We have amazing MarriedPeople partner churches. These marriage champions are taking the MarriedPeople resources and doing things that are above and beyond anything we dreamed about.
We want you to meet them. So once a month, well spotlight a different church that is impacting not only the marriages in their church, but in their community. We want you to meet people from churches of all sizes, large and small, in various types of communities, whether urban, rural or suburban, with budgets big and small and volunteers plenty or scarce. Regardless of how different these churches may be from yours, we think youll find some relevancy to where you are.
We gave them a list of questions to find out more about their church, their team and their ministry. This month, we would like to introduce you to Ryan Tucker at Journey Christian Church in Apopka, FL.
Church: Journey Christian Church (Apopka, FL)
MarriedPeople champion: Ryan Tucker
Size of your church: 2400
Approximate number of married couples: 750
Describe the area you are in: suburban
Tell Us About . . . You and Your Team
I’m the Next Generation pastor—children and students birth through high school
How many people are on your marriage ministry team? 3
Tell Us About . . . How You Use the MarriedPeople Resources and Strategy
What does the calendar year look like with your marriage strategy? We do 4 large group gatherings a year, about every quarter. We offer the small group component as a follow up to the large group twice a year and we send out MP Monthly to our growing database of married couples who attend our events
What are some of the unique challenges to planning events in your community, and how have you worked around them? We have to create a rhythm. Our community is very busy with recreational activities, so unless we use the large group gatherings to create a rhythm that people can expect, we won’t get good traction.
Share with us one way you took the MarriedPeople resources and customized them to fit your church. We have used the married people strategy of the large group quarterly events to start an event called “Cupcakes and Comedy” around Valentine’s Day with a comedian and dessert as well. We also have hosted the Date Night Comedy Tour, again trying to create a rhythm but be creative.
What has been on really great thing that has come from using MarriedPeople? Consistency in our strategy, allows us to present a clear strategy not just for children and students but also for marriages as well.
What has been your biggest success so far? Couples that were de-churched or unchurched who have become part of our community through the large group events.
What has been your biggest fail and what did you learn from it? How we offer childcare at our large gatherings—that has consistently been the biggest learning experience on how to improve that.
What’s your dream to happen next? Continue to see buzz and traction around our large group events and to see the small group component really take root and develop.
Thanks, Ryan, and the awesome team impacting marriages in Apopka, FL!
For more about Journey Christain Church, check out their website.
To connect with other MarriedPeople leaders, request to join the MarriedPeople Leaders Facebook group.
Tim Walker is an editor on the MarriedPeople team, and blogger at timswords.com.
