This past weekend, I had the joy of celebrating the five-year anniversary with one of SENT Network’s church plants in Annapolis, Downtown Hope (DH). Joey Tomassoni leads DH, and did a great job last Sunday retelling the story of their church’s start that was bathed in intercessory prayer. He recounted their core team’s commissioning by Bay Area Community Church, along with some of the real joys and challenges that come with planting. He reminded DH to celebrate God for his grace during their journey to this point.
I was thrilled personally with how Joey and DH are modeling one of SENT’s values in addition to many other gospel-centered traits. They embody our value of “Multiplying Leaders and Planters Holistically”(2 Timothy 2:2). Joey is multiplying himself through other leaders which was seen on Sunday as he presented six new elder candidates to be installed in the near future. This past year DH also multiplied another church plant in partnership with SENT, Allelon Church. DH provided a residency for Allelon’s lead planter, Tom Hooe, who now ministers in one of the most impoverished subcultures in their city. This is a good example of how healthy churches multiply leaders (to stay) and planters (to go) in the power of God’s Spirit. SENT’s leadership is committed to coming alongside planters, churches and their leaders to accelerate this multiplication.
In Partnership for the Gospel, Mark McGeever Sent Network Director
Allelon’s planting core team being commissioned from DH several months back.