Welcome And Guest Introduction

Announcer 0:06

Welcome to the Leading Conversations Podcast, sponsored by the Excel Leadership Network. On each episode, JD Perry 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 edition of the Leading Conversations Podcast with Excel Leadership Network. Today we are thrilled to have with us the great and the mighty Chad Wilson from Longmont, Colorado, via Northern Cal. So thanks for being here, Chad.

Chad Wilson 0:49

Absolutely, man. Thanks for having me. This is uh this is an honor and a privilege to be here and just get to always have a conversation with you, it's always good. So if it's recorded or not, I know we're gonna have some fun.

Why Longmont Feels Like Home

J.D. Pearring 1:00

Well, good. Well, um, you are not the first person we've had on from Longmont, but tell us what's what makes Longmont so great.

Chad Wilson 1:09

Oh man, um it's like that perfect size of um city and suburb. It's like not so small that you don't have any of the amenities that you want, like the Whole Foods, the Costco, the Target. You have all that because it's um it's a pretty large town, but you also don't have all the chaos of living an urban life, um, you know, where you got to walk everywhere, public transit. Um, it's kind of a cool little suburb spot. And then what I love about it is it is less than an hour to anything you want. The Rocky Mountain National Park is less than an hour. Uh, Fort Collins, if you want to catch a game or a concert, is less than an hour, and Denver is less than an hour for all the sports, concerts, comedy shows, whatever you want. And then the airport is less than an hour. So I'm like, I don't have to live in the crazy, but I get all the benefits of the crazy. So that's why I love uh right here in this little spot of heaven.

J.D. Pearring 2:07

Well, great. Well, I've just drove through uh longmont on from Denver on the way to Estes Park. How often do you go in it to the Rocky Mountain National Park to Denver to uh Fort Collins?

Chad Wilson 2:20

How often do you venture out? I go to Denver probably monthly. Um, and then I go to Fort Collins for date night with my wife whenever that happens. We like a couple spots up there. Actually, oddly enough, coming from California, didn't expect to see this. Some of the best sushi I've ever had is in Fort Collins. Um and so we I love sushi. And so whenever my wife and I get a date night, we uh we pop over and grab some some really good sushi in the middle of America. And then I don't make it up to the the national park that much. It's just uh it's not that it's not my thing, it's just it's I'd rather if I have a few hours to kill, I'd rather go golf than hike. Yeah, I'd rather golf than hike.

Pastor’s Kid To Hard Rebellion

J.D. Pearring 3:03

So well, hey, let's start from the beginning. Tell us uh growing up, uh what that was like, how you came to Jesus and all of that.

Chad Wilson 3:11

Yeah, so I'm a pastor's kid, um, third generation pastor. So my my mom's a PK as well. And so I grew up in a very um traditional pastor's home. My parents uh started a church in Northern California when uh see, I was two when they moved there. So garlic capital of the world. I'm proud to say that I um I'm from Gilroy and uh my parents still pastor there. I grew up in that home, uh, had the cliche, uh, say the sinner's prayer at four, um, love Jesus when I was young. And then at 12 years old, I was uh at a summer camp for middle school, and I felt this very, very um deep impression that I was called to full-time ministry. And I was 12 years old, and I was um at that point not making the best choices. I kind of got into a a circle of friends that wasn't healthy. I started going to the skate park a lot, and a lot of older friends were there, and so I was exposed to um some pretty challenging things for a 12-year-old to process being hanging out with 16-year-olds and 18-year-olds and um and started to make some some unhealthy choices like trying cigarettes and alcohol and smoking weed, um, and then going to camp and just Jesus touching me and um and then saying, I don't want that lifestyle. I remember in my heart made a little little um promise to myself, like, that's not gonna be your lifestyle. I loved my parents, but I didn't want my parents' life. I saw the challenges of pastoring, I saw the heartache of pastoring, I saw um just some of what I call the underbelly of of church as your profession as well. Not that we're professional Christians, but there is a professional side to pastoring. And I got to see the challenges and the hardship of that up close, and I didn't want that. So um for the next 12 years of my life, I decided to do everything I could to disqualify myself from ministry. So I started to um push back and rebel and you know, still living that that uh cliche two-faced life. Like I'd be in Sunday and I'd be at youth group all the while, um, hating every minute of it, saying the right thing. Yes, brother, amen. Knew all the right answers, uh, but it was just cold and calloused in my heart. Got really into music um and started to just go all in with um with that lifestyle that comes with uh with music and and partying. And um I uh ended up joining a fraternity and really just going all in to see what the world had. And I um I remember my friend, my roommate, my best friend, he um he told me one night, he's like, dude, you're scaring me. And I'm like, what do you mean I'm scaring you? He's like, the how hard you're going, how hard you're partying, you're you're starting to like make me uncomfortable. And I remember thinking, if my friend who goes shot for shot, beer for beer, you know, this and that with is saying that I'm starting to get a little out of control. Um, it kind of was a wake-up call to me. Like when my mom would say, Hey son, I'm worried about you, I kind of uh brushed it off. I'm like, Of course you're worried about me. You're my mom and you're you know, uh little goody two shoes. Like, but my my right there with me in the in the mess, friend telling me that made me think, oh, maybe there's something I um I need to address.

Proverbs And The Way Back

Chad Wilson 6:50

And so I just uh kind of white knuckled, got clean and sober, and um for about three months I was just getting healthy, uh living life uh clean and felt so empty. Just felt like, what's the point of being sober if I still feel this way? And there's just a hollowness to me. And um I vividly remember sitting in my apartment and grabbing my Bible, green leather Bible that I had had since I was in middle school, um covered in dust, and I picked it up and I remember my mom. Sorry, I might get a little emotional on this. Um my mom told always told me, like, whatever problems you face in life, the answer is in the Bible. I was like, Well, I faced some some big problems and handled them, but I can't handle this void, I can't face this this this vast emptiness inside of me. And so I started reading Proverbs. Um and from there, I just started really connecting dots. Like, the fool does this and this happens. And I was like, I've tried that, and that is what happened. So um, I wonder what would happen if I tried what the what the wise man would do uh in these stories and see if my life will start to look like the one I want, the one I deeply desired. And so I started to just apply the words of Solomon to my life, and um externally, nothing changed internally. Man, it was like someone turned the lights on. I was just um renewed with joy and hope and and a desire to quite frankly keep living. And um next thing I know, I'm moving back in with my parents to get um into a healthier living environment than just you know a party house. And um, my dad, he's like, I don't care how old you are, if you're in my house, you're going to church on Sunday. And I was like, actually, I was hoping that I would be able to. Uh, and so we um I went to started going back to church. Uh a year later, I uh was at that same summer camp this time as a cabin leader, as a counselor, um, just helping out in youth group. I got involved in playing in the youth band um while I was there, going back, getting back to church. And um they the leadership to team decided to take a risk on me, you know, and uh so glad they did. Uh one year later, or 12 years later, um, from the first time God called me in ministry, he called me again. And this time I said yes, uh went home, quit my job, and started as a janitor at my dad's church. And uh next thing you knew, I was leading the youth group, um, uh getting ordained as a pastor and marrying the um the children's um assistant pastor and um just was there for 10 years.

Saying Yes To Ministry Again

Chad Wilson 9:54

And then uh in 2018, uh I was you know, I thought I knew it all and um thought I had better ideas and could do ministry more successfully or better or different than uh than my dad in that setting. And we started talking about what it looks like um and what my ideas were and what my thoughts were, and we both came to the conclusion of like like, yeah, you're called to be a lead pastor. And then the next day, which is so funny, uh, we had a uh a pastor's gathering meeting, and there's someone who who presented about planting churches, and I was like, I've never thought about planting a church. Um and then me and my dad heard that we both looked at each other and said, That's it. And so uh 2018 started the the journey of of learning to plant a church. 2020 hit. Um, so we ended up going on staff at a friend's church as campus pastors for three and a half years until God said it's time to pick that dream back up off the shelf. Through a lot of prayer and some connections and some um confirmations, we realized that California wasn't home anymore. And we started looking. My grandparents live in Colorado, loved it here. My wife was like, I have I've always loved Colorado. So we came out and visited and uh fell in love with Longmont for the some of the reasons I stated earlier. And uh we just on the on our drive to the airport from visiting, we felt God say, This is yours if you want it.

Working For Dad With Humility

J.D. Pearring 11:32

And wow, we're let me just back up a little bit here. Um working as a janitor in your dad's church. It sounds like a prodigal son story.

Chad Wilson 11:44

It's uh it's not not, but um, yeah, a little bit, a little bit. Um it wasn't like um something I chose, but it was something that I needed. Uh I I got out of I was selling cars at the time, and I knew um I knew if I stayed in sales, I would keep getting promoted and um and then I would be making too much money to walk away from.

J.D. Pearring 12:16

Sure. Wow.

Chad Wilson 12:17

But in in car sales, uh God God used some thin months to uh to keep me humble and then scrubbing toilets will uh it'll humble you in ways that uh only God can.

J.D. Pearring 12:32

Yeah, yeah. Well, how is it how is it working for your dad for 10 years?

Chad Wilson 12:37

Uh all around great. Uh he and I get along really well. Um he's he uh he leads well, he is generous. Um I mean I I've said this too how much I'm I don't uh he if he gets mad at me, whatever. Um I told him the other uh a little while ago, one of his staff members was buying a house and he lives in in uh Silicon Valley. And I just told him, I said, Do you know how much of a blessing it is? And we my wife and I were able to buy property um when we were working there. I was like, look back and just recounted this staff, this staff, this staff has all been able to purchase their home. And most churches, unfortunately, don't pay well enough for someone to be able to purchase a home. Uh, and just that's the that's the normative for his staff. That's the normative for his his church culture is is not just we're gonna you know pay you, but we're gonna give you full benefits, we're gonna pay you well and well enough that you can buy a home in California, which is just awesome. And I shout that out to him. So yeah, working for him was um was really awesome. I I enjoyed it, uh, met my wife there, and um and yeah, I think just sometimes you think you uh you know more or you know better and until you don't. And that's kind of what what sparked and spurred the um what I look back on now as a uh uh wholly unsettled. Because I look sometimes I think, why did I start planting a church man? I had it easy, I had it good. I was I was playing dodgeball, eating pizza, drinking Mountain Dew, and and teaching students about Jesus and getting paid really well for it. Um, and so I'm like, man, I sometimes I dream about what would it be like to still be in youth ministry, and then pushing my 40s, I'm like, if you were still eating pizza and drinking Mountain Dew like that, you'd probably be um a lot heavier and a lot less healthy.

J.D. Pearring 14:39

So it's um it's cauliflower, crusted pizza, and diet mountain. That's what it is, right?

Chad Wilson 14:47

Yeah, I don't think a lot of youth ministries are gonna excel with cauliflower-crusted pizza though.

J.D. Pearring 14:52

Yes, but it's it's the same thing. You're just working with a little older people. Talk about the transition out of California.

Leaving California With Peace

J.D. Pearring 14:59

Why did you um why did you want to do that?

Chad Wilson 15:03

So um, yeah, I I intention, I intended uh my my original plan was to plant a church in Monterey, California. Um, I love I love that space of that stretch of of coastland. Um, it was awesome. And um that dream was just living in on the shelf for a few years as uh as COVID settled down, and as uh my wife and I were gracious enough to get some opportunities um in some different leadership spaces that we desperately needed and didn't know we needed. But um I came home from a conference and told my wife, hey, I think it's time to plant. And she said, I agree. And then we prayed about it and she came out of prayer and it's just like California's not home anymore. And I said, Okay, well, let me let me pray about that too. And I just really felt um the the like that feeling of of a chapter closing in your life when you when you know you're on the last couple pages, uh, and you're like, but you're at you're at peace with it, you're at, and then I was like, all right, God, where do you want us to go? And he said, Where do you both love and enjoy being? And I wanted the Northwest personally. When God let me dream, I was dreaming I love Seattle, I love um music culture, I love just all that. So when you when you say, Chad, dream of where you want to be, it's overcast, it's kind of cold, it's a hoodie. Um, and my wife was like, No, I need the sunshine, I need life. But we uh just prayed and talked and and discussed it, and um Colorado came to the surface multiple times, multiple, multiple times when we were talking, when we would be in conversation, and then a friend of a friend connected us with some people who are looking to plant a church in Longmont. And I was like, I've never even heard of this town. Uh so I heard of Longmont for the first time in August of 2023, and we visited September of 2023 and we moved in January of 24. So it was a freight train. Once we got that that confirmation and we got that um that clear direction from God is like this is where home's gonna be. It was uh couldn't pack my bags fast enough. So I hope that answers your question.

J.D. Pearring 17:19

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Great, great, great.

Parachute Planting And Early Momentum

J.D. Pearring 17:22

Um, so you've been at it. Uh, I mean, you got here in spring of 24, you've been at it about a year. Tell us how it's going.

Chad Wilson 17:32

Yeah, so we we moved out here with no team and uh no real landing pad. So we kind of what what people call parachute or uh pioneered. And so I just got to work, um, literally, started working bivocationally for the first time in 12 years and um uh worked at a grocery store, was doing well there, just kind of connecting people, coaching my kids sports if I could. My wife joined the uh PTO at the school that we were at, just really doing our best to um to cultivate relationship and and invite people into conversations about what a faith community starting would look like, and started to build a launch team, um, started to uh have a Bible study in our house, and then that all led to some preview services and interest parties and and that sort of thing, which is great. And we saw God move a lot, and we were able to launch a year ago, and it was a year and a half journey of working by vocationally and and kind of just stewarding community on the side. Um, Colorado's got a little bit of a revolving door, a little transient um hub. So I I didn't realize that it would take so long to um for people to even be open because they kind of go internally, even if it's not vocalized, is like, oh well, we'll see if you're here in a year. If you're here in a year, then I'll talk to you. Because a lot of people get a job or they come out for the mountains or uh the 300 days of sunshine and then they miss home or they get a new offer or this. And so um, a lot of people around here have a uh they keep their cards kind of close to their chest um for a little bit, but then once you just you're still around now, they're willing to talk. And we saw some of that, and um and lately it's been going really well. We are seeing um, I think we just had our 24th salvation in the life of our church. Um, and we've seen we've seen over a dozen baptized, two of them were my kids as well. So that is any parents' dream is getting a chance to baptize your kids uh and see them take um take their step of faith with can uh committing their life to Jesus and seeing just a lot of marriages um get healthier or restored. We've walked through a few um marriage restorations and just seeing people come to life and and plug into um community, that's something that I think uh is a little scarce in our day and age, and especially out here where I live, is um like life is pulling in so many different directions that you're commuting to community. Um, and just getting a chance to see people really be known locally has been uh one of the coolest gifts I didn't expect God to give me is watching people just have that releasing breath when they are fully known and fully loved, and they don't have to drive for it. They can just it's in their town, it's people next door, it's people down the street that they can come and just relax, breathe, and and that's been one of the coolest things God's given us. Um, but yeah, um along the short of it, man, is God's been faithful, we've been good, and um I'm excited and pumped for year two. Um year two is is something that I'm uh I always tell people like first time guests are rad, but second time guests is where the money's at. Because that means that they wanted to come back. The first time they wanted to check it out, the second time they wanted to come back. They saw what you had, they met some people, they experienced whatever you're doing, whether it's a business or or a church or even just uh you know, first date. The second date's way, way more impactful than the first date. Because that means you both want to be there knowing exactly what's across the table. Um, and so we've uh we've been seeing a lot of second-time guests lately, and that's been firing me up. And year two is the same. Year one, everyone's excited. You're the new kid on the block, they want to check it out. Year two, you're um you're getting a chance to develop and and architect culture on a deeper level, and you're getting a chance to spend uh go to deeper places with people because you've been there longer and you can't expedite time. And so I think year two is uh firing me up in in some ways that that only time can do.

Meeting At A High School

J.D. Pearring 22:02

Wow. Now are you meeting at a school?

Chad Wilson 22:04

Yeah. Yeah. We meet at a high school in an auditorium.

J.D. Pearring 22:07

What's the best and the worst thing about that?

Chad Wilson 22:11

Oh, the best thing is absolutely the um like the capacity and the price. So to get a space in this area that has essentially no lid on growth for the price that we pay is uh you can't find it. The auditorium, if we were at full capacity in the auditorium, we're over 600 people. Uh now, God willing, one day that'll be that'll be, I'm telling you what we do on a Sunday. Um, and we we pay I think close to like under three grand a month for this space. And so to get a seating space that big, um, that's like the best thing, is like I don't have to worry about like what happens if we outgrow this? What do we do with our budget? What and it's like, no, we're getting such a steal on size. Um, and the hardest thing is probably like working with uh independent schedules for midweek activities. So we're we're gathering in homes for Bible studies or that sort of thing, and not having like a a centralized home base for either meetings, um uh planning dreaming uh sessions, or um like, hey, no one can host a Tuesday night Bible study because this, that, and the other. So let's just meet at this location. Uh so not having that flexibility and and and has been probably the hardest part. And then I set up is not my favorite thing, driving a trailer in the snow to back up to unload everything. But uh back when I was you know younger and playing music, I did some roading, so it doesn't, it's kind of fun for me in some ways setting up gear every day.

J.D. Pearring 23:58

So are you still driving the trailer?

Chad Wilson 24:01

Yes, sir.

J.D. Pearring 24:02

Okay, that has to stop, man.

Chad Wilson 24:04

Yes, sir.

J.D. Pearring 24:05

That uh uh by the end of this year, you gotta be you gotta be done with that. We when we were we were only a few months old one time, and I was taken down after church. And uh one of the guys, Jeff Wells, you know Jeff. Jeff was or discovers Jeff came up, grabbed the table, and said, I don't ever want to catch you doing any of that stuff again. Which was a gift, it was a third church plant, nobody had ever said that. And even to this day, if I start moving chairs or whatever, and I'm not even the pastor anymore, but Jeff will go, No, no, no, that's not your job.

Chad Wilson 24:42

So I'm I'll be praying for uh a uh trailer driver that's yeah, I got I got a guy in my uh in my crosshairs for it, so he's got the truck and he's and he's um showing up regularly, getting plugged in.

Year Two Needs Money And Team

J.D. Pearring 24:57

Um so other than a driver, as you look at year two, what's and you mentioned facility, but what's your biggest need?

Chad Wilson 25:06

Um that is a I'm I'm pausing because it's a delicate question. Um, there's some information that is not public yet. Okay.

J.D. Pearring 25:18

Um you heard it here first, folks.

Chad Wilson 25:22

And so knowing um, no, there's there's a um, I'll just say there's an initiative that we are starting, um, peripherally the January 27 that will require um some finances that are not in our budget currently.

J.D. Pearring 25:38

Yeah.

Chad Wilson 25:39

Um, that it just we've already spent on it, we're we're redoing something. And so the money that was set aside for that has already been spent and well spent. Just now we need to do um something else that's very similar. So um that is one thing that is that's kind of not keeping me up at night, but definitely weighs on me when I when I think about like, all right, God, what am I gonna what am I gonna ask you for that only you can do? Um I can steward uh a budget, but I can't generate a budget very well, you know, not the same way God can. And so that's been one thing. And then um, yeah, just uh depth in our team is probably a big a big need for us right now. It's um coming uh of learning something. So if anyone is parachuting or or pioneering and not being sent with a team, um the hardest thing I've I've learned is the depth in team because you don't have the the depth of relationship with people yet. And so you you know, you add someone in and they've been faithfully coming for three weeks, and they're you know, they're awesome, and they you connect and they get the vision and they're they're inviting friends. It's still, you know, you're doing a dance of when is wisdom waiting and watching, and when is need um expediting. And so just some depth in our teams and our worship team and our kids' ministry team. And that's one that I I intentionally slow rolls our kids' ministry, because uh it's gotta be safe. No family's gonna come to a church that's kids' ministries aren't safe. Um, and so we want to we want to slow place some areas of platforming people in leadership roles or um that sort of stuff. So yeah, the depth of team is is a huge need for us right now so that our team can get stay healthy, our culture can um can grow and and permeate more into the soil. But yeah, just getting some some bench players um so that people can get weeks off or or um a rotation going and and watch the team grow that way.

J.D. Pearring 27:47

Good, good, good. Well, it sounds like you've thought through a lot of things.

Valley Seasons And Giant Battles

J.D. Pearring 27:51

Um let's talk about a leadership tip. What kind of leadership tip do you have for us? You've been at ministry for a while, seen it your whole life.

Chad Wilson 28:06

Yeah, um, actually, I'm gonna go with one that I heard today that when I, you know, sometimes you hear something, you're like, oh, that's it. That's what I've always felt, but I've never phrased it. Um, and I think what I've always felt observationally and um personally, and just never put language to it, was I was listening to a podcast with James Chavez, and he said this idea that you can both be facing a giant and fighting in a valley at the same time. Sometimes it's not just an attack of the enemy, and sometimes it's not just a valley season. It can be both simultaneously because David fought uh Goliath in the valley. And so oftentimes I look back and I think I'm trying to process okay, is this an attack from the enemy or is this something in the natural? It's just a learning curve. It's it's a valley season, it's it's a space where I can grow. And oftentimes the answer is yes. Because you grow in dependency on God when you're facing both a valley and a giant. So when they are together, um you learn a dependency on God like nothing else.

J.D. Pearring 29:14

Good, good stuff.

You’re A Son Not An Employee

J.D. Pearring 29:16

Hey, what did you do you want to say that you haven't said yet?

Chad Wilson 29:20

I don't know, man. I feel like I've been rambling a lot. Um I I would say, like, um, you know, having a P being a PK and then having two PKs, uh, one thing, and then working for my dad. One thing that God graced me with that I I hope graces someone listening who's in a space of leadership and uh working for their dad is um like God really, really showed me that, and it was in a season where I wasn't leading anything. We were we were fresh here, I was attending a different church, had zero uh ministerial responsibilities, and um God really just highlighted to me that I'm a son, not an employee. Um, and because I, you know, it's convoluted. You're working for your dad and you're in ministry, and God's your father. So you naturally, I naturally bent towards this, like, okay, how can I be the best employee for God? And God's like, You're not my employee, you're my son. And so I had to reframe, I got I got the opportunity to reframe uh not just my relationship with ministry and serving Jesus, but also it was such a uh a blessing to reframe my relationship with my father. We have a great relationship, but it's only gotten better since I've reframed it that like I'm a son first before I've ever been anything else. And so um I hope that that is a gift for someone who's walking through that season of how do I navigate uh family relationships and ministry together. And so now I get the blessing of generationally passing that on to my son and daughter. Like, even if you're in ministry or not, you're my child first and foremost. Um good, bad, the ugly, you know, you're still mine, I'm still yours, and we're gonna move forward together. So um, I that's that's something that I would share. Uh, and hope that the right person hears it.

Encouragement And How To Connect

J.D. Pearring 31:13

That's great. That's brilliant. Really appreciate that. Well, hey, thanks for your story. Thanks for what you're doing. Um, you know, as somebody who planted in Colorado, when you said uh a transitional, it's so transitory. I mean, the all the hairs on my arms just came stuff. We were in Colorado Springs, and it's like, oh yeah, that I didn't realize it was uh it was like that in uh long run. But boy, that's really tough. But hang in there, you know. The good news is if you live in Colorado, you get to meet all the Christians. They have to come through for a certain amount of time. But uh anyway, thanks for what you're doing. Thanks for being with us. Thanks for your story. Absolutely, man.

Chad Wilson 32:02

Thanks for uh thanks for chatting and having me on.

Announcer 32:06

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.