A significant goal of this series of articles on Multiethnic Church Planting is to highlight the challenges and opportunities facing non-white church planters. The title of this article is derived from the phrase, “driving while Black,” which describes the pervasive stress that Black people experience during routine activities like driving down the street for fear of being pulled over by the police for no reason other than being Black.
The concept has broader implications and tends to permeate all of the life of Black people in the United States. My hope is to peel back the curtains and provide a look into the mind and heart of a Black church planter navigating the Exponential Global Conference, the largest church planting event in America.
In March 2023, I was excited to be attending my first Exponential with Len Tang, my colleague at the Fuller Church Planting Initiative. As I prepared to attend, I experienced a range of emotions. In previous years, I attended large evangelical events like Exponential. The majority of attenders were White and the conference tended to address issues that were most relevant for leaders in White suburban middle class churches. They did not meaningfully address issues that were important to the people I served in my urban, predominantly Black community.
While some of those conferences explicitly emphasized diversity, they often invited speakers of color who, for all intents and purposes, reflected the values of suburban White church culture. While I celebrate my brothers and sisters of color who can navigate those spaces well, I also felt strongly that spaces like Exponential needed to have authentic experiences with the beautiful dynamics of the Black community that don’t always fit into middle class, White American church culture.
In addition to my own experiences, I knew a number of planters of color who were a bit skeptical about Exponential because of trauma they encountered in similar spaces. While they were cautious not to be overly negative or to speak poorly of the gathering, they shared some of their authentic experiences and doubts about Exponential being a safe place. There is a cultural practice in the Black community in which we try to prepare other Black people for potential racial trauma they may face.
At the same time, I have also learned to give people and organizations the opportunity to provide their own first impression. I gave Exponential the benefit of the doubt and attended the gathering with cautious optimism. Given the climate of our nation, there are many planters of color who share this cautious optimism.
The morning of the pre-conference, Len and I discussed our hopes and expectations, then made the short commute to First Baptist Church of Orlando. The sprawling campus included multiple buildings and a number of outdoor gathering locations. The only Black churches I could think of that were comparable were Bishop T.D. Jakes’ The Potter’s House in Dallas and New Birth in Atlanta.
As we navigated the route to our room, I began to wonder what I was getting myself into. As a Black man who grew up in Kansas, I am used to being the minority. My EQ and CQ radar systems were fully attuned to my surroundings. I replayed similar experiences in my mind and anticipated how to respond given a number of predictable scenarios.
I recalled a time in the early days of planting a collegiate church in Atlanta when I was visiting a major university. During a meeting with a large, predominantly White campus ministry, the campus pastor told me to go down the hall to meet with the leader of the gospel choir instead of trying to partner with his organization. I was stunned and dejected by the leader’s response and felt like I was being sent away and not welcomed into that space because I was Black. In my heart, I simply wanted to be invited to the table of brotherhood with my brothers and sisters in Christ. I never expected to be passed along to the “Black” Christians. For me and my fellow Black planters, this process of recalling similar spaces and experiences is part of attending Exponential while Black.
After getting mentally focused, Len and I entered the pre-conference and split up in the room to cover more ground. I easily entered into conversations with others at my table. As the facilitator began sharing, I was aware that I was in a predominantly White male environment being led by a White man. After a few deep breaths and a quick prayer, I was fully locked in and ready to work. We all have our “get focused” rituals. However, there are things that leaders of color must prepare for that our White counterparts may not have to consider.
The facilitator began his presentation and we were off to the races. Early on, one of the three topics selected by the group of network leaders to be addressed was resourcing and retaining people of color in church planting organizations. Len and I were pleasantly surprised that a room full of mainly older White men would choose to address an issue dealing with diversity.
Our facilitator placed us in groups to brainstorm ways to approach the challenge. I ended up in the group addressing matters of race and was able to contribute out of my lived experience. I was blessed to hear the perspectives of my brothers from other nations. We all seemed eager to find a godly solution to the problem we were assigned. We created a brief presentation to share and I was unanimously voted to represent our group. I felt honored to present to leaders who are responsible for shaping the cultures of church planting networks. This was my second pleasant surprise. I was grateful to the Lord that this group of White leaders was eager to learn how to honor and empower people of color in their networks.
The following day, Len provided an outstanding presentation of areas he was seeing breakthroughs in terms of resourcing, recruiting, and retaining people of color in church planting organizations. He ended his presentation sharing a statement of lament that Stadia had shared at the 2022 Exponential. When Len finished, you could hear a pin drop in the room. The facilitator opened the floor for questions to which there was little interaction. It felt as if my White peers were uninterested in a meaningful dialogue about racial equity in church planting. For me, this was challenging considering the robust conversations that ensued following the other presentations.
It is moments like this that cause planters of color to be wounded or to feel left out and othered. They wonder, “was the presentation poor?”, “Did everyone hear me?”, “Why are they not interacting with my presentation?” All of a sudden, I could hear the words of others’ experiences creeping in. While the first day and a half had been good in many ways, the unfortunate reality of racial othering reared its head. I was disappointed but not surprised.
The unfortunate reality for me and many other church planters of color is that we are not surprised when we are othered, invisible, misrepresented, or misunderstood. Yet in the midst of this very real and valid pain, I maintained hope that I would experience my White brothers and sisters in positive, meaningful ways. The pre-conference was now over, and it was time for the main event.
On the first day of the main conference, I was preparing my mind for what it would look like to see 5,000 church planters and network leaders worshipping God together. I wondered who would lead worship and what kind of diversity would be displayed from the mainstage. While pondering these things, I received a text from an acquaintance who was attending Exponential. We met prior to the first session of the day and our conversation was a pleasant turn away from the disappointment experienced at the end of the pre-conference.
We eventually followed the sounds of the bass line which could be felt outside of the building, into the main sanctuary. I walked into the full-scale production of contemporary praise and worship. There were lights, smoke, and the sound was tuned to perfection. I appreciated the worship team’s ethnic diversity and the breadth of genres ministered through music. Black people tend to look for representation when we are in predominantly White spaces. To us, the presence or lack of diversity communicates an organization’s commitment to include diverse people in key roles.
I was also blessed to see that the first plenary speaker was a Black man. To me, that communicated that Exponential was committed to representing the diversity of God’s church. The speaker was a well-respected pastor in evangelical circles. The audience was exhorted to preach Christ from their pulpits and with their lives. They received his challenges warmly and gave applause at the conclusion of the message. While the context was quite different, this felt like a stark contrast from what Len and I experienced during the pre-conference. I wondered if the people felt safer to respond while sitting among thousands as opposed to a few in a meeting room. The one thing I was sure of was that it felt good to see Black representation and for our White brothers and sisters to affirm him through their applause.
In addition to seeing representation from the main platform, it was important for me to have time for relational connection. In Black culture, connecting with others is just as important as hearing the plenary speakers share from the mainstage. This is part of our communal nature. In my opinion, the organizers of Exponential did a great job of creating time and welcoming spaces for people to connect.
During one of the breaks, while visiting the men’s room, I noticed a familiar frame in front of me. It took a moment, but I quickly recalled the lean build and muscular walk of a pastor friend I knew from Austin, Texas. We embraced with a healthy man hug and took the next several minutes to catch up. This friend of mine was a White pastor planting in the suburbs. While we are from different backgrounds and our contexts are different, we shared a deep bond because we had spent time investing in one another relationally. Encountering him at Exponential helped to further soften some of the disappointment I experienced during the pre-conference.
For Black people, having positive experiences and meaningful encounters with White people helps us feel like we belong in a space. A pleasant encounter with a White person can go a long way in helping to disarm stereotypes and create new narratives of unity, acceptance, and equality in our racialized society. During a time in our country where there is a mass exodus of Black people from White evangelical spaces, prioritizing diverse relational connection is essential. For me, attending Exponential while Black means seeking an environment conducive for healthy cross-cultural encounters and experiencing meaningful relational connections. While I had some reservations coming into Exponential, I am glad the majority of my encounters with my White brothers and sisters were pleasant and God-honoring.
While it is important for Black planters to have positive encounters with their White brothers and sisters at Exponential, it is also important for us to have dedicated spaces to connect with fellow Black planters as well as other planters of color. I was particularly blessed at a dinner I attended during one night of the conference. Convened by multiple church planting networks, including Ethnos, Passion2Plant, Stadia, and the Church Multiplication Institute, a group of around 30 church planters and missional leaders gathered for a powerful night. It included community building, lament, and dreaming of a future coalition that would provide support, strategy, and contextualized resources for planters of color. It was a beautiful night where stories were shared, pains healed, and experiences redeemed.
While this was not an official Exponential event, the various planters of color that were represented that night were deeply grateful to have a space to feel safe and to be seen. Attending Exponential while Black means seeking safe spaces to be authentically Black without fear of judgment or othering. It means looking for safe spaces to encounter planters from all ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Without dedicated spaces to connect with other planters of color, I believe Exponential could experience the same exodus other majority White organizations are facing. So far, Exponential has been up to the challenge of serving planters of color well. In the time since the 2023 Conference, Exponential has supported creating dedicated spaces to address the contextual realities of planters of color. As a Black man, I am encouraged by this commitment to diversity and investment of resources. Attending that dinner was the highlight of my Exponential experience and a fitting conclusion to our time together. I left Exponential excited about what the next year would bring.
Attending Exponential while Black was pleasant overall. First, I was blessed that numerous White network leaders wanted to address matters of diversity during the pre-conference. Their willingness to acknowledge the need to focus on diversity caused me to want to compassionately help them learn to navigate the topic well. Second, I was refreshed and felt a deeper level of connection to the overall event because I experienced representation of myself on the mainstage. Third, I am grateful that there was time given for relationship building, which is a high value in my communal culture. Long breaks between main sessions and early evening dismissals were key to creating space to relate. I was able to make new acquaintances and fellowship with old friends. Finally, I was blessed by participating in a space dedicated to planters of color. The ability to be my true self caused me to look forward to attending Exponential again.
For my White brothers and sisters who are planters and network leaders desiring to create a rewarding and life giving for planters of color in your organization who attend Exponential, please consider the following:
- Check with your team members of color about how they might be feeling going into the gathering. Ask them how you might make the experience more comfortable for them.
- Learn about spaces that are dedicated to planters of color. Find the balance of letting them know about those spaces while not limiting them to those spaces. It’s an art, not a science. (I am glad to help you navigate those conversations.)
- Allow your team members of color to enjoy their dedicated spaces. Avoid inviting yourself into those spaces as they may need to have a place to process their experience among others like them.
- After the conference, follow up with your team members of color and ask them how they experienced the gathering from their social location. Do more listening than talking. Celebrate wins, and comfort pains. Following these steps will help increase the likelihood of a Black planter having a positive experience attending Exponential while Black.
For my Black brothers and sisters, if you or someone you know is considering attending Exponential while Black, please consider the following suggestions:
- Have your own experience. Before going into Exponential, I had heard a number of people’s opinions and experiences. While my temptation was to form an opinion and allow that narrative to govern my experience, I resisted that temptation and was able to have my own unique experience.
- Trust your gut, your EQ and your CQ. If you are like me, you have been in a number of spaces where you were the minority. Allow your intuition to help you navigate and maximize your experience.
- Be open to being shocked by God. Numerous times I found myself shocked by how God was already at work in enabling Exponential to be a hospitable experience for other people like me. Don’t let other people’s experience limit yours.
- Look for points of hope and make space for faith. Try to believe the best about Exponential. When they celebrate diversity, empower the voices and people of color, and make space for ethnic specific gatherings, trust that God is working to make Exponential an exceptional place to attend while Black.