How Fast-Growing Churches Help Other Churches Thrive
After Newton arrived in San Antonio, pastors of large churches such as Max Lucado helped him, but he also found community with younger church planters who were struggling and hustling to get it done. Newton realized that part of his role and the church’s role was to help some of these smaller churches.
“To whom much is given, much is required,” says Mason.
Of course, growing God’s kingdom is every church’s priority.
“I think a lot about eternal return on investment,” says Senior Pastor Ryan Visconti of Generation Church (No. 4, fastest-growing) in Mesa, Arizona. “When you invest in a local pastor or a local church, that to me is the absolute biggest ROI in terms of reaching people and changing lives. We want to reach as many as possible for the kingdom. I believe that the local church is God’s Plan A for reaching people with the gospel.”
Meeting the Need
Fast-growing churches are meeting myriad gaps many churches have. The leaders at Shepherd Church try to help other pastors with needs ranging from handling anxiety and stress, to working with elders, to making transitions, to dealing with AI.
When fires swept through the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles in 2025, Shepherd Church not only raised money to support fire victims; they also invested in helping other churches rebuild. They went as far as bringing together architects and designers at a fair for church leaders. Shepherd Church also took impacted pastors and their spouses to a retreat center.
James Sunnock, lead pastor at Victory Life Church (No. 70, fastest-growing) in Battle Creek, Michigan, knows very well how pastors can feel isolated. “You’re trying to lead a team, so it’s hard to then draw encouragement from your team. Pastors are just looking for some relationship that is positive and encouraging, [where] they can be honest.”
Victory Life tries to help other church leaders clarify what God is saying and give them the conviction they need to take steps toward that vision. For example, one pastor had started a program for a new building in a new location. The project went sideways, and the contractor walked away with the money. There were no funds to finish the building and no clear answers. Victory Life took their experience having run three building campaigns and offered assistance.
Sunnock says the experience was as much about supporting the pastor emotionally as it was helping with the logistics. “There was this combination of financial expertise along with, ‘Dude, don’t quit!’”
A year ago, the church Victory Life was assisting finally opened its new building. Attendance more than doubled within six months.
Lessons Learned
Some of what pastors need aren’t taught in a seminary, Visconti shares. “You just have to stumble your way into it. I’ve learned a lot of these lessons the hard way.”
Those hard-won lessons are what he seeks to share with young pastors in churches needing encouragement.
“I’ve made every mistake there is to make. I even made most of them twice just to prove it was a mistake,” says Sunnock. He knows he isn’t seeking to pass along a perfect model—he simply has a heart for the pastor who feels isolated or is trying to figure everything out.
Tim Winters, executive pastor at Shepherd Church, agrees. “We’re not the brightest. We’re not the best. But we show up every single day. We just keep showing up. People know that about us.”
Those dedicated individuals include Winters, who is part of a national executive pastor group, and their senior pastor, who has a long history in the community. “When you’re generous, people tend to find generous people.”
Phil Chorlian, senior pastor of North Jersey Vineyard Church (No. 84, fastest-growing) in South Hackensack, New Jersey, concludes that you “don’t have to be an expert on what you’re talking about; you just have to be a practitioner. If you’ve got some dirt under your fingernails, and you’re trying to figure things out in your local context, you have something to offer other pastors.”
Britt agrees. “We just want to help. We don’t think that we’ve got it all figured out or that our way is the way. But as far as we can be helpful, we want to be, and we’ve tried to position ourselves in that way to be helpful.”
