Kellen Criswell: Building The Architecture of CGN, Working as a Global Strategist, and the Impact of Calvary Chapel in Europe

[00:00:00] Proclining the Gospel, making disciples and planning churches. CGN is shaped around now, the content we put out, the programs that we design, as all about helping churches to participate while in the mission of God that are within our circle of influence.

[00:00:14] And connecting this and so, because CGN is centered on what is central to God, that's all I've ever really cared about for CGN,

[00:00:22] and I'm really happy about that. And in addition to that, the strategies we do have, in line with that two help churches do that well, are what it's exciting me, because it indicates we're moving in that direction.

[00:00:34] Welcome to the CGN Mission and Methods Podcast, Season 4. My name is Nick Kady, I'm the pastor of Whitefield's Community Church in Longmont, Colorado, and I will be your host this season. The goal and vision of this podcast is that it would be a forum for communication

[00:00:52] about Calvary Global Network. We want to share with you some of the stories about what God is doing. We want to talk about some of the initiatives we're involved in spearheading, and we want to answer the questions you might have about who we are as a network.

[00:01:04] On the episodes in this season, I'm joined by Pastor Brian Broderson, the founder and president of CGN and the pastor of Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, California.

[00:01:15] For Season 4 of the podcast, Brian and I will be interviewing the members of the CGN Executive team so you can get to know their stories, hear about their ministries and the roles they play in CGN,

[00:01:25] and find out what they're excited about for the future. In this episode we speak with Kellon Chriswell, Kellon currently serves as the Global Strategist for Calvary Global Network,

[00:01:36] but in many ways he is the architect of CGN. In this episode, Kellon shares about his background as a worship leader and church planter, and the events which led him to being involved in helping to build CGN as an organization.

[00:01:50] Kellon is currently based in Hungary, and we discuss God's work through Calvary Chapel in Europe in the past and to this present day. Here's the episode. Welcome to the CGN Mission and Methods Podcast. My name is Nick Katie, and I am here today with Brian Broderson.

[00:02:10] Brian, what are we doing on this season of Mission Methods? We are having a conversation with the group of guys who are on our executive team. We want our listeners to get to know the team,

[00:02:24] get to know a little bit about the background and ministry experience and vision of each of the guys. So yeah, that's what we're doing. Kellon, you were the Executive Director. Now you are the Global Strategist. I don't want to get too far ahead of where we're at,

[00:02:39] but though our listeners who have listened to previous seasons of this podcast, we'll know your voice very well. You were on every episode last season. What's on every episode? And you were on every episode in every season prior to the show. Okay, yeah that's what makes more sense.

[00:02:54] Yeah. Okay. Well Kellon, great to have you. And tell us a little bit about your story. You know, where do you serve? What was the journey that God led you on up in this point? Can you your backstory?

[00:03:04] That is a way to open it up question for me. It's a, yeah, we'll currently live in Deborah's in Hungary. This is my family's second tour of living and serving in Hungary.

[00:03:14] I guess we can get into the details more of what I'm doing. It's pretty multifaceted. I had several different jobs at this time. So I'm originally from Ogden, Utah, grew up mostly there.

[00:03:23] But a good mix between Utah and Oregon is as far as my upbringing came to the Lord in Portland, Oregon.

[00:03:30] I was, I guess kind of a long story short. I was younger. I got into the whole punk rock world and that led me into my earliest formations of world views that led me into anarchy and animal rights and everything.

[00:03:42] So ended up in Portland, Oregon where you know is keep Portland weird as the theme is most people now. And I was there to be with my people because I thought like I did it at the time.

[00:03:52] And that's where the Lord found me ultimately through the witness of my father. We used to argue about the Bible, the man made book that was made to keep the rich rich in the poor poor.

[00:04:01] I thought of it back then and yeah, so that's where I came to the Lord and ultimately from there would move back to Utah through a series of events where I met my now wife Jennifer and we've been married almost 20 years.

[00:04:12] We've got two kids, boy and a girl and that's where I got my start in ministry and kind of moved forward from there. Yeah. Great. So what, where are you now? You mentioned you're in Hungary.

[00:04:21] Yeah. So what's been that journey? I know also you were in California for a time.

[00:04:25] Yeah, we've been very really my whole family kind of has a nomadic past starting with my great grandfather that was like really kind of a carney for people to know that it's sort of like an Irish traveler type of thing.

[00:04:38] And yeah, but that I've always said that bug and blood and my family and and I think just one of the ways that the Lord had in mind to redeem some of that was to give us a mobile mission kind of a life myself and then my.

[00:04:50] And then my, me and my wife and then now our family and so over the last 10 years most of it's been spent working at Calvary Costa Mesa on the pastoral staff initially directing content for coverage up with that calm as well.

[00:05:02] And I was changed in some new hotstweighs over the years but we've had several moves to Europe and move back for various reasons everything from having ministry to develop when CG and launched.

[00:05:16] And I was going back to support Brian and do much of that alongside him from those kinds of things to we actually had a family health crisis when we moved to Ireland in 2018.

[00:05:26] I started leading a church in Dublin but going through the visa processes you guys know we're in Romania doing some things while we waited for the process to unfold my son got very sick and ended up, you know, that was something that got allowed to as my wife put it, be washed up on the shores of California again.

[00:05:44] But then from there you know we went through changes at the local church Calvary Costa Mesa ended up being on the executive team for two years.

[00:05:51] I was right before COVID hit and strangers a season that was it's I would look back at that time and say it's I've never been more convinced that I was doing exactly what I supposed to be doing as I was at that time at any other time of my life so.

[00:06:05] Yeah doing that developing CG in as well with the big team of teams that we have all connected to this and then yeah just this past summer partly because of just what I sensed.

[00:06:18] My role should be in the in the next phases of building CGN it made a lot of sense to me to do that from here because it's global connectedness we can get more into that type of thing.

[00:06:28] You know my family's always had a strong sense of calling to this to Europe in general, which is felt weird but we really feel kind of called to a continent in some ways and then to the center in the east as well.

[00:06:39] So there's a variety of very detailed and nuanced reasons why we landed where we are but we're in Deborah since the kind of the second city of Hungary the far eastern border. 30 minutes from Romania about an hour from Ukraine doing a variety of different kinds of ministry.

[00:06:53] You know one of the things that I've heard people say about you and describe you is that you are the architect of CGN.

[00:07:00] I mean tell me a little bit about that process, you know how was it that you were tapped maybe right and you could jump in on that. How you were tapped and what was that like? I mean like building something from the ground up. Sure.

[00:07:12] Kelly is you know just the way he thinks and you know CGN was in some ways an idea in my mind and you know working out in my life and the lives of other people as well but. I realize we needed we needed some framework for it.

[00:07:35] I'm great you know relationally I can go hang out with people all over the world and and all of that is is good and important but there's.

[00:07:45] There's a whole other level where you need like an infrastructure you need systems you need things like that and I am not that guy. And so with my long years of friendship with Kelly.

[00:07:59] And you know ministry stuff we've done a lot of stuff together over the years you know just was clearer and clearer as time was going on that you know Kelly really had.

[00:08:08] The brain to think through what systems look like and what you know what a framework would be like and how we could develop the ministry and you know allow it to maintain the kind of flexibility and freedom that I wanted to have but also.

[00:08:28] I have a framework to you know to actually keep it together so. Yeah God gave this guy a brain to do that kind of stuff and I tapped into it.

[00:08:40] For better or where I see now yeah actually I think I remember the first time that you and I even talked about the concept of global it actually was where we are at the time of this recording in most Austria to conference.

[00:08:53] I was sitting out here on the bench and I remember at the time I had been looking at Mars Hill global at the time back then and just thinking about how there was there's always been this local.

[00:09:03] Thing of coast to Mesa but then a global reach and we were doing things with.

[00:09:07] Cover chapel that com that coverage apple as a group had never done before with digital ministry and conferences and I remember saying you know something like I think there's something to the idea of a cavalry global I remember you think.

[00:09:20] Like it seemed like you latched on to that concept and I know that I think it fit with the vision that was already brewing in your mind as a term you know but.

[00:09:29] Yeah so when as far as my formal place and and partnership with Brian and ultimately the big team of teams and that.

[00:09:36] Yeah this is I my family moved to hungry in 2016 I was teaching at our Bible College when it was still in hungry at the time and I remember we had had.

[00:09:46] My family intended to be there and then find another what was God's next step which would be more long term in Europe but even back then.

[00:09:53] And I remember just as we were kind of making peace in some ways with that as a concept to it we had to go sort of go through a re establishing of that even in a year because you know you go through culture shock and all those things.

[00:10:05] I remember as a trace to Italy and you called and said that we're going to go through some things and it would be good if I came back you know.

[00:10:13] And so I actually I don't know how much I know we talked about it a bit but I really started a wrestling internally with me at the time because.

[00:10:20] I've been in a place and I really kind of wanted to stay here and I really fought and and it really when it came down to for me I went to.

[00:10:27] I taught at a conference a key of Ukraine and I was writing from Kiev to turnopal with Johnny Markey just sort of turmoil about what we were going to do.

[00:10:37] And end up in turnopal on the Sunday morning and I'm just agonizing God you know I don't care what Brian wants I don't care what I want I don't care what it's just you got to tell me what to do.

[00:10:47] And I read second to me the four because cover you guys can only hear from God in the Bible you know and but it was this one of these times where like the next chapter year and.

[00:10:56] It is just like read your mail it is like it is not to whoever it was originally it is to you and there were so many specific things in it that I felt like the essence you know it's Paul saying this guy's left me and that guy's left me and I need you to come to me by winter because you have things that I need.

[00:11:12] And I remember at the time I was really frustrated with what I viewed as a lot of your friends Brian who and some of the turmoil we were going through is a global family of churches I felt like there were a lot of guys leaving you and not.

[00:11:26] Not standing up and publicly being you know supportive in the way that I felt like they knew they should.

[00:11:33] And it was just you know even the concept of before winter this is right before winter there were just so many specific pieces and so I didn't come back to California to help lead C. G. N that wasn't the thing yet I just felt called to go support Brian.

[00:11:46] And I remember after we had been there for a while we were going to coffee one day and you said.

[00:11:50] I think this is you know I was telling you if we're not training and sending new church planners and missionaries like what are we doing like we don't have any reason to exist and I remember you saying.

[00:11:59] We need to do it and you need to direct it and just go.

[00:12:03] And so that's kind of the commissioning to me and I think one of the things I've always said a mind for is just kind of like Andy Stanley's concept of it is visionary where you start with the end in mind and kind of work backwards and so a lot of what I did through the time was just to really have always told people that Brian is the magnet.

[00:12:22] He's the glue and I'm more the builder in. I guess the architect you could say and because you know none of these meetings especially as we started with our prayer means nobody's showing up for me.

[00:12:33] But like he said like the structure side to us so much of it was just leading in the articulation as I checked in with you Brian and then we used other guys in the process to have input just writing you know what is our vision what is our mission.

[00:12:48] What are our core values? What are the core strategies that we're going to use to shape what needs to become what we do.

[00:12:54] But it was also adding just the theological basis for the you know to root it in the misceo day and the great commission is the church's participation in the misceo day and that's really where we got our.

[00:13:05] You know proclaim the gospel make disciples plant churches framework that we use for our vision and mission and all that and then.

[00:13:12] I think the ultimately the one of the most key points and this was for me too in the development of CG and really came down to what we've talked we all talk about now is this meeting in November 2019 where.

[00:13:25] You know we just knew we had been meeting and being relational and we needed to get some concrete strategies set in motion.

[00:13:33] And so we spent a couple days in a very a little bit more organized manner of a meeting and I'd spent a lot of time prior to that we have probably 50 guys in that just assessing and listening to and having conversations with all these leaders that we trusted to help shape this.

[00:13:49] And then listening to them for the spirit to speak to what were the areas that CG and needed to be doing today to become what it needs to be for the kingdom and out of those conversations we took six questions put them into six teams became our funding team our membership team our local connectors team.

[00:14:08] Our leadership care and coaching team our communications team and our church planting team which is now cultivate and really that was the beginning of everything and then a lot of my job just became trying to spearhead.

[00:14:18] And seeing those people giving vision giving help giving perspective with the executive team and so on and it's kind of been ever since I mean really those are all basically the same teams we're working with now.

[00:14:30] That have just been spending time shaping the course we had this little interruption called Covid but that's another deeper part of the story but yeah, so that you know how quick going on and on but.

[00:14:39] interesting since that meeting, I mean it was such a watershed moment in the development of the initiatives and things that CGN's doing. It's interesting that a lot of people since that time have kind of changed seats on the bus. And yet like you said, the core

[00:14:55] of it now moving forward is still in time. And that's part of the whole challenge in and in place in this seat now with the executive director working with many of those have become concrete initiatives instead of just vision

[00:15:07] and proposal task teams and things like that. And that's part of it. Yeah, you like you for me it was these 50 guys. Some of them were my friends, some of them, but

[00:15:16] mostly it's people connected to you. And so I had to kind of get to know guys as we went along. And so we threw guys on teams and some of them ended up being perfect. And some

[00:15:26] of them we ended up realizing for different reasons there's a better fit. You know, I think of just one easy example is Rob Salvado, somebody we all respect and work with and like a lot.

[00:15:34] He was initially the funding team leader and for reasons between him. I mostly not like drama or anything like that, but we just realized together, this isn't a great fit for you.

[00:15:44] And then we had Jeff Gep that was there. He ended up getting in great fit. You're your number three in line leading the church planning initiative, you know? And that's just part of the

[00:15:53] challenge is it's part of what slows it down. But it's, you know, this is life in the kingdom. It's its relationships and it's messy and it's complicated and it ever goes as fast and

[00:16:01] easy as we want, you know? It's been good ultimately. Yeah, you know, as even as you're talking about that, I'm thinking about how just, you know, things take time and I think there is

[00:16:13] a temptation always to be impatient and you know, you want to have, you want to get something built, you want to get it done, you want to okay, you know, this is it. And yeah, and this has been

[00:16:26] a longer season than I think I would have anticipated as far as building. But I realize that, you know, we probably will, will be building continuously in some way or another certainly. And so

[00:16:42] but we want to build something that's going to last, we want to build something that's going to be in the end fruitful and I think we're seeing that. But even listening to you, repeat, some of those,

[00:16:53] you know, like the initiatives and those six teams and things like that, see this is why we need you because if somebody asked me like about those things, I would say, I have no idea you're going to

[00:17:04] ask someone that I don't know. Yeah. Well, that's, you know, we've all, I think we all appreciate team ministry and this is why, right? You know, and it's where it's true, what you say, I mean,

[00:17:14] the slowness, it's, and it's different factors, you know, some of it is like an any even building churches. There's this is the plan and oftentimes the plan is of God, but there's the other things

[00:17:26] that come in and real life and human factors that cause you to have to get off the plan for a time and then you get back on the plan. And I mean, we've talked about pivoting a lot if even in

[00:17:36] Calvary Costa Mesa, you know, in that team and men, everyone had to pivot during COVID, including the development of CGN, but then even in there, they're these surprising additional things that you never would have been doing, like we've all valued the COVID-19 relief and we, their churches

[00:17:52] around the world that are literally still alive because of that initiative that we never would have done without COVID happening, which was terrible. But at the same time, yeah, so there's this like

[00:18:03] it's the ultimate glow goal is a little slower to get realized, but then God brings in these other redemptive pieces in the process and and then you get back to work, you know, so it's, it's been

[00:18:13] very, very interesting to go through the journey. So Kelly, last year you made a shift in your position. You moved from being the executive director. You made a new position called Global Strategist.

[00:18:25] What was the impetus for moving out of that executive director role, which now held by Clay Warl? What was the impetus for that and the creation of the new position? Yeah, so the biggest

[00:18:36] thing, and this is another factor to the slowness even that we were talking about, we have a big team of teams in cover, Global Network. It's not one group in Costa Mesa. It is it's, I mean,

[00:18:48] I don't even wouldn't even know how to count it because we've got, for instance, 60 coaches on cultivate, but we've got a fluctuating group of 40 to 50 that's always kind of been the vision

[00:18:58] team and there's some overlap, but not total overlap and we've, you know, there's so many ways to look at it. But one of the things was, you know, just the the smallness of the team that's the

[00:19:08] operations team that Clay Clay now leads, you know, it's, it's always been a very small team that really is doing the administration and the the the iterating of the data and the information,

[00:19:19] the planning of the conferences along the way with all of these types of things, you know. And so that's that's a huge undertaking to manage that team, to direct the initiative teams and so on.

[00:19:31] So for me, everybody in this room is a church planter. And we all know that there's in the planting of organizations that serve the kingdom. It goes in phases, right? Like you can,

[00:19:42] it starts as an idea on some paper. And then pretty soon there's some humans connected to it and then there's some systems that start and there's these different things that start to get built. And eventually at some point you kind of look around and you go, you know,

[00:19:55] it's not perfect. And there's a lot of things that need to be strengthened about this, but there's also more layers of things that we need to build. And, and it's bigger than the current

[00:20:06] team that exists. And so that's really I was feeling the tension of that in many ways. I am not a manager. I'm a starter and a dolder and an architect. I've said this many times with

[00:20:19] you guys that I don't see where we are. I see where we're not. I don't see who's here. I see who's not here yet. And I'm always pushing toward that. That makes my life difficult sometimes

[00:20:28] because not everybody sees where I'm going until I've gone there. And then, oh okay, that's what you're doing. But I was feeling that a lot. And so I just knew we needed somebody else that was

[00:20:40] a strong leader who was God's choice to come in and continue the building that needed done in that realm and strengthen it well. And my mind was going to free me to pivot my focus

[00:20:54] to start thinking more on a global scale. And connected to that for me, we have always intended. And relationally, this is how Calvary Chapel has been. We're just to kind of formalize it though

[00:21:06] that we would be a network of networks and that's what our network is. It's a network of networks. It decentralized network of networks that's served by a ministry organization. And that's what I see

[00:21:15] a lot of the purpose behind this for me was to go flesh that out on the ground, continental in Europe first and then building with leaders around the world and so you want me

[00:21:27] to keep going or chill. Well, let me just ask you this. I think it's a nice segue into like, okay, what is a global connector? What does that mean for you? What kind of things do you do?

[00:21:36] Global strategists? That's what I meant. Yeah, yeah, global connectors. Another thing. Well, that and that's really what I'm getting into describing. So for me, that's the vision that it's serving is that we are a decentralized network of networks that we

[00:21:49] have talked a lot about the principle that we are an upward mobilized organization as well. And meaning by that, we don't speak from an ivory tower from afar to everyone that what they should

[00:21:59] be doing. But we're a serving entity. So we go and listen to what leaders are saying, God is doing around the world, whether the challenges and the opportunities and then we try to strategize the appropriate

[00:22:10] ways we should come alongside them, support them in the ways that we shouldn't do that. And so for me, this has always been the vision that we're a decentralized network of networks and that's going to take

[00:22:19] us a level of infrastructure and partnerships that somebody has to be out there, having these conversations, listening to these things, connecting the dots and then connecting in my mind back in partnership with Clay and Brian and the rest of the executive team on what

[00:22:34] we will actually do. So yeah, that's for me that the practical starting point in coming to Europe was I will start doing this job in Europe. And really it's been about four months of actual

[00:22:46] work doing that at this point. But then branch out. And the process to me is identifying what I've come to think of as leaders of influence in key regions. And just like that meeting in 2019 in

[00:22:59] November, it's about getting the right voices around the right tables asking the right questions so we can discern what God wants to do in these areas together. And then as that becomes clear to build out

[00:23:09] plan and strategy and infrastructure from that point. So that's really my my sense of my mission at this time. Okay, so let's shift a little bit. I want to just talk about the fact that you are currently

[00:23:22] living in Deborah's and Hungary. And you know why, why Hungary? I mean, you mentioned yet you like you know moving around and stuff. But why Hungary and really what I want to know is what is God doing

[00:23:35] in Central and Eastern Europe through Calvary Chapel and C.G.N., but also in the broader body of Christ. Well, I've got a really good friend in Nick who just kept talking about the long-ghost in Deborah's

[00:23:47] and so I had to move there. How is it? The long-ghost in Deborah's and if Body makes it it's really good. Good, okay. Anyway, side note for all you listeners, Nick is not talking about the fact that he was a

[00:23:58] great key leader in this country or in the city of Deborah's and Hungary. And that's why I'm giving you hard time right? Yeah, so for me, why Hungary? Yeah, I mean, you know it's like why do any of us

[00:24:10] end up where God has us? And would you have picked it if you thought it was the most strategic? You're trying to think through your own strategies, you know. So why Hungary and the family and

[00:24:18] personal sense goes way deep for me? This goes back to my honeymoon almost 20 years ago. My wife and I, my wife her grandfather started a mission in Moldova and she would come over to

[00:24:30] Moldova and so she had an Eastern Europe heart from way before we knew each other. And we both always had an interest in Europe and I think God uses your natural interests and things like that at

[00:24:40] and but when we got married I had to stepfather at the time who had some money and he said go wherever you want and I'll send you. So we took a honeymoon through Eastern Europe. So if we just, I picked a tour that was like

[00:24:53] Eastern European icons and it brought us through, you know, Prague in the Czech Republic and Krakow Poland and bunch of different places but the two places that really struck us one is not Eastern

[00:25:06] Europe but it was Berlin, Germany but the other one was Budapest and Hungary and so there's a, this is where our love begins for Hungary and in a personal and subjective way. And then just through

[00:25:18] the course of time as God had saved me called me into ministry you know, as a EV free trip up past or different things along the way but I at a certain point I thought I wanted to go to Bible

[00:25:27] college. I needed to study formally to have the discipline to study like I should. And I remember Googling affordable Bible college and expository preaching and I didn't know anything about coverage Apple at this time but the the school that was invite to hungry at the time came up

[00:25:43] and I was like, well what a cool campus I should study the Bible there someday. Maybe that would happen you know and then but it doesn't happen. It's so hungry at this point is just a really cool place

[00:25:53] me and my wife went we ended moving to Idaho by God's call to help what was the Calvary Chapel at some point we met a pastor there developed a relationship and so that's our connection into

[00:26:04] Calvary and then it just sort this school surfaces back up again I'm like, oh wow that was Calvary Chapel I remember hearing about that and then I get a developer relationship with you

[00:26:14] Brian through you know I talked to you about this many times but I was thinking about planting a church in Utah for my to-hoat this point as a Calvary Chapel and I had had a course with you

[00:26:24] and Romans and I didn't know who you were but you know we all have those teachers that God uses specifically in our lives and I really watched on and was ministered to you by your teaching

[00:26:33] in that class and I remember reading your blog at back to basics a lot at that time and and I was like man I wish I could talk to that guy Brian Berterson about church planting that

[00:26:40] he's got a church of like 35,000 people in California he doesn't care about me. So I went in red your blog. It's a little exaggeration as I had come to find out but I went red your blog

[00:26:50] that day and it was about church planting like the only time you'd specifically written about that and like a long time and I remember being emailing you not expecting a response and being

[00:27:00] like hey this really blessed me today and you're like give me your number let's talk and that's kind of what started our relationship and then that would lead to me going too close to Mesa some years

[00:27:10] later when you invited us to come down and you know help with the Relanted Calvary Chapel about combat the point of all that and connection to this is it was from there that mean can

[00:27:18] certain but we went on a trip together back to Hungary started developing relationships with these guys and then it was just through those relationships that God led my wife and I to move there in 2016

[00:27:30] and then yeah developed a ton of relationships at that time that they've been there even when we moved back to California it'd be short-term trips for just conferences or whatever it was

[00:27:39] and then yeah in a long range here we are again. Well I did I did not know the honeymoon thing nor did I know that Jen's grandfather had done a mission and he'll do over that it's

[00:27:51] that's wild. He has a street named after him and Kishina. Does he really? That's yeah. Yeah and you know I mean you'd have to be sort of an ex-anarchist to plan your honeymoon in Eastern Europe. No offense to Eastern Europe but I mean you know that's that's pretty

[00:28:09] I always think like if you haven't been Eastern Europe you haven't been the fun Europe. Yeah you haven't been to the gay. Oh I remember my wife one year I moved here.

[00:28:18] When we were living in in Hungary I had a job in addition to pastoring and it got like a bonus and so my wife was like let's go on vacation she's like take me to Paris and I said no we're

[00:28:29] going to Bulgaria and we did and it was so amazing. No we went to the coast. Oh good for you that's cool yeah. So I want to talk about this for a minute and here's the thing that I find fascinating

[00:28:44] right now coming you know so you've gone your your your based in in Deborah's and now and your intention and I remember those conversations you know I did say hey you know come on back

[00:28:55] and then and you were always wrestling with yeah but I I want to be in the mission filled and I say yeah of course you do I do too but you know you got to I got to be here you're going to be

[00:29:04] sort of thing and but that stirring never never really left you and that is part of what you know has you back where you are today but what I think is pretty fascinating is it's it's like

[00:29:17] the ministry here the ministry in eastern Europe began in northeast Yugoslavia which is today Serbia yeah Southern Hungary and Romania and those were the earliest rays into eastern Europe on the part of Calvary Chapel I came in first into Yugoslavia and Hungary and then just

[00:29:41] shortly after guys went into Romania and we've had some great successes over the years and we've had some dismal failures and you know it's been an interesting 30 plus years but I think the fascinating

[00:29:54] thing is that God has kind of brought you back to kind of the beginning spot and there's a renewal that's happening in espacres I think Romania is the most obvious one and Serbia too probably

[00:30:07] yeah Hungary's been pretty consistent over the decades but I just think it's fascinating that the lords got you back where we kind of started to really sort of rebuild. Yeah when we were talking

[00:30:19] about this a couple of weeks ago and that really struck me when you pointed that out that these were the starting places yeah and for me it's just it's been relational and this gets back to

[00:30:29] the other part of your question I didn't answer about what do we see God doing today you know but yeah at Hungary as you said I'm going to just talk about how my connection there but yeah it's 26 churches

[00:30:38] today and there there's challenges of course but it's a it's very much a movement that's a stabless of churches in that country they're doing but yeah relationally I got connected in Romania in 2013 I think and like so much for us it's just the relationships have led to partnership

[00:30:57] in ministry you know as just today at the time of this recording was at a lunch with seven eight guys who are here from Romania all leading churches in different places and and that feels and

[00:31:08] they would say this that feels like a much more stable and new and team situation than has existed in Romania decades and a long time yeah yeah and so it's very exciting to see that I'm they

[00:31:20] I'm I don't get it but I am excited that they welcome me and that they want to work with me and we've done a lot of different kinds of planning of different things and ministering together

[00:31:30] there and so yeah the talking about going back soon you know and then in another thing that sparked up in 2016 for me was Serbian but it's historically as you know because you were the guy

[00:31:43] that our stuff is for Calgary kicked off in North or in Serbia my relationships have largely been in the south I've had a chance to meet the guys from the north yeah actually just this year some of them

[00:31:54] and I was just talking to Matt from Botset to Tepola today and he's like got to come to the north and so that will happen but I've several times gone down to the south now so in 2016 I met Danny Zaharaan

[00:32:06] Skit who's been planting in Cragueva Serbia since that time and it's a great church it's not a big church it's maybe 30 40 people but they're planting three other churches in cities that have

[00:32:20] no Christian churches at all one I think of as Novi Pazar and it's it is just totally Muslim there are minerats everywhere they know of one other Christian and it's somebody who got saved through their

[00:32:33] presence there you know and so yeah I'm getting the opportunity to go down and hang out with them I've been there twice I was just in the mountains with their leadership last week in a cabin for a couple

[00:32:42] days and yeah you know it's interesting we were having lunch today and I or no it was in a different meeting room and there's a guy that I didn't recognize him and I heard this conversation going and he

[00:32:54] he mentioned subatitsa you know that he was near subatitsa and that's where we really kind of you know our first real church plant was subatitsa but then he was explaining to somebody that he was conversing with that he was from a city near subatitsa called Bacheka Tepola

[00:33:12] and you know when he said that I thought wow you know talk about bring back memories we were we we started in Bacheka Tepola plain music in what they called them disco's back in those days

[00:33:27] but basically they're nightclubs they still call them they still call this code yeah I mean you you might call it a pub you whatever you you know you might call it a bar if you're in the U.S.

[00:33:36] but you know when he said Bacheka Tepola I just I just got a smile on my face because I could think of being in a particular disco and we are literally up on the stage singing Jesus mighty God

[00:33:52] and people are drinking and smoking and cheering and party you know it's like what kind of a what that means to be concerned you know I've got a young kid with me who just literally

[00:34:05] has given his life to Jesus and I'm like hey let's preach and he's okay so I'm preaching he's translating and we're watching people come to Jesus in this it's amazing in this disco yeah so I've relived all of that today that's amazing that's so good a cool thing

[00:34:26] yeah so like just quickly you know on what's happening what I I see a lot of common factors in the in the countries over here certainly common to that this area but also it's I think

[00:34:36] they're global challenges you know but coming out of COVID most churches have dealt with some form of just complacency with people not re-gathering and so there's questions around that I see a lot of questions about you know churches that were started with the typical kind of cavalry

[00:34:51] model over here that were attractive and interesting and highly effective at connecting to nonfall of people that are not falling Jesus they're just feeling a sense of need to to consider new

[00:35:05] approaches just asking how do we reach the lost today like we're all asking in some ways and then pastors wanting feeling lonely and also wanting just encouragement and training and ideas of how to

[00:35:17] raise up people from within their churches just feeling a lot the few doing all the work so you know kind of a thing and so yeah these are these are things as I'm going around gathering you know

[00:35:29] we're having lots of conversations and working together and strategizing and coming up with thoughts and that it's yeah last question yeah what are you excited about for the future of CGM I mean yeah to

[00:35:40] me what I'm excited about this I kind of have the same answers to this all the time but yeah CGM is the center of CGM in our mission vision is is the center of God's heart for the world God is on a mission

[00:35:55] to save and renew all things in the person who worked with Jesus you know and his plan for the church to participate that is the great commission proclaiming the gospel making disciples and

[00:36:05] planning churches CGM is shaped around now the content we put out the programs that we design is all about helping churches to participate well in the mission of God that are within our circle

[00:36:16] of influence and connected this and so because CGM is centered on what is central to God that's all I've ever really cared about for CGM and I'm really happy about that and in addition

[00:36:28] to that the strategies we do have in line with that two help churches do that well are what is just exciting me because it indicates we're moving in that direction while so

[00:36:38] the two I'll just mention we've talked about many times but it's just what it is to me cultivate as a church planting training assessment program I'm very excited to see how God uses that to start churches among needy communities around the world and then

[00:36:54] to me expositors collective is just another that's to me we have two core strategies we need a central one that's focused on making disciples and the leadership care and coaching team I

[00:37:05] think is developing some things that are going to be great for that but the two and three other prongs of our three cord focus of a mission and vision yeah cultivate and expositors collective I

[00:37:16] think we are seeing this org help churches and leaders do what the mission of God is and that that's a meast we just gotta keep doing that excellent thanks so much Killing thank you

[00:37:30] thanks for listening to this episode of the CGM mission and methods podcast in our next episode pastor Brian and I will be speaking with Richard Semino Richard is a pastor in Southern California but until recently he passed her to church in Roseville which is in northern California near

[00:37:48] Sacramento Richard will be sharing some very candid thoughts on his experience of closing his church in Roseville how God led him to do that and what the experience was like new episodes will be released

[00:38:00] every two weeks so make sure you subscribe to the podcast so those episodes will be delivered to your device as soon as they come out we'd love to hear feedback from you on these episodes you can email us

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[00:38:25] in helping boost this content so other people can find it and benefit from it until next time God bless you