Peer Group of Diverse Pastors Flourishing

David Koll retired a few years ago as director of Candidacy for the Christian Reformed Church in North America.
After 13 years in that position, which followed many earlier years as a pastor in Christian Reformed churches, Koll was enjoying the opportunity to spend more time with his wife, children, and grandchildren in California.
But then, he said, he received a small inheritance following the death of his father. And before long, he decided to use a portion of that gift to mentor a multiethnic group of pastors. In collaboration with Thrive, Koll started a peer group in fall 2021, calling it Revelation 7 - 2.0.
“I was able to gather a group of pastors, and together we have been living into the heart of the gospel,” said Koll. “It has been an honor for me to do this and to be able to connect with these pastors. We’ve learned and grown together and have been able to feel one another’s joy as well as pain.”
Over the years, the CRCNA has been able to support many peer groups and cohorts of pastors, encouraging them to learn and share in connection with a variety of themes. Through Koll’s group as well as several others, Thrive is continuing to live into this strategy.
Reggie Smith, Thrive’s diversity consultant, has supported the Revelation 7 cohort, and in March he attended a retreat with the group in California. “Thrive has been grateful to partner with intercultural cohorts that create a sense of belonging,” he said.
Koll said that his hope is to keep the group going, since the pastors with whom he is working seem to be flourishing as a result of having support from one another.
Pastors face significant challenges, Koll said, and they need the church not only to tolerate but also to encourage “trusted safe spaces” in which they can spend time. He added that this is especially the case with pastors from various ethnic backgrounds.
“There is a richness that comes when we purposefully step out of our ethnic subgroups into a committed relationship with brothers in Christ from other ethnic subgroups,” said Koll.
“The things we learn about likeness and difference and culture and Christ-culture are enormous.”
Here follow some reflections from members of the multiethnic peer group.
“Amazing times of fellowship”
Originally from Los Angeles, Calif., Richard Jones was raised in the Reformed Church in America, and he served in music ministry and as a deacon. Then, after getting married, he joined the African Methodist Episcopal Church with his wife, and both became ordained.
Wanting to serve in full-time ministry, Jones applied for and received a position at the Los Angeles Community CRC in 2008. He served there until members of Bridgeway Community Church CRC in Haledon, N.J., called him to serve as their pastor.
Jones and his family, including their four children, arrived in New Jersey in August 2017, and, ever since then, he said, they’ve “been blessed to serve in this multicultural ministry.”
When Koll contacted him about being part of the peer group, Jones said, he readily agreed, having known Koll and having appreciated previous work he had done with groups of multiethnic pastors. Joining Revelation 7 - 2.0, he said, has enhanced his ministry.
“In addition to reading books and discussing them,” he said, “we have had amazing times of fellowship when we’ve met in Seattle, Chicago, Anaheim, and on the East Coast.”
Particularly important, Jones said, has been the chance to talk openly in the group about the highs and lows he’s experienced in ministry. “The group has provided encouragement and balance,” he added.
Being shown “so much patience”
Miguel Nava said he was still trying to figure out his calling in ministry when David Koll asked if he would like to join the group.
“I was getting set to be ordained as a commissioned pastor and wanted to start a new church in the Los Angeles area,” Nava said. “At the time I didn’t know what this church plant would look like. But I knew that I had a heart for second-generation Hispanics who speak English.”
Becoming a member of the Revelation 7 peer group, he said, helped him in the process of planting a church. “It motivated me to hear how other seasoned leaders have been walking purposely in their mission, and that gave me hope,” said Nava.
“We have prayed for one another, encouraged each other, and given each other a vulnerable and transparent platform in which to talk,” he added.
Along the way, Nava got married, and he and his wife, Luz, moved to Bakersfield, about 100 miles north of L.A., where they began a congregation that is called Rhema Community Church.
“I’m so grateful to see all this come together,” Nava said. “Pastor Dave and all of the other pastors have given me so much encouragement and shown me so much patience and helped me in building my leadership skills.”
“Perspectives from the group . . . help me think more deeply”
Ed Jiang served at the Chinese Church of Iowa City in North Liberty, Iowa, from 2012 until 2022, when he left the CRC to work at the Chinese Bible Church of Maryland, located in Aspen Hill, Md.
“This is a multilingual church with two locations and three congregations that speak two dialects of Chinese, and two congregations that speak English,” said Jiang.
He said he moved from Iowa to Maryland because he wanted to minister to first-generation Chinese immigrants. “When I was in Iowa, I worked with second-generation Chinese Americans,” he said.
And, just as he was leaving for Maryland, Koll was starting the peer group and invited Jiang to join.
“I decided to accept, partly because I really like David and partly because I wanted to maintain some connection with the CRC,” said Jiang. “And once we started meeting online, I really appreciated the guys in the group, as well as the diversity of it.”
Being in Revelation 7 - 2.0, he said, helped him feel more connected to the broader church. “The slightly different perspectives from the group also help me think more deeply about issues I encounter in my own church,” he said.
For example, during the retreat the group held in March, Jiang asked peer group members how they handle baptism qualifications in their churches.
“That conversation helped me to see how varied we are when theology and ministry practices intersect,” he said. “Revelation 7 is a valuable part of my life. While sometimes my schedule makes me miss a meeting here and there, I cherish every meeting I am able to make.”
“Stories about how God is . . . working”
Cheu Thao is an associate pastor at the Hmong CRC in Sheboygan, Wis.
His roles include teaching the Reformed confessions and going through a discipleship program for church members. He also preaches occasionally, teaches Sunday school, and leads a weekly fellowship gathering for English speakers.
The peer group, Thao said, “has had an impact on my ministry and personal life as I get to hear, learn from others, and meet with the group. . . . We study, discuss, and hear each other's stories about how God is using and working in our lives.”
Outside the often hectic pace of ministry, the group has become a place, he said, “where we can be honest, share our challenges and struggles, and encourage and pray for each other.”
In addition, Thao said, the group has helped him see beyond the work he does in his community. “It has encouraged and strengthened me and given me patience, hope, and trust in God to continually and diligently use me to expand his kingdom.”
“We all bring unique insights and perspectives”
Being a member of this peer group is something he was looking for, said John Medendorp – both in the context of life as a pastor and as the brother of two sisters who experienced challenges when they went to church.
“The Revelation 7 group, to me, represents everything the church ought to be,” he said. “It is a mixed group of pastors who join to learn, pray, and connect with one another.
Medendorp is a fourth-generation CRC minister, having followed in the steps of his father, grandfather, and great grandfather. His family has been serving the CRC in ordained ministry continuously for over 100 years.
“I am a citizen of the United States—and my family has been in the United States for five generations, but I was born in the Netherlands and grew up on the mission field in the Dominican Republic,” Medendorp said.
Medendorp attended high school in Texas after his family moved back to the U.S. After high school, he went to Calvin University and Calvin Theological Seminary, and he was ordained as a minister of the Word in 2015.
“Over my 10 years in ministry so far, I’ve served churches in Ontario, California, and Michigan,” he said.
Medendorp added that he has a deep sensitivity and desire to see the CRC become more diverse. In part, this stems, he said, from how his two sisters, adopted by his parents when they were in the Dominican Republic, were treated when they moved to the U.S.
“Moving to the United States in 2001 was challenging for all of us, but my eyes were especially opened to the challenges facing my two older sisters,” he said. “Creating a church community in which they would feel not only welcome but also at home has always been a huge motivation for me in my ministry and in the churches where I have served.”
Medendorp is currently pastoring New Era CRC in New Era, Mich., a small but diverse farming community.
“We are in the process of establishing a Latino ministry church plant, and we are seeking a church planter to come and serve our community,” he said.
“Over the past three years, our church has been blessed with steady growth, and we are learning to be a place of hospitality and belonging for people from a variety of backgrounds.”
The peer group, he said, has helped him think through and embrace his vision for a more multicultural church, both in New Era and across the CRC.
“The peer group is a racially and ethnically diverse group of ministers, each serving in unique contexts,” he said. “We all bring unique insights and perspectives to the table, which allows us each to learn from one another. Our spiritual lives are enriched by our differences as well as what we hold in common.”
And they do have much in common, he said, noting struggles that pastors can face in ministry such as loneliness and depression.
In particular, said Medendorp, he appreciates how the peer group members share “the feelings that we are never doing enough or working hard enough, the sense that we are letting our families down when we are devoted to ministry and letting our churches down when we are devoted to family.”
Then, he said, there is forever the temptation “to work ourselves to the bone. . . . These are struggles that span ministry contexts and church cultures.”
Above all, he said, “The fellowship that we share in the Revelation 7 group assures me that I am not alone. We share similar struggles and challenges – and by sharing those things openly, we are able to encourage one another and lift each other up to recognize who God is shaping us to be.”