Meet the Multisite Guy, Jim Tomberlin

I wanted to thank you and Warren Bird for the inspiring book “Better Together” which led our small Baptist church in a suburb of Vancouver, BC to merge with a very successful large Mennonite Brethren church in what so far has been a highly successful merger. The steps of preparation and implementation laid out in the book really resonated with what we were thinking and how we saw God leading us. Most helpful in our process was having a clear vision of what God wanted of us and surrendering to that when we faced challenges. Through the transformational help of a skilled transitional pastor we were able to navigate the path despite several significant hurdles faced in changing denominations. We have now gone from a church of 80-100 attendees, with no lead pastor and insufficient human and financial resources to do much ministry to a thriving church with almost 300 attendees, growing ministries with active community engagement, an inspiring new campus pastor, and even a church building facelift. All that in less than a year of active planning. I thought I would share this so you can include a Canadian example in your next edition.