Mitch Craig is part of our twelfth church planter cohort (2026-2027). Here’s a bit of his journey from sensing God’s call to plant to their first service.

Every believer has a running list of family members, friends, and neighbors they pray will one day come to know Jesus. As Mitch Craig started gathering a group to help launch The Vine Church in his hometown of Milford, MI, he saw those very prayers answered in real time.

Mitch welcomed anyone willing to be part of something bigger than themselves to join the launch team. Uniquely, this core group included not just committed believers, but nominal Christians and even a few non-believers who simply wanted to support the mission. Through training, relationship, and experiencing the power of community, several of those non-believers came to faith in Christ before the church’s doors officially opened.

Among those deeply impacted is Mitch’s father—his childhood wrestling coach and a blue-collar tradesman of 40 years. Once guarded about his faith, Mitch’s dad has experienced a softened heart and now clearly articulates his personal trust in Jesus.

An Unlikely Missionary and Surprising Mission

Growing up on Milford, Mitch didn’t dream about church or planting a church. For years, his entire identity, focus, and future were wrapped up in the grueling, relentless sport of wrestling. Driven by the dream of competing in the Olympics, Mitch poured every second of his life into training, earning a D1 scholarship to Michigan State University and eventually transferring to another school to pursue his passion alongside his trusted coach.

Then came the devastating blow. A career-ending knee injury brought his athletic pursuits to a screeching halt, leaving him stripped of his identity and unsure of his purpose.

His girlfriend (now wife), Brittany, was applying for physician assistant school and needed volunteer hours on her resume. When a former volleyball coach invited her on a medical mission trip to Brazil, Brittany decided to go. At the time, neither of them were Christians.

“I thought it was silly at first,” Mitch admitted with a laugh. “But then I thought, ‘I’m not sending my girlfriend to Brazil alone!’ So I went with her.”

The moment his feet touched the ground in South America, Mitch felt something significant happening. While attending a service in a small cinder-block church in a rural fishing village, he watched local villagers weep and becoming Christians during an altar call in Portuguese. Afterward, the pastor presented the gospel in English. Mitch and Brittany became Christians.

Upon returning from the missions trip, Mitch and Brittany joined a local church and got involved in the work of the church. They got married. Mitch felt a call to vocational ministry. He served a church plant in Michigan for a number of years and was on pastoral staff at a church in Texas. Then God surprised them with a clear call to return home to Milford in 2025 to plant a church.

The Hard Work of Planting

Getting settled, raising money, casting vision for a new church, and recruiting people to be part of that church isn’t easy. Mitch explained, “Building a launch team is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life… and I’ve done some hard things.”

Balancing bi-vocational life—delivering dumpsters early in the morning before turning his attention to church planting and ministry—Mitch embodies the tireless work ethic required to build something from scratch.

The Vine Church officially launched on October 11. Mitch will baptize his dad later this month.

To learn more about The Vine Church and stay connected with their story, visit thevinechurchmi.com.

Brian MacDonald was part of Leaders Collective’s eleventh church planter cohort. He pastors Oak City Church in Bartow, Florida. This is a bit of his story.

Nearly four years ago, I sat down in an ordinary barber’s chair, greeted by a big smile and a tattoo-covered hand. As he worked his magic on my ministry-tested white hair, Jovon did what every effective barber does, he asked questions: What did I do for a living? What was I interested in? Did I have a family? How I answered the first question would be telling. Would he politely shut down the conversation to avoid the awkwardness some people feel around pastors, or would he lean in with interest?

Thankfully, he leaned in. He shared about his dad, who is a pastor in the area, yet it quickly became clear their relationship was strained and that his family of eight had not been to church in some time. Later he admitted that their biggest obstacle was not theology or schedule but the stares. People did not know what to do with his head to-toe ink or with his wife’s face tattoos, which she often tried to hide beneath her curly hair.

With each subsequent haircut, I learned more about Jovon and his dreams. He and his wife, Rose, had been collecting used clothes in their shed, hoping they would one day find a place and platform to give back to their community. That was where our hearts connected. I told him about our church’s value of cultivating a “culture of care,” a commitment not only to shepherd within our church but also to serve those outside its walls. Eventually I handed Jovon our church invite card. Although he responded with enthusiastic appreciation, he never came. Still, I kept going back to have him cut my hair, and we continued our relationship, dreaming together about ways to love the poor in Bartow as he mastered his craft. Then came September 2023.

As we prepared to launch our Sunday morning services, we mailed more than 11,000 invitations to every home in the 33830 zip code, including the home of Jovon and Rose Winters. Something in Rose compelled her to scan the QR code, leading to our website, instead of simply tossing the bulk mail in the recycle bin. When Jovon came home, she showed him the site, and he took one look at my staff picture and laughed. He told Rose that I was one of his clients who had been inviting him to church for the past year. He later told me it was a sign from God, leading them to show up for worship a week before our launch, and they have barely missed a Sunday since.

Over the past two years, meeting with Jovon each Wednesday, I have come to believe he has been truly converted. God has given him a new heart and renewed the dream he carried for years. One year ago, our church helped launch a mobile shower and laundry trailer in partnership with a local mercy ministry. Twice a month, Jovon serves homeless men, women, and children there with the same detail and dignity he brings to every haircut he has ever given me. And the clothes he and Rose collected for years? Those are also long gone now…given out joyfully, as Jovon has led two FREE rummage sales on our church property!

Michael Johnson was part of Leaders Collective’s sixth church planter cohort. He joined while preparing to launch a church in Rantoul, Illinois. This is a bit of his story.

After falling in love with an often overlooked community, our family moved to Rantoul, Illinois, in October of 2018. We started a Bible study with a few families in town, but since I had never pastored or planted a church before, I felt like I didn’t measure up to the other church planters in my Leaders Collective cohort. I soon found out not even a global pandemic could stop what God was doing in our small town: In the fall of 2020, we launched Rantoul Community Church (RCC).

We started RCC in a forgotten place for forgotten people. People like Michael, whose incredibly difficult circumstances left him feeling on the margins of society. At just 23 years old, Michael lost two of his three kids in a house fire and ended up with burns over 70% of his body while trying to save his boys. Before Michael even left the hospital, his fiancé informed him that she was leaving him and taking with her their surviving daughter. After months of surgeries and therapy, Michael was released from the hospital, but he soon turned to drugs and one failed relationship after another to numb the pain.

Looking for a fresh start, Michael moved to Rantoul two years ago. I came across a post of his online, expressing an interest in meeting new people and finding a church, so I messaged him directly. Over coffee, Michael opened up about the fire and his fiancé—and the changes these events had on his life. I invited him to join us on Sundays, and he began attending our worship gatherings and a community group sporadically. He soon befriended Scott, a big guy at our church with an even bigger heart. Scott found Michael transportation for his new job, but Michael’s destructive patterns ultimately caught up with him again—landing him a short stint in jail.

During Michael’s time in jail, Scott mailed him a Bible. As Michael began reading, he realized, “At my lowest, God found me and said that He is not done with me.” Although Scott and I had previously tried to get Michael into a Christ-centered residential treatment program in town, this time Michael himself took the initiative. He left prison and joined the “Jesus is the Way” Prison Ministry. Michael is not only sober now, he is a different man. He is a man who loves God’s Word, a man who is reaching out to reconcile past relationships. Michael is a man who is walking in faith and obedience. Recently, Michael shared his testimony with our church family, ending with these words:

“I never thought things could be like this for me, that I was too broken. But now I know different. If God can use me, he can do this for anyone.”

Please join me in praying for more stories like Michael’s. Pray that many more people who feel forgotten and overlooked would find their way into God’s story. Pray that the single moms and the fatherless drawn to the streets of Rantoul would see Jesus and find a family at RCC. Pray also for our leaders as we seek to grow our elder team and shepherd this growing flock. As I seek to love and serve our church family, pray also for me, that I would consistently care for my wife and four kids sacrificially. Pray that the community of Rantoul would be transformed by Jesus as our loving church family makes his grace known in our words and actions.