Team Vitals: Heart, Calling, and Relationships in Church Planting

Host Noah Oldham welcomes Vance Pitman, Mark Lee, and Jen Oshman continue to discuss the nine essentials of a faithful and effective church planter. In this episode, they explore how the first three essentials—Heart, Relationships, and Calling—apply to teams. Topics include the spiritual life of team members, relational dynamics, the role of women in church planting, and the calling of those joining a team. They also discuss how sending churches can support this work. 

Noah Oldham is the executive director of Send Network. He served as the founding and lead pastor of August Gate Church for 15 years and the Send City Missionary to St. Louis for almost 10. In both these roles, he led his church and dozens of others to plant churches throughout the St. Louis region and beyond. He holds master’s degrees in Biblical Studies and Christian Leadership and is a certified personal trainer and nutrition coach. He writes, speaks, and trains in the areas of two of his greatest passions: the local church and physical fitness. Noah and Heather have been married since 2005 and have five children.

Vance Pitman is president of Send Network, founding pastor of Hope Church, and author ofUNBURDENED: Stop Living for Jesus So Jesus Can Live Through YouandThe Stressless Life: Experiencing the Unshakable Presence of God's Indescribable Peace. As a seasoned church planter and now leader of the largest church planting organization in North America, Vance seeks to inspire people to join in God’s eternal, redemptive mission of making disciples by multiplying the Church all over North America so that the nations may come to know Him.  Vance and his wife Kristie have four children and four grandchildren and live in Georgia.

Mark Lee planted VantagePoint Church in Eastvale, California in 2008. Since then, the church has helped plant 10 other churches around the country. Mark also serves on the Lead Team of Church Planters for Send Network.

Jen Oshman is an author (Enough about Me, Cultural Counterfeits, Welcome, and It’s Good to be a Girl), podcaster (All Things), church planter’s wife, and mom of four teen and young adult daughters. She has served as a missionary and church planter for over two decades on three continents. She currently resides in Colorado, where she is the Director of Women’s Ministry at Redemption Parker.