8:44

So my wife and I met in high school, uh, and uh so she went to Wheaton College and I went to Biola. We went the opposite directions to each other. And when she was at Wheaton, uh when I was at Viola, we got engaged, and so it was totally practical, JD. It was there was no big plan. It was like, we're gonna get married. I should probably live closer to her before we get married, uh, and so we can at least be in the same city together before we tie the knot. It was totally practical. It wasn't like okay.

Speaker 1: 9:20

Well, that makes a lot of sense, you know. Some people go to a certain college for the curriculum. Most go for a member of the opposite sex, typically. Uh so you uh so after Wheaton, you were junior high pastor, or you were you were doing that for yeah.

Speaker 3: 9:39

It was while I was uh while I was doing graduate work uh at Wheaton College Graduate School, uh was on staff at college church there, um, started out in junior high ministry. Uh we ended up being on staff for about 15 years at college church. Uh, seven or eight of those years was as a junior high pastor. And then the the latter half of those years was the pastor for discipleship ministries. Uh and so I kind of did a kind of a lateral move, you could say, out of junior high ministry and into discipleship ministries.

Speaker 1: 10:09

Wow, did you go straight from there to Longmont?

Speaker 3: 10:12

No, I had another stop before we got here. So 15 years there at um at college church, and then uh was in Ohio, uh a tiny little town called Oxford, Ohio. It's the home of Miami, uh, of Ohio. Um, if you know that school. So, yeah, so I was a lead pastor there. So I went from college church, went to Oxford. I was the lead pastor of Oxford Bible Fellowship, and uh unique context, pure college town. Like the church was right on campus of Miami University. And uh you go outside the doors of the church, you see freshman dorms, uh it's just embedded right onto the campus. So we felt a very, very specific call there. Uh we were we were planting or replanting, you could say, whatever you want to say, uh a gospel-centered church on the campus of Miami University, so that those students had an opportunity to hear the gospel. Um, and uh it was an extraordinary opportunity to be there for for that time. Ended up being there for seven years uh before we came back uh home, you could say, to Colorado.

Speaker 1: 11:25

Okay. Now, how did you get to Longmont?

Speaker 3: 11:28

So Longmont, that's an interesting story. Uh, because um for seven years, my whole time in Ohio, uh, I'd been praying that if it would be possible that the Lord would lead us back to Colorado. I mean, literally, JD, it was almost like every day. Like um, we loved where we were at, um, but we really wanted to come back to Colorado. So we got there in 2015 and uh 2022, literally seven years we we were there, and for all those years was praying for an opportunity. So, how I got connected here was a pretty random story. I I came at a staff meeting and my phone was ringing. It said Phoenix, Arizona. I don't know anyone in Phoenix, um, besides my son was gonna go to Grand Canyon University. I picked up the phone, JD, and it was a guy. He says, Hey, this is Rod from Agora. And I was like, Hey Rod, what's up? I I don't know Rod, I don't know Agora. He's like, Hey, there's a there's a church in Longmont that's looking for a lead pastor. Are you interested? And immediately I'm like, I've been praying about this for seven years. Like, so yes, I'm interested. Yeah. And he said, Great, uh, thanks so much. We'll send you the profile. Click, hung up. It literally was a minute and a half conversation. Uh and uh then got connected with another gentleman from Agora named Malcolm, and uh so yes, and then it went from there of just going through their search process.

Speaker 1: 12:57

So that's a prehistoric church, isn't it?

Speaker 3: 13:01

Yeah, it's been here in Longmont for 70 years. So we just celebrated our 70th year here. Uh been around a long, long time. So yeah, it's it's had roots here for uh all that time, and the the town is kind of where we're positioned at physically, the town kind of grew around it when it was first in this location. There was no homes here, it was kind of out in the outskirts of town, and so the the town itself kind of grew around it and then in other directions, but been here for a long time, and um yeah, so one of the lead pastors here was Leith Anderson. If you know Leith.

Speaker 1: 13:37

Yeah, when I was in in seminary at Denver, uh-huh, Leith Anderson was the pastor, and that was like a flagship church along the front range there. Everybody knew about that church because of Leith.

Speaker 3: 13:53

Yeah, yeah. Leith's great. Uh yeah, he I just connected with him a few weeks ago, so it was good to see him uh here in town. But uh yeah, so it's it's been around a long time, which is wonderful and also challenging at the same time.

Speaker 1: 14:07

Oh yeah. What are the challenges?

Speaker 3: 14:10

The challenges uh are you you've got a historic church, a legacy church who uh has done things a certain way uh for a long time. And uh and yet ministry has changed, the world we live in has changed. And so some of the challenges just kind of getting things up to speed, up to date, so to speak, of um, you know, we've you know, the mentality of oh, we've always done it that way. It's like, well, maybe that worked in the 80s, maybe that worked pre-COVID, but it's a new day and we've we've got to be able to pivot. So that's just some of the challenges of just some historic legacy things that are needing to be updated.

unknown: 14:51

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 14:52

Well, I've heard you're doing an excellent job. I don't know. I just hear just what I see on X and uh social media. Gary. I I know you have a vision for uh parenting churches for planting other churches. Where did that come from?

Speaker 3: 15:09

Yeah, that probably came uh ultimately from my time at College Church uh back in Wheaton. Um I saw a historic church uh that had that had been around, at least when I was there, for 150 years, really planted right in Wheaton. And what I observed during my time there is part of part of this the strength of that church was its ability to replicate. That it wasn't kind of stuck in it's like, okay, this is us and this is all it is, but they had a very specific church planting vision, and I saw how the washback on that on College Church just invigorated its ministries. And so part of the vision for what I I have here is yes, we've got a legacy type of church, not as old as college church, you know, but at the same time, how do we how do we reinvigorate? How do we revitalize what's going on here? And I think the the ability to to multiply and to replicate is yes, it's it's for the growth of the gospel, but it's also for the revitalization of this church right here. And I think it I've seen it experience-wise, of the energy that it can provide for the the parenting church, as you said, or the sending church that um that has a very unique way to really help the church uh continue to stay on mission and get on mission of why are we here? Why are we doing what we're doing, and not just uh staying stagnant. So that's that's part of it. That's where it comes from of way back in my time in Wheaton.

Speaker 1: 16:45

Well, I know you have a uh is it three and nine division? Talk about that.

Speaker 3: 16:50

Yeah, so the vision we have is to plant three churches in nine years. Um, so if we're on track for that, I really started talking about that um probably um, let's see, if we're we're want to plant in 26, that's our that's our first one. So probably about two years ago is when I really started talking about us in this three and nine. So 2026, 2029, 2032. That is what we are on um as far as the potential. So part of that is being able for that to be sustained, you know, of how how fast can we plant? But knowing there's financial implications, there's ascending implications, there's all kinds of things as the sending church that we want to be able to plant in a way that is strategic, uh, but also sustainable for what we want to be doing. So the three and nine.

Speaker 1: 17:45

Can you uh flesh that out a little bit? Flesh out your vision, what what you would like to see happen?

Speaker 3: 17:50

Yeah, so what we want to see happen, uh the three and nine is we we feel a specific call to plant churches in northern Colorado. Um Northern Colorado is growing like gangbusters, people want to live here. Uh there are towns like Johnstown, Firestone, Erie, uh, even Longmont, as I mentioned, birthed that are growing like just like crazy. And the call that we feel in to plant in northern Colorado is somewhat related to demographic and population growth. That if we look at northern Colorado, there are literally not enough churches to be able to reach the number of people who are moving into our town. So, um, so it's not I'm sure we could plant a church. Hey, go to Atlanta, go to Chicago, go somewhere else, and that would be okay. But we really want to plant along the Northern Colorado front range because of what we see happening population-wise, uh church-wise, of what's whether what's available, what's uh what's where can people go to a church, um, but also mission-wise related to who's living around us. Majority of the places that our people are gonna move into are their people aren't reached, they don't know Jesus. Uh, and we see churches as the forefront of God's mission to reach people who aren't followers of Jesus Christ. So um, so planting in northern Colorado has multiple reasons for that for us. Um but just very practically, we've got to keep up with population growth. Um, that's that's really significant for where we're living.

Speaker 1: 19:28

Just to help some other folks who might be saying, well, you know, that's something that we can do. What in your mind does a parent church look like? Like what would that first year look like, the second year, and so on? Uh, is there money involved? What what are you guys uh considering?

Speaker 3: 19:45

Yeah, I think there's uh multiple ways to do it, and I'm not the expert on it at all. But what I see in my mind's eye, if I could just envision it of what I want to see happen, is I imagine that uh a church planter, whatever situation in life he is in, um, is gonna join our staff. And I want him to be embedded into the lifeblood of our church, uh, known by the staff, known by the church, so that when we are launching out, it's not a it's not almost like um outsourced, like, okay, great, we did we, you know, off you go, and we don't really know you. Um, but to be able as the as the parenting church to have a deep connection with the with the planter himself, because I I would love to see that first year of that guy, he's recruiting like crazy of who's gonna go with him. Uh, and I know that would be a big challenge because we'll probably lose some really great people, some of our best people. Um, but I have confidence that God's gonna backfill that with with other good people, that as we send off our best, yeah, it'll be tough, it'll be hard. But um, so I want that first planter in that first year to be able to recruit, you know, a core group of people who are gonna be with him, uh, who we get behind and we launch out. So there's financial implications, obviously, for that for us, and we're trying to figure out the best model to do that. Um, but they're on staff. And then imagine for year two and year three, we're still supporting, but it's on a it's on a downward scale of what we're sliding scale, yeah. Yeah, a sliding scale. So year two is a little bit yes, less, year three, a little bit yes. By the end of year three, there they ought to be completely independent from us. The cool thing about that for us, if we're on that three and nine cycle, we keep our budget the same year to year, what we're committing to do to it. That way, then when we bring another planter on, we're just we're not having to ramp up our budget up and down like a roller coaster, but we're staying pretty pretty steady, maybe even increasing as we need to. That's brilliant, but that we're disabled to move funds differently. So, does that make sense?

Speaker 1: 22:01

Yeah, oh no, it's great, it's wonderful. I I want to get those ideas out to other churches because uh your term roller coaster, I think that's the way it works for like hey, we're gonna put a lot of money in this year and then we're gonna recover instead of hey, let's just prepare for this. This is what part of what we do, this is our ministry. It revitalizes the uh the the mother church. I mean, if you want to revitalize your family, you have a baby, right? Oh it's easier for grandbabies. I just will tell you, they're easier. So um there's they're expensive, but they're they're easier. So you're right now we're looking for a planter, right?

Speaker 3: 22:43

We are, we are. We're praying hard. We pray weekly. Uh, my leadership team, my elders are praying about this. Every time we get together, they they they meet twice a week for prayer. This is on the top of our list for praying uh of who, where, when, um, all the resources that are going along with it. So uh, and we can't do that alone, you know. JD, we need people like you uh in the Excel Leadership Network. Uh we need people like John Craft from the Rocky Mountain Church Network because we don't want this just to be a solo deal. Like the power of partnership is so significant. Yeah, so we're we're praying, but we're also trying to work their networks that we've got together.

Speaker 1: 23:22

Well, wonderful. Well, that's that's just fun. And I mean, I obviously have a heart for Colorado, but I think it's a great place to live. It looks like the Broncos are playing a little bit better.

Speaker 3: 23:33

And um just hold your breath, it'll change, so don't worry about it.

Speaker 1: 23:37

But uh, I mean that makes a difference on how the whole community feels on Monday, right? Very true. Hey, I appreciate your story. Give us a uh leadership tip or two. You've been doing this for a while.

Speaker 3: 23:49

Yeah, yeah. Um, that's a good question. Um I I think it's uh I'm continuing to learn. And I think that one of one of the tips that I've that I've had to to learn myself is that every church context is different. Uh, and so the ability uh as far as a leader to have a growth mindset personally, that I'm willing to grow, I'm willing to take on new challenges, uh, I'm willing to to to try things that may or may not work, uh, and to be able to grow with my people and through the ministry experiences that come. I've had some tough ones. I've had some really hard knocks, like most guys who've been around doing this for a long time. Uh, and yet I don't want to be discouraged by those things. So my my tip really is keep a growth mindset, don't get stuck, uh, and be able to move where God is moving and expect Him to do things that are gonna blow you away.

Speaker 1: 24:52

So um, so I could say many things more about that, but the leadership tip really Do you have a strategy, a plan, a uh system for your personal growth mindset?

Speaker 3: 25:04

Um well, it's a lot of personal development, you know, and uh I I read broadly, um, meaning, you know, that I I will read stuff from you know Christian leaders, uh, you know, but I also read outside of that as well. Uh and so I I think there's a whole psychology of growth uh and a mindset of growth that that can be applied to what I do as a pastor, it's not going to be a one-to-one connection. But I think that if we if we read broadly and can learn, I think that that's that's helpful outside of just our context, be able to take the best things from other contexts and apply them to what we're trying to do.

Speaker 1: 25:45

Let me let me ask this. Uh, what outside of like the Christian realm, the Bible and Christian leadership books, what's uh uh uh a leadership book or a book on growth that you're reading now or just read that you'd highly recommend? Ah, very good.

Speaker 3: 26:01

Shoot, I can't remember the name of the author. It's a uh it's a lady by the name of Carol. Oh man, JD, I'm gonna have to tell you this another time. But uh the name of the book is Mindset.

Speaker 1: 26:11

Oh, yes, yes, okay, mindset, yes.

Speaker 3: 26:13

And uh she's brilliant what she's talking about, but she talks about you know growth mindset in business, in parenting, in sports. Uh, and uh she's done a ton of research on uh looking at how elementary age kids you can tell at that age who's got a growth mindset and who's got a fixed mindset. And uh you can actually teach a growth mindset in terms of some of the things that they're doing. So I can't first name of the lady is Carol, but I'm remissing the the her last name.

Speaker 1: 26:44

Maybe you know it, but it's uh I know of the book that you're uh I don't think I have actually read it. I do know that that book changed the whole trajectory of one of our church planters who had been struggling. Read that book, changed his life, and one of our planters who's really has an established church now because they've been around a long time, really helped him make some significant changes. So Carol Merrill from I don't know what uh Carol's name is, but I mindset, get the book, yeah. Garrett recommends it. Uh, that's all you need. So uh well, that's great. Well, hey, thank you for your time. Thank you for your vision. The three and nine is boy, that should be doable for a lot of churches. Uh, a number of our churches have a 10 and 10 mindset, you know, and we're we're trying to do a hundred this year and all that. Some of that can be overwhelming, but three and nine, I think, is just parents going into marriage saying, Hey, I think we can do three kids in nine years. That's spread out far enough, you know. Um, but I really appreciate that. Thanks for what you're doing there. Uh, are you are you a Bronco fan?

Speaker 3: 27:56

Uh more probably a berries fan, to be totally honest. I that's painful to say, but you know, but we'll we'll cheer for the Broncos because it's local. But uh we like pain in our family.

Speaker 1: 28:07

So I'm I'm sorry for your loss. What happened there? Was that just your time in Wheaton?

Speaker 3: 28:13

Yeah, yeah. It was just Wheaton time. Were they good then? No, they were not good then.

Speaker 1: 28:19

Okay. Well, I will say go Broncos, go Bears. Thanks so much. Keep up the good work.

Speaker 3: 28:26

Hey JD, thanks so much for having me. I appreciate it.

Speaker: 28:34

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