An Overview of the Sojourn Network out of Louisville, Kentucky

The Sojourn movement broke away from the Acts 29 movement when Mars Hill Seattle under Mark Driscoll was in the process of implosion. It started out of Sojourn Community Church in Louisville under the leadership of Daniel Montgomery and Mike Cosper. A few years later the Sojourn Network was started and Brian Howard was its first director. The Sojourn Network is deeply influenced by C.J. Mahaney’s Sovereign Grace Ministries (SGM).  Dave Harvey came to Sojourn after his long history with SGM. This is a network that is growing in the United States and due to its roots and influence by SGM, also a network of concern. 

 

“And the truth is, if we aren’t careful, we can all end up there. Angry. Bitter. Vile. Some people vent it with drugs and sex. Others with Pharisaical “polemics”. Both are from hell. So watch your doctrine, yes, but watch your life also. And don’t ignore the wounds we all have.”

Mike Cosper on Twitter June 20, 2018 

“In Jesus’ world, even your enemy is your neighbor.”

Jonah Sage on Twitter January 9, 2018 Pastor of Sojourn New Albany, Indiana 

“Since 2011, our aim at Sojourn Network has been to provide the care and support necessary for our pastors to lead their churches with strength and joy – and to finish ministry well. Our hope in the following about pages is to further explain why we exist, who we are and how, by God’s grace, we hope to help our pastors, both now and in the years to come.”

From the Sojourn Network mission statement 

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Philippians 2:12-13 ESV

Justin Pearson leading the closing prayer at Sojourn Fairfax (Fairfax, Virginia) on September 30, 2018 

The Sojourn Network video

Sojourn Community Church Louisville, Kentucky J Town location 

The Sojourn Network is a loose confederation of churches that comes out of ground zero for the Neo-Calvinist movement – Louisville, Kentucky. This is a network that is growing in influence in the United States and deserves some analysis. In a previous post I published a series of documents that reveal the Sojourn Network’s culture.  You can read that in, “Sojourn Church Network Documents.”  In writing this post and starting to talk about the issue of Sojourn I attended Justin Pearson’s Sojourn Fairfax on Sunday September 30, 2018. I interacted with Justin when I was involved years ago in McLean Bible Church here in the Washington, D.C. area. Justin was the only pastor I have had an encounter with who yelled at me inside a church. It was when I raised concerns about the small group program at McLean Bible and wanted to transfer. You can read about Sojourn Fairfax in an older post I wrote a few years back called, “My 66th Story of Forgiveness: Approaching Justin Pearson & Sojourn Church Fairfax During My Season of Repentance.” There is a lot of ground to cover in today’s post. We need to look at the history of the organization, doctrine, its culture, take a look at Dave Harvey and then ask a number of questions that this blog would like to answer about the Sojourn Network in time. Let’s start out with the history of the Sojourn Network.

 

Daniel Montgomery preaching at Dave Harvey’s Covenant Fellowship Church in Pennsylvania 

History of Sojourn Network 

The roots of the Sojourn Network come both from Acts 29 and also Sojourn Community Church which was planted in Louisville, Kentucky in 2000. The two key people in co-founding Sojourn Community Church Louisville are Daniel Montgomery and Mike Cosper.  Later on Brian Howard would also be key as he was the first director of the Sojourn Network. Sojourn Community Church Louisville started out as reformed, Baptist, and committed to plant churches. It still remains in that tradition as its part of its doctrine. Today Sojourn Community Church in Louisville has an average attendance of 3,000 people and 1,700 covenant members.  The network actually launched however in 2010 according to what was said at Ed Stezter’s article at Christianity Today. Sojourn actually broke off Acts 29, it happened during the time that Mars Hill Seattle was in the long slow process of implosion. The network at the time was headquartered in Seattle and under the influence of Mark Driscoll. Some people left Mars Hill and joined Sojourn. An example of that is Brad House. Brad was one of the people involved in that mock trial of Paul Petry and Bent Meyer. You can read about the spiritual abuse that took place in Joanna Petry’s blog. Years later Brad House was one of the people who repented to Paul Petry and Bent Meyer on November 2, 2014. You can read about Brad House in that situation in, “Preserving a Key Piece of Mars Hill Seattle History, A Letter of Confession to Bent Meyer and Paul Petry.” That said, at the time Daniel Montgomery in an article at 9 Marks believed that Acts 29 was planting churches too quickly and that more time needed to be spent in investing in church plants. Daniel said that they wanted to relationship based on affinity and not proximity. The Sojourn Network is also heavily influenced by C.J. Mahaney’s Sovereign Grace. According to what Daniel Montgomery said in a 9 Marks article there is a Sojourn Pastors School that is established. I honestly, would like to know if its similar to the Sovereign Grace Pastors College which is led by Jeff Purswell. Is it modeled after the SGM Pastors college and thus has the same issues? For example a lack of accreditation, etc…  Sojourn is also connected to the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville.

From Sojourn Community Church in Louisville the network grew to a total of 69 churches in the United States. Across those Sojourn Network churches close to 20,000 are involved in the United States. In 2017 over $1,134,600.00 was given to further advance the network. Daniel Montgomery resigned from Sojourn on May 8, 2017 and started the Leadership Reality which is based in Louisville.  In 2016 Mike Cosper left Sojourn Community Church Louisville and founded Harbor Media which exists to help Christians navigate a post-Christian world. Mike has published a number of books to include, “Faith Among the Faithless: Learning from Esther How to Live in a World Gone Mad“ and “Recapturing the Wonder: Transcendent Faith in a Disenchanted World.” Mike Cosper also published with Tim Keller and Collin Hansen, “The Stories We Tell: How TV and Movies Long for and Echo the Truth.” Tim Keller founded Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. Collin Hansen is the editorial director of The Gospel Coalition.  With Daniel Montgomery he wrote “Faithmapping: A Gospel Atlas for Your Spiritual Journey.” Finally he published “Rhythms of Grace: How the Church’s Worship Tells the Story of the Gospel.” Bob Kauflin wrote the forward to the book. Today Bob Kauflin does the music for Sovereign Grace. Bob Kauflin is C.J. Mahaney’s key enabler in Louisville. Most people recall when the SGM scandal of child sex abuse, and blackmail erupted and Mahaney first hid behind the rear end of Mark Dever at Capitol Hill Baptist when he fled Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Then he eventually fled to Louisville. Bob Kauflin makes much of his money through Sovereign Grace and this blog believes the Kauflin is in it for financial reasons. This blog also had a brush with one of Bob Kauflin’s sons Jordan Kauflin who co-leads Redeemer Arlington here in the Washington, D.C. area. I have written 147 articles which look at the issues of Jordan Kauflin’s church. If you want to read an article that overlooks the history and culture of the Sojourn Network, then Daniel Montgomery wrote one for 9 Marks in 2012. After Brad Cosper and Daniel Montgomery, Dave Harvey became the person who influences the Sojourn Network today. 

Mike Cosper with The Gospel Coalition on idolatry of youth culture in worship. 

 

Sojourn Network Doctrine, Conferences and Music 

The Sojourn Network’s  confessional theology comes from The Gospel Coalition. In addition to that confession Sojourn Churches subscribe to five additional beliefs. Those beliefs are:

1. Believer’s baptism
2. Lord’s supper/communion
3. A complementarian of men and women in the church
4. Elder-led churches
5. Reformed churches

The theological vision for the Sojourn Network claims that they are a customizable interpretative grid for linking their theological confession into local ministry. For example this network claims to have a whole vision on God’s glory, growth and the great commission. The whole Gospel applies to God’s kingdom, the cross, and God’s grace which fuels the church. Those in the church are fueled are worshipers, disciples, family and servants. They are focused on the whole world based upon where they live, meaning their location, as well as where they work, and their vocation. Also where they do recreation and restoration is an extension of their faith, Finally Sojourn is focused on multiplication. 

In the local ministry of a Sojourn Network Church on a Sunday morning the following is practiced. Expository sermons are given, where as a liturgical worship with baptism and communion is practiced. There is also a children’s ministry and ministries for hospitality, and membership. Outside of the church (as the Sojourn Network defines it) there is community group. An emphasis takes place on local, national and international mission planting. I will get more into the missions aspect shortly. This information comes from the Sojourn Network beliefs page which you can access right here.  Many churches in the Sojourn Network appear to be affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. For example Justin Pearson’s Sojourn Church in Fairfax, Virginia is SBC. Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, Kentucky is also SBC. But some possibly straddle both Sojourn and Acts 29. Justin Pearson’s Sojourn Fairfax falls into this camp. Sojourn churches are autonomous and the organization says that if there is a crisis they can not intervene. This is how The autonomous nature of Sojourn is described as follows. “Our crisis intervention is always in service and in submission to the local church. Network leadership does not hold any authority over its churches or pastors and, thus, cannot remove a pastor for his position regardless of the crisis.” Another way to look at it is like this…if there is a spiritual abuse problem or questionable church discipline situation you are on your own. You will not be helped and are at the whim of the lead pastor/elder of the Sojourn church. 

The core mission of Sojourn is to plant churches according to what Dave Harvey has written here.  They push coaching cohorts and has individuals it calls “strategists” who focus on different areas. This is how they are described at the Sojourn websites. “Strategists help our pastors plant, grow, and multiply healthy churches through their strategic counsel and ministry expertise. Strategists provide the network with their ministry expertise; their knowledge of diverse models; their connections to national resources, colleagues, and fellow pastors; and their philanthropic support or other forms of needed guidance and assistance. They hold significant ministry expertise in their given ministry area (15+ years) and have been in Sojourn Network for at least two years. The strategist for the network are as follows. 

• Gregg Allison – Theology, Crisis Care, Polity
• Brad House – Strategy, Community Life, Organizational Structures and Systems, Polity
• Dave Harvey – Church Planting, Pastoral Care, Elder/Plurality Development, Preaching
• Tim Beltz – Mergers/Acquisitions, Operations, Facilities, Strategic Planning, Finances, Policies and Procedures, Staffing, Multisite Operations
• Mike Cosper – Worship, Arts, Cultural Engagement
• Robert Cheong – Counseling and Care, Crisis Care and Counseling
• Nick Nye – Church Planting and Networking
• Nathan Sloan – International Missions
• Joel Brooks – Church Planting and Preaching
• Nathan Ivey – Mercy Ministry, Community Development, Crisis Care, Auxiliary Ministry Creation
• Jared Kennedy – Children’s and Family Ministry
• Paul Gilbert – Crisis Care, Church Finance, Systems, Procedures, Non-profit Management
• Chad Lewis – Worship and Liturgy, Crisis Care

One other aspect to note is that Sojourn is very much into conferences. The upcoming conference for the network is 2018 Leaders Summit. This will be held at the Sojourn Community Church midtown campus in Louisville, Kentucky. The conference will occur on October 23 to 25, 2018. The speakers for the conference include Dave Harvey, Zack Eswine, Jamaal Williams, and Timothy Paul Jones. Dave Harvey is the Executive Director of the Sojourn Network. Zack Eswine teaches at Covenant Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri and is the pastor at Riverside Church. He is also the author of, “The Imperfect Pastor: Discovering Joy in Our Limitations through a Daily Apprenticeship with Jesus.” Jamaal Williams is the lead pastor of Sojourn Midtown in Louisville. Then Timothy Paul Jones oversees the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary’s Global Campus. He has published numerous books as well. 

When it comes to missions activity it appears as if it is diversified. As a Neo-Calvinist organization church planting is their primary focus. But if you look at some individual churches you will some missionary activity. For example, if you look at Sojourn Traverse in Michigan they discuss missionary activity in their organization. Now its also important to remember that this Sojourn church wasn’t planted but joined the Sojourn Network in 2014. They were founded as a Baptist church in 1922, so that could also explain why they have some missionary programs as well. They do some local work in Michigan. But at Sojourn Traverse they work with Christ’s Hope International which has done programs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They also support a missionary through Pioneers in North Africa and have supported missionary work in other locations such as Bucharest, Romania. The main global missions strategy at Sojourn Community Church in Louisville is called Sojourn International.  Then there is also the Sojourn Collective which is the program for missions at Sojourn church campus in Louisville. Involved are East, J-Town, Midtown and New Albany in Indiana. For example this is what they have at Midtown where they participate in trips to locations such as the horn of Africa (most likely Kenya I would imagine) or France. At this location it appears as if Sojourn has an 8 month school of missions program that looks fairly intense. The question I have going through my mind as I shift through the data and study all these webpages if to ask the following question. Does Sojourn International feed into Sojourn Collective? If someone could let me know I would appreciate that information. 

Another key aspect to the Sojourn Network is its music. They write quite a bit of music that is supposed to reflect different aspects of faith such as joy and sorrow. Sojourn arranges a lot of their own music. They have a digital hymnal which you can access here. The music for the Sojourn organization comes from Sojourn Community Church it appears. As of September of 2018 there are eleven worship albums that exist. 

 

Dave Harvey From Controversial Sovereign Grace Ministries Take Control of the Sojourn Network  

Dave Harvey came to the Sojourn Network in May of 2014 and currently leads it. Dave actually wears many different hats at Sojourn. He became president of the Sojourn Network in May of 2014. He became its executive director in June of 2014. He also became the teaching pastor at Sojourn’s The Summit in March of 2017. As of this writing in September of 2018 he holds all those positions. Dave was theologically trained at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wayne, Pennsylvania where he obtained an equivalence of a Masters of Divinity. He then attended Westminster Theological Seminary from 1997 until 1999 where he earned a Doctor of Ministry in Pastoral Theology and Missioloy. Dave Harvey’s roots are in the controversial Sovereign Grace Ministries network by C.J. Mahaney. 

Dave Harvey became a pastor of Covenant Fellowship Church in 1986, and a few years later became the senior pastor. Covenant Fellowship is located in Glenn Mills, Pennsylvania. Following Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland; Covenant Fellowship Church was a key church in Sovereign Grace Ministries. Leadership personalities from Covenant Fellowship hold high positions in Sovereign Grace. That remains true with Mark Prater who is the Executive Director of Sovereign Grace Churches today , who also calls Covenant Fellowship Church home. Dave Harvey would hold that senior pastor position for almost 26 years. While pastoring there he published “When Sinners Say ‘I Do’” in 2007. In 2010 he wrote “Rescuing Ambition” with a forward written by C.J. Mahaney. He joined the Sovereign Grace Ministries Leadership Team in June of 1995 and he stayed in that position for 17 years. In the SGM Leadership Team Dave Harvey worked on church planting, church care and international missions. He worked with Brent Detwiler. Dave in time also went on the board of Christian Counseling & Education Foundation (CCEF). CCEF has had a long and close business relationship with SGM over the years.  When the SGM crisis was slowly growing Brent Detwiler approached Dave Harvey about the issues with C.J. Mahaney. At his blog here is how Brent Detwiler describes Dave Harvey. 

Dave and I have a long history together going back to the early 1980’s when I was his first pastor in Indiana, PA.  He joined C.J, Steve Shank, Bo Lotinsky and me on the SGM Board of Directors in 1995.  

From 2000-2005, Dave and I worked in earnest to help C.J. see and turn from his long-standing and serious patterns of sin.  We were in total agreement regarding our assessment of C.J.’s character and leadership.  

By 2005, Dave was deeply discouraged and exasperated with C.J.  He had no hope C.J. would change and was exhausted after years of trying.  His trust in C.J. was greatly shaken and he was on the verge of despair.  I know because I was caring for his soul during this time.  

I continued to raise issues with C.J. but Dave made a conscious decision that year to accommodate C.J. and relate to him like a rebellious teenager.  Those are Dave’s exact words.  This is documented in A Final Appeal (pp. 90-97).  

In January 2006, Dave wrote C.J. a lengthy personal letter outlining his concerns and frustrations (AFA, pp. 85-87).  This was Dave’s last attempt to help C.J.  C.J. never responded to letter.  After this Dave went into retirement and stopped bringing concerns and correction to C.J.  He could not handle the on-going stress of dealing with C.J. and he did not want to jeopardize his prominent position in SGM.    

C.J. was Dave’s bread and butter but this accommodation to C.J. cost Dave his integrity.  His desire for national recognition exceeded his commitment to speak the truth without worldly concern for the consequences.  By 2007, he fully embraced the culture of accommodation surrounding C.J.  That same year I resigned from the SGM Board having lost respect for C.J. 

When C.J. took his “leave of absence” in July 2011, Dave became the Interim President of Sovereign Grace Ministries for 9 months.  That began an even greater fall from grace that led to unimaginable deceit and heavy-handedness as he manipulated a puppet Board, the SGM pastors and the entire ministry with the help of men like John Loftness and Mickey Connolly. 

Dave Harvey after that period became an enabler of C.J. Mahaney. According to Brent Detwiler, Dave Harvey became someone who engaged in a lot of deceit. In March of 2012 he was presented to the new SGM board. And he spoke at the traditional SGM pastors conference. Dave led the SGM for nine months before he decided to resign from the SGM Leadership Team. He announced his resignation in an email to Covenant Fellowship Church in December of 2012. That email is below.

Merry Christmas my friends,

I have some news that is now sprinkling our holiday season with an unexpected grace and I’m eager to share it with you.

As I’ve been experiencing the care of the elders and reflecting on the way forward, it’s become clear that the connection to my local church, my team, and my family should be prioritized in this next season. However, I don’t see how a more singular focus on these things would be possible with the extra-local responsibilities I’ve been carrying. So, after discussion with the elders and with their support, I believe we’ve found a way to bring that emphasis. I am stepping off the Sovereign Grace Leadership Team, largely eliminating my ministry travel, and resuming my role as a full-time elder at Covenant Fellowship through August 2013. Let me shoot straight with you – this has not been an easy decision. But Kimm and I now have a growing faith for what God intends to do as we take these steps.

Now, just so there is no misunderstanding: this step does not reflect any lack of confidence in Sovereign Grace, our direction, or our leadership.  Actually, I’m quite excited over our mission to plant churches and serve pastors.  I think our new polity, if ratified, will help us do this even better.  It’s really my confidence in God’s grace already working so evidently through this family of churches that emboldens me to step away from the Leadership Team role I have occupied for the last 17 years.  Nope, the story on this is not about what Sovereign Grace lacks but what one pastor needs right now.  

Also, this transition back to Covenant Fellowship is not being initiated by Sovereign Grace; it’s a step I have voluntarily taken with the counsel of the elders – I’m grateful for the way they have walked with us through this decision.  It’s one of those times where local and family needs must take priority over extra-local relationships/ministry.  I want time in the church that I love and more connection to the men I have served with, some for over two decades.  I need to continue to receive their friendship and counsel.  And I want to be a part of what God is doing here.

So, my friends, this is good news for Kimm and I and I hope it hits you that way as well.  As to how I’ll be serving in Covenant Fellowship, I leave that to our elders – I’ll serve wherever they want.  As to what I’ll be doing beyond August 2013, I leave that to the Lord, confident that he’ll make it clear to us all.  As to our hopes for this season,…well, maybe some refreshment, some reconnection, some additional growth, and maybe lots of good fruit.  So please pray – pray for lots of good fruit.

Thanks for being the kind of church that makes a place for pastors, whether they’re young or old, green or weathered, fresh or embattled.  Because for us, drawing into Covenant Fellowship means coming home.

See you Sunday!

Dave

##

Brent Detwiler did some analysis of Dave Harvey’s resignation email here. It also appears as if there were additional ongoing issues at Covenant Fellowship Church as well. One of the issues Brent Detwiler raises is the problem of alleged child sex abuse cover-up which happened under the watch of Dave Harvey. You can read Brent Detwiler’s article about it here. I also write this next segment with great caution. Let me begin by explaining that I firmly believe that you do not talk about issues in a pastor’s family. For me that is categorically wrong and that its no one’s business to know what is going on. Pastor’s kids and more deserve their privacy. However, in SGM, it was very different. SGM was totalitarian and all about church discipline. At Covenant Fellowship Church church discipline was frequent and also for minor infractions. Inside SGM parents faced church discipline even for how adult children acted. At the blog SGM Survivors people from time to time wrote about Dave Harvey and how they faced church discipline at Covenant Fellowship Church. And this often happened while there were a lot of issues inside Dave Harvey’s own family. Alcohol was one of them, and for now I will leave it at that. Had SGM and Covenant Fellowship not been authorterian when it comes to church discipline I would not have written that in this post. 

Dave remained at Covenant Fellowship Church until April of 2013. He then resigned I believe due to personal reasons. He relocated to Florida from Pennsylvania and joined the staff of Four Oaks Community Church. Four Oaks was an Evangelical Free church at the time. Through the internet archives you can see him here. He was on staff at Four Oakes for three years and eight months. He departed in February of 2017. Four Oaks joined the Sojourn Network in the course of time. Dave went to the Summit Church in the Naples campus where he became the teaching pastor in March of 2017. He became the executive director and also the president of the Sojourn Network first in June of 2014 and also May of that same year. In addition Dave Harvey leads “Am I Called” which is a pastoral ministry. He also currently remains on the board of CCEF. 

 

Sojourn Churches in the United States

As of September 29, 2018 there are 69 Sojourn Network churches around the United States. This is a much smaller network than Acts 29. Below are all the Sojourn Network churches that exist in the country as well as who leads them. 

1. Redeemer Community Church led by Joel Brooks in Birmingham, Alabama
2. Immanuel Church led by Andrew Adkison in Birmingham, Alabama
3. Grace Fellowship led by Joel Busby in Birmingham, Alabama
4. Birmingham Community Church led by Chris Culver in Birmingham, Alabama
5. Grace Life Church led by Josh Matteson in Scottsdale, Arizona
6. New City Church led by Troy McComas in Fresno, California 
7. Cross of Christ led by Nick Bogordus in Costa Mesa, California 
8. Kings Cross Church led by Dave Ainsworth in San Francisco, California
9. Prism Church led by Chuck Ryor in Pasadena, California 
10. Kings Cross Church led by Dan Alvers in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida
11. Summit Church University led by Orlando Cabrera in Ft. Myers, Florida
12. Summit Church Gateway led by Adam Alexander in Ft. Myers, Florida
13. Summit Church led by Aaron Lundquist in Naples, Florida
14. Four Oaks Community Church led by Paul Gilbert in Tallahassee, Florida
15. Four Oaks Community Church Midtown Campus led by Lance Olimb  in Tallahassee, Florida
16. Sojourn Woodstock led by Trent Chambers in Woodstock, Georgia
17. Refuge Church led by Dustin Crawford in Atlanta. Georgia
18. One Savior Church led by Ben Canfield in Guyton, Georgia 
19. Crawford Avenue Baptist Church led by Bert Daniel in Augusta, Georgia
20. Shorebreak Church led by Travis Scott in Kona, Hawaii
21. Delta Church led by Jonathan Davis in Springfield, Illinois
22. Christ Church led by Kevin Galloway in Michigan City, Indiana 
23. Christ Church led by Kevin Galloway in Chicago, Illinois
24. Christ Church led by Kevin Galloway in LaPorte, Indiana
25. Christ Church led by Jared Sparks in Carbondale, Illinois 
26. Soma Church Midtown led by Brandon Shields in Indianapolis, Indiana
27. Soma Church Downtown led by Kent Livingston in Indianapolis, Indiana
28. Soma Church Northwest led by Bobby Barbour in Indianapolis, Indiana 
29. Redeemer Community Church led by Chris Jones in Bloomington, Indiana 
30. New Circle Church led by Barry Rager in Indianapolis, Indiana
31. The District Church led by Dwayne Gibbs in Indianapolis, Indiana
32. Athens Church led by Aaron Lentz in Columbus, Indiana
33. Pleasant Valley Community Church led by Jamus Edwards in Owensboro, Kentucky
34. Sojourn Midtown led by Jamaal Williams in Louisville, Kentucky
35. Sojourn East led by Kevin Jamison in Louisville, Kentucky
36. Sojourn J-Town led by Lisle Drury in Louisville, Kentucky
37. Sojourn New Albany led by Jonah Sage in New Albany, Indiana
38. Harvest Church of Calhoun led by Will Troutman in Calhoun, Kentucky
39. Gospel Community Church led by Danny Hinton in Owensboro, Kentucky
40. The Village Church led by Dan Hyun in Baltimore, Maryland
41. Sojourn Traverse led by Matt Herron in Traverse City, Michigan 
42. Trinity Community Church led by Jeremy Linneman in Columbia, Missouri 
43. Apostles Union Square led by Nick Nye in New York City, New York
44. Apostles Uptown East led by John Starke in New York City, New York 
45. Apostles Uptown West led by John Starke in New York City, New York 
46. Sojourn Tulsa led by Sankie Lynch in Tulsa, Oklahoma 
47. Veritas Dayton led by Garriosn Greene in Dayton, Ohio
48. Veritas Short North led by Joe Byler in Columbus, Ohio
49. Veritas West led by Wes Thompson in Columbus, Ohio
50. Veritas Tri-Village led by Brad Snyder in Upper Arlington, Ohio
51. The Oaks Community Church led by Matt Salyar in Middletown, Ohio
52. Substance Church led by Ronnie Martin in Ashland, Ohio 
53. Scarlet City Church led by Jay O’Brien in Columbus, Ohio 
54. Refuge City Church led by John Pope in Dayton, Ohio 
55. Missio Dei Church led by Kurt Hannah in Cincinnati, Ohio
56. Grace Church led by Danny Wright in Greenville, Ohio
57. Gospel Community Church led by Jason Bradshaw in Troy, Ohio
58. Trinity Community Church led by Joshua Hurst in Abington, Pennsylvania 
59. Renaissance Church led by Rob Maine in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 
60. Sojourn Chattanooga led by Rusty McKie in Chattanooga, Tennessee
61.  Sojourn Beaumont led by Josh Jean in Beaumont, Texas
62. Refuge Church led by Brian Sauve in Ogden, Utah 
63. Mission Church led by Charles Shannon in Norfolk, Virginia 
64. Sojourn Church Fairfax led by Justin Pearson  in Fairfax, Virginia 
65. Connection Point Church led by Barry Smith in Spokane, Washington 
66. Sound City Bible Church led by Aaron Gray in Bothell, Washington 
67. Redemption Spokane led by Miles Rhode in Spokane, Washington 
68. Redeemer Church led by Ryan Welsh in Bellevue, Washington 
69. Foundation Church led by Ryan Williams in Everett, Washington 

Now some of these churches were planted, while others came from different denominations and joined. It looks as if some have come from the Southern Baptist, or in the case of Four Oaks Community Church in Tallahassee, Florida they came from the Evangelical Free Church of America. Sound City Bible Church in Bothell, Washington explains why they joined the Sojourn Network in 2016 in this post here. Meanwhile in Pasadena, California Prism Church explains why the joined Sojourn at their church blog here. 

 

Questions The Wondering Eagle Would Like to Answer About Sojourn 

There are many questions that stood out in my mind as I was researching and writing about today’s post on the Sojourn Network. The key to doing analysis is knowing which questions to ask, especially as you set out to find truth on your journey. In this blog’s quest for truth these are the questions that I would like to get answered in time.

1. Sojourn Network’s DNA comes from the Acts 29 network. Like Acts 29 does Sojourn have issues with spiritual abuse and authoritarianism? 
2. Sojourn broke off Acts 29 when Mark Driscoll had control of the network. What was the real reason Sojourn left Acts 29? Did they see what was happening at Mars Hill Seattle? And did they decide to jump ship before it all went down? More research needs to be done on this segment of Sojourn’s history. 
3. Is the Sojourn Pastors School similar to the Sovereign Grace Pastors College? Like the Sovereign Grace Pastor’s College does it lack accreditation? 
4. Sojourn Network was heavily influenced by C.J. Mahaney’s Sovereign Grace, like SGM does it have similar cultural problems? SGM bled stories about child sex abuse for years. Has Sojourn also dealt with child sex abuse? 
5. Is the reason why Dave Harvey came onboard Sojourn because the culture reminded him of Sovereign Grace? What are all the cultural similarities between Sovereign Grace and Sojourn Network? 
6. Does the Sojourn Network know about the child sex abuse allegations that took place under Dave Harvey’s leadership at SGM’s Covenant Fellowship Church in Pennsylvania? Why does that not trouble the Sojourn Network? 
7. Is the Sojourn Network okay with Dave Harvey fleeing Covenant Fellowship with unresolved issues that he left in his wake? 
8. What specifically is Sojourn’s plan with missionary activity? Is their focus on Europe, Asia, Africa or South and Latin America? Or is missionary activity primarily consist of church planting in the United States? 
9. Does Sojourn International feed into Sojourn Collective?
10. Have there been questionable cases of church discipline inside the Sojourn Network? 
11. Sojourn claims that the churches are autonomous and that they can’t intervene. Have there been exceptions? Or has a Sojourn church been removed from the network in its history?
12. Does Sojourn Network still have a relationship with Sovereign Grace? After all both ministries are located in Louisville, Kentucky. 
13. What is Sojourn’s connection to 9 Marks, T4G,  or The Gospel Coalition?