Just over two years ago, Exodus Church moved from downtown Belmont to The Exodus Mill, and each Sunday, we turn onto Orchard Street to enter our parking lot. This little street is serving a big purpose as the way in which a redeemed people is gathered and mobilized to worship and serve God together.
Along Orchard Street there are 4 brick homes. These houses were built originally to house workers at the nearby hosiery mill that now serves as the home for Exodus Church. Currently these houses are owned by the former facility manager for the hosiery mill and his wife, and they are being rented to tenants. Last year, the owner of the homes walked into the church office and talked to us about their desire to sell the houses and wanted to offer them to us first.
What the owner didn’t know, but God did, is that the elders had been dreaming of a program where we could train and develop pastors and planters here at Exodus and that we would have a place nearby where they could live during the program.
Our dreaming and planning began to take shape into what we are calling The Orchard Initiative.
The Orchard Initiative is how Exodus will seek to train, develop, and launch planters and pastors so they can lead faithful and fruitful churches.
The Orchard Initiative will be accomplished in two phases.
Phase 1 will be to purchase the two houses closest to The Mill. The nearest, 108 Orchard Street, can be purchased this year with funds that we already have due to God’s grace and our people’s generosity. The second, 110 Orchard Street, would be purchased next year.
In phase 2, we will launch an onsite, residency training program for planters and pastors to begin in Fall 2022.
We believe that Exodus has a responsibility and a role to play in supporting gospel-centered church plants and pastors. We also believe that Exodus could serve as a tremendous training ground for future pastors and planters to be developed to lead faithful and fruitful churches.