Keith Ferguson shares about his journey toward becoming a level five multiplying church. He planted Cityview Bible Church in 2007, and since then, Cityview has planted several other churches. Joining him for this episode is his wife, Barie, along with Nick Shock and Danny Box. Nick is one of the planters sent out by Cityview Bible Church, and Danny helped train Ferguson to plant a church from the Association of Hill Country Churches in Austin, Texas. The Association of Hill Country Churches has a vision to reach every man, woman, and child in Greater Austin area with the life-transformation that comes from Jesus. They’ve planted over 20 churches and counting. Together, Keith, Barie, Nick, and Danny tell stories of church planting, along with advice for other church planters.
The Association of Hill Country Churches focuses on reaching their region. Ferguson places his church at a level four church (“reproducing”) along their journey toward becoming a level five “multiplying” church. They have planted multiple times in just eight years as a second generation church in their movement; however, they are still early in their story. Danny Box, along with a board of elders, spent a year with Ferguson to help get him ready to plant. While he had seminary training, the most beneficial thing for planting a church was the mentoring that he received from Danny, something he passed along to Nick Shock. Listen to episode two in this series, “E02: Keith Ferguson’s Journey to Multiplication” below to hear from them, as well as sage words from Barie Ferguson, Keith’s wife.
“Becoming Five” is the theme this year for the regional conferences in Washington DC and Chicago. Use the promotional code “PODCAST” to receive a 10 percent discount on these regional conferences.
“My advice to anyone interested in church planting: you really do need to have a clear, divine call. You really have to have a sense that God wants me to do this, and if I don’t go plant a church, I’m being disobedient to God. People get to that place differently: sometimes it’s in personal devotions, prayer; sometimes it’s through conferences or gatherings or worship services where God speaks. But I just wouldn’t move forward unless you have clarity on that. It’s so hard, so difficult, so much opposition spiritually that there are days where you don’t have anything but your calling. There are days where that has to be sufficient, so you’ve got to have clarity on that.”
“My advice to anyone interested in church planting: you really do need to have a clear, divine call.”
We asked, “What’s your relationship with Danny Box now?” Keith said, “Because we are geographically based (which is kind of unique to our movement), we meet as a group of pastors every month. We have lunch together, we strategize, we pray together, so I see Danny every month at that meeting. Beyond that, on a personal level, it’s just a friendship. It’s still probably two or three times a year where I hit something weird. I’ve been pastoring for nine years, but there’s still those moments where you’re like, I’ve never heard this before, I’ve never seen this in counseling, I’ve never seen a staff member do this. So you still need that person you can pick up the phone and call and say, ‘When you hit this, what do you do? Got any wisdom for me?’ So those are the moments that coaching relationship and friendship is really important.”
Keith Ferguson grew up in Garland, Texas, and became a Christian in high school. He did his undergraduate studies at Baylor University, where he first surrendered to ministry. After college, Keith moved back to the Dallas area to attend seminary and work in full-time student ministry. Keith completed his Th.M. from DTS in 2005 and moved to the Austin area to complete Hill Country Bible Church’s church-planting residency program. After completing his training, he planted Cityview Bible Church in September of 2007, where he still serves as the lead pastor. Keith and his wife, Barie, have five sons and one daughter. Keith’s ministry passions include helping people find life in Jesus Christ and being a catalyst for multiplying movements at home and abroad.
