Global Church Planter's Vision to Reach Millennials Begins in Downtown LA
/Pastor and church planter Jimmie Davidson wants to help millennials get over the whole "church thing" which apparently, for whatever reasons and according to recent stats, is causing a mass exodus from traditional Sunday services.Davidson is the visionary behind TheBrooks.Church, designed to help people who are accustomed to watching church services through the Internet or on TV “become people with a church” wherever they meet.He is aiming high, hoping for a billion global “gatherings” that meet at coffee shops, workplaces, and homes. While Davidson seems to be always thinking globally, his thoughts and prayers most recently have focused in on establishing a home base in Downtown Los Angeles.
"Lori (his wife) and I are in downtown LA preparing to launch The Brooks as a base to love this city, as a model for the world, as the launching point for the churches we pray to start Internationally," Davidson said. "This will only be won through prayer, so we are asking you to pray!"His launch team has grown to 18 people over the past few months while "we expect the 300!""Our focus right now is community service projects to love our neighbors. Those early adopters and pioneers of the faith who God is sending are largely from the arts, including actors living in the city," he said.Plans are for Easter Sunday to be the first service for The Brooks. After Easter, monthly services are planned for May, June, July, August and September, and the launch of weekly services in October.Leading up to the Easter service, Davidson said he plans to begin a weekly message this Sunday (Feb. 26) titled “You Are The One” which he hopes will help people discover their calling, "their voice for God’s purpose in Life."“We are trying to bring the church where the church doesn’t exist as we raise up people that are not in the game, not using their talents, they are more spectators, and help them be a part of what Christ is doing all over the world,” said Davidson, whose bio includes the descriptor “Great Commission Strategist.”“One billion people mobilized, awakened, to host His church where they live, whatever space they have. It’s about His movement, it’s like streams of the desert, Isaiah 43:18-19. It’s the ultimate seeker-sensitive movement,” he said.“Forget the former things, I’m doing something new, like streams in the desert.” Isaiah 43:18-19Davidson told me that the timeline for reaching the 1 billion host milestone is not up to him, it’s “up to God.” Even so, it appears Davidson is well-equipped to lead and launch TheBrooks.Church at a time when one-third of millennials say they are unaffiliated with any faith, according to a Pew study released last year and other studies released this year.Davidson’s church planting experience includes starting Highlands Fellowship Church in Virginia which grew from a small group study of family and friends to 4,000 people in attendance and multiple sites. He is the founder of the Global Glory of God PEACE House where over 300 international business leaders and pastors have been trained from over 70 nations, “touching tens of millions of lives.”He was also a contributing author of the book, Multi-site Churches: Guidance for the Movement’s Next Generation, by Scott McConnell.“During the process” of his ministry work, as Davidson describes it, Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren asked him to lead the church’s global campus launches. Three years ago, after several months of prayer, he joined Warren’s team and became a PEACE Pastor overseeing all global missions including a staff of over 35 as well as thousands of volunteers in carrying out the PEACE Plan which includes “Planting Churches, Equipping Servant Leaders, Assisting the Poor, Caring for the Sick and Educating the Next Generation.”“Two years ago, we [Saddleback] launched three global campuses on three continents in two weeks – Hong Kong, Berlin, and Buenos Aires and then the following year, in the summer, during a hurricane, we launched Manilla,” Davidson said. “All of that had led to [the] innovative idea that I’m working on. God has wired me up to be an entrepreneur with an apostolic calling – how do I reach the people who are not being reached.”He says the vision for TheBrooks.Church is to “launch churches all over the planet through ordinary followers of Jesus, using 21st century technology, the Internet, where 3 billion people are online, with the 1st century idea that Jesus gave us when he said, ‘I will build my gathering and the gates of hell will not prevail against me.’”...or a trending millennials downward outlook.He added, “The gospel is meant to be seen up close. The online launch can be a little bit misleading because we are using that as a tool, as a platform, but the heart of what we are doing is what the Lord said, ‘Do not forsake the gathering of your souls together.' Jesus said if two or three of you meet in my name it will be done by my Father. There’s something powerful about people following Jesus gathering, others gathering, God showing up and needs being met.”Perhaps millennials, saved and unsaved, will begin to look at church in a new way.
"Lori (his wife) and I are in downtown LA preparing to launch The Brooks as a base to love this city, as a model for the world, as the launching point for the churches we pray to start Internationally," Davidson said. "This will only be won through prayer, so we are asking you to pray!"His launch team has grown to 18 people over the past few months while "we expect the 300!""Our focus right now is community service projects to love our neighbors. Those early adopters and pioneers of the faith who God is sending are largely from the arts, including actors living in the city," he said.Plans are for Easter Sunday to be the first service for The Brooks. After Easter, monthly services are planned for May, June, July, August and September, and the launch of weekly services in October.Leading up to the Easter service, Davidson said he plans to begin a weekly message this Sunday (Feb. 26) titled “You Are The One” which he hopes will help people discover their calling, "their voice for God’s purpose in Life."“We are trying to bring the church where the church doesn’t exist as we raise up people that are not in the game, not using their talents, they are more spectators, and help them be a part of what Christ is doing all over the world,” said Davidson, whose bio includes the descriptor “Great Commission Strategist.”“One billion people mobilized, awakened, to host His church where they live, whatever space they have. It’s about His movement, it’s like streams of the desert, Isaiah 43:18-19. It’s the ultimate seeker-sensitive movement,” he said.“Forget the former things, I’m doing something new, like streams in the desert.” Isaiah 43:18-19Davidson told me that the timeline for reaching the 1 billion host milestone is not up to him, it’s “up to God.” Even so, it appears Davidson is well-equipped to lead and launch TheBrooks.Church at a time when one-third of millennials say they are unaffiliated with any faith, according to a Pew study released last year and other studies released this year.Davidson’s church planting experience includes starting Highlands Fellowship Church in Virginia which grew from a small group study of family and friends to 4,000 people in attendance and multiple sites. He is the founder of the Global Glory of God PEACE House where over 300 international business leaders and pastors have been trained from over 70 nations, “touching tens of millions of lives.”He was also a contributing author of the book, Multi-site Churches: Guidance for the Movement’s Next Generation, by Scott McConnell.“During the process” of his ministry work, as Davidson describes it, Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren asked him to lead the church’s global campus launches. Three years ago, after several months of prayer, he joined Warren’s team and became a PEACE Pastor overseeing all global missions including a staff of over 35 as well as thousands of volunteers in carrying out the PEACE Plan which includes “Planting Churches, Equipping Servant Leaders, Assisting the Poor, Caring for the Sick and Educating the Next Generation.”“Two years ago, we [Saddleback] launched three global campuses on three continents in two weeks – Hong Kong, Berlin, and Buenos Aires and then the following year, in the summer, during a hurricane, we launched Manilla,” Davidson said. “All of that had led to [the] innovative idea that I’m working on. God has wired me up to be an entrepreneur with an apostolic calling – how do I reach the people who are not being reached.”He says the vision for TheBrooks.Church is to “launch churches all over the planet through ordinary followers of Jesus, using 21st century technology, the Internet, where 3 billion people are online, with the 1st century idea that Jesus gave us when he said, ‘I will build my gathering and the gates of hell will not prevail against me.’”...or a trending millennials downward outlook.He added, “The gospel is meant to be seen up close. The online launch can be a little bit misleading because we are using that as a tool, as a platform, but the heart of what we are doing is what the Lord said, ‘Do not forsake the gathering of your souls together.' Jesus said if two or three of you meet in my name it will be done by my Father. There’s something powerful about people following Jesus gathering, others gathering, God showing up and needs being met.”Perhaps millennials, saved and unsaved, will begin to look at church in a new way.
The Brooks Church: Jimmie Davidson Launches Church Movement from One Ten Pictures on Vimeo.
.@JimmieDavidson wants to help millennials get over the whole “church thing” https://t.co/w1at39Ih4y #losangeles @together_la
— Alex Murashko (@AlexMurashko) February 20, 2017