The Challenges of Church Planting
From three kids to 300, and from the youth room to a church plant. This week, Joel & Mikayla Kelly share how God moved them from serving at Conduit (inspired by a mission-first DNA) to launching Exodus Church in Springhill, Tennessee. It’s a candid story of calling, healing church-kid wounds, and learning that the pastor’s job isn’t to do all the ministry—but to develop leaders (“be one, make one”), build ownership, and send people.
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Mikayla Kelly: When I married Joel, I married him because he was gonna be a millionaire by 30. And he had n- he did not
Mike Glenn: Liar, liar. I know.
So, uh, Joel, how did you end up, uh, on staff- At Conduit? ... at Conduit? Honestly, accidentally. And, you know, well- Everything happens that... Now, this is my buddy Ty, uh, Darren Tyler. Yeah. Uh, he was on the podcast, and I teased him about starting the church backwards. Yeah. Yeah. 100%. Okay. Right? Totally. Yeah. Because he goes to Haiti, is so moved by what- Mm
needed to be done there, comes back, and then starts a church to support his mission work. Yeah. [00:01:00] You know.
Mikayla Kelly: Yep.
Mike Glenn: Yep. Literally. And any time I text him, he's in an airport- Yeah, or- ... or just got back- Yeah ... from an airport. Uh-huh. Always traveling What does he say? He says, "We're a mission with the church department."
Yeah, that's it. Like, that's, that's his- Yes. That, yeah. Yeah. That's- Mm. That's it. Everybody else starts a church and does a mission. He did the mission, then came back- It's the other way ... to find somebody to pay for it. Yep. Yeah. So true. So-
Joel Kelly: Yeah ... I mean, when, when we moved here, the Lord made it pretty clear, um, even tr- this was kind of in the middle of all of the hurt from her being a pastor's kid and still navigating a lot of that season.
Mm. Mm-hmm. But it was just abundantly clear that God asked us, me at least, sh- I had to convince her- He did. He did ... uh, to come to Tennessee for some reason, and super long story short, there was a lot of doors that closed when w- where we were at.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Joel Kelly: And God opened one door here. We were doing a ministry called Apartment Life.
Um-
Mike Glenn: Right. Yeah ... and- Okay. Very familiar with that. Yep ...
Joel Kelly: the only Apartment in the Nation was Nashville. And so we're like, "Let's try it." Um- Duh. And so I came here, I came here to, [00:02:00] like, my, my thought was, right, I'm gonna help my father-in-law start this business. He's g- transitioning pastor. Mm-hmm. So I'll kind of help him get off the ground.
I went to school for business. Mm-hmm. I love small business. That's what, uh, I was doing in Greenville as well, just on the real estate side of it. And, uh, so we did that. Had no money, no sales, no accounts, nothing in the pipeline, and we were driving in his truck and just praying, asking the Lord to provide.
Mm-hmm. And we stumble across Darren power washing his driveway. So my father-in-law hops out, starts this conversation, comes back. I'm like, "He's already doing it." Mm-hmm. Like, "Why are we stopping?" Like, "We need to find a job." That's right. Yeah. He's doing it himself. Uh, and so my father-in-law comes back.
He's like, "Hey, he's a pastor. We're doing this one for free." And I said, "Absolutely not." I have $12 in my bank account. Yeah,
Mike Glenn: yeah. This, this makes no business
Joel Kelly: sense here, right? Yeah.
Mikayla Kelly: Yeah. He's texting me. Yeah, I'm
Joel Kelly: like- He's like, "Your dad." Your man has lost his mind. It's, uh... And the reality was my father-in-law wasn't gonna [00:03:00] do the work, I was.
Yeah. But it's okay. It's okay. We did it. Um, we did it for free. And so in that season, him being on sabbatical, he's like, "We're gonna go check out this church." So we did, and we didn't like it.
Mikayla Kelly: Yeah.
Joel Kelly: Like, so when we rolled into Conduit, it was a church of 300-ish. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Um, and there was no one our age.
We were 21, 22 at the time. Mm-hmm. Um, and it was, like, young teenagers or 40-year-olds. Yeah. Like, and really not much in between. Mm-hmm. Um, and so we kind of went to their... They had, that they, a discover class. Mm-hmm. It was like, get to know who we are. Um, and so we went down there and it was, like, five of us in this old basement.
And Mikayla just looks at the discipleship pastor at the time and goes, "Hey, is anyone our age here?" Yeah. And the guy just, like, kind of reluctantly answers and he goes, "No, but someone has to be the first." Um- Yeah ... and that kind of just struck a chord in our heart. Um, [00:04:00] just that- We got
Mikayla Kelly: to, then we got to learn more about the mission of Conduit.
Right. And we were so drawn to Darren's heart for global mission. Mm-hmm. And hearing about what they did with their finances, we were like, "This is something that we can see our-" They give,
Mike Glenn: 60, 70% goes to missions- Yeah ... of the budget, right? Straight out. Yeah.
Mikayla Kelly: Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep. And that was shocking. Yeah. And just their transparency- Mm-hmm
with the funds, too, it was just really cool. And you could just tell there was something unique about Conduit. Um, and so we kind of had to work through, like, do we wanna be the first- Yeah ... young 20-year-olds with a family- Mm-hmm ... coming to this church? And God said, "Yes." So we stayed. Yeah, and we
Joel Kelly: stayed as just- Church attenders- Mm-hmm
um, at first, and- Yeah, that's the way He always gets you. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah, start coming. Just sit here. Don't went. Yeah. And for, for my testimony, I got, I got radically saved at 18, um, and I didn't really ha- I had the call of ministry in my life- Yeah ... but I didn't know how to explain it. Right. Um, and I didn't know how to pursue it.
Mm-hmm. Um, I mean, I grew up in IFB world. I knew pastors. I, I, I knew, like, the seminary route and- Mm-hmm ... you [00:05:00] know, the o-co- the traditional version. Mm. But it just felt too late for me. Mm. Mm-hmm. Um, and so it was just really- Remind me to talk to you about the School of Ministry. Please. Okay. Yeah, please. Uh, and so it was one of
Mike Glenn: those things where y- ECNschoolofministry.com.
You f- you start there. Absolutely. Okay.
Mikayla Kelly: Had to put a plug in when you can. 100, literally
Mike Glenn: 100%.
Joel Kelly: And so I'm sitting there and I'm just like, "Man, this just feels like a long shot," but, um, I wanted to get involved, right? Mm-hmm. I wanna get involved in a meaningful way for the church. Yeah. And so, uh, we started helping out in the youth ministry.
Mm-hmm. And a guy named Jim Henderson, who was- Mm ... an elder at Conduit was, was running it at the time, and he was busy. I mean, working full-time job. Yeah. And then the youth group was growing. It was at, like, 40 or 50 kids at the time. Right. And so just, we hopped in as small group leaders, and then from there, uh, Darren later approached us, like, two months later, and was like, "Would you teach Sunday school for us?
Like, this would be a huge help to Jim." [00:06:00] And I was like, "Yeah, I can teach, I can teach Bible study. Just tell me- Yeah ... what I'm teaching and I'm in." Mm-hmm. Um, and then w- weeks turned into months, months turned into, "Hey, can you lead on Wednesday night- Mm ... when Jim's out?" And I was like, "Yeah." And then literally, like, six months into that-
Mikayla Kelly: Yeah
Joel Kelly: we stepped down on staff so Jim could step out. And then super part-time, I think I got paid $200 a month at first. Um- But we loved it-
Mikayla Kelly: But it was awesome ... and man, that $200 helped us survive, so it- Yeah, yeah ... was great. And I
Joel Kelly: was just stoked that a church was paying me. Right. Like, that we'd done a lot of, like, church plant stuff.
We were in a church plant in college, and, um, it was like, "Wait, a church is, is paying me money to- Yeah ... to lead a Bible study?" Right. "This is awesome."
Mikayla Kelly: Yeah.
Joel Kelly: Um, not that it's about money for us, but it, it was just cool.
Mikayla Kelly: We grew- It was a cool season ... the youth group from, like, 30, 50- Yeah ... down to three- ... is our claim to fame.
So- Yeah. Um, yeah ... we
Joel Kelly: hit, we hit rock bottom, and the three kids that showed up [00:07:00] were our pastor's kid, so Ethan Tyler. Oh, yeah. Our worship pastor's kid, and then- My sister ... my sister-in-law. So it was like, "Oh no, we're getting fired immediately," but honestly, something really sweet happened. W- well, that night we just sat in a circle and we're like- How do we build something that you guys want?
Yeah. And so it became an ownership for them, thing for them. We rebranded the entire youth group. We could help them make a m- mission statement- Mm-hmm ... and, like-
Mikayla Kelly: Mm-hmm ...
Joel Kelly: really define, "Hey, who do we wanna be, and what do w- what do we wanna be about- Right ... at this youth ministry?" Yeah, that's the whole clarity thing, right?
Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely.
Mikayla Kelly: And eight years later, here we are. We're leaving youth group of about 300 kids, um, and on our church plant journey- Yeah ... which is crazy. So-
Mike Glenn: So have, have... Like, y- you lost your mind, or- I think so. I mean- ... or, or what? You're going, you're going from a successful ministry- Yes.
Mm-hmm ... in a very successful church. Mm-hmm. Uh, and, [00:08:00] and, and in some ways, a, uh, a, a cutting edge church- Mm-hmm ... a pioneer in what and how- Yeah ... Conduit does it.
Joel Kelly: Yep.
Mike Glenn: Uh, I'm a big fan of Darrin Tyler, as- Yeah ... as, as, as you know, and a big fan of that church. Uh, you're, you're leaving established, not only established, but well-earned,
Joel Kelly: you know.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Mike Glenn: This is, this is your baby.
Joel Kelly: Yep. Yep.
Mike Glenn: And, and you're leaving that to, to go down the road-
Mikayla Kelly: Mm-hmm ...
Mike Glenn: uh, and, and start another church. Exodus? Yep. Exodus. Exodus Church- Church ... Exodus Church ... coming to Spring Hill. Yep. So, um, but where, where exactly are you gonna be located as you
Joel Kelly: start? So we'll be meeting in the AMC Theater in Spring Hill- Okay
so where Christ Chapel met. Right. Um, uh, what's his name? Jeremy Kincaid? Mm-hmm. Ken- Kennedy? Mm-hmm. Um, but I forget his name. But yeah, they launched there. They were there for seven years, and then it just kind of popped up out of nowhere, and we're like- Right ... we were attending, intending to meet at, uh, Battle Creek Middle School.
Right. Just doors closed, and so we pivoted to the theater, which [00:09:00] is great. We don't have to set up chairs. Oh, gosh. Yeah. Oh, gosh. That alone's worth it. Yeah. I know. Yeah.
Mikayla Kelly: I know.
Joel Kelly: Um, but yeah, I think the transition to church planting, I think for us was, it was probably the hardest yes I've ever had on the table.
Mm-hmm. Um, and I think honestly, like for us, it was, we had come out of a r- pretty unhealthy season for me. Um, Conduit exploded. Uh- Right ... we built a building in the end of 2021 and went from a church of 800 to 2,000. Our youth group went from 80 to- There, there's no parking. Yeah. Yeah. 80 to 150. No, yeah, no parking.
No. I mean, none. Yeah. Yeah. We went from 80 to 150 week to week. Uh-huh. And so it was just, it was kind of one of those things where our systems weren't in place. We didn't have the right people in the right spots, and it really was a test and a scramble-
Mikayla Kelly: Mm-hmm ...
Joel Kelly: to, so I tell people, like, those two years after we finished that building was really just, it, it felt like we were just trying to tread water.
Mike Glenn: Yeah. They're
Joel Kelly: good problems to have. Absolutely. Oh, yeah. But they're still problems. Yeah, absolutely. You've gotta solve them. We learned
Mikayla Kelly: a lot. Yeah. It [00:10:00] is crash course. We learned so much. Yeah.
Joel Kelly: And, and I wouldn't trade it for anything, but we then came out of that season just refreshed and on fire, and had a fresh vision of what- Mm-hmm
we wanted to accomplish, um, with our youth group, and specifically in a student leadership team, and developing student leaders, and allowing them to really take ownership fr- from the, the grassroots of what we- Mm-hmm ... wanted to. Now this is kind of an expansive thing.
Mike Glenn: Yeah. Um, you know- And you've just hit on the diamond that n- that everybody missed.
Exactly. The role of, uh, the role of ministers- Mm-hmm ... isn't to do the ministry, it's to develop the leaders. Absolutely. Yeah. To identify the leaders- Yeah ... and let the leaders then do and own the ministry. Oh, yeah.
Joel Kelly: Yep.
Mike Glenn: I think it was- And all of that ... it- And that's, you know, Paul sent Timothy to- Yep ... to Ephesus to develop leaders.
Yeah. Literally. Yeah.
Mikayla Kelly: That's our, our tagline of our youth ministry was be one, make one.
Joel Kelly: Yeah. There you go. Yep. Yep. Be a disciple- Yeah Make a disciple ... make a disciple. Yep. Yeah. And yeah, and it was 2023 where [00:11:00] I began to, for the first time, look around and be like, "They don't need me." Um, I mean, obviously we were running point on a lot of it and a lot of the behind the scenes training- Yeah
for students and stuff. But w- it was like the first time we could go on vacation and I'm not stressed- Right ... out of my mind. When- Wondering
Mike Glenn: what you're gonna come back to. Yeah. Yeah. And
Joel Kelly: then anyways, fast-forward to 2024 is when kind of God began to put transition on our heart. And I, I believe this wholeheartedly that God will take you through the valley and then bring you to the mountaintop to show you where he's going.
Right. Um, 'cause, you know, there's your perspective of how things are going, and then there's God's will for your life. Yeah, the kingdom. Right? Yeah, kingdom perspective. Yeah. And I was so focused where I was, 'cause my yes was here. Mm-hmm. And then it just, through very faithful men in my life and, um, really hard conversations with Conduit and the church, um...
And I say hard because, again, we love- Yeah ... Conduit. It was a healthy environment. Yeah. I mean, incredible pastor. I tell people I would follow Darren until the day I died, as- [00:12:00] if God willed. Um, and s- so to transition into church planting through Conduit, um- Mm-hmm ... we knew it was a goodbye. And so that was hard, and an incredibly hard season for both of us.
Mikayla Kelly: Yeah. It's exciting, but we're having to hold that, like grief and excitement in the same hand. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And like you said- It's, it's weird ... people are like, "What are you doing?" "Why are you leaving?"
Joel Kelly: Yeah.
Mikayla Kelly: You have a stable thing going on right now. Yeah, you gotta... Yeah. Especially
Joel Kelly: with the- Yeah ... amount of church plants that fail.
Mikayla Kelly: Yeah.
Joel Kelly: Yeah. So it's, it's that sta- stability, but then also the call and will of God, and then, and, you know, we are taking a risk. But we believe God is fully in it, and- Yeah ... um, for us it was just let's just take one step. Right. And, and we take it one step at a time, you know? Mm-hmm. Um, and hope the Lord lights the path as we go.
Mike Glenn: Now, let's... L- let me pick on you a minute, Josie McCade. Okay. Yeah.
Mikayla Kelly: Go for it.
Mike Glenn: Okay. You're a church, you're a church-hurt- Mm.
Mikayla Kelly: Mm-hmm ...
Mike Glenn: pastor's kid.
Mikayla Kelly: Yep.
Mike Glenn: Okay. And we've had lots of [00:13:00] conversations on here-
Mikayla Kelly: Mm-hmm ...
Mike Glenn: about, uh, uh, about the, the uniqueness of being a pastor's kid.
Mikayla Kelly: Yep.
Mike Glenn: And some of the untold trauma-
Mikayla Kelly: Mm-hmm
Mike Glenn: that, that pastor's kids endure. Uh, and that, that was your st- story. Now, did- Yeah ... did you have this little quiet, I, "Here are things I'm never gonna do." Oh. "I'm never gonna marry a pastor." Absolutely. "I'm never gonna..." Of course. Yeah. Obviously. She married a guy in real estate. I'm never, I'm never gonna, I'm never gonna do this.
Right. I'm never gonna do that. Over my
Mikayla Kelly: dead body will I ever marry a pastor. That's right, yeah. Yeah. That's awesome.
Mike Glenn: Yeah. I'm not gonna raise my kids in this. No. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely not. I'm not gonna let my kids do that. And not only do, do you marry a pastor, you marry a planter.
Mikayla Kelly: I marry a planter. Yeah.
Yeah. And I have four kids, and, uh, I'm doing it. Yeah. Yeah.
Mike Glenn: Tell me a little bit about your journey-
Mikayla Kelly: Yeah. Um- ... uh,
Mike Glenn: of, of the forgiveness- Mm ... and the release-
Mikayla Kelly: Yeah ...
Mike Glenn: and all that has to happen so you can... You know, I, I tell people all the time that the [00:14:00] problem with holding grudges and all of that- Mm-hmm ... is you can't receive anything good or new from the Lord- Yeah
'cause your hands are already full.
Mikayla Kelly: Oh, yeah. So true. And
Mike Glenn: you gotta let go of that- Mm-hmm ... so, so the Lord can fill you with the good things-
Mikayla Kelly: Oh, it's so true ...
Mike Glenn: that he wants. So g-
Mikayla Kelly: Yeah
Mike Glenn: Talk with us about- Yeah ... how you go from, "I'm never," to, "Here we go."
Mikayla Kelly: Here we are. Yeah. Um, man, it's a long story. Yeah. Um, I think it's a story of open-handedness- Mm
like you were saying. Mm-hmm. And a story of tenderization. Um, the Lord really had to take me on a journey. Um, and one thing I learned, I've been through a lot of counseling actually- Mm-hmm ... but I went from saying, "I'll never do this," just because of the hurts I experienced. Right And not that being a pastor's kid is a terrible thing.
I think there's... I mean, I've, I have such good memories, and there are so many things that I learned that I love that I'm gonna take along with me- Mm-hmm ... on our journey. Um, but it's hard. You're in the limelight all the time. Mm-hmm. You, you're a fishbowl [00:15:00] life, and there's a lot of judgments. You see a lot of behind-the-scenes things, and so it's just- Mm-hmm
you, it's easy to carry a lot of hurt and baggage, um, that later turns to resentment and bitterness. Mm-hmm. And that just breeds- That's right. Right ... and which is where it came from, of over my dead body will I ever marry a pastor, will I ever do these things. Mm-hmm. But the Lord had a call on my life very specifically- Mm-hmm
and I knew that I was interested in ministry. Um, I have a heart for people. Um, and so it was weird, because it was like, well, I can't hold both things- Right ... like you were saying. That's right, yeah. Like, I can't say I'm not gonna do this- Mm-hmm ... but still carry a heart of that. Mm-hmm. And so it's a lot of control that I had, that I was holding onto, and through just the hurts of our story and the Lord really just tender, like I said, tenderizing me.
Mm-hmm. And one thing that we learned in counseling once was, um, e- how you tenderize meat is you either beat the crap out of it- You pound it. You pound it. Yeah ... or you let it sit- Yeah ... in the marinade- Yeah ... for a long time. That's good. And I think that's what the [00:16:00] Lord did in my life- Mm-hmm ... um, for several years, was just sitting in a really hard season of a lot of sin and shame coming out, and having to acknowledge it- Mm
and overcome it, and so, and allowing the Lord to just- Oh, literally pry open my hands- Yeah, yeah ... and say, "Okay, God, here's my life." Yeah. "And I'm gonna be open to the things that you have for me- Mm ... even if it doesn't look like what you want for me, or what I want for myself." Yeah. Right. And so, um, yeah, when I married Joel, I married him because he was gonna be a millionaire by 30.
And he had n- he did not-
Mike Glenn: Liar, liar. I know.
Mikayla Kelly: He did not- Real estate was the avenue ... want anything to do with being a pastor. Yeah. And I was like, "Checks my boxes." That's right. "Great." Right. "He loves the Lord," which I wanted. Right. Right? I wanted someone that cared for people, which he did do, but- Yeah, we want,
Mike Glenn: we want this much of Jesus.
Yes. Yeah, we just want this much model slash- We just want, we want... Yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And we're just gonna
Mikayla Kelly: be church-goers on Sunday. Mm-hmm. And like, we'll serve occasionally, and that's gonna be our life- Mm ... and it's gonna be great. [00:17:00] And, um, you know, the, when Joel said, "We need to move to Tennessee," one, I knew what that was.
Like, because, okay, home, we're gonna be by my dad, and my dad is a pastor. Right. And my dad has a shepherd's heart, and he's gonna be discipling Joel now, and I don't want that going in his ear. That's right. He, he,
Mike Glenn: he'll, he'll catch the pastor bug. And he's gonna
Mikayla Kelly: ro- Yeah. That's right. He's gonna rope us into all the things, and I don't wanna do that.
He infected me, yeah. Yeah. But, um, I think following Joel's conviction of like, "I heard from the Lord, and I know that we need to move here," it was like, "Okay, Lord, do I trust you? H- d- am I trusting that I need to honor my husband?" Mm-hmm. Um, am I open to that? And I had to make that decision of either saying yes or no.
Mm-hmm. And so I said, "Oh, yep. Okay, let's go." So we came, and sure enough, I was right. We got roped into all the things. I knew this
Mike Glenn: was a trap. Thanks to my
Mikayla Kelly: dad and Darren Tyler, I had beef with them for a long time. But no, truly, when we started stepping into that season of youth ministry, I started realizing like, no, this is exactly where- Right
God wants me.
Mike Glenn: Yeah. And- I, I tell people all the time, you need [00:18:00] two things to start a church.
Mikayla Kelly: Yeah. You
Mike Glenn: need a Bible-
Mikayla Kelly: Yep ...
Mike Glenn: and you need a burden. Yep. Mm-hmm. When d- when did the burden hit you?
Joel Kelly: Hmm. Mm. That's a, that's a, a fantastic way to say that. Yeah. Um, honestly, I think it hit me pretty early in, uh, my youth ministry, was I felt the call to being a, a lead pastor and starting a church.
But I think for me, I'm a very reluctant, um, reluctant follower of Christ, uh, when he calls. There's moments where I move quick, and there's moments where I move really slow. But, uh, for me, it was this journey that the Lord put me on of, of spiritual development and discipleship on my own walk. See, growing up IFB, it is very truth-heavy- Right
scripture-based, which is great. It's awesome. Mm-hmm. You learn a lot of doctrine. They have catechisms. I mean- Yeah ... it is, it is drilled into your heart, but there's no Holy Spirit. Um, not no Holy Spirit, there's not a lot [00:19:00] of Holy Spirit. And- Yeah, I just read an article
Mike Glenn: about- They call it excarnate- Mm-hmm Mm-hmm
Christian instead of incarnate. Mm-hmm. It's excarnate. Yeah. It's all about the doctrine on the outside. Yep. Nothing about the life on the inside.
Joel Kelly: Yeah, 100%. And so- Mm ... a- and then when I walked into stu- ministry kind of with this fresh fire and, and through conversations with Darren about, like, I, we wanna hit discipleship strong.
Mm-hmm. Like, the students need this, and I wanna be a voice for the kids that feel like no one's in their corner. Um, it was very quick that I learned that, man, there's just, there is a lack of people just getting in the trenches- Mm-hmm ... with these young people. Mm-hmm. Um, and then from that, it just, my pastor's heart grew and, and the shepherd heart in me grew.
And so, like, I can be that person. Mm-hmm. Like, I, I'm willing to show up in your life. And I think we have it often backwards in pastoral ministry, where we build our churches for people to come- Mm-hmm ... rather than build our ministries to go to them. Mm-hmm. And that is something that we really tried and aspired [00:20:00] to be like, is I don't wanna attract people to the church.
And hear that correctly. Like, absolutely, we build a service- Yeah ... um, that is God-honoring and glorifying to Him in a, in a place of worship. But if our ministry heart stops on Sunday, we have a problem. Yeah. The, the commission is to make disciples- Mm Yeah ... not to build a congregation. Exactly. Yeah. And so we're not gathering a pe- we're not gathering a people, we're sending a people.
Right. Mm. And that's what I wanted in our youth ministry. And I think through that, I just realized, like, as a ch- like, it would be such an honor to do this as a f- as a church, and to, to kind of call a play on a Sunday, right? As a quarterback- Right ... and then execute it throughout the week. Right. And, and, hey, this is Discipleship 101.
We're gonna get in the trenches we s- with each other. We're gonna, you know, dive into the Word together. Mm. And I think even in, you know, the Barna research, and you can look all into it, the, the amount of people that Read their Bible, right? The standard is, like, something like opening your Bible once every two weeks is, uh, uh, the average Bible reader- [00:21:00] Yeah, that's like the-
in our country ...
Mike Glenn: once, once a month- Once every other
Joel Kelly: month- It's, yeah ... is an, a, a frequent attender or whatever, yeah Yeah. It's a starving Christian- Yeah ... is what it is. Mm-hmm. And, and someone that's not being fed. And so for us, it was just that heart of we wanna create an environment where w- we are giving the a- the avenues and the ways in which people can be plugged in.
Mm-hmm. They can be involved in Bible, uh, studies. They can be, you know, given the tools to study scripture as well as just becoming the cornerstone of- Mm-hmm ... hey, this is a place where we are going to become like Jesus. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And, and discipleship we throw around, like, this word of, like, I'm actively discipling you.
Mm-hmm. Reality is it's really an apprentice. Like- Right ... that's what the biblical meaning is. Mm-hmm. It's, it's not something I do, it's something I am.
Mike Glenn: Right.
Joel Kelly: Yeah. Right? And, and, uh, and I- Well, in,
Mike Glenn: in the time of Jesus, if you were studying with a rabbi, you moved into their home. Exactly. Yeah. You, you lived with him.
No
Joel Kelly: one's moving in with me, but-
Mike Glenn: That's
Joel Kelly: right.
Mike Glenn: But
Joel Kelly: I mean,
Mike Glenn: that was
Joel Kelly: so you could literally mimic- Yeah ... everything about the rabbi. Absolutely. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And, uh, and that's kind of where the [00:22:00] heart for us and the burden for us began. It was just like- Mm-hmm ... I'm teaching this, this group of teenagers and, and I don't wanna point fingers at anyone.
I don't think it's, I don't think it's their parents' necessarily fault. I don't think it's necessarily the church's fault. Yeah. It's just a lack of clarity of the mission that we're called to. Yeah. Back, back, back, back to that clarity word. Mm-hmm. Right? And, and so I'm like, "You're 15 and you've grown up in the church, and you don't, you don't know what the gospel is."
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Like, you-
Mikayla Kelly: Yeah ...
Joel Kelly: you can't even articulate it back to me. Yeah. Right. Can't, can't find the books or the- Yeah ... yeah.
Mikayla Kelly: Yeah. I would say that's where my kind of burden came in of I grew up in the church, right? Mm-hmm. And so many of these kids, especially in our area, we love to say that we are over churched and under gospeled.
Mike Glenn: Yeah.
Mikayla Kelly: And so these kids- Got a little
Mike Glenn: veneer of Jesus painted on everything. Yeah, literally. Yeah.
Mikayla Kelly: And so I, I had such a heart for the kids that have grown up in the church their whole life. You ask them, like, "Why are you a Christian?" Like, "Share m- with me your testimony," and they say, "Oh, I've been a Christian my whole life."
Yeah. I'm like, "Okay. Who is Jesus to you?" "Uh, he's J- he's Jesus." Yeah, yeah. You know, you [00:23:00] ask them these questions, and I was realizing, wow, these kids, they're, they're not biblically literate.
Mike Glenn: No. Um, they don't- We did a, we did a, we did a thing at Kairos for a bunch of years. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Kairos in our church.
Mikayla Kelly: Yes. Yeah.
Mike Glenn: I h- yep. And, uh- After one of the uh, nights, we were doing a story on Joseph in Genesis. Yep. Mm. And the guy walked up and says, "When does he meet Mary?"
Mikayla Kelly: Yep. Yep, I believe it. It's...
Mike Glenn: What? Yep. Yeah. So I went back to our youth department- Yeah ... and said, "Blow it up. Whatever you think you're doing, we're not doing."
Yep. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So, you know. Yeah. When kids are confusing-
Mikayla Kelly: I'd have- ... like Jonah and Noah- Yeah, yeah ... you'd be like- That's right. Yeah ... there's a problem. Something,
Mike Glenn: something's not good here. Yeah. Uh, you know, and, and, and, and we laugh at that illiteracy, but that illiteracy sadly shows itself- Mm ... in the poor life choices- Yep
and, and the, the lack of self-knowledge- Mm-hmm ... and self-awareness that leads- Yeah ... to all the other kind of problems. Yep. Um, so it is a... And, and so why, why are you moving south from, from, [00:24:00] from- Some... From Conduit ... from, from Conduit you're moving- Yep ... due south?
Mikayla Kelly: Great question. Yep.
Mike Glenn: That is a fantastic question.
Um, so I mean, we- Because, because, because with the unchurched populate, you could've moved in any direction. Yeah. Yep. Absolutely.
Mikayla Kelly: Yep.
Mike Glenn: And, uh, a- and been fine, but you chose south- Yeah ... or was led, or were led south. Yeah. Wow. How, how so? Well, well
Mikayla Kelly: boom- Tennessee's booming, as you know. Yes, sir. Mm-hmm. And a lot of people are moving south.
Mike Glenn: Right.
Mikayla Kelly: And so we have a lot of young families- Mm-hmm ... um, that are moving. In fact, with
Mike Glenn: the real estate- Oh, yeah ... prices- Oh ... it's,
Mikayla Kelly: it's, it's- It's driving everyone ...
Mike Glenn: Lawrenceburg. Yep. Mm-hmm. You're literally- Oh, yeah ... gonna buy a home in Lawrenceburg if you want to live and work in Nashville. Yep. Yeah. Or Collierville.
Yeah.
Mikayla Kelly: Like all the way out there. I,
Mike Glenn: we're, we're not going to
Joel Kelly: Collierville. We'll, we'll... The next church will be in Collierville. Yeah, we'll, we'll, we'll plant a church in Collierville, right? Yeah. Uh, no. I think, you know, we, we did the whole, you know, church strategy, what makes sense for Conduit. Right. Um, the reality is Conduit, we started with we're doing this for numbers, so we need to make this kind of make [00:25:00] sense- Right
in the database of- Right ... okay, where are our people coming from on the map? And a- actually there's a term that people use called a cannibal church. Right. Right? That if you're too close to the mom church, the mother church, then you're gonna be fighting over people. And we're like, "Okay, that's weird, so we wanna be like 20 minutes away, but where?"
But we really quickly after that conversation, we're like, "We've, we've never done anything as a church because of numbers." Right. Like we've never made a move because of too much this or too little that. Yeah. But you do have to relieve-
Mike Glenn: Conduit- Yes Absolutely ... of, of some- Yep ... some of the pressure. A
Mikayla Kelly: couple Sundays ago- Well, you know, there's no-
we turned away- ... nothing wrong with
Mike Glenn: Conduit, $100 million couldn't, couldn't fix. Right. Yeah. But-
Mikayla Kelly: Right ...
Mike Glenn: that, that's kinda where y'all are. Yeah. Yeah.
Mikayla Kelly: And Darren's not gonna do the $100 million. No. We're gonna go free slaves- Yeah, that's right ... not this way. That's right. Yeah,
Joel Kelly: yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. Abs- and absolutely.
Like, we're... It was just that being the primary focus, we just shifted our heart, and we just realized, man, one, for me as the pastor, I wanna be with the people. Mm-hmm. I live in Spring Hill. It's, it's where we live. It's where we [00:26:00] can afford. Okay. Mm-hmm. And, um, I don't want it to be a place where, I mean, if we were to plant for s- say, in Brentwood, that we're priced out.
Right. And, um, not because we're, the church isn't taking care of us, it's just
Mike Glenn: prices are really expensive- It's, well- ... in Brentwood ... whether or not there might, those prices aren't for people who are, who live in Tennessee. Yeah. Yeah. They're people from, coming in from California- From California ... New York and- Mm-hmm
all that. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Yeah. That, that's where the prices are. And I'd
Joel Kelly: rather do ministry and life- Yeah ... with people, '
Mike Glenn: cause- Yeah. What we found out at Brentwood is, when we started our campuses, is we wanted to break off-
Mikayla Kelly: Yep ...
Mike Glenn: certain, and say, "Hey, go here- Mm-hmm ... and, and, and start the church here." And then- And so it sounds like a lot of- And then come-
what you're doing ... to find
Joel Kelly: out what we did on a Sunday at Conduit, um, Pastor Mo and I, we sat, sat outside and just watched how many people turned right out of Conduit- Right ... versus left, 'cause left is towards Franklin, right- Mm-hmm ... is towards Spring Hill. And there's quite a bit. Mm-hmm. Um, and so as far as just church planting strategics go, we live there.
Yeah. It made sense for the people that, uh, go to Conduit. And the
Mike Glenn: interesting thing is, is as we [00:27:00] tell people all the time, there's a reason Baskin-Robbins has 31 flavors of ice cream. Mm-hmm. Yep. Not everybody likes rocky road. Yeah. So
Mikayla Kelly: true.
Mike Glenn: But what Baskin-Robbins has decided is you're gonna leave here with ice cream.
We don't care what flavor it is, but you're gonna leave here. Yeah. And, and what I'm trying to get churches to understand is, listen, we won't make the decision that when people come, they're gonna leave with Jesus. Yeah. Come on. Mm-hmm. Now, what flavor that is-
Mikayla Kelly: Yeah.
Mike Glenn: That's good ... we, we, we, we, we can work on.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So, so even just because you're different than Darren- Mm-hmm. Yep ... uh, and, uh, and you have different life experience and therefore- Mm-hmm ... different sensitivities- Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm ... uh, your church is gonna... You can be right next door to each other- Right. Yeah ... and still reach a very different congregation.
Joel Kelly: Absolutely. Yes. And, and a big passion for us is, so 49% of Spring Hill don't go to church, and- No, no,
Mike Glenn: no, no, no. 49% tell us- Yes Yes ... they don't go to church. Yeah. Yep. Okay. You press that number- Oh, for sure ... and it's up, it's o- it's over 60 to 80%. Oh, yeah.
Joel Kelly: Exactly. Don't go to church. And it's [00:28:00] taken- 'Cause- ... what?
There's, like, 400-something churches in Spring Hill. I mean, we don't actually know the full number. But, but,
Mike Glenn: you know, it, it, that, it's one of those things, um, um- In, in, in Nashville, th- this is a Nashville kind of thing, everybody that gets a synthesizer starts a church. Yeah. It, it beats everything up- Yeah
I've ever seen in my life. Yeah, yeah. But, you know, every, every garage and a synthesizer's got a church in it. Yeah. Yep. So- Yep ... but, but whether or not they've got the structure- Mm-hmm Yeah ... and the ability and the wherewithal to- Yep ... to, to be a lasting congregation- Yeah ... to be, to make a difference, now that- Yeah, and I think- That, that, that's, that, uh, that was a few of our dreams.
Yeah ... well, just as a pastor planting, I think a
Joel Kelly: struggle I had was, like, why another church in Tennessee, though? Right, right. You know what I mean? It was like, 'cause I had- There's one on every
Mikayla Kelly: corner. I had
Mike Glenn: friends that were ministers- No, but there, there, there are a lot of church buildings- Yes Yes ... on every corner.
That's what we realized. There aren't a lot of churches- Yeah ... on every corner. Yep. I think
Mikayla Kelly: that's something that probably a lot of church planters probably have to go through, though. Right. Like, why here? [00:29:00] Right. Why, like, why do they not just go to this church? Why not parachute plant- That's
Joel Kelly: right ... in some random place, right?
Yeah. Like... And, and it was a struggle, and I, I had a lot of really good conversations with men that I trust and- Mm-hmm ... it's like, "You're right, like, I need to think through this and pray about this," but then I quickly realized even the stats we were just talking about- Yeah ... it's, I don't care if there's 14 churches on every corner.
No. We haven't, we haven't- No, and, and, and- ... met the goal. ... and, and,
Mike Glenn: no, and the deal is you're gonna put a church together that is gonna attract a certain- Mm-hmm Mm-hmm ... clientele of people.
Mikayla Kelly: Mm-hmm.
Mike Glenn: That, that when, you know, one of the, one of the great freedom moments for me was when I finally got to where I was comfortable going, "What are you looking for?"
Mikayla Kelly: Mm-hmm.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm. "Well, we're looking for this kind of church." Okay, great. That's not us. That's not us. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. Uh, and you're gonna be miserable every Sunday you're here- Yeah ... and we're gonna get miserable with you. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But I know who does what you wanna do.
Mikayla Kelly: Yep. Yep.
Mike Glenn: I know them. I'll call them.
I'll tell them you're on the way. Yep. That's awesome. You're gonna love this church. Yeah. Yeah.
Mikayla Kelly: [00:30:00] Yep.
Mike Glenn: And, uh, they do this style of worship better than anybody in town. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. They do this style of mission or ministry- Mm-hmm ... better than anybody in town. Let me call that pastor and- Yeah ... tell him you're on the way.
That's so
Joel Kelly: good. Yeah. 100%. Yeah.
Mike Glenn: And, uh- You can't be all things for all people ... no, no, and you don't, you don't need to be. So- That's what I love
Mikayla Kelly: about the beauty of the church- Yeah ... is that we're one body- Yeah ... together Yeah. There is a, there
Mike Glenn: is, there is something about all of us together-
Mikayla Kelly: Yep ...
Mike Glenn: that, uh, that reveals the, the, the g- glory of God- Mm-hmm
in one way- Mm-hmm ... that one person can't. Yeah. So good. So gimme, gimme the dirty details. You're
Joel Kelly: starting when? We launch September 14th. Yep. Um, that's our, our soft launch, which is kind of just a, a, a runway for to kinda work all the kinks out. Right. Um, we've had two preview services. Yeah, that's where you find the oh no.
Mike Glenn: Oh, no. Yeah. We
Mikayla Kelly: didn't- Oh, no, the- We didn't- ... internet isn't working ... we didn't remember
Joel Kelly: to bring- Oh, yeah. ... an extension cord. Yep. Yeah.
Mikayla Kelly: Yeah, those kinda- We need a ramp for the
Joel Kelly: kids' room. Yeah, we rolled up. We have these big crates for kids ministry, and it steps [00:31:00] down to where we're supposed to set up- Yeah
'cause it's in a movie theater, right? And we just didn't think about it, and these are heavy crates. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And, like, our volunteers are breaking their backs trying to get them down the stairs. You know, there's just, there's small things like that- ... that- Yeah ... and there's about 8,000 of them. Yeah. Right, right.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So we're- Yeah, it's fun ... I tell people we could have had a service. It woulda probably been a C out of the grading scale, but- Yeah ... it'll be- But you, you, you know,
Mike Glenn: wisdom means I screwed up before you did. Yep. Mm-hmm. So ne- next time when you go, "Hey, you're gonna need a ramp over here." Yeah.
"Golly, Smike's smart." "He just knows, he just knows everything." Yeah. You know? He's thought
Mikayla Kelly: of
Mike Glenn: it all. Yeah. He's thought of it all. Yeah. All right, Sev- September 14th- September 14th ... is your soft launch. Yep.
Joel Kelly: What time? We are, will be launching- 10:00 ... at 10:00 AM. Okay. Yeah.
Mike Glenn: All right. And your, and your public launch, your big launch is- It's Super Bowl Sunday-
on Super Bowl Sunday ... February 8th. Oh, okay. Yeah. So you're gonna run it for several, you're gonna run soft for several months. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Yep.
Joel Kelly: Yep. All right. We're gonna run s- well, I mean, we'll do a Christmas service. Right. Um, we're kind of judging what that's gonna look like. Okay. Um, it's, there's [00:32:00] just a lot of unknowns.
Got a
Mike Glenn: website? Yep. We do. Exoduschurch.co. .co,
Mikayla Kelly: yep.
Mike Glenn: Exoduschurch.co. .co. Mm-hmm. There you go. All right. Don't forget
Mikayla Kelly: the M.
Mike Glenn: All right.
Mikayla Kelly: There's too many M's in there. Yeah. Too many. Yeah. Now,
Joel Kelly: this is about to get confusing. We gotta be different in some type of way.
Mike Glenn: This is Joel. This is Mikayla Kelly. Mikayla. And they are the new planters of Exodus Church in Spring Hill.
Mm-hmm. So we will look forward to, uh, another visit from you guys. Absolutely. Yeah. And catch us up on this, huh? Yep. Thank you. Let's do it. All right. I'm Mike Glenn. This is Engage Church Network Podcast. Thanks for being with us.
Thanks for tuning into the Engage Church Network Podcast. We exist to train healthy and skilled leaders for congregations throughout Middle Tennessee. If today's episode helped you, share it with a fellow leader, and don't forget to visit engagechurchnetwork.com for more ways to [00:33:00] grow.
