Thoughts on Turned Around Leaders Turn Around Churches

Michal and Bryan King

In 2015 when Bryan King set up a NoPlaceLeft residency it was an experiment. Looking back nine years later, the experiment was a success, but success came at a price.

The residency runs over one or two years. Residents give seven to ten hours a week and are immersed in multiplying disciples and churches — practices, principles and problem-solving.

The first residency resulted in three families deployed in South Asia. Most graduates have deployed overseas, and some have remained in local work.

But Bryan wasn’t prepared for the impact of losing so many dear friends. As each one left it felt like he was losing family.

Around the same time, his family moved into a time of real suffering and hardship with one of his children.

There were conversations he had with the Lord in which he said, “I finally know what I want to do. This is stuff my whole adult life that's been moving towards, and now I can't do those things.”

He entered a time of deep discouragement.

His validation as a disciple maker and a leader was based on results. When others criticized his movements approach he thought, “I’ll show you. I’ll do this.”

Then something began to shift in him. He sought answers to his discouragement by studying the Gospels and Acts with others. Slowly he realized, “Fruit comes and goes but this is who I am.” Bryan was becoming a different person.

Along the way, God encouraged Bryan. There was Daniel and Laura in a nearby apartment complex who came to Christ. Daniel told him, “If you guys ever think twice about if you made a difference in anyone's life, if you ever think twice about sharing the gospel with anyone, just know that you made a difference in my life.”

There was Elizabeth, “the little short Hispanic lady who showed up at that training” and learned how to share the gospel in the local convenience store, and with her friends and family. She’s joined the team and knows what to do when someone new wants to follow Christ.

Bryan realized, “If I died today, there'd be many things in my ministry that would die. But the men and women that God has raised up, that's the fruit and it's amazing.”

In the middle of pain and chaos, that’s what God was up to. “It's about men and women being transformed into the image of God and obeying Jesus no matter what because He's worthy of our worship.”

Disciples under persecution learn to keep a low profile and watch for what God does next. The breakthrough will come. The same principle applies here. While Bryan was enduring faithfully, God was preparing him for a breakthrough.

He teamed up with Jared and Josh Howard to help prevailing model churches to go after movements. They take church leaders through a six-month process of discovery in the Scriptures. They meet every two weeks online. The Word does the work as they look at Genesis to Revelation or the 4-Fields in the Gospels and Acts. As these leaders see it in the Scriptures they’re hungry for action and ready to be trained in simple tools. As these pastors are transformed, they’re ready to lead their churches into the harvest.

A new door of opportunity has opened. God has done this. When Bryan was down for the count, crying out to God, God was reshaping his heart.

Bryan says, “This is what shifted in me, I know who I am. I am a disciple. I am a disciple maker. This is my identity.”

The interview: 336-Turned Around Leaders, Turnaround Churches

Bryan’s podcast: Unleash the Priest