Send Network Orientation prepares 170 church planting missionaries to take the gospel to North America

ALPHARETTA, Ga. – Among 170 church planters who attended Send Network’s most recent orientation held March 3-5, the missionaries represented 30 states and provinces throughout North America.

Mihran Nersisyan, who is planting in Burbank, Calif., was among their number as planters attended the event at the North American Mission Board’s (NAMB) facility in Alpharetta.

“Nersisyan’s church is the first Armenian church Send Network has partnered to plant in California,” said Will Browning, director of Send Network California. “Los Angeles has one of the largest Armenian populations in the world outside of Armenia.”

On the East Coast, Dennis Opolentisima is planting a church in Rochester, N.Y. Opolentisima came to faith and escaped a rough background before he became a passionate disciple-maker.

He began planting his church by first identifying some of the needs in his city, which resulted in launching an after-school program to serve at-risk, inner-city youth.

“All this is a part of my vision for this church plant,” Opolentisima said, “which is to not start with the church but to start with engaging the city, making disciples, and then out of that, you plant the church.”

That same heartbeat drives the way Send Network trains church planting missionaries to develop a plan for taking the gospel to those who do not know Christ.

Send Network Orientation walks planters through the network’s values, which lead them to center their ministries on fulfilling the Great Commission in the cities, towns, and neighborhoods where God has called them.

Send Network is “a family of churches, planting churches everywhere for everyone,” said Noah Oldham, executive director of Send Network. “It’s a big, big vision that is utterly dependent on God to move.”

The vision is marked by five core values derived from Scripture: deepen devotion, think multiplication, engage the city, stick together, and seek first the kingdom.

“We want it to be said that if you visit any Send Network church plant that you will see a church that is preaching the Word and is seeking God in prayer,” said Tony Merida, Send Network’s vice president of planter development.

Orientation plays a key role in cultivating that culture as Send Network’s training, coaching, and care comes alongside the hundreds of missionaries currently ministering in the North American mission field.

During their time, Send Network team members also talk about the value and importance of belonging to the Southern Baptist family of churches—the way that Southern Baptists come together to support their work in North America and beyond.

“I’ve been connected, in so many different ways, to SBC church planting for a lot of years,” said Brian Bloye, who planted West Ridge Church in Dallas, Ga., in 1997. “What God’s doing right now… [through NAMB and Send Network] is, to me, the most inspiring thing I’ve been a part of. It’s one of the most dynamic things I’ve been a part of.”

Bloye, who serves as vice president of strategies and development for Send Network, said he and Merida engage through Send Network while still leading their churches because they believe in the mission and the potential for church planting to bring the hope of the gospel to North America.

“At the age that I’m at, I want to be part of something that’s truly changing the landscape of our country, that’s making a difference,” said Bloye. “I wouldn’t be sitting up here if I didn’t truly believe that. I want you to know I believe you are sitting in the best time of what we have ever done [at NAMB].

“The future of Send Network is bright.”