Pastor Jervie Windom was three months into a church plant in Houston, Texas, and nothing was going according to his plan. Even before Resonate Church’s official launch, his frustrations grew as people were not showing up and plans fell apart. In a dream one night, Pastor Jervie was complaining to a man, when the man in the dream interrupted and asked, “Is it okay if I build my church?” He continued his complaints, but the man asked the same question again, and then a third time with more emphasis: “Is it okay if I build MY church?”
This dream served as a disruption to Pastor Jervie’s church planting plans, which were guided by his prior planting experience. Rather than pushing ahead, Pastor Jervie’s mindset had shifted, “The call became for me to join Jesus in what he is already doing.” And he and the team began looking for God’s movement around them.
Not long after Pastor Jervie’s disruptive dream, a triple homicide was committed in a nearby neighborhood. The Lord opened Pastor Jervie’s and his team’s eyes and they committed to simply being friends to their community without being transactional and expecting something in return. They desired to simply do life with the people around them “because God cares for you and we care for you.” Resonate’s presence, with no other agenda but to listen and love, allowed the community the opportunity to embrace them. The townhouse’s owner where the homicide had occurred allowed Pastor Jervie and his team to use a vacant unit to continue mentoring the area’s youth, and one of Resonate’s many missional communities was born.
Another missional community was born out of Pastor Jervie’s recognition of Houston’s prominent hustle and grind culture. After listening to people, he recognized their need to practice Sabbath rest. “We know that God is always present with us, but we are not always present with him,” said Pastor Jervie.
Finding a way to be where people were already gathered, Resonate acquired a membership for a co-working space. In that space, they set up a rest station where participants write their burdens on a small rock and place it in a basket, symbolically giving their emotional and spiritual weights to God. Attenders are then able to access various stations such as arts and crafts, breathing exercises or even a massage to help them practice rest.
This is just one of what has become many “missional communities” of Resonate Church. Rather than pursuing their own agenda, Pastor Jervie describes their process as “just waking up every day and asking Jesus, ‘What can I do alongside you today?’”
An example of walking alongside Jesus is their real estate discipleship group. Many realtors are unable to be present at Sunday worship because they are working. Resonate has responded by hosting what they call “Monday Church,” joining Jesus in what he is already doing in the real estate world.
However unusual Pastor Jervie’s approach may seem, it is not an aimless plan. When new businesses in the area open, Pastor Jervie and the team will go in, buy something, let the owners and employees know they will be praying for the business, they matter to God, and they are important to Resonate. Through this process, relationships form.
One of these relationships was with a smoke shop’s manager, who called Pastor Jervie to come and pray with a man who was under the influence of drugs. After Pastor Jervie came, the manager informed him that she knew a lot more people with similar struggles of addiction. Having extra space in the back of her shop, she invited Resonate to hold a service for people struggling with addiction.
After getting to know some of the smoke shop service attenders, Pastor Jervie met the owner of a halfway house. Resonate now has services on Sunday and a midweek Bible study at this house, forming another missional community. Pastor Jervie acknowledges the missional impact on Resonate’s people: “They get excited about what Jesus is doing, and he is so kind and so good that he would invite us to what he is doing.”
Over time, Resonate has collaborated with different churches and organizations, building trust with the community. According to Pastor Jervie, “People know that Resonate is not there to build their own thing, but to build the Father’s house.” When asked how such a small church can manage so many missional communities, Pastor Jervie responded, “All the blessings of God are out in the field. If we would get in the field, all that we need to till the field is already there. We never have to ask God to bless what God is already doing.”
“Resonate Church is a unique example of the church rapidly multiplying!” shares Reverend Jesse Pratt, director of Church Multiplication for The Wesleyan Church. “Pastor Jervie actively calls out the best in the people around him. His highly relational leadership and encouraging spirit seem to inspire people to step forward into their calling. There is a true Kingdom Force being Unleashed at Resonate, reaching into their Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth!”
To learn more about Pastor Jervie and Resonate Church, check out his interview on the Acts 1:8 Podcast.
Rev. Jacob Gibson is the senior pastor at LifeSpring Wesleyan Church, Richmond, Indiana, and graduate of Indiana Wesleyan University and Wesley Seminary, Marion, Indiana.
