Fathers on the Move
When Victor Glover was incarcerated, little did he imagine what his praying grandmother could see was ahead for him.
“I was dealing with anger issues as a kid because my dad was not in my life,” he reflects.
Today Glover is approaching the 30-year mark of being in ministry, leading a nonprofit he founded, Fathers on the Move, for the last 13 years. It’s a ministry based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, that mentors incarcerated and at-risk men to prevent recidivism and promote positive change.
“We’re on a mission to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline,” he says.
Fathers on the Move has empowered over 1,500 men coming through the program, which has led to a 98% employment rate for those back home after their time in prison. The organization also celebrates a recidivism rate of only 2%.
They have expanded to Youth on the Move and Sisters on the Move, and today their programs exist or are being developed in 29 different locations. They also have become a pipeline for developing the next generation of leaders through a residency program in prisons and other settings.
Glover serves as bishop in the church he founded named Last Days World Outreach Ministries, and during the week the people of the church—joined by many others—are out in the community working through Fathers on the Move and other expressions of ministry.
Glover’s greatest joy is when people say, “I want to start a Fathers on the Move in my setting when I get out of prison.” His heart is to build faith communities wherever the people he has trained end up living or working.
“We do church under a bridge, feeding homeless [people] and making disciples. We have deployed another ministry after hours in a barber shop,” he adds. “We take Jesus everywhere.”
To him, this is the church of tomorrow. “We’re showing people that God is not confined to the four walls of a building. God can make disciples in any kind of expression.”
The Brook
“Half the population of Denver, Colorado, are young professionals in their 20s and 30s, many of them looking for a sense of community,” explains Molly Soderstrom, founder of The Brook. “Anxiety, depression, loneliness and disconnection abound. Americans are more disconnected than ever, especially young professionals in today’s cities.”
To address that need, The Brook—an independent nonprofit—leverages online platforms to spark real, in-person connections that take place in varied formats: scheduled happy hours at restaurants, community nights for socializing and hearing stories from people involved with The Brook, and sports gatherings for playing together. They also hold simple church meetings—small groups coming together on a weekly basis to connect with one another and with God, and apply the truths of the Bible to everyday living.
The Brook’s website encapsulates the ministry as “a movement of young professionals investigating how to live a great life, have great relationships, and know God.”
“On the back end we are unashamedly a disciple-making ministry,” Soderstrom says.
The impact is large and growing. In one recent six-month period, 3,000 people attended an event sponsored by The Brook, including 875 first-timers; 180 signed up to be part of a simple church. During that same period, over 55 groups met weekly, started and coached by The Brook.
Area churches are partnering financially and in publicity to support The Brook, along with other outside donors. Soderstrom is herself very involved in a traditional church; in fact, her husband, Jason, is pastor of Restoration Church in Denver.
“We champion the local church,” she notes, but that doesn’t lessen the importance of going out into the community—both online and in person—to make connections.
“The future of the church is getting Christians outside of their church buildings,” Soderstrom says. “The future of the church is integrating the church into every part of your life, especially community—online and in person. Young professionals are [hungrier] than ever for fun events, for finding friends, a roommate, and even a spouse, and most of all for developing a sense of community and connection.”