I am honored to announce the hiring of One Community Church’s first Youth/Kids Pastor. And the crazy thing is that there is 0 promise of any pay. Just a ton of vision casting and faith. No excuses leaders…let’s get it done in Jesus name and by His power! We are so excited to have Tony and Shanda Simoncini {@tonySimoncini} and their amazing family joining us soon.

Thanks guys for modeling faith that many on read about in the Bible, but never are bold enough to act on! Couple questions for them:

Who the smack are you and your family?:

We are Team Simoncini, Tony, Shanda, Myles (8) and Jillian (2). We are from Mobile Alabama, Tony by way of San Diego California (It’s a long story!) We have been involved in a variety of ministry experiences over the years while working as a mortgage broker and a nurse (Shanda’s the nurse just in case you had some Meet The Parents jokes : )

Why would you move to Utah?

Simple…

Mobile County                   411,000 people                    561 churches    (Current City)

Salt Lake County           1.2 Million People           95 Churches*

Utah County                    550,00 people                    30 churches*

*80% of the churches in Utah are 60 or less people at that! Herriman, UT has o!

Enough Said! The scenery isn’t half bad either!

What moves your heart most here?

I can’t get over the fact of so many people in Utah with so little presence of the church. The body of Christ is needed in Utah and we have responded to the call!

What is Utah like?

Beautiful scenery, lots of sunshine and an outdoor persons greatest fantasy!

What is your vision for youth/kids in the U?

I want to see the youth and kids of Utah realize there is no greater life experience than realizing Jesus loves them and desires to be apart of their lives. We will operate under the philosophy that the youth and children of our culture are the future of the Church and the presence of God in the earth! We hope to cultivate an atmosphere that produces these qualities in our kids…  Celebrate -  Having tons of fun  // Connect  - Seeing kids connect to God and Others // Commit  -Watching them commit their lives to trusting Jesus

How will you be raising support?

We hope to share the vision with as many churches and ministries in the Mobile area as possible and ask them to partner with us on this journey. We also plan to put the opportunity to support the mission into the hands of our family and friends who need to hear about the lack of churches in Utah. [Give on-line @ www.onecommunity.tv]

What are some fears you have?

In general-My life not counting for something… and snakes!

In regards to this particular season and move…

Missing family and friends like crazy! We have built some amazing relationships through the years that will make moving across the country a challenge. We are trusting God with this move and these relationships… BIGTIME!!

Not raising the support we need to supplement income and having to work 50 hours a week just to survive! There are not enough hours in the day to work a fulltime job during the week, concentrate on planting churches, and keeping God and family my priority!

What are you most excited about?

What God is doing in the life of the Simoncini’s. This is a very exciting time for us as we embark on a faith journey without a clear picture of the outcome! For the first time in my life, that actually appeals to me

And, the opportunity to pioneer and plant churches filled with the gospel and spirit of God in places that have very little presence! The more I talk about the amount of people who need to hear the message of the gospel in this area, the more excited and sure of the move I become!

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I can’t get enough of watching my kids smile and have fun so we try and make room for this to happen as often as we can. I love to get out of the house and play some golf! And, I love to read books on theology and leadership! Mostly, I love to see my family smile!

Favorite bands?

David Crowder Band, U2, Charlie Hall, One Republic, United

What 3 words describe Chazzdaddy?

Passionate, Faithful, Real

How can we best pray for you?

Hey all! Due to a special partnership with www.316networks.com [thanks guys!] we are able to LIVE STREAM the entire STICKS sessions and some back-stage interviews today.

The entire STICKS SCHEDULE can be found HERE for the main sessions for the next 2 days.

My session will be LIVE on-line at THE STICKS today @ 4.45pm EASTERN TIME. You can go HERE TO WATCH IT! [And all day with the other main sessions and back stage interviews with some small town warriors!!!]

So honored to be a part of this…join us on-line and learn how to DOMINATE YOUR COMMUNITY FOR JESUS!

God gave our team in Ohio a huge vision to reach out like the “big churches” that were rocking it in Jesus name. Not that small is not effective, but I am a Peter kind of leader and want to see 3K saved in 1 day and actually GO INTO ALL THE WORLD.

We invited some people to come to the middle of a cornfield in Ohio to our first plant: NEW HOPE COMMUNITY CHURCH. We wanted to create a place where people could be encouraged, inspired, networked and equipped to live out THEIR calling in THEIR city where GOD had called them. Not COPY us, or any of the speakers, leaders or churches…but their unique calling.

The rest is history. Had it not been for our crazy team of radical at New Hope, THE STICKS would not be anything more than a dream. I didn’t even come up with the name…Kevin Rush did. Our team lived it and brought it hard. Thank you NEW HOPE…you will never know the lives that were and will be changed as a result of that spark that was lit.

Then God sent us to the middle of nowhere in Utah for round two. 25+ cities without 1 church in our backyard alone. Doing both THE STICKS and planting while keeping my God and my family at center stage was not even possible. So we laid it down for a season when a crazy man called me.

His name was Artie Davis. Having the same passion, he asked to take it over and run with it as we planted and focused on Utah. Artie has been blessed with a church of 2K+ in a town of 12,000 in nowhere, SC. He also runs what will be the largest small town church planting network in the country.

And yes again, the rest is history…or more appropriately, is being written. Today I am driving to THE STICKS in South Carolina and this is the last hurrah for me as the main director. As Artie and I navigate the future, I am sure that a perfect role will emerge for me to keep this passion alive while balancing the demands of planting in such a tough place.

I will still be running the coaching network, but the time-consuming task of creating a conference with no money and no staff…those days are over. Thanks Artie for writing some amazing history and keeping the small town passion alive and blazing.

I can’t wait to see what God is going to do this week. It will be an amazing 2 days and lives will be IMPACTED in ways like you have never seen in your life. THANK YOU JESUS for your call in my life and for allowing me to be a small part of raising up YOUR Kingdom. That’s always what it has been about, if you really knew me.

See you in nowhere, SC…because we are a tribe who goes where nowhere else wants to go…and we are more than passionate about that.