Church leadership is a rewarding path, but for many senior pastors it’s a lonely one. A strong Pastor leadership network can help you connect meaningfully with peers. One Pennsylvania organization is tackling this issue head-on: The Advantage.
Founded and led by David Ashcraft, former senior pastor of LCBC (Lives Changed by Christ) Church in Manheim, Pennsylvania, and current president and CEO of the Global Leadership Network, The Advantage helps pastors thrive personally and professionally.
“As we were developing the concept that became The Advantage, we wanted to create something that would complement all the great content existing pastor networks and consultants were already delivering,” says Pat Murdock, executive director of The Advantage. “Rather than focusing on creating new content or a new network, we chose to major in relationships.
“Our goal was to invite senior pastors from the largest gospel-teaching churches across Pennsylvania to meet together in twice-per-year roundtables, creating a safe place for first-seat peers to celebrate their wins, but also to help each other with their challenges and the ‘next hills’ that the churches they lead were planning to pursue.”
The Heart of The Advantage
After 32 years of leading LCBC Church, Ashcraft was considering his next steps in ministry. He had seen his church grow from one location of 150 people to 19 locations serving 20,000 across Pennsylvania. With 8 million individuals statewide still unchurched, he wanted to broaden the gospel’s reach by supporting pastors. That’s how the concept of The Advantage was born.
“David came across Acts 18:27, which described a man named Apollos as someone with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures, a great defender of the faith, but most importantly, someone who was a great encouragement and help (or advantage) to the church,” Murdock shares. “Our goal was to be approachable, empathetic, strategic, generous and humble. This story from Acts 18 seemed to best capture the heart of what we aspired to be: a great benefit or ‘advantage’ to the pastors and church leaders we are being called to serve.”
The team at PlainJoe, A Storyland Studio, worked alongside the team at The Advantage not only to determine the ministry’s name, but also to define their brand personality, visual identity and unique offering.
“Our logo includes a group of chevrons moving up and to the right together alongside an understated name that inspires kingdom-mindedness, service to one another, and generosity that unites us in this leadership collaborative,” Murdock explains.