Cultivate Information

Why Cultivate?
Over the past nine years of my life, God has blessed me to travel sharing the Gospel with children, youth, and adults. I have been privileged to preach in many great churches and at many great events. Since 2001 I have traveled to many different states ministering with 3 Driven Nails through music and the word. Since 2001 I have had the honor of serving as a full-time student pastor. Through all of these endeavors God has blessed my life and ministry to see people saved, lives transformed, and people grow in their relationship with God. However, there is also another aspect of ministry that I have discovered, that is for some reason overlooked.

Over the years I have noticed ministers become discouraged and lose their desire to fulfill the call God placed on their heart, and even more heart breaking, some lose their desire to serve Christ. Eddie V. Rentz, a national youth ministries director said it this way, "There is a bone yard of potential nation-changers who have become so discouraged they have either left the ministry or now hobble along wounded and ineffective." I have found this statement to be so true.

There are many reasons that leaders find themselves in this shape. One simply being the nature of the work. People make withdrawals, yet rarely make deposits. Many of our leaders are running on empty. There needs to be someone to minister to the minsters.

After serving in ministry for nine years now, this as well as three other things has sparked my heart to start Cultivate. To understand what Cultivate is about, one needs to look no farther than the name itself.

Cultivate: To promote or improve growth. To develop through training. To seek friendship. There are four areas that we want to serve in fulfilling the very definition of Cultivate.

1. Encourage Pastors/Leaders - To many ministers today are carrying loads by themselves. They are dealing with feelings of isolation, have no one to confide in, and lack friendships outside the church in which they serve. Pastors and ministry leaders carry heavy burdens than cannot be understood until you serve in that capacity. Cultivate wants to seek out friendships with leaders across our nation in an attempt to help support and carry the load in which they are under.

2. Train Leaders - Many ministries are struggling to get off the ground simply because of a lack of training. The ministry has leaders willing to do the work and truly care about the people, but don't have the proper training or support. Many workers are thrown into a ministry and told to make it work without the tools and know how to make it happen. In other cases we spend large amounts to money to attend an impersonal training conference and come home confused at how to make it work. Cultivate will come to where you are, meet the leaders, spend time in the community, and personally help you develop a plan to build your ministry and reach your community.

3. Lead - There is something about a fresh voice to reinforce what you've been pouring into your congregation. Sometimes it's great to have someone lead your discipleship weekend, conference, retreat, service, etc. Cultivate will help you lead your people through taking part in your events. Because of the relational basis of this ministry, lasting relationships are built between the Cultivate staff and your congregation which makes the interaction much more beneficial.

4. Bridge - Many times a ministry finds itself without a leader due to various circumstances. The case may be moral failure from a minister, leaving leaders and members hurt, broken, and skeptical. The case may be that the ministry is in the process of filling a vacant ministry position. Cultivate will help build a bridge for your workers and members to be prepared to accept the next minister. We will spend time encouraging and restoring trust in broken situations, and prepare the leadership and members for the next minister.


When Cultivate Grows Up
What will Cultivate be when it grows up? Cultivate will be a personal resource and support system for the local church and its ministers. Cultivate will be staffed with passionate, gifted, and talented people that will represent every area of the church. This staff will be able to assist in building strong ministries within local churches across the nation. Cultivate will also bring encouragement to leaders helping reduce the rate of burnout in ministry.

Get Involved!
How can you get involved? Well I'm glad you asked! Over the next few months you will see Cultivate in various magazines and news articles across the state, as well as hear about us across the radio waves. In addition to that, we need you to help spread the word. Let your ministry leaders know that we are here to help bring encouragement, training, leadership, and restoration. We also have a variety of promotional tools that are available to assist you in spreading the word.

We would love to hear your thoughts, opinions, or answer any questions that you might have. To contact us with these inquiries or to request promotional information, email us at info@brandonmatthews.com.

Get Cultivated!

Brandon