{"id":22892,"date":"2024-08-06T05:00:05","date_gmt":"2024-08-06T09:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/?post_type=resource&p=22892"},"modified":"2024-08-05T15:33:48","modified_gmt":"2024-08-05T19:33:48","slug":"an-interview-with-ryan-durham-2023-replanter-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/an-interview-with-ryan-durham-2023-replanter-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"An Interview with Ryan Durham, 2023 Replanter of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every year at the Replant Summit, we celebrate a pastor who is doing the good and hard work of replanting by naming a Replanter of the Year. In 2023, Ryan Durham, pastor of <\/em>Calvary Loup City<\/em><\/a> in Loup City, Nebraska, was named Replanter of the Year. He and his wife, Brandy, were called to replant this dying church after initially committing to serving once a month. <\/em><\/p>\n

Below is a brief excerpt from a recent interview on the \u201cReplant Bootcamp\u201d podcast between Ryan and JimBo Stewart, NAMB associate director of Replant. <\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

*****<\/em><\/p>\n

JimBo Stewart: <\/strong>I\u2019m excited to have you on the podcast. I\u2019ve enjoyed getting to watch and see how God has used you and Brandy in this journey. Last year at the Replant Summit, we were able to bring you guys down and announce you as Replanter of the Year. Tell us just a little bit about the church you\u2019re replanting and how you ended up there.<\/p>\n

Ryan Durham:<\/strong> Sure. Well, the church is in Loup City, Nebraska, which is about 45 minutes north of I-80, in central Nebraska, a farming rural town, farm and ranch town, about a thousand folks.<\/p>\n

The church was dying and hadn\u2019t had a pastor in two to three years by the time they reached out to us. I met with them in June 2022 and they were really just asking if I\u2019d come out once a month for the summer, on a rotation. And so my wife and I went out to meet with them.<\/p>\n

We fell in love. I almost started crying just talking to them and it ended up in a job interview I didn\u2019t expect. And one of the first questions I asked them was \u201cWhy are you guys fighting so hard to keep this church alive when there\u2019s so many other churches in the community?\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of their answers just blew me away. I expected it to be, \u201cWe used to be this, and we used to be that, and the building \u2026.\u201d And all they talked about was the gospel and their love for Jesus and their love for their community.<\/p>\n

My heart just broke for them. And before we made it back to Kearney, which is where we lived at the time, about 45 minutes away, I looked over at my wife and she said, \u201cI know we\u2019re never leaving\u201d.<\/p>\n

And we haven\u2019t. We have fallen in love with that community.<\/p>\n

JS<\/strong>: Tell us a little bit about your experience with the Calvary Family of Churches<\/a>.<\/p>\n

RD<\/strong>: We joined Calvary in 2015 and I started seminary shortly after that. (We) got to know Mark Hallock with the CFC and Jeff and some of the other pastors and got invited to join the CFC cohort, the internship they do with some of the pastors.<\/p>\n

Really, that\u2019s where I first started hearing about replanting. The first book I was given was actually Mark Clifton\u2019s book, Reclaiming Glory<\/em><\/a>. He it gave me that and said, \u201cHey, just read this. Let me know what you think.\u201d And then I think the second one was, Am I A Replanter<\/em><\/a>?<\/em><\/p>\n

And my world changed \u2013 just thinking over the questions and all the reality of it and just having never thought about that. (Replanting) became our passion really and we were blessed to be led to Calvary, where that was also their passion and their mission.<\/p>\n

JS<\/strong>: What have been some of the biggest wins you have experienced over the past two years in your ministry?<\/p>\n

RD<\/strong>: There\u2019s two that jump in my mind immediately. One was our first baptism. His name is Paxton. The story behind this family, to me, is just amazing.<\/p>\n

The other one I would have to say, and I\u2019m just going to say her name\u2019s Ms. Megan. This was early on when we first started. And, again, fairly new to being a pastor, especially a full-time pastor.<\/p>\n

We hadn\u2019t been there very long, but she had some severe health issues and needed a transplant, but didn\u2019t know if she was going to have enough people to take care of her if she had this transplant. And so we hadn\u2019t even been there but a few weeks, and she comes to me and she says, \u201cHey, I need this transplant or I\u2019m going to die, but I don\u2019t have anybody to take care of me, so I\u2019m not going to get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

We sat down and had a conversation and I tried to love her on her the best I could. One of the things we told her \u2013 and my wife and I just kind of looked at each other and it was one of those silent, we understood it. I looked at her and said, \u201cMiss Megan, if my wife\u2019s got to quit her job to come take care of you for a few weeks, that\u2019s what we\u2019ll do. If that\u2019s the only thing keeping you from doing this transplant, don\u2019t worry about it. She\u2019s a new Christian, a new believer, struggles with a lot of tragedy in her life. And so she just wasn\u2019t sure but she was, like, \u201cYou know what? I really believe the gospel. I don\u2019t understand everything, but I believe that you love me and I\u2019m going to believe you.\u201d<\/p>\n

One year later, on Easter weekend, I picked her up to go do our first church outreach event. And she looks at me and she says, \u201cCan I tell you something I haven\u2019t told anyone?\u201d<\/p>\n

I said, \u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d And she said, \u201cMy doctor called me last night and said my liver has regenerated to the point that I\u2019m so healthy, they\u2019re taking me off the [transplant] list.\u201d You know, just watching her discipleship, her growth and knowledge of the Lord and love of the Lord grow over the past two years has been amazing.<\/p>\n

And in some moments when I struggle, I remember those two conversations and sometimes it\u2019s enough to say, \u201cOK, this is worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

JS<\/strong>: What advice would you give to somebody starting Day 1?<\/p>\n

RD: <\/strong>Honestly, celebrate everything. I started this when we first started at the church. I had a notebook and, I\u2019ll be honest, I got away from it. I\u2019ve had to make myself get back to it. I write down everything good that happens. And it can be the smallest little things.<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s something simple, positive that happened at the church or in the community, celebrating that with our congregation and creating that culture of positive encouragement over everything, people feel loved by that. They\u2019re drawn to that.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t matter how small the thing might seem. You might even seem silly at first, but go over the top celebrating it because that energy and passion really is contagious. And it\u2019s given my people this energy that they just want to storm the community with the love of Jesus.<\/p>\n

Be sure to <\/em>listen to the entire interview<\/em><\/a> to hear more of how God is working in Loup City, Nebraska. You can register for the 2024 Replant Summit <\/em>here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every year at the Replant Summit, we celebrate a pastor who is doing the good and …<\/p>\n

An Interview with Ryan Durham, 2023 Replanter of the Year<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"tags":[],"channels":[],"topics":[53],"languages":[],"class_list":["post-22892","resource","type-resource","status-publish","hentry","resource_type-article","topics-replanting"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAn Interview with Ryan Durham, 2023 Replanter of the Year - 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