PD in Ivory Coast, China, and More

In an effort to take the Good News to the last 3,000 unreached tribes, Saddleback’s Purpose Driven (PD) Team is working together with International Partnering Churches (IPCs) to fulfill the Great Commission across the world.

To date, 18 IPCs have implemented PD in their own churches, and now are partnering with church leaders in African countries to provide PD training. Having launched PD in eight African countries, the Purpose Driven movement will be installed in 10 more countries by 2018. The ultimate goal is to move on to the remaining 27 countries over the next two years.

This aggressive plan is coming together with remarkable stories of faith and obedience rising out of IPCs and African countries that have adopted the PD movement.

 Official National Launch of Purpose Driven in Côte d'Ivoire

 After just six trips to Cote d’Ivoire, International Partnering Church (IPC) Palm Valley Church, has formed a steering team, trained 50 pastors in PD Essentials, and has mobilized recent PD graduates to train 300 more leaders.

During their most recent trip on April 26–May 8, they held a graduation ceremony for the 50 pastors and celebrated the official national launch of Purpose Driven and PEACE in Côte d'Ivoire. National church leaders were present for the graduation and the launch. The very next day they kicked off a four-day PD Essentials Conference, which was attended by over 300 pastors, bishops, and denominational presidents.

To build on this momentum, steering teams have committed to study 40 days of Purpose in their home churches, and have selected their first PEACE initiative, “Assisting the Poor.” Their plan is to develop a church-based farming initiative by the end of the year by working together with pilot churches.  

Just as Saddleback Church brought PD to Rwanda, Palm Valley Church aims to fully transform Côte d'Ivoire into a PD nation within two years. Click HERE to read about their first trip to Côte d'Ivoire, and click HERE to read more about the official PD national launch this month.

 Purpose Driven Conference in Wenzhou, China 

From April 29–May 1, nearly 80 church leaders gathered in Wenzhou, China for the city’s first Purpose Driven Church conference. Led by Lhon Pan, Senior Pastor of City Purpose Driven Church in Ningbo, the event drew young, next-gen leaders in their 20’s and 30s. Following the success of this event, there are plans to host a Purpose Driven gathering in Hong Kong in August of this year.

 Hispanic Churches Transformed Across the Nation

While the momentum to bring PD principles to African nations continues, the impact of the movement in our own backyard has surpassed anything we imagined. Less than a year ago, Pastor David Tamez, Saddleback’s PD Director of Hispanics in North America, started training a group of Spanish-speaking pastors in Anaheim. Coming from all different backgrounds, that group of 23 senior leaders was so motivated and inspired by the training, that they immediately started implementing PD methods in their churches.

Word spread of the proven model, and before Pastor David knew it, a second group of Hispanic pastors in Los Angeles was asking for the same training.

Taking them through the 8-month PD Essentials Training, Pastor David began coaching this second group of 42 pastors at Church of the Good Shepherd in L.A.After the success of Anaheim and L.A., other states began contacting Pastor David for PD training in Spanish.

There are now over 300 Spanish-speaking pastors that have been trained in PD Essentials, with more lining up to gain the tools to build healthy churches. The best part is that pastors from the Anaheim and LA groups are now serving as PD coaches for this new wave of PD students. Not only does this allow Pastor David to focus on the bigger PD picture, but this also empowers PD graduates to train and equip others in the PD multiplication model.

Read MORE about how PD is transforming Hispanic churches across the nation.

 Purpose Driven Across the World

 The Purpose Driven movement has no plans on slowing down. In fact, we’re gearing up to launch PD in Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, China, Brazil, Kenya, Congo, and Philippines.

Oakridge Baptist in Salisbury, Maryland has committed to becoming an International Partnering Church with the country of Macedonia. Under the leadership of pastors Brian Moss and Gary McCabe, they recently launched the first PD training in Macedonia, as well as in the countries of Togo and Benin.

Meanwhile in San Diego, Senior Pastor Terry Brooks and Glenn Bone have commissioned their members at Bayview Baptist Church to launch PD in Uganda. This month they traveled on an exploratory trip where they met the steering team pastors, and shared their vision for PD Essentials training. In June, they’ll be returning to Uganda to kick-off the PD training. Pastor Glenn is a Regional Director for PD training and the missions pastor for PDC Uganda. 

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These are all mighty steps that equip churches to implement the five purposes. They then train other churches to reach those that have no Bible, no believer, and no body of Christ.

To learn more about the Purpose Driven Church, including the upcoming Purpose Driven Church 2017 conference: Hope Renewed, visit pd.church/pdc17. Save an additional $50 off with promo code "RICK50."