Bi-Vo Planting In Small Town USA Joel Seymour Michael Houle

Joel Seymour, Lancaster, OH (pop. 40,000) Leader of Small Town USA specialty group for Multiply Vineyard Area Leader for SE Ohio, WV, and Western PA First church plant age 22 in Wauseon, OH (pop. 5000) Second church plant age 26 in Lancaster, OH (pop. 40,000) Was Bi-Vo in the beginning of both plants

Michael Houle, Chippewa Falls, WI (pop. 13,000) Bi-Vo for 11 years as planter and pastor of Valley Vineyard Member of the Small Town USA specialty group for Multiply Vineyard Serves as a coach for church planters Part of N. Wisconsin church planting triad with 8 small town plants in the pipeline

Bi-Vo Planting In Small Town USA Joel Seymour Michael Houle

Statistics on Bi-Vocational Pastors 70% of African-American Churches are pastored by Bi-Vo’s 83% of all Southern Baptist Churches less than 125 Sunday attenders 50% of all SBC pastors are Bi-Vocational (higher in places like TN & KY) 33% - 40% of Nazarene Pastors are Bi-Vo Dennis Bickers’ research indicates a safe, conservative percentage of pastors who are Bi- Vo is 33% Sources: Interview with Dennis Bickers, October 27, 2016; PBS Religion & Ethics Weekly “Bi-Vocational Pastors” Report http://www.pbs.org/video/2365209587/ SBCLife, Journal of the Southern Baptist Convention, December 2014. Bi-vocational, Small-Church Pastors Intentional by Diane Chandle

Why being Bi-Vo in the small town is challenging The Current Definition of Church “Success”

Why being Bi-Vo in the small town is challenging The Current Definition of Church “Success” Physical Fatigue & Poor Health of the Pastor

Why being Bi-Vo in the small town is challenging The Current Definition of Church “Success” Physical Fatigue & Poor Health of the Pastor Less Time For Ministry

Why being Bi-Vo in the small town is challenging The Current Definition of Church “Success” Physical Fatigue & Poor Health of the Pastor Less Time For Ministry Limited Time For Family

Why being Bi-Vo in the small town is challenging The Current Definition of Church “Success” Physical Fatigue & Poor Health of the Pastor Less Time For Ministry Limited Time For Family Connecting With Denomination & Other Pastors

Why Encourage Small Town Planters to be Bi-Vo Opportunity to Bless the Community More weddings & baby dedications You pastor your community - and someone else pays you to do it! You’re seen as a financial contributor to the town

Why Encourage Small Town Planters to be Bi-Vo Opportunity to Bless the Community Opportunity to Bless the Church It takes the pressure off of the church Reversed tiered funding may be more beneficial It takes more than 10 tithing families now Congregants are blessed because their pastor is in the workforce living their life

Why Encourage Small Town Planters to be Bi-Vo Opportunity to Bless the Community Opportunity to Bless the Church Opportunity to Equip the Saints Make them aware of your limited capacity Priesthood of all believers is emphasized by bi-vo’s Bi-vo is then free to focus on long term & not just urgent

Best Practices For Denominations who want To Support Bi-Vo Planters Train Bi-Vo Planters (prepare, train, & continue to train) Assessment Train them for Hard Ongoing Training Triads

Best Practices For Denominations who want To Support Bi-Vo Planters Train Bi-Vo Planters (prepare, train, & continue to train) Event Scheduling with Bi-Vo’s in mind Evenings or Saturday Morning Retreats for the Bi-Vo’s schedule Consider paying not just their way but for missed work

Best Practices For Denominations who want To Support Bi-Vo Planters Train Bi-Vo Planters (prepare, train, & continue to train) Event Scheduling with Bi-Vo’s in mind Affirm Bi-Vo Planters Often Affirm them as Kingdom & Small Town Heroes Pay attention to them Provide a way for 4 Sundays off a year

Q & A Michael Houle michael@cfvalleyvineyard.org Joel Seymour joel@lancastervineyard.org