Welcome And What To Expect

Announcer 0:06

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

Burleson Life And Local Favorites

J.D. Pearring 0:29

Welcome to another edition of the Leading Conversations Podcast with Excel Leadership Network. And today we are honored to have with us the great Chad and Magan Swearing, all the way from Burleson, Texas.

Chad Swaringen 0:44

Bold City Church, right? Yes, sir. That's it. Yes. Thank you for having us today.

J.D. Pearring 0:49

Yeah. Well, tell us what's the best thing about Burleson?

Magan Swaringen 0:52

Oh, I love Burleson. I it's just south of Fort Worth, so you're close to everything, but we have so many wonderful local businesses. The the I love the people. I love the heart. I I work at a local nonprofit, and the thing I love the most is that the way the nonprofits and churches and everybody kind of work together to help people and love people.

J.D. Pearring 1:16

What's the best place to eat in uh Burleson?

Magan Swaringen 1:20

I would say Fresco's because I like they have the best queso, like chips and queso. I feel like Fresco's has the best chips and queso in town. A lot of people are gonna go to Babe's Chicken every time they come.

Chad Swaringen 1:32

Yes.

Magan Swaringen 1:33

Yeah, but I'm I'm a Fresco.

Chad Swaringen 1:35

I'd I'd lean frescoes more than usually when I choose it's like Hard 8 barbecue.

J.D. Pearring 1:40

Yeah, Hard 8 Okay. I think I've been I know I've been to Babe's a few times with our friend Dave Bennett. Um, he loves that place, and he's no longer in Burleson. I know you guys started church and he left. That's what he said.

Chad Swaringen 1:55

He was like, I'm out. Like that.

Magan Swaringen 1:57

Yeah, we didn't choose once with him, though.

J.D. Pearring 2:00

So well, tell us uh your story, uh growing up, how you came to Christ and all that.

Chad’s Story From Bus Ministry

Chad Swaringen 2:07

Oh man, my story is interesting. It's it's uh one of those. I did not grow up in a Christian home. I meet a lot of church planners who who come from a Christian family, things like that. My family uh was not believers. Uh, my grandmother did go to church in in town, a small Southern Baptist church, and they started a bus ministry. This is way back in the 80s. And uh, you know, they would, for those not familiar, they would just show up in your neighborhood with the bus and you go get on the bus and they take you to church. No parents, you're just uh there. And so uh we did that for a couple years. Off and on, we didn't go every Sunday. It's kind of when my mom was like, Y'all need to go to church, like you know, get out of here, go to church. And so she would send us to church on Sunday mornings. Uh eventually the bus ministry left, and she's like, Well, you guys don't have to go anymore if you don't want. And uh, I had made enough friends in the in the youth ministry that I was like, Man, I still want to go. So my mom would literally, my mom and dad would literally drive me up to church, drop me off, go home, and I was just there, kind of kind of unsupervised and in the middle of things uh for most of the time. But uh man, the people there really loved me uh through a lot of uh trouble that I caused. I was usually the kid that people were like, man, what are we gonna do with this guy? Because he gets in, he's so much, I was so mischievous. Like I just got into a lot of things, had a lot of energy, but they never asked me not to come. They never, you know, correct. I mean, they did correct me, but they didn't uh they didn't do it in such a way that that made me go, forget this place. I'm done. And so uh man, I was around 12 years old. I remember just making the decision to commit my life to Christ and to uh to get baptized, and I became a believer that day. And it would be about another seven years. I was fast forward seven years in the Marines of all places. I was in the United States Marine Corps Infantry, uh, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, stationed up in uh 29 Palms, California. And man, in the Marines, that first year it was very black and white. How did you want to live? Did you want to live for Christ or live in the world? Because on the weekends, everybody was going to clubs, strip clubs, bars, like they were gonna go live that lifestyle. And I'm going, okay, I know enough of Jesus. Like I shouldn't be at those places. And what I actually found myself was really kind of depressed because I had realized I'd just been really living a uh both and kind of situation. Enough of the world to not enjoy Jesus, but enough of Jesus to not enjoy the world. And so I sat down one day to make a decision and just said, okay, self, what do you want to do? You either need to give it all to Christ and uh whatever that is. Honestly, I thought the only option was to be a missionary in Africa. And so I was like, okay, either we're gonna do that or we're gonna go in the system and die and go to hell. Like, you know, what do you want to do? And uh I just knew the goodness of God was was too real, that I could never walk away from him, uh, even if I chose the wrong path, that his love would pursue me. Kind of like David said, if I make my my bed in hell, like he'll be there. And uh made a decision to to be serious with Christ. And I began to pray and ask, Lord, what was the thing that you would have me do? And that's kind of where he began to speak to me about going into ministry. So I don't know if I'm getting ahead of myself, like if you want the whole story, but uh well, well, thanks

Megan’s Early Faith And Ministry Call

Chad Swaringen 5:27

for sharing that.

J.D. Pearring 5:27

How about you, Megan?

Magan Swaringen 5:29

I grew up in a Christian home. My mom and dad were with me at church every weekend. My mom and dad served every weekend, they were involved in everything. My mom was the youth leader, the Sunday school teacher. Um, and and so I was I was one of those at church every time the doors were open. And I gave my life to Christ when I was eight years old. And I I think there when you give your life to Christ that young, there's so many like growth moments that you have to go through. But I remember even then we did like a one-on-one discipleship program with someone at that, with an adult at that age. And being so, I remember having a conversation in fourth grade that was like, you know, Jesus is my peace and my stronghold. And I gave his life to him, I gave my life to him. And if I died tomorrow, it would be okay. Like just with another kid. And I think I was trying to share the gospel, but I was eight or nine. And um, he was like, So if I shot you, you'd be okay. And I'm like, I wait, hold on. I'd rather you not. Um, but just being so on fire young and serving in the church young. And even when I graduated, I felt like there was this moment where I was like, okay, I've been doing this because this is what my family does. But this is the moment that I get to make my own choices. If I choose to be a part of a local church, that's on me. If I choose to seek God, that's on me. And my first week of college, like I fasted and was like, this is this is me giving it, giving it to you. And so I I felt called to ministry in in college, um, just sitting in a service. I felt like the Lord was, you know, I was kind of going, maybe I'll be a teacher. And the Lord was like, you're not gonna be at peace unless you're serving me with all of your life. And um, and that was my my call to ministry moment.

Meeting At Bible College After War

J.D. Pearring 7:14

Well, how did you two crazy kids meet then?

Magan Swaringen 7:18

We met at Christ for the nations in Dallas, Texas. He uh started a year ahead of me. I went a year behind him.

J.D. Pearring 7:25

And that's a college, that's a school, that's a Bible institute.

Magan Swaringen 7:30

It's a Bible college. I think that it, I don't know if it's accredited now, but it wasn't accredited then. You kind of would go for a few years and then finish. We both went for a few years and finished our degrees at Dallas Baptist and uh Criswell College. I went to DBU and he went to Criswell to finish our bachelor's, but we met there. It's it's a lot about practical ministry. For me, I went mostly for children's and family ministry, and we did uh we did a lot of trips and moments where we trained other children's ministers, we learned how to do children's ministry, and we'd go to the Philippines or wherever and do children's ministry and train.

Chad Swaringen 8:05

Um she took one look at me and knew the Lord had spoken. Yeah, I'm just kidding. That was the exact opposite. She was like, This guy, really?

Magan Swaringen 8:14

Um these big old glasses.

Chad Swaringen 8:17

Yeah, I still have the military glasses. I was rocking them, you know. Uh no, we we met at school uh through a mutual friend. I should I got out of the marines, I got back from Iraq. Uh, I served in Iraq in 2003, and I got back uh two days, or I got out of the marines two days before school started. And so I got home, saw my family after having been to combat, and was like, hey, I'm going to school. And uh we show I showed up there and I knew nothing, I was just out of sorts, uh, literally didn't know where I was going. And I was just like, Does anybody know where this building is? Like I just shouted it out loud. I'm like, does anybody know where this place is? The girl who helped me was one of her high school friends, and so a year later, when she started coming, we started hanging out and just uh moved on from our friendship there.

Magan Swaringen 9:06

Yeah, he went straight from war to Bible school, so quite a different matter.

Chad Swaringen 9:14

That's like a normal that's kind of that's what you need, honestly. I'm gonna tell you.

J.D. Pearring 9:19

Yeah, it probably would be really good for folks, yeah, yeah.

Chad Swaringen 9:24

When I will say too, I think one of the cool stories that she has is I think she said in her senior year of high school or whatever she was praying, Lord, about my future husband. And so you want to share that.

Magan Swaringen 9:35

We um, you know, I don't know if that's a thing people talk about now, but in high school, people talked about um, you know, in the purity conversation, like praying for your your future husband and all that. Every time I would go to pray for my future husband, I was praying prayers of protection. It was like the Holy Spirit wouldn't let me pray anything but protection for my future husband. And I'm going, I'm looking around the kids I'm going to school with, and I'm like, what? They're just like walking around this suburb. Like, what what are we praying protection from? But I, you know, God's God knows the whole story and his picture is much bigger. But this dude was at war, and I'm like praying protection for my future husband the whole time because the Holy that's what the Holy Spirit wouldn't let me pray anything but at the at the moment.

J.D. Pearring 10:20

Thank you. That's a cool story. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you both have this call to ministry. You get married, I assume. Did you go right into some sort of ministry at that point?

Chad Swaringen 10:32

Yeah, I you know, I don't know if I was just stubborn or or what. Like once we got once I got to school, I just when God, so when I was in the Marines and I was praying and asking God for direction, and he said, and he just revealed to me very clearly, like I've called it's one of the clearest times I've ever heard God in my whole life. I was I literally went, God, what is it you want me to do? And I heard be a pastor, and I literally looked around the room because I thought somebody else had had spoken that to me. And it was be a pastor. And I'm like, well, okay, I wish I could say I was more diligent and go, okay, what does that look like, Lord? Where would you have me go? What are the things I was like, okay. Well, if I'm being pastor, Lord, I don't know anything about, you know, I need to, there's so much I need to grow. Like, where could I go to Bible school? Is there such a thing as Bible schools? Because remember, I didn't grow up in a Christian home, like nobody talked like that in in the circles that I was at. And so I only knew one person who had gone to a place where they could actually study the Bible, and so that was Christ for the nations. And so I talked to him about it, signed up there. And so I just in my life in that moment, I felt like there was nothing else I could do. Um, I don't think I had a lot of wisdom, I had a lot of zeal without knowledge, but I was just going, okay, let's get into it. And we just through Bible school, when we got married, uh, we started volunteering at a church uh in Mesquite as a youth pastor uh for a couple years and then uh moved to Pennsylvania. We lived in Harrisburg for a couple of years doing youth and children's family ministry and stuff. So yeah, we just kind of jumped right in and we're like, okay, this is we're gonna die here because this is what we felt God had called us to do, ministry itself, not a particular church, but we just felt God had called us to ministry and that there was no other option

Why Burleson Still Needs Churches

Chad Swaringen 12:12

for us.

unknown 12:12

Yeah.

J.D. Pearring 12:13

Where did the church planting bug come from? The Lord.

Magan Swaringen 12:20

I'll say this. I never wanted to plant a church. I grew up here in Burleson where when I was growing up in our community right now, there were quite a few thriving churches who worked together to build the kingdom of God. And so my thought was, especially in America, there's so many churches. Why do we need to plant more? I everyone says that to us still today. And um, but whenever we started praying about church planting, which he'll tell you more about why we started praying about it, uh, we started looking into it and I started really looking at the churches in our community and really looking at our community. And the reality is that our city has doubled since I was since I graduated high school. It has gone from 20, 20,000 to almost 60 at this point. So tripled. And we don't really have more churches, and churches are dying. Like there are churches that used to be thriving 750 to a thousand member churches that are down to 200. And so our community is growing, our churches are not there's a need for someone to be fighting for the kingdom of God and and bringing the lost to Jesus here. There's just a need.

Chad Swaringen 13:32

Yeah, there just there is in in in Burleson, I guess specifically, there just seems to be this a lot of people coming in but not going anywhere. And so the the need for, I think, for Burleson is is going in. How are we reaching the lost? How are we reaching those who are coming into this community? How are we getting them connected? And that's one of the things I think church planters think in a way that is maybe different from an established church, because with the established church, you have you traditions, you have the patterns, you have the the sometimes the power struggle. I'm not saying all churches, I'm just saying sometimes you have those things. And the young church that's coming in going, well, we don't even have you know five people. Like we got we got to like the primary mission is evangelism. Uh, and it doesn't, it's not kind of weighed down by all those other things. And I think uh the church planning allows you to come in with an evangelistic bug that maybe sometimes gets lost in the scheme of things. Uh for us, it was the Lord. Uh man, I had I knew God had some other things for me, and I've been praying and wrestling through them at the church we were serving at, and it was stressing me out. I was striving, I was trying to make it work, and so I just let go of everything and I said, God, I know you have plans and purposes for my life. Whatever those are, you need to you, I'm gonna put them back in your hand instead of me doing it. And I'm going to be the at the time I was a children's pastor at a church of about of a church growing church from from from uh 1100 to about 1500 by the time we left. Uh well started at 850, but by the time we left, it was closer to 1500. And I'm going, okay, God, as long as you would have me here, let me become the best children's pastor that I can possibly be. And we restructured, made a lot of changes. It went so well. They actually made me in charge of the prayer ministry as well, and just like things were going really well. And I just was locked in. I I forgot everything else, like whatever in the I when the Lord wanted to get my attention, I was like, God, you know where I'm at. You can just you can tell me. And that was about 15 months later. Uh, we ran into Paul Mince, and just on a random day at a soccer camp, our our daughter plays soccer, and him and I started talking, and we talked for 45 minutes to an hour. Uh, we were both late for work that day. Uh, we just something happened, something shifted. I got in the car and I was like, what was that? Like, holy spirit, like you're doing something. What is happening? And uh just through some conversations, uh, we began to pray about that moment, church planting.

Excel Doors Open And Hearts Shift

Magan Swaringen 16:09

And uh and I was still against it. Yeah, like I was like, you can go hang out with Paul, you can go to the Excel things. I really don't want to plant a church though, like that feels like a lot.

Chad Swaringen 16:20

Yeah, and there was just that season uh we got to the end of that moment going, okay, Lord, is this you? Like, you know, we went to the assessment center for Excel, and people asked, Why do you want to plant a church? And we're like, I don't know if we want to. Like, I remember that. Yeah, I don't know if if if this is the Lord, because you know, it felt like at the time that people who were church planting had this visitation. Jesus walked into the room, the angels were singing, all of heaven was revealed to them, and the Lord says, I have called you, my child, to plant a church. Uh, and we're going, Okay, Lord, we just need some direction. What does that look like for us? And so we we prayed and prayed and prayed and and sought wisdom and insight. And I said, I would not plant until I got a clear word. Clear word. That's a good way to put it, a clear word from the Lord, uh, which came on Thanksgiving Day 2024.

Magan Swaringen 17:20

Yeah. I'll say leading up to Discovery Center, he had gone to Accelerate and some things, and and we had the opportunity to go to Discovery Center. It like we had prayed, God, whatever's next, open the doors really wide and make it so clear. And through through Paul and through Excel, the doors just were really wide. It it looked like like we were just being kind of pulled in.

Chad Swaringen 17:43

We were trying not to to do it, but the door was so wide, it's like we fell into it.

Magan Swaringen 17:49

And even I I work for a parrotchurch ministry. I was at a conference and I went into prayer, and this woman spoke just the word of God over me about us having like uh a broad path and ministry being um whatever I asked God for, like whatever, like God, it was it was just this very um good word about continuing to seek God and he was gonna do something bigger than I thought. And uh and I walked out of that prayer and Chad called me and said, We need to decide if we're going to Discovery Center. And I went, I don't want to play to church, no. And uh Chad had heard what I had what had been prayed over me and everything, and he's like, here's the thing, God's gonna, God is not going to move you into something that isn't going to be good for us. And so just be open in this. And so I said, Yes, we'll go to Discovery Center. It doesn't mean we're planning a church, it means we're trying to be open. And my prayer was, if this is you, Lord, change my heart. If this is you, Lord, make it clear. If this is you, um, just show me and and make me have peace. You know, we we look at that scripture that says God gives us the desires of our heart. And sometimes we think, I want an in-ground pool. So that's the desire of my heart. God's gonna do it. But really, right? Yes, Lord. But really, what that means is as you grow close to God, He's gonna change the desires of your heart to be like His, and He's gonna give you those desires. And so my prayer, whenever I don't know or when I don't want something that it looks like God is gonna do, my prayer is that He changes my heart. And I do believe that through Discovery Center, He changed my heart. He He shifted my heart, He shifted my vision for what planting a church could look like. Um and and I think that for me, after Discovery Center, I was like, okay, this is what God's doing. And it was there was it wasn't like I heard a Holy Spirit message, but there were too, there were just too many confirmation moments that was like, okay, this is what God's doing, and he's softening my heart to this.

Chad Swaringen 19:58

Yeah, that's true. After assessment center, she was in. She's like, okay, so what do we have to start doing? Like, that's her conversation. She was stage three. Like, how do we start planning? What do we need to do? How do we start building? I'm like, I'm not there yet. I need a word, I need the word, I need it to be confirmed from the Lord Himself. Like, I just I need to know what that is that he's calling us to. And he did confirm that. And so once he said yes, we were we were in, and I think what caught us off guard was how quickly we were in. Because we're thinking down the line, two years, whatever, whatever that looks like.

Magan Swaringen 20:33

And then we were hoping to just like we said to a 12-month runway.

Chad Swaringen 20:36

Uh say 12 to 18 month runway, and the door just opened, just like she was saying, the door opened, and we just kind of fell through it, and we just started running uh ever since.

Launching Bold City And Early Wins

Chad Swaringen 20:48

So, how is it going at Bone City? Yeah, so the way it ended up go uh going forward, we ended up believing the last church we were at is just my wife and I, uh, the two of us, and uh a word from the Lord. And we kind of stepped out in faith and just began to uh we connected with Excel, got a coach with Jay uh from Excel, which was phenomenal, super, super great, uh, super helpful to us. And we just began to build. Uh, we built a launch team, uh, had some preview services and some other things, and then starting uh February 1st of 2026, we launched, and uh, so we're now in our fifth month.

Magan Swaringen 21:32

Yeah, and it's it's been really cool. We have the Lord has provided such a great team, and there are a few people that we maybe knew before, but most of them are people that we met through doing vision nights and and things like that. The Lord just like brought and bonded us to. And we have, I feel like one of the things that we're not we're not excessively musical people. Um, I was Really worried about pulling in a worship band and and a worship leader with a heart the way like with our heart for worship. And he did it. He's just he's brought in great worship people, great connections people, uh, people who are excited to disciple and lead people. Um we we've been really excited with the team that God's assembled, and then the people who have chosen to accept Christ just in our first five months because they saw an ad and came to a service and heard the gospel and uh chose to follow Jesus. In fact, on Mother's Day in May, we had our first baptism service and we baptized 15 people, and we were so we were so excited. It it was a really special day for us.

Chad Swaringen 22:46

Yeah, no, it was phenomenal. It's been awesome to watch God move. It's uh I you know sometimes I think I kind of describe church planting as walking on water. Uh, it's it's it's you you're like Peter getting out of the boat, but the boat's gone. So you have to keep your

Provision Stories From Trailer To Truck

Chad Swaringen 23:04

eyes fixed on him and just you know, don't pay attention to the wind and the waves. Every time you get nervous, talk to him about it. And it's been incredible to watch him in real time uh meet us right where we're at, meet us uh as we have the need. Uh, there was a moment last year somebody had kind of promised us a trailer, and so I was like, Great, can you hold on to it? Because we're mobile, and so we set up and teardown every Sunday. And so we said, Great, can you hold on to that trailer for us right now? Because it's a couple months out. We don't even, I don't, I couldn't even afford to store it somewhere. And so I just asked him to hold on to it. He said, sure, no problem. So when the time came to get the trailer, I called him and he said, actually, we kind of need it right now. We're not able to because we were holding on to it, we we found something else to do with it, and now we still need to do that thing with it. And so I got off the phone and I was like, Lord, I should I have planned this better? Like, I don't know. And and I just prayed about it and let it go. And the next day, somebody donated to us uh a like a box truck uh that we still use to this day. It's about a 20-foot box truck, and we we we store all our stuff in there and and transport it to to set up and tear down every week. And it was just the Lord meeting us many, many times like that.

J.D. Pearring 24:23

I mean, there's so many stories we could tell of just can you tell tell what happened this last weekend? Yeah, the last the last uh couple weeks, I guess.

Chad Swaringen 24:32

Yeah.

Magan Swaringen 24:33

Uh so we we went to Teams Night at Kim's.

Chad Swaringen 24:38

Yes, that's a good way to say it.

Magan Swaringen 24:40

We love we love Teams Nights, we go to all of those things, uh, but we we do go with the open heart to receive and to give. If we can bless somebody, we want to.

Chad Swaringen 24:49

We believe heavily in the in in where Jesus are the Bible talks about sowing and reaping, especially in 2 Corinthians 9. Uh, he who gives liberally uh receives uh bountifully. And so we go to bless these church planners just to encourage people, let God know that remind them that God sees them and things like that. Uh, but we've been giving away a little bit more. Uh we're starting to get a little uncomfortable in our giving because we've been giving so much. And we got to the Teams night, and while we were there, I spoke with somebody and they just kind of mentioned uh some of the struggles they were going through and just the challenges. Kind of it really sounds like the enemy's been after them lately for the last couple months. And he just was struck talking about all his struggles and personal and church struggles, and their church uh was in about a nine thousand dollar deficit at that moment, and they're just you know, a church plan, every dollar makes a big difference. And I just kind of pray, God, what would you have us do? How can we pray for them? That's what I was honestly thinking. I was trying to keep it like spiritual, like Lord, how do we how do we pray for them and say be fed and warm and and well and uh not actually meeting a need? And the Lord said, Well, why don't you give them some money? And I was like, Okay, Lord, oh man, you know, I I love to give like like a thousand dollars. Even when I said it, I knew it wasn't the right number. I was just trying to like bring it low, and which a thousand dollars, not low. Church planning, a thousand dollars, man. That's huge. Yeah, that's a lot, yeah, absolutely. And I'm going, okay, Lord. And I just believe the Lord told me in that moment, he said, What if you give them 10? And uh I just kind of say, Well, Lord, that's a thousand more than they they need. Like, what is it? What is it you're asking uh me to do? And so, okay, ten thousand dollars, and I'm wrestling. I know it's the Lord, but I'm trying to to find a loophole, I guess, or a way out. I'm like, babe, I need you to pray. I need you to pray and ask uh how much we should give and stuff. And so she prays and she says a thousand, and I'm like, that's it, that that must be the Lord, right? Then maybe I'm trying to be generous, and she says, and I so I just want to confirm that's what the Lord told you, right? And she's like, Well, and I'm like, Noel, I need to know we are gonna be obedient here first off, but like, what are you saying? And she said, Well, I really felt like the Lord

The Risky Gift And The Fast Return

Chad Swaringen 27:07

told me uh that it was gonna be more than I'm thinking. What are you thinking? And I said, I'm thinking ten thousand dollars, and she goes, Yeah, that's more. Uh, because that's way more than I was thinking, so because 10,000 uh for the for the podcast, like 10,000 is 20 of all that we have. Uh it's it's one fifth, and you know, we still have your bills the rest of the month, and everything else you gotta.

Magan Swaringen 27:29

I'm saying in that exact moment, and we're going into summer, so we're going into summer.

Chad Swaringen 27:35

Um, it's one fifth of what we had, and we still have to pay the bills for the month uh that was in front of us. And so we're going, okay, God, like we're gonna be obedient. We talked to a couple of people, just I kind of knew it was the Lord, and uh, long story short, we we wrote that check uh for ten thousand dollars. I think one of the things that I read I love about giving though, and this I knew this as I was writing the check, is I think in 2 Corinthians 9, where Paul says, People are going to worship God because of your obedience and because of your generosity. And I'm like, I am going to be because of this gift, us and bold city church and everybody who sows into that ministry are going to be the reason that this church, this pastor, this family are going to worship God because we get to sow into this. And so I in my spirit I'm rejoicing. My flesh is not, you know, Romans 6 does not want to submit to the things of God. So we write that check to them. And uh, it was a special moment, it was really cool. Next day I wake up, my flesh is mad. Like I really felt this turmoil inside. There part of me was like, Woo, we should be celebrating because we've been obedient, sacrificially obedient. And yet my flesh is going, You were sacrificially open. Like, what are you doing? And so praying that through, you know, uh, why are you downcast on my soul? And just trusting the Lord in that moment. I brought some peace, victory. Like I knew God was going to take care of us and everything was gonna be okay. I wasn't even worried about it. In fact, we had baby showers, birthday parties to go to for the rest of the day, wasn't thinking about it. When we get to the baby shower, at the exact moment we arrive, there is the pastor of another church that we hadn't really been able to connect with much over the last year. I reached out to him once or twice and just couldn't get any, um, couldn't see him real, real, real much. There was just some hindrances and stuff in that. And so, but here I am walking in at the same time as him, and and we're connecting and and talking, and I kind of share with him that story, and I just love on him and try to honor him as to the best of my ability. And uh went home that night, no big deal, went on with the rest of the day, and I was kind of tossing and turning. Church was the next day, kind of processing this whole thing. And uh he texted me that night, 10 21 p.m. And he said, The Lord have been putting it on my heart to bless you, to, to, to sow into your ministry. And uh, when you shared that story today, it just confirmed it. And so I'm gonna send you a check for $10,000. And uh he did, he sent us that check, and uh it's in our bank account. Praise Jesus. And uh, you know, God met us right right in that moment. And I think what's great for us is we're believing God for some big things. Yeah, and we're gonna believe for God to give to us in abundance. Then I believe that we gotta we gotta sow those gifts and and and be willing to let the Lord use us to sow big gifts, and so it just it helped reconnect their a relationship with a pastor that I've been trying to get in touch with, and uh, we've got to bless another church and we didn't even miss out on a dime.

J.D. Pearring 30:38

That's incredible. That's incredible, that's a great story, and that kind of leads into the the leadership tip I'll ask each of you about.

Leadership Tips On Faith And Teams

J.D. Pearring 30:47

Um you've kind of done that already, but uh what's a leadership tip you would have?

Magan Swaringen 30:54

Uh I would say a leadership t tip. Um we we really try to go honor where we go. Like we try to live by generosity and and honoring people. And sometimes that doesn't feel easy, but God will always provide. God will always be in the but if you're if you're ready to give, if you're ready to sow, if you're ready to be obedient, he's gonna meet you where you at, you're at, and provide abundantly.

Chad Swaringen 31:19

Can I give like a spiritual and a practical, I guess?

J.D. Pearring 31:22

Of course.

Chad Swaringen 31:23

Yeah, I think I think one of the things is as you're doing the church planning, is you need to, you have to wrestle through the emotions that come with church planting, but you need to do that through the Lord. Uh, not just go, okay, is this the best strategy? But to go, is this the Lord's strategy? She mentioned earlier about uh greener pastures. And and me speaking that to her is meditating on Psalms 23, where the Lord leads us into green pastures. So if he's leading us from one place to another place, we must be going to a greener pasture. Not saying that the pasture we're leaving is not green, but it says he leads us to green pastures. So he's taking us somewhere. And so that those are one of the things like we're wrestling through and go, what does the word say? Get a scripture for whatever that season of life is that God is walking you through and remind yourself who the Lord is. For us, when we first started out uh church planning on the journey, when I was like, Man, the door opened and we just kind of like took off. Uh, it was Isaiah 43, uh 41, 10. Uh, fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you, I will hold you by my righteous right hand. I did not have that verse memorized when we started, but uh in that season, meditating, pulling that verse apart, like learning it really helped bring a lot of peace and secured who I was in the hand of the Father, so that when people are like, What are you gonna do? And I could go, Man, Jesus has got it. It was real. I wasn't faking something. It was like, man, I know Jesus is what real because his word's been uh deep inside uh in that season. And then the second, I would say the real practical thing that I've seen that's just been phenomenal for us is uh building teams right away, building leadership disciples, using your teams as discipleship tools and and structures to begin to pour into them, but build solid teams, appoint key leaders. I mean, you want to make sure the leaders have your heart, they have the heart of the Bible, they have the heart of Christ, all those things. Uh, we've been able to, as Megan was talking about how great our team is. You know, I've heard stories of pastors on launch Sunday, they're running around, they're sweating, and they still gotta go preach because they they got so much to do. Our team is so faithful, so diligent. Like, I don't, I don't, I don't lift a thing. In fact, one time I was I was grabbing uh a tripod and this guy was like, Pastor, what are you doing? He ran over and he's like, That's my job. He took it from me. And I was like, Man, I appreciate you, but but that's actually mine. Like, that's that's my fitting. Like, I need that. I need and he goes, Well, where's it going? I said, I need to put it in my car. And he goes, I got you. And so they just like their heart to serve, their heart to build the kingdom as well. They're they're they're on mission, and so building those teams where they kind of have the understanding not just, oh, I'm not just telling them about Jesus, but I'm I'm inviting them to build the mission with us and discipling them and encouraging them along the way, so that now, even five months in after church, I got five, six, seven people who want to talk and have conversations and have spiritual conversations. I don't have to worry about getting out of that building at time. You know, I it last Sunday we had to leave a little early because of uh soccer, and I just loved on everyone, said I'll see you guys later. And they took care of the rest of it. And and just so having those strong teams, I think is one of the best things that you as a church planner can do to move the mission forward.

J.D. Pearring 34:47

That's brilliant, brilliant stuff. Well, thank you so much. Thanks for your inspiring stories. Thanks for writing a check. Um, and if you're ever in a room with uh Chad and Megan, make sure you stand next to them because they've got the chat button.

Chad Swaringen 35:02

Okay, we'll see if that at the next accelerate, we see that we'll know. We'll know.

Magan Swaringen 35:07

I will say that it usually ends up being someone at our table. So you know the Lord leads.

Chad Swaringen 35:14

I'm sitting at your table, so you're supposed to sit with someone new every time. So that's why we're like we leave it up to the Lord. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for being on. Yeah, thank you for having us. It was an honor.

Closing And How To Connect

Announcer 35:29

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.