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Person: Alan Foster

Rural Church Planting Movements

Our guests today were:

Alan Foster is the MNA Church Planter Resources Director and runs a cohort of pastors who labor in rural contexts. If you are interested in hearing more about the Rural Church Planter Retreat to be held May 3-5, 2022 email Alan at afoster@pcanet.org

Corey Pelton was recently called by Tennessee Valley Presbytery as an Evangelist to start Rural Church Development in southern Appalachia (extreme N Georgia and SE TN) with a goal of Developing, Encouraging, and Resourcing rural church plants. 

Check out his podcast on his website at: www.ruralchurchdevelopment.com

Hutch Garmany is the pastor of Grace Community in Trenton GA, a rural southern Appalachian town in NW Georgia (base of Lookout Mtn.) of 5K.  Hutch is the chair of the Tennessee Valley Church MNA committee.

Tim Inman is the Pastor of Christ Church in Dunn NC. He and his family moved back to Tim’s hometown in Spring of 2019 to scratch plant.

Kent Suits is in his 4th year of planting Christ Community Church in Batesburg-Leesville, SC. He started a plant with 7 members of an Independent Methodist congregation who gave their church property to the PCA to start a new church in this historic, diverse, rural, southern town. 

Links suggested for more information:

Previous webinar on rural church planting. This was from January 6, 2021

US Census reports on Rural America and other links

https://mtgis-portal.geo.census.gov/arcgis/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=49cd4bc9c8eb444ab51218c1d5001ef6

https://www.census.gov/library/video/2017/rural-america.html

https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/debunking-three-myths-about-rural-america

https://www.statista.com/statistics/985183/size-urban-rural-population-us/

https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/rural-economy-population/rural-classifications/what-is-rural.aspx

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/01/03/five-myths-about-rural-america/

https://thehustle.co/would-you-take-free-land-in-rural-america/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

From the North American Mission Board (SBC)

Books

The Forgotten Church by Glenn Daman

Replanting Rural Churches by Matt Henslee & Kyle Bueermann

Alienated America by Timothy Carney

Rural Church Turnaround by Danny Davis

Small Town Jesus by Donnie Griggs

God’s Country by Brad Roth