CONGREGATIONS & LEADERSHIP
Church planting is top priority

IN THE NORTHEAST
• Mark Overmyer is director of church planting at the New England District of the Evangelical Free Church of America. Contact mobiewan@metrocast.net.
• Professor Cynthia A. Woolever, a sociologist of religious organizations at the Hartford Seminary, Hartford, Conn., co-wrote A Field Guide to U.S. Congregations: Who's Going Where and Why (Westminster John Knox Press, 2002). Contact 860-509-9545, woolever@hartsem.edu.
• Cheryl Townsend Gilkes is a professor of sociology and African-American studies at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. She is an expert on black churches. Ask her about African-American participation in the planting of new churches. Contact 207-872-4715, ctgilkes@colby.edu.

IN THE EAST
• The Rev. Edward P. Harding Jr. recently completed a new church start for the Presbyterian Church - Prince George's Community Church in Springdale, Md. He was formerly pastor of the Martin Luther King Jr. Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Mass. Contact 301-306-0064, pastor@pgcchurch.org.
• Manuel Ortiz, professor emeritus in the field of practical theology from Westminster Theological Seminary in Glenside, Pa., has focused his work on multicultural churches and the religious lives of American Hispanics. Contact 800-373-0119.
• The Rev. Donald Paul Sullins is a former Episcopal priest who was ordained into the Catholic priesthood in 2002. He is assistant professor of sociology at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and has written about church switching and patterns of Protestant affiliation. Contact 202-319-5999, sullins@cua.edu.

IN THE SOUTHEAST
• Max Strother is district superintendent and lead coach at the Missionary Church's Florida District in Altamonte Springs, an evangelical organization committed to accomplishing the Great Commission through more and better churches. Contact 407-339-2532, max@mcflorida.org.
• Laurence R. Iannaccone, professor in the economics department of George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., has written about measuring church growth. Contact 703-993-2331, larry@econzone.com.
• Judith R. Blau, professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, has written about the expansion of religion and church membership in the U.S. Contact 919-962-5603, judith_blau@unc.edu.
• The Rev. Jeunée Cunningham is the founding vicar of St. Gabriel's Episcopal Church, a church start in Leesburg, Va. She was on the steering committee for a national Episcopal "Plant My Church" conference and serves on the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia's Commission on Church Planting. Contact 703-779-3616, pastor@saintgabriels.net.
• Professor Milton J. Coalter is the librarian at the Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond, Va. He has written on the decline and growth prospects of mainstream Protestantism. Contact 804-355-0671, jcoalter@union-psce.edu.

IN THE SOUTH
• Tom Jones in Johnson City, Tenn., is Southeast regional director for Stadia: New Church Strategies, a parachurch organization that finds, trains, deploys and supports church planters. He serves 10 newly formed "baby churches" in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana and several other states. Contact 423-722-1080.
• The Sojourn Community in Louisville, Ky., is a church plant. Senior Pastor Daniel Montgomery says Sojourn began as an attempt to reach people who were falling through the cracks in more mainstream churches. Sojourn is supported by the Kentucky Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board. Contact Montgomery, 502-767-7145, daniel@sojourncommunity.com.
• Penny Long Marler, professor of religion at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala., has written about measuring growth in church attendance. Theories of religious change are among her interests. Contact 205-726-2869, plmarler@samford.edu.
• Dick Freeman is director of congregational development for North Alabama for the United Methodist Church. Contact 205-226-7956, dfreeman@northalabamaumc.org.

IN THE MIDWEST
• Daniel V. Olson, associate professor of sociology and anthropology at Indiana University South Bend, has written about church growth. Contact 574-520-4235, dolson@iusb.edu.
• Professor Darren E. Sherkat, a sociologist at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, has written about religious choices of Americans, particularly baby boomers and African-Americans. His research includes inquiries into the dynamics of religious beliefs and affiliations in contemporary United States, including patterns and trends in religious mobility among white Americans. In 2001, he wrote an article, "Tracking the Restructuring of American Religion: Religious Affiliation and Patterns of Religious Belief," in the journal Social Forces. Contact 618-453-7614, sherkat@siu.edu.
• Donald A. Luidens, professor of sociology at Hope College in Holland, Mich. (affiliated with the Reformed Church in America), has followed the evolution of denominations and denominationalism in the U.S. Contact 616-395-7554, luidens@hope.edu.
• Gary Rohrmayer, a coach and trainer of church planters in Lindenhurst, Ill., has been involved in more than 65 new church plants since 1987. He is director of church planting for the Midwest District of the Baptist General Conference. Contact 847-692-4125 or reach him through administrative assistant Phyllis Howie, phyllis@midwestbap.org.
• Rodney Harrison is assistant professor of church planting at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo. He is one of seven church planting professors in the Southern Baptist Convention's six seminaries and is a veteran church planter, having started churches in Minnesota, California and the Dakotas. Contact 816-414-3700, rharrison@mbts.edu.

IN THE SOUTHWEST
• Aubrey M. Malphurs, professor of pastoral ministries at Dallas Theological Seminary, wrote Planting Growing Churches for the 21st Century: A Comprehensive Guide for New Churches and Those Desiring Renewal (Baker Books, 2004). Contact 214-388-2389, Aubrey_Malphurs@dts.edu.
• Dewey Wells is pastor of Blossom Christian Fellowship, a church plant in San Antonio, Texas, affiliated with the Missionary Church. Contact 210-497-8770, pastorwells@satx.rr.com.
• Bruce White is the Southwestern regional director for Stadia: New Church Strategies, a parachurch organization that finds, trains, deploys and supports church planters. Although he is based in Orange County, Calif., he serves Arizona as well as Southern California and Southern Nevada. In Arizona, Stadia is supporting five church plants in various stages of maturity. Contact 714-992-5026.

IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST
• Bob Hyatt is lead pastor at the Evergreen Community (Motto: "Life's short, why not apply for an extension?") which meets in a pub in Portland, Ore., and went from 10 members in early 2004 to about 120. Evergreen believes it is important to give the "unchurched" and the "formerly churched" a place to belong before they believe. Hyatt is a megachurch escapee who says American churches that get bigger and bigger foster a culture of church consumerism and neglect individuals. One of the great attractions of planting a church, he says, is creating and sustaining a real community. Contact 503-997-0407, bob@evergreenlife.org.
• Robin D. Perrin, professor of sociology at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., wrote the article "Examining the Sources of Conservative Church Growth: Where are the New Evangelical Movements Getting Their Numbers?" for the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion in 1997. Contact 310-506-4885, robin.perrin@pepperdine.edu.
• Arlene Sanchez Walsh is an associate professor of Christian ministry and urban issues at Azusa Pacific University in Azuza, Calif., where she chairs the ministry department. She is an authority on Latino evangelicals. Her books include Latino Pentecostal Identity: Evangelical Faith, Self and Society (Columbia University Press, 2003). Contact 626-815-5439, awalsh@apu.edu.
• Mark Leeper is the Sierra Pacific regional director for Stadia: New Church Strategies, a parachurch organization that finds, trains, deploys and supports church planters. He helped launch five churches in 2005 in the Northern California region that stretches from near Bakersfield to the Oregon border and from the ocean to western Nevada. He says he has more potential planters and more potential sites to plant than resources available. Contact 707-446-6232.