Innovation Meetups

August 17, 2021 // 12 PM EST – 4 PM EST

Our God is a God of New Things

So Let’s Innovate!

Stadia’s Innovation Meetup is designed to help your church thrive, grow, and multiply. During these meetups, seasoned practitioners share their insights on new innovations in the church world, providing perspective and knowledge that will help your church as it strives to fulfill the Great Commission. Plus, you will get to be a part of Stadia’s largest events of the year – even larger than past Exponential parties! So let’s start innovating – together!

Innovation AND the Church.

A conversation on multimodal expressions of church

Your calling and mission haven’t changed in the past eighteen months – they’ve simply been lived out in new ways. But now that going back to old comfortable ways is within reach, the church is at a crossroads. Do we keep telling a story of church guided by black-and-white, compartmentalized, this or that thinking?

Or can we begin to see multiple expressions of church as an “AND” in the story God is writing for His glory?

Logistics



Date & Time

August 17, 2021

12 PM EST – 4 PM EST



Cost

We love to give things away – so this event is free of charge!



Location

This virtual event will be hosted on Hubilo. Details for signing in will be delivered via email, so keep an eye out!

Don’t Miss Our Amazing Guests!

Meetup Speakers

Greg Nettle

President, Stadia Church Planting

Devoted to a God-given passion for The Church and its responsibility to plant new churches, churches specifically designed to reach children at physical and spiritual risk, Greg Nettle serves as President of Stadia Church Planting. As a visionary and catalytic leader, Greg has led Stadia from planting a handful of churches to planting 378 churches around the globe in 2020.

Under his leadership, Stadia has developed strategic partnerships with like-minded organizations such as Compassion International and has refined its portfolio of unique and highly effective church planting services, positioning the organization for continued exponential growth.

Prior to his time at Stadia, Greg served as leader of the RiverTree Movement in Ohio for 25 years. His sense of adventure has taken him around the world as he has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, Cotopaxi and Whitney among others to raise funds to bless children on the margins of society.

He is an author, speaker and consultant as an agent of change in the global church and has co-authored three books: Small Matters, in collaboration with Compassion International President Jimmy Mellado, One Of, and Disciples Who Make Disciples.

Nick Bertram

President, The GIANT Company

Nick Bertram is the President and CEO of The GIANT Company, a leading food retailer designed for the way families live now, with multiple channels and brands in PA, MD, VA and WV. With expertise in merchandising, retail operations, and management, Nick is a marketplace leader who has seen first-hand the value of multimodal expressions of business. His experience has helped him enable churches to find best ways to enact multiple expressions to reach the most people with the hope of Jesus.

He is a purpose driven leader that loves to learn and is passionate about enabling others to drive change and build a better, healthier, more inclusive future.

Rodrigo Cano

Pastor, Community Christian Church

Rodrigo Cano is part of the pastoral team of Community Christian Church in the Chicagoland area. Born in Mexico, at 19-years-old he received a scholarship to study in the US at San Diego State University. After earning his Bachelors degree in International Business with emphasis in Finance, he moved to Arizona to work as a Financial Advisor. Later, he felt God’s call to plant a church. He got connected to a church planting organization and together they planted Comunidad Cristiana de Grand Rapids, a Spanish speaking congregation in West Michigan.

In Grand Rapids, Rodrigo earned a certificate from Calvin Seminary in Hispanic Ministries and a Master of Divinity program. He serves as a consultant for the Calvin Institute of Worship and has lead chapel at Calvin College. In 2018 after praying and consulting with mentors, Rodrigo and his family moved to Aurora IL to lead one of the nine locations of Community Christian Church. This location serves a multicultural congregation. He is also in charge of Community’s effort to launch micro expressions of the church we are calling 3C Communities. He is passionate about helping people find their purpose and identity in Christ.

In his free time, he enjoys playing music and long-distance runs. He and his wife Diana live with their 13-year old daughter Michelle.

Courtney Wright

Pastor of Apostolic Ministries, Word of Faith Family Worship Cathedral

Rev. Courtney Wright is the Pastor of Apostolic Ministries at Word of Faith Family Worship Cathedral, where Bishop Dale C. Bronner is the founding Pastor. She is also the Chief Operating Officer for Christian Alliance of Pastors, Inc., a church planting and pastoral support organization, as well as the Dean of the Dale C. Bronner Institute of Ministry and Leadership Development. She has a bachelor’s degree in business and was a financial advisor, stockbroker, and stockbroker principal manager. She is an ordained Minister of the Gospel who speaks healing into the lives of people through the Word of God.

Courtney was called into ministry at the age of 16. Her life’s journey and experiences give her the unique ability to relate to hurting people. Courtney spent almost 30 years in corporate America, 26 of those years working for a Fortune 100 Corporation. She has held numerous executive level positions, including that of President and Vice President.

Courtney is married to husband Curtis, who is the owner of the Wright Financial Group, LLC, a financial planning firm. Courtney is the proud mother of adult children Nadia and Brandon.

Scott Ancarrow

Since 2010, Scott Ancarrow has been passionate about seeing new east coast churches planted and later thrive as church-planting churches. After being part of a church plant team in Annapolis, MD by way of a residency, he became the Lead and Founding Pastor of the Foundry, a church planted in downtown Baltimore in 2013.

Breakout Sessions & Speakers


		
	
			
						
					
						
																
									Discerning Next Steps For Your ChurchJosh Gosney
								
						
					
				
							
					
						
																
									Being a Physical & VR ChurchStuart McPherson
								
						
					
				
							
					
						
																
									Discerning Next Steps For Your ChurchEfrain Cirilo
								
						
					
				
							
					
						
																
									Giving People a Chance to LeadMegan Carter
								
						
					
				
							
					
						
																
									Creating New Community Through Watch PartiesDani Hicks
								
						
					
				
							
					
						
																
									Digital Church on FacebookDr. John Harris
								
						
					
				
							
					
						
																
									Best Practices for SustainabilityAlyssa Candelaria
								
						
					
				
							
					
						
																
									Best Practices for SustainabilityAshley Stegeman
								
						
					
				
							
					
						
																
									Mentoring the Planter and WhyTim Celek
								
						
					
				
							
					
						
																
									Co-Vocational LeadershipSam Chacko
								
						
					
				
							
					
						
																
									Developing Community in a Post-Industrial WorldCarl Johnson
								
						
					
				
							
					
						
																
									Why I'm Starting a Multimodal ChurchDr. Beth Backes
								
						
					
				
							
					
						
																
									Multiethnic Church: A Vision of Heaven on EarthKristel Acevedo
								
						
					
				
							
					
						
																
									How to Pivot to a Digital StrategyAli Roohi
								
						
					
				
							
					
						
																
									Future Church, TodayJeff Reed
								
						
					
				
					
		
			
					
						
						
							
							
						
					
					
	
		
			
							
			
				Discerning Next Steps For Your Church
Josh Gosney
Josh was born and raised in Houston, TX. Codi was also born in Houston, TX, moved to a couple of different cities and landed back in Houston. Josh and Codi met at a summer camp in 2006 and have been together since 2008. After attending college in Dallas, they served as Student Pastors for several years before answering God’s call to plant a church in October 2014. Through partnerships with the Houston Church Planting Network, Stadia, and Faithbridge Church, Wake Church was planted. On September 18th, 2016 Wake Church was officially launched by a core group of families and friends. They currently live in The Woodlands with their two beautiful children, Ellington Rose, and Ezra Bennett.
Breakout:Discerning Next Steps For Your Church
			
		
	


	
		
			
							
			
				Being a Physical & VR Church
Stuart McPherson
Stuart McPherson is the pastor of Digital Ministry & Altspace VR Campus at Lakeland Community Church in Lake Geneva, WI. He has been in ministry pastoring for 10 years. Stuart is not your traditional pastor, he has tattoos and piercing but Loves Jesus a ton! Others would say he is crazy about his family, CrossFit, and the Church.
Additionally, Stuart also is the host of the “Stu on This” Podcast and Co-host of the “Life in Rhythm” podcast.
Stuart describes himself as a straight shooter and has three main Loves in his life 1. Jesus, 2. His Family and 3. Chips and Salsa. Stuart believes that any restaurant that serves chips and salsa should give the table two baskets. One for the table and one just for him. You can find out more about Stuart at StuartMcpherson.org.
Social media:
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
 
			
		
	


	
		
			
							
			
				Discerning Next Steps For Your Church
Efrain Cirilo
Efrain was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and raised in the Bronx, NY. After 8 years of serving faithfully as a Senior Pastor in Kilgore, Texas God led Efrain and his family to the greater Houston area to plant a gospel-centered multiplying church in 2019 through partnerships with Stadia, Houston Church Planting Network, and Texas Ministries of the Church of God. Efrain is married to Megan and they have three beautiful children Grace, Josiah, and Anna.
			
		
	


	
		
			
							
			
				Giving People a Chance to Lead
Megan Carter
Megan Carter is a Digital Engagement Pastor at Church Anywhere. She works with the Church Anywhere team to help people find and follow Jesus on digital platforms. A couple of the platforms she uses for ministry is TikTok and the Church Anywhere website that host her blog. She desires to walk alongside others dealing with anxiety and help them live a fuller life by sharing her own personal experiences.

			
		
	


	
		
			
							
			
				Creating New Community Through Watch Parties
Dani Hicks
			
		
	


	
		
			
							
			
				Digital Church on Facebook
Dr. John Harris
Dr. John has a passion to see pastors win so that churches grow in every expression of church. He enjoys coaching pastors and seeing them begin to lead with the excitement, focus, and confidence. In over 29 years of ministry, he has served as a chaplain in the United States Air Force, Christian Education Pastor, Teaching Pastor, Small Groups Pastor, and Executive Pastor. 
Currently he serves churches across the country full-time as a consultant and coach.  As a Lead Navigator with Auxano Church Consulting he helps pastors and their teams discover their unique identity and where God is leading them. As a coach he uses The Pastor’s Leadership Accelerator, a 4-month coaching program that helps pastors break personal growth barriers that lead to breakthroughs in church growth barriers. 

In January of 2021, he and his wife launched Hearts Like His ministry on Facebook that now reaches people across the U.S. and several other nations. He holds a doctorate in Transformational Discipleship from Gateway Seminary. John lives in Roseville, CA with his amazing wife, Jeanine, and their three beautiful daughters, Elise, Sydney, and Grace.
			
		
	


	
		
			
							
			
				Best Practices for Sustainability
Alyssa Candelaria
Since 2009, Alyssa has had the opportunity to work in both the public and private sector. She graduated from the University of Central Florida in 2013 with a BS in Public Administration and in the fall of 2016, she graduated from Johnson University with her MBA. After graduation, Alyssa felt called to step outside of the government and corporate world. Alyssa looks forward to allowing church planters to focus on their mission of bringing people to Christ, while she works as a Senior Project Bookkeeper. A native of Saint Cloud, FL, Alyssa and her husband, Alex, love spending their time at Disney and traveling to see family and friends.
			
		
	


	
		
			
							
			
				Best Practices for Sustainability
Ashley Stegeman
After teaching for several years and being heavily involved in her local church, Ashley’s heart for ministry has continued to grow. Ashley serves locally in her community and her and her husband have traveled globally to serve in Poland and Haiti. Ashley understands the importance of the church in a child’s life. If she is not at church, she’s hanging out with girlfriends or with her husband and three boys in Cincinnati, OH.
			
		
	


	
		
			
							
			
				Mentoring the Planter and Why
Tim Celek
Tim lives in Costa Mesa, CA with his wife of 40+ years, Sue. In 1988, Tim planted The Crossing Church, and over 30 years had the opportunity to see the Crossing grow, reflect, and impact the coastal community of Orange County. On the church’s 30th birthday, Tim intentionally handed off leadership of The Crossing Church. During Tim’s tenure, The Crossing Church resourced 5 new churches, which makes Tim’s role of Senior Director of New Church Growth with Stadia the perfect fit for this Harley-loving church planter. Tim also enjoys sail boat racing, and when he isn’t on boats or motorcycles, he loves to spend time biking and building Legos with grandsons (and their moms, who happen to be Tim’s daughters!)l
			
		
	


	
		
			
							
			
				Co-Vocational Leadership
Sam Chacko
Sam Chacko serves as the Lead Pastor at LOFT City Church in Richardson, TX.  He helped plant the church in 2011 and has seen the church become a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural church community.  Sam is a second-generation Indian American and a third-generation pastor. He’s also been a bi-vocational church planter, having served 15 years on staff at Marketplace Ministries.  Church planting is something near and dear for Sam and his family. He has a heart to see more minority-led multi-ethnic church plants and to see bi-vocational pastors flourish in ministry.

He serves on the board of the Ethnos Network (a decentralized, global church planting network that catalyzes multiethnic church plants in urban spaces around universities), Advance Initiative (a ministry that exists to see a movement of gospel-centered, multiethnic churches planted by or among Indian Americans) and Threaded (a ministry committed to inspiring relationships, reconciliation, and collaborative action among the diverse body of Christ).

Sam has been married to Ann since 2003, and God has blessed them with three incredible children – Nicole, Timothy, & Micah.  In his free time, he enjoys reading, traveling and enjoying all sports connected to Philadelphia (Eagles, Sixers, Phillies).  Yes, he is an Eagles fan in Cowboys territory!

			
		
	


	
		
			
							
			
				Developing Community in a Post-Industrial World
Carl Johnson
Carl is a Father, Husband, youth mentor and church planter. This was not always his story he was a member of the 5% nations a large group of Muslims started by Clarence X that is vibrant in black communities. Carl came to the confession of Christianity in 2010. Carl has traveled to over 22 states and over 100 of churches sharing the message “ I am crucified with Christ”.
 
Carl has a mission to abolish food insecurity in major cities starting with St.paul believing that race and economic justice is tied to food. He is a credentialed minister, a regional leader with the National Black Fellowship, an appointed committee member in the City of St.Paul of Food and Nutrition. He is on the leadership team of mission St.paul a gathering of St.Paul pastors that promote unity in the city of St.Paul.
 
Carl’s extensive knowledge of black Muslim culture and structures of identities in the black community has propelled his work with racial injustice. Carl often engages in  circles and individuals cross culturally to see the body of Christ work in unity.

			
		
	


	
		
			
							
			
				Why I'm Starting a Multimodal Church
Dr. Beth Backes
Beth Backes has been in ministry as an ordained minister with the Assemblies of God for the past 25 years. She served for over a decade in urban church planting in Minneapolis and Harlem, New York and currently works on staff at the Northwest Ministry Network serving 1,400 ministers and over 370 churches as the Director of Pastoral Care and Credentialing. Beth earned a doctorate in Educational Leadership from Southeastern University with a focus on training the next generation of church planters. She is a contributor to Influence Magazine and is a director of the Network of Women Ministers serving over 10,000 women pastors across the nation. Beth is currently planting a hybrid church in the Pacific Northwest that will create church both online and live gatherings. She lives in Puyallup Washington with her husband Greg who is a gifted filmmaker and their two adult children, Sierra and Brendan. Beth enjoys meaningful conversations, kayaking, chocolate and power naps.

			
		
	


	
		
			
							
			
				Multiethnic Church: A Vision of Heaven on Earth
Kristel Acevedo
Kristel Acevedo is a wife, mother, and writer. She serves as the Content Creator at Transformation Church where she writes discipleship resources and small group curriculum. She is passionate about discipleship, multiethnic church, and serving the immigrant community. She graduated from Southeastern Seminary with a Master of Arts in Biblical Counseling. You can connect with Kristel on her website: KristelAcevedo.com
			
		
	


	
		
			
							
			
				How to Pivot to a Digital Strategy
Ali Roohi
Ali is the first child of immigrants from Iran. He is Silicon Valley born and raised and naturally became a software engineer like many in the valley. After receiving Christ at age 24, he immediately had a heart for the lost and is deeply passionate for the people of Silicon Valley to experience new life through a relationship with Jesus! This passion led Ali, along with his wife, to start a life-giving church in 2017 in Silicon Valley called CenterSet. Ali has been married to his wife, Yasmin, for 8 years. They have two children, Sophia and Zoey Roohi.

			
		
	


	
		
			
							
			
				Future Church, Today
Jeff Reed
In June 2000, Jeff led his first Online Bible Study, taking 75 people around the planet through the book of James using a text-based system called Ultimate BB. Since then, Jeff has focused his energy serving the church in the digital/technological realm by working on church staffs, as well as running businesses that resource or complement the Church. Ultimately, his passion is to help churches expand their ministry by utilizing digital platforms, further embracing the idea of Phygital Church and Digital-Only, Location-Independent expressions of Church to reach people for Christ and to bring people who are far from God closer to Him.
In April 2018, Jeff founded THECHURCH.DIGITAL with a calling to help churches better understand the strengths of digital, especially in disciple-making environments. In January 2020 Jeff took a position with Stadia Church Planting as their Director of Digital Church Planting.
Jeff married his high-school sweetheart, Amy, and have two kids, and a dog, They live in Miami, Florida.