2018 Evangel School of Urban Church Planting, Dean Training Report

The Process and End Result
The Spirit of the Living God answered our prayers and met us in a powerful way at the 2018 Evangel School of Urban Church Planting, Dean Training.  The TUMI Team is humbled and amazed that the Lord of the Harvest would graciously send us church planting movement leaders to host, love, and invest into for the expansion and advancement of His Kingdom among the poor.  The Dean School is truly a reflection of what the Spirit of the Lord spoke and expects us to aggressively move towards, The Gospel of the Kingdom proclaimed by the empowered urban poor to every people group through indigenous churches and movements (Global Ends Statement, World Impact).  You will be encouraged, thrilled, and full of thanks to our God as you read this report on what the Spirit of the Lord did through our united prayers and labors. 

The process towards certification and commissioning of our Deans began months ago.  Potential deans begin with Phase 1, Enlistment.  This phase includes application, Pastor or Spiritual Leader reference, Sign-off on Ancient Future Call, reading World Impacts paper – Ministry Among the Poor, and writing a paper on their Vision for Mission. 

After successful completion of the Enlistment Phase, the applicant can move forward into Phase 2, Basic Training – 10 Readings (books and articles), 5 Videos, 4 Written Papers, 4 Team Exercises (we only work with teams of 2 or more).  Basic Training is rigorous in design ensuring that our candidates our committed, disciplined and “fit” to enter our Boot Camp – The Evangel School of Urban Church Planting, Dean Training. 

Upon completion of Enlistment and Basic Training the potential dean will confidently know and be able to represent:

1. Our Distinctive - Advancing the Kingdom Among the Poor (We expect great things from the poor that they can participate in the Great Commission - evangelize, make disciples, develop leaders, and establish new churches).
2. Our Theological Confession – The Great Tradition
3. Our Commitment – The Centrality of the Church
4. Our Passion - Souls
5. Our Focus - Church Planting Movements (Rapid Reproduction and Total Surrender)
6. Our Wisdom – W.R. (Prepare. Work.  Review)
7. Our Church Plant Way – L.A.N.T. (Prepare. Launch.  Assembly.  Nurture.  Transition.)
8. Our Lens – The War Motif (Spiritual)

Boot Camp (Phase 3) began Monday August 13^th (dinner) and ended Thursday August 16^th (lunch).  During this time we brought the deans through eight blocks of training:

Block 1:  Arrival and Let God Arise!  Prayer Concert

Block 2:  The Big Picture (War)

Block 3:  Overview (Campaign)

Block 4:  Mission Initiative (Battle Plan)

Block 5:  Mission Personnel (Recruitment and Assessment)

Block 6:  Mission Resources (Munitions)

Block 7:  Mission Mechanics (Tactics)

Block 8:  Commissioning (Deployment)

We fellowshiped, worshiped networked, and trained the deans to host their own Evangel Schools of Urban Church Planting within their context and church planting movement.  Each team developed a vision statement for their city or region which includes the number of schools they hope to run during the next several years. The teams also completed a six month detailed strategic plan for what to happen to get their first school off the ground.

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BOTTOM LINE

Thirty-seven Deans, representing thirteen different “dean teams” were certified and commissioned for the glory of God to equip and charter church planters from and for the urban poor using, Ripe for Harvest:  A Guidebook for Planting Healthy Churches in the City.  Our projected outcomes for the next couple of years from the Class of 2018 Evangel Dean School is:

1. 40+ Evangel Schools of Urban Church Planting hosted
2. 350+ Church plant teams Chartered to establish a new church among the urban poor
3. 350+ new church plants leveraging TUMI resources
4. The Evangel Network ( A Network for Church Planting Movements) growing.

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Denominations Represented

1. Vineyard U.S.A.
2. Assemblies of God
3. Baptist
4. Presbyterian
5. African Methodist Episcopal Zion
6. Southern Baptist Convention
7. Christ the Victor
8. Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod
9. Reformed Church of America
10. United Forum of Churches in Bangladesh
11. The International Communion of Charismatic Episcopal Church
12. Seventh Day Baptist General Conference

Ministries Represented

1. LINC
2. Building Hope In The City
3. Ohio Ministry Nework
4. World Impact

Teams, Leaders and Quotes

1. Alpha Team. Seventh Day Baptist General Conference.  Team Leader:  Pastor John Pethtel – Director of Church Development and Pastoral Care.  Would you recommend?  - “Yes. Dr. Davis is a valuable resource to the Church.”
2. Charlie Team. Bangladesh, NYC.  Team Leader:  Reverend Christopher Adhikary.  Would you recommend? – “Everything was excellent. It was international standards.”
3. Bravo Team. Charistmatic Episcopal Church, Tanzania.  Team Leader:  Bishop Charles Sekelwa – General Secretary of the Charismatic Episcopal Church in East Africa (Tanzania).  Would you recommend? – “Very definitely, YES! I would like to figure out a way to get the "whole" of CEC North America to come to an Evangel School!!! Bishops, Priests and Deacons. We need to light this fire under the CEC North American Church.” (Father Terry Hedrick – Team Member)
4. Alpha Team.   Team Leader:  Reverend Bony Borai – Pastor and Chairman of the Dhaka Evangelical Revival.  Would you recommend? – “Yes, it’s very good for church planting movement.”
5. Echo Team. LINC Los Angeles (Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod).  Team Leader:  Reverend Dominic Rivkin – Executive Director, LINC Los Angeles.  Would you recommend? – “ Yes! It’s Christ centered which I absolutely loved. It is loaded with resources. And it is a great place to meet and connect with people from different places with the same heart to reach the lost. A great place to find partners for the kingdom work.” (Stella Yau – Team Member).
6. Foxtrot Team. Cleveland Ohio (Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod).  Team Leader:  Brian Upton – Executive Director, Building Hope In The City.  Would you recommend? – “Yes, it was amazing!  I was surprised by the heart and posture of the TUMI team. I can't imagine anything would have made the experience any better.”
7. Kilo Team. Ohio Ministry Network (Assemblies of God).  Team Leader:  Al Yanno – Director of Church Mulitiplication. 
8. Lima Team. LINC Bay Area (Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod).  Team Leader:  Aaron Putnam – Executive Director, LINC Bay Area.  Would you recommend? – “Yes, I think it is a good motivational tool for church planting and you have solid materials.”
9. Team Papa. African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.  Team Leader:  Reverend Dr. Edith Robinson-Davis – Pastor, St. John A.M.E. Zion – Dudley.  Would you recommend? – “Yes.  I intend on bringing a team next time.  All praises to the King of glory for a team of missionaries sold out to Jesus Christ.”
10. Victor Team. Association of Vineyard Churches, USA.  Team Leader:  Pastor Rich Andrews – Pastor, Conshohocken Vineyard and Co-Regional Coordinator Latin America.  Would you recommend? – “Yes, I found it inspiring to be around leaders from TUMI and other traditions with a vision for church planting.  I'm grateful for all of your hard work and hope for continued partnership.”
11. Golf Team. World Impact, East Region.  Team Leader:  Luke Raughley. 
12. Hotel Team. World Impact, Midwest Region.  Team Leader:  Pastor David Estrada – Director, World Impact Dallas. 
13. India Team. World Impact, West Region.  Team Leader:  Rick Browatzke. 

TUMI Resources Deans Received

1. The Evangel Dean Handbook: A Guide to the ABC’s of Equipping Urban Church Planters
2. Ripe for Harvest: A Guidebook for Planting Healthy Urban Churches
3. Planting Churches Among the Cities Poor: An Anthology of Urban Church Planting Resources, Volumns 1 and 2
4. Jesus Cropped from the Picture
5. Sacred Roots
6. Front Matters: Prerequiste Readings for the Evangel School of Urban Church Planting
7. Get Your Pretense On! Living as a Citizen and Ambassador of the Kingdom of God
8. Church Planters Tool Kit
9. Becoming Like Your Teacher: Developing Effective Church Planting Apprenticeships booklet
10. The Evangel Network: That None Should Perish booklet
11. Key Principles and Tools for Evangel Field Coaches and Assessor Coaches
12. Music CD’s
13. TUMI Posters
14. Evangel Resource Pack

• 34 videos covering the devotionals, session seminars, team exercises, instructions and objectives of each stage of the church planting process
• 42 separate PowerPoint presentations, along with all necessary intro, announcement, and event slides
• Multiple graphics for resources (including 3 different shirt options)
• Editable templates to be used for name tags, registration, sessions, etc.
• Praise and Worship Songs informed by the City for Mission (Mp3s, leadsheets, and .txt files provided)
• Project templates to make designing and planning your event smooth and effective (including project task chart, etc.)

Please look at our webpage, www.tumievents.org, for pictures, vision statements, and other happenings. 

Concluding Remarks
During the entire Evangel Dean School, we posted the World Population Clock (www.census.gov/popclock/world) on a large screen.  The webpage is a real time counter that shows the net gain (births minus deaths) projected every second.  We are adding over 200,000 people to this planet every day, or over 140 people every minute. That equals over 75 million more people every year, about the same as the combined populations of California and Canada.  That would be planting a church or two every minute just to keep up with the net population growth. 

It is also projected by the PEW Research Center that by 2050 Christians will have a net change of -66,050, 000.  The unaffiliated with have a net change of +61,490,000 and Muslims will increase by +3,200,000.  These are just projections and do not take into account the kindness and mercy of our Great God to redeem.  His desire has never changed and that desire is that, “…none should perish.” 

We rejoice in the good fruit that came out of the 2018 Evangel Dean School and anticipate their obedience to the vision and goals that the Spirit placed upon their hearts BUT there is much more work to be done if the Lord tarries.  We are committed to equipping tens-of-thousands of Evangel Deans who will then equip hundreds-of-thousands of church planters for and from the urban poor to go and, “Proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom to every people group” making disciples and planting new churches as they go. 

Thank you for your prayers.  We continue to seek those prayers and support as we faithfully labor in our World Impact mission and vision.