With our Partner Spotlights, we get to highlight how God is at work in this city and all over the world through the partners we support!
We’re excited to introduce some of our new partners… Jeremy & Monica Chambers! Jeremy and Monica are founders of Arise RVA Church Network in Virginia, a collective of gospel centered missional communities focused on building a discipleship network across the region. They’ve recently moved to Denver to continue this amazing work!
Here’s a bit about Jeremy and Monica, how Arise RVA began, and how they are seeking to launch the Pando Collective in Denver…
What did you do before you founded Arise RVA Church Network? Will you tell us a little bit about what Arise does and how it all started?
Before we started Arise RVA, we were part of a church planting residency (in 2012) which was training us to go to Richmond to start a church there. Before being part of the church planting network, Jeremy was doing global church planting and leadership development with various ministries and Monica was going to school for Graphic Design.
Arise RVA started in 2013 because we wanted to bring Jesus to people who would never walk into a church building. We wanted to bring the community of faith to them. So we started gathering a few people to pray for the city and for the work that the Lord was doing there. Then the Lord brought about 5 people to join us. We regularly gathered in our living room to practice connecting deeply with God, experiencing fellowship, and learning to just be friends with each other while being on mission together.
Then we began to plant many more of these small micro churches. These were the ingredients that most of the micro-churches we planted started with. From there, we raised up leadership and would hand off each community to that leadership. Out of these micro-churches, people felt called to go to other cities, states and even countries. We were able to send out and equip many people to do the work the Lord was calling them to!
What prompted your recent move to Denver?
Jeremy had been praying to come to Denver since 1999 (he was 13). He tried many times throughout the years to come, but the Lord clearly shut the door and opened other doors. Finally, towards the end of 2019, the Lord started opening many doors and making a way for us to come. The connection with Rowland and the Pando Collective were major factors for us moving here.
Jeremy has also often noted that no place in the world seems to evoke as much of a sense of worship to the Lord as Colorado does. Since we have come here, we have been praising the Lord as we behold the glory of God in His creation!
How did you get connected with the Pando Collective? Will you be part of Pando’s launch and expansion into Denver?
We got connected with the Pando Collective through Rowland, whom we’ve known for a couple of years through Forge. We were telling him some of our vision for what we want to do in Denver, which is to begin a network of people who are being missional and are wanting to impact the city for Jesus; a network where those people could be encouraged and equipped and hopefully can cross-pollinate ideas and ministries.
We have started a network like that in Richmond already and wanted to see something like that here. When we mentioned that vision to Rowland, he described the Pando Collective (which has a similar vision!), and it was a no-brainer for us to help start Pando in Denver and have lots of connections between both cities through it.
The inception of a new regional collective is already beginning to form up here in Denver. We see the seeds already in place and are excited to see how this begins to sprout forth new life!
What else are you involved in right now that you’re excited about?
We’re currently beta-testing an online connecting point for people who are disciple makers and missional practitioners. We are connected to many all over the world, and a lot of them are not connected to others who are also intentionally doing what they are doing.
The goal is to have a little time of equipping and then divide the group into smaller groups so that people can get to know each other, connect with the Lord deeply, share what the Lord is doing, and resource one another.
We are super excited about this! This is something we have had on our hearts for a while and are finally being able to put some flesh on it! We hope that this will help people remember who the Lord is, learn more practices that will allow them to be sustained and not feel alone in the work they are doing.
Are there any ways our Pulpit Rock family can come around you to support you in what you’re doing? And ways we can be praying?
Prayer is a big one. But also, if anyone knows of any people who are serving the Lord in various ways up in Denver, please feel free to pass along their contact info or contact us to set up an introduction. We are looking to find those who may benefit from joining Pando Denver, and looking to strategically help connect ministries and leaders in the Denver metro area.
We can also say with great confidence that we are already seeing the Lord’s hand at work. There is a lot of work to be done, but the Lord of the Harvest has already sent forth many laborers and there is a great work being done here. We are honored to be a part of His Kingdom coming to Denver!
