Church Planter Conversation: Adam Penird
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
Benjamin Kreps:
Hey everyone, and welcome to the Mark Prater Podcast - where our aim is to connect our global family of Sovereign Grace churches with our executive director.
Mark, as we're recording this, it is a Thursday. It is the first day of the 2025 NFL season. I'm looking forward to my beloved Eagles laying the smack down on the Cowboys. But that is not why we're recording this podcast. We're recording this podcast with a guest.
Mark Prater:
We are!
Benjamin Kreps:
Yes, Adam Penird from Winona Lake, Indiana, where Mark Goodwin is the senior pastor. Adam is preparing to launch a new church plant, Cross of Grace Church, in North Manchester, Indiana, in just a matter of weeks. And we're so glad to have Adam on the podcast. Welcome, Adam.
Adam Penird:
Yeah, thanks for having me, guys. It's a privilege to be here.
Benjamin Kreps:
Well, let's get right into it. Adam, you've been a member of Christ's Covenant Church in Winona Lake, Indiana, for, I think you said, about five years as a member. Talk to us—give us a little background. What's your wife's name? Kids, if you have some? And then, when did you start thinking about pastoral ministry, and specifically church planting, as you spent the last several years at Winona Lake?
Adam Penird:
Yeah, great. I mean, just about me personally—married to my wonderful wife, Claire. We have three kids—actually, three under three. So, we have Azure, who's about two and a half; Adeline, who's one and a half; and Mathis, who's just over two months old now.
Yeah, so we've been married for just about five years.
And regarding interest in pastoral ministry, I mean, I appreciate these types of questions where I can sort of unwind a little bit the intricate tapestry of God's providence and track back to how He's used circumstances in advance to bring me to the point that I'm at now. But really, my interest in pastoral ministry probably began in late high school, and, humanly speaking, it began because I didn't have any better plans for my summer than to intern at my local church in Ohio. I remember my pastor had reached out to me, and they were in a meeting talking about eventual summer interns to bring on board, and my name had come up at that time. He asked me if I had ever thought about ministry. I said, "No, I haven't ever thought about ministry, but I don't have much going on this summer, so I would love to intern." So, did that—loved that—and really, the Lord over the last 12 to 15 years since then has refined and shaped my desire for pastoral ministry to the point now where I'm about to plant a church in North Manchester here in just a couple weeks.
But regarding your question about church planting specifically, my desire for that probably began about six years ago in 2019. At that point, I had graduated with my MDiv from Grace Seminary up in Winona Lake, about half an hour from where we're planting. I had moved to South Carolina for a few years to work at a university there, just to grow and to mature before hopefully pursuing actual ministry in the future.
But one winter, I had come back from South Carolina to visit some friends in northern Indiana—which, winter isn't the best time to go from South Carolina to Indiana. I was there, got together with my pastor of the church that I had been a part of through college and seminary. At that time, he pitched this idea to me. There was—and still is—a smaller, older Baptist congregation in this town called North Manchester that had been without a pastor. So, a couple of men from the congregation of the church I had been a part of had sent a couple guys down just to fill the pulpit and serve them by preaching the word on Sundays. That church had talked about maybe the idea of having a pastor planted into the church for the purpose of revitalizing it, seeking to have it grow to a point of being stabilized in the future.
So, my pastor had asked me, "Would you be interested in doing that?" and I said, "I don't know. I haven't thought much about church planting. I guess this would have been a revitalization type thing, nor have I thought much or know much about North Manchester." But the Lord used those conversations to cause me to start looking into what the landscape of the gospel in North Manchester looks like, and to open my mind to the idea of church planting generally. Obviously, those things didn't end up coming to fruition, but the Lord used them to put a burden on my heart to see a gospel-preaching church in North Manchester in the years to come.
So, at that point in the story, Christ Covenant Church and Sovereign Grace as a whole come into the picture. At that time, I had been either engaged or dating Clare, my now wife who has been a member at Christ Covenant for 12 years or so.
Benjamin Kreps:
We noticed an overlap between you coming to Winona Lake 5 years ago and being a member for 5 years, so there seems to be some connection!
Adam Penird:
The girl plays a part in there somewhere! One of the best decisions ever! So the pastors of Christ Covenant, who I was friends with, just by nature of being in the same community, they had been returning from a regional assembly of elders at that time. They'd been talking about church planting at that meeting, so on their drive back, they'd been talking about, "Would we have any opportunity to pursue planting in the foreseeable future? And if so, what could that look like? Who could be a part of that?" And one of the pastors mentioned, "Well, you know, Adam and Claire are interested in church planting," which wasn't entirely true at the time. We were interested in that one thing.
Yeah, yeah. So, the Lord used those conversations to cause us to reconnect, begin to think through, "If we were to pursue planting in North Manchester, what would it look like?" Obviously, it involved me moving to Indiana, being a member of Christ Covenant Church, and being evaluated and equipped. Part of that included being sent to the Sovereign Grace Pastors College a few years ago, which was a formative time. So, hopefully that all makes sense. Like I said, I'm grateful for God's intricate arrangement of His universe and His people, but it makes the story sometimes a little bit harder to tell—but easier to give God the glory for, as He's the only one who can really write such a story.
Mark Prater:
You're so right, Adam. I listen to stories like this, you just marvel at the sovereignty of God. And the sovereignty of God for you and Claire and your family in particular. As you mentioned, you went to the Pastors College, graduated, if I remember right, two or three years ago. How did the Pastors College equip you to not just be a pastor, but to plant a church?
Adam Penird:
Yeah, that's a great question. I'm sure I'll take a stab at this, but I'm sure that it shaped me in more ways than I can really point to—that year at the Pastors College. Really, I think it was helpful having been sent to the Pastors College with the goal in mind of planting a few years after that, so all the content, all the classes, all the things that we were part of were being filtered through the lens of church planting in my mind.
And I'm sure every other guy you talk to about the Pastors College says just how rich the content of Pastors College is—like being able to sit under guys who are experts in their fields and to benefit from their hundreds of thousands of hours of study. And to do that, not only in a context that is preparing thinkers and theologians, but a context that is for the purpose of training pastors of local churches—filtering all those things through that lens was very shaping.
Looking back, I was reflecting—it was even just a great example to me. The year that we were there was the year that Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville was transitioning from their season of renting into their season of now owning the great facility they now have. Looking back, it's just a great example to me—seeing them setting up and tearing down, and you're reminded, if pastors like CJ and Jeff and Bob have seasons of renting various places and being patient for what the Lord might have, then I should also be patient for how the Lord might provide for us in the future as well.
One other thing I’d mention is I just think the Pastors College was helpful in building relationships across Sovereign Grace. For instance, I don't know if you guys have talked with Howard Varnado yet, who's planting Hope Community Church in Tennessee. But one of the pastors going with him is a good friend of mine, Caleb Hancock, from my PC year. And the Lord has begun to use that friendship to build a meaningful relationship between our two churches already, and we are eager to even actively partner with one another, even from a distance, in the coming years.
So I think, like I said, it'd be hard to say, "Oh, I got that specific thing from the Pastors College," because it's built to be more transformational than just a transactional type of setting. So, I'm grateful for how the Pastors College prepared me—not just as a pastor, but also as I'm now moving toward planting.
Benjamin Kreps:
Excellent. So, you said you went to Grace College?
Adam Penird:
Yeah.
Benjamin Kreps:
Did you get a seminary degree there?
Adam Penird:
Yeah, I finished my MDiv there in 2018.
Benjamin Kreps:
So, just briefly, for maybe there's somebody checking this out who has an MDiv and is wondering, "Well, is the Pastors College really necessary? Is that just overkill? I already have a degree." So briefly, how would you describe the difference in going to the Pastors College and getting your master’s?
Adam Penird:
Yes, great question. I mean, I will confess—going into the Pastors College, I expected it to be sort of seminary light, but that was not the case at all. So I think really the main thing that prepared me—the Pastors College did for me—was really thinking through all these things, a lot of things that I had learned and studied before, but more explicitly thinking about them through a pastoral lens. And also, like them, to sit on—not just watching our doctrine, but watching our life as well, like character formation and all that. So yeah, definitely still a beneficial thing to do, even if you have your MDiv.
Benjamin Kreps:
Great. So we are excited about Cross of Grace here launching in just a few weeks and grateful for your faith to plant this new church to see the gospel advance in North Manchester. So what is your vision and hope for planting Cross of Grace?
Adam Penird:
Yes. I'll try to keep this somewhat brief, but our purpose statement as a church—which our core group is probably sick of hearing me talk about—is that Cross of Grace Church exists to make and mature disciples of Jesus by declaring and delighting in the gospel of His grace.
So obviously, part of my hope and prayer is that the Lord would use our church to mature disciples of Jesus. I mean, like Paul says in Colossians 1, that he labors to present everyone mature in Christ. Our aim too—we want the Lord to use our church as a people and as a place where people grow to look more and more like their Savior and where people grow in greater and greater love and thankfulness for their Savior. So obviously, we want to be a place where disciples are matured.
But we don't want to focus so much on—well, we want to focus on Christian discipleship, but we don't want to do that to the neglect of seeking to make disciples of Jesus as well. Keeping in mind that part of our discipleship to Christ means that we're made disciple-makers of Christ—that is part of discipleship. So we want to be a church that seeks to make disciples and that God would give us favor with the lost in our community.
So, we hope to make and mature disciples. And what's the means by which disciples are made, and the means by which disciples are matured? It's to declare and to delight in the gospel of Jesus—the goodness of His substitutionary life, death, and resurrection for the salvation of sinners.
So, it's going to be a church that isn't just known for having great fellowship among its people or being known for our activity and mercy ministries in the community, but we want to be a church that has the gospel on our lips as we live. Obviously, in our Sunday services, but as we live lives on mission in our community as well, we want to be a people that—what's that St. Francis of Assisi quote? It's not a good quote—"Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words." No—the gospel is a verbal declaration. So we want to be a people that find the gospel on our lips in our communities. And that proclamation of the gospel shouldn't be a cold or stoic thing, but it should be motivated by our affection for Christ as our Savior. So we want to be declaring because of our delight in the gospel. We want both of those things working hand in hand as we seek to make and mature disciples of Jesus. That's the hope and that's the prayer for Cross of Grace Church.
Mark Prater:
Very well said. You mentioned that your first public service is just weeks away. Tell us when that is, give us the date. Also, tell us just a little bit about the size of your core group now and what you most anticipate for that first Sunday service.
Adam Penird:
Yeah, oh man. So right now we're about two weeks away from planting. Our first Sunday will be September 21st. We're going to be meeting in a Baptist church that we're renting from here in North Manchester.
And what I'm most looking forward to—well, let me answer your question about our core group. So we have low 30s adults, and then we have about 20 kids among those 30 adults. Interestingly, only seven are older than 7, so we have no youth group currently, but in a few years I may have a half-night youth group.
What I'm most looking forward to that first Sunday—I mean, I've had times of teaching with the group, but I haven't had times of preaching yet. So I'm eager—we're going to be going through Philippians for the first 14 weeks of our church's existence, taking a nice, slow stroll through there, because there are so many foundational things that I want to lay into our church early on. Looking forward to preaching, looking forward to singing with our group as well—to be able to look around the room and think, "This is what God has brought together. This is what Jesus died to create. This church here is a fruit of Christ's work."
Mark Prater:
Amen.
Benjamin Kreps:
Excellent. Well, if somebody checking this out lives in North Manchester, Indiana—or, by the way, if you know someone who lives near there, please think about sharing this podcast with them so they can learn about Cross of Grace. But if someone checking this out lives there or has friends and family who may want to visit your church, how do we find out more about the church plant?
Adam Penird:
Yeah, I mean, the only person listening to this that probably lives in North Manchester, Indiana will be my wife. But if anybody happens to happen upon this in North Manchester, the place to go would be our website. It's just nm, like for North Manchester—nmcrossofgrace.org. And there you could learn more about our leadership, our church culture, listen to sermons, or if any of the listeners of the podcast felt inclined to give, that would be the place to do that as well. But yeah, we're going to be meeting, like I said, at In Faith Baptist Church's building, just on State Route 13 right through town, and we'll be meeting on Sunday afternoons as they continue to meet on Sunday mornings.
Mark Prater:
That's great. Well, as you know, we are a family of churches, and we want to hear from you how Sovereign Grace—our family of churches—can be praying for you and Cross of Grace Church.
Adam Penird:
Yeah, thank you. I appreciate that. I mean, really, the heart of what I pray for for our church and what I ask others to pray for are really those four things in line with our purpose statement: that God would use us to be a church that makes and matures disciples, and that we would be a people that delight in the gospel and declare the gospel to those around us. So those types of prayers are definitely appreciated.
Also, I would just appreciate prayer as we have this sort of partnership renting situation from this church here. We want to be partners in the gospel even in this unorthodox type of way, but we want to be able to serve them by being here as well. Those are probably the primary things, but anything you could think to pray for, I would eagerly receive you taking us to the Lord in prayer.
Benjamin Kreps:
Excellent. Well, Adam, thank you for your faith and your willingness to sacrifice to see Jesus made known in North Manchester, Indiana. Thank you to Claire as well, your wife, for her faith. I'm sure that you wouldn't want to be doing this alone.
Adam Penird:
Nope. Definitely not.
Benjamin Kreps:
We are very grateful for you, Adam. So many of us who check out the podcast will be praying for you, and we look forward to hearing about how God is going to meet with and bless your church as you step out in faith and another Sovereign Grace church is established in North America.
So, thank you, Adam. Thank you, everyone, for checking out the podcast. And we'll see you here next week, Lord willing. Bye for now.