ARC (Association of Related Churches) Recaps Successful ARC Church Conference


ARC (Association of Related Churches) is happy to announce that it held a successful 2023 ARC Conference. Organizers were able to reach more people than ever this year, thanks to the fact that the event was hosted at two venues simultaneously for the first time.

From April 25-26, ARC church leaders held the annual conference at two campuses of Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Alabama. The two locations provided the organization with more space so that additional people could attend the impactful event to learn from and connect with others.

The conference was attended by thousands of ARC church planters, church leaders, and pastors, all of whom gathered together so they could become better equipped to help their local church community thrive. The event included plenty of worship, impactful messages, breakout sessions and various opportunities for people to meet new people and build new relationships with other people in ministry.

This all goes to one of the main tenets of ARC (Association of Related Churches), which is that no one should do ministry alone.

One of the highlights of the 2023 ARC Conference was the ARC Women Luncheon, held for the first time this year.

Dino Rizzo, the executive director of ARC churches, kicked off the conference by sharing what the organization has already been able to accomplish in 2023 and where it is headed in the future.

“I believe with all my heart that ARC’s future is existing churches becoming sending churches that prepare healthy church planters to be trained by ARC, to plant in undersaturated cities and in population growth cities, to fulfill the Great Commission.”

Other speakers included Chad Fisher, who, along with his wife Katie, serves as the lead pastor of Rock City Church in Columbus, Ohio, and are members of the ARC Lead Team; Miles McPherson, the pastor of The Rock Church in San Diego, California; Chad Veach, who along with his wife Julia, pastor at Zoe Church in Los Angeles; and Charlotte Gambill, a teaching pastor at the Church of the Highlands who along with her husband Steve helped build Life Church in Europe.

Another highlight of the two-day event was when Pastor Chris Hodges spoke during Tuesday night’s session at the Grandview location of Church of the Highlands. Pastor Chris Hodges is one of the founders of ARC (Association of Related Churches) as well as the lead pastor at Church of the Highlands.

During his talk, he shared an honest message about pastoring and what it means to him.

“My calling has a competitor. It’s comfort. If you are looking for comfort, you are in the wrong business,” Hodges told the audience. “You have to embrace the hard. If you embrace the hard and know that it’s part of the calling, you actually start to enjoy the hard because it’s part of the calling.”

To learn more about ARC (Association of Related Churches) and how you can join the movement to launch an impactful church in your community, visit arcchurches.com.

About ARC (Association of Related Churches)

ARC (Association of Related Churches) is a cooperative of independent churches from different denominations, networks, and backgrounds who strategically resource church planters and pastors to help them reach people with the message of Jesus. ARC exists to see a thriving church in every community, reaching people with the message of Jesus. Since its beginning in 2001, ARC has grown into a global organization and has helped plant more than 1,000 churches.

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