#S4 EP7: Featuring Filmore Bouldes discussing church planting in a secular city.
By Dave Mckeown and Nathan Benger
In this episode with Filmore, we explore what it is like to start a new church in a secular city. Filmore explains that as a church, they value diversity in relationships, hospitality, and scripture as fundamentals in building our community.
We also grapple with the trials of overcoming cultural norms, particularly in Seattle, and the critical task of creating an inviting and welcoming atmosphere. We operate on four core values: truth, presence, family, and mission, all with the primary objective of guiding people to become more like Christ.
We hope you enjoy
SHOW NOTES
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Filmore Bouldes (00:00.945) Nice.
Dave (00:03.09) Well we are active now so let me count us in and do the intro and then Nathan will jump in and do the little bio of you. That was a short bio, hey you're the shortest bio we've ever had on this podcast.
Nathan Benger (00:15.833) Definitely.
Filmore Bouldes (00:16.047) Yeah, I've never written one. I always get asked one I never really did. But.
Dave (00:21.218) Right. Okay, well come on, we'll crack on. Are we ready? Happy with that.
Filmore Bouldes (00:26.418) I have to pay someone to make it for me. I don't really know how to talk about myself.
Dave (00:31.343) Well, maybe it'll change after this, you never know. Brilliant, well, welcome to the Church Explained podcast. It's a conversation to grow your leadership and build your church. I'm Dave.
Filmore Bouldes (00:34.035) Yeah, exactly.
Nathan Benger (00:43.937) Nathan and he he's jumping in early he's jumping in early today
Filmore Bouldes (00:44.427) I am Phil Moore. Oh.
I'll see you later.
Dave (00:52.844) He's good. Let's go from the top. So what we'll do, I'll go me and then Nathan and then Nathan will introduce you. Is that alright? Brilliant.
Filmore Bouldes (00:53.013) Sorry, sorry.
Nathan Benger (00:55.797) Hehehehe
Filmore Bouldes (01:01.647) Oh, perfect. Sorry. It was in the notes. I missed it.
Dave (01:05.386) No, it's fine, it's fine. We can cut out things and put things in if we need to. Brilliant, we'll go from the top again. Welcome to the Church Explained podcast, a conversation to grow your leadership and build your church. I'm Dave.
Nathan Benger (01:18.765) And I'm Nathan and we're your hosts of this episode. And today we have been joined by Fillmore and a little bit about Fillmore. Fillmore is married to his lovely wife, Caitlin, and they are currently planting a church in Seattle after pastoring in New York City for nine years. So now Fillmore, second take, you can kind of say hello to our listeners.
Filmore Bouldes (01:42.104) Hey everyone, hey Church Explained podcast. So excited and honored to be here with Dave and Nathan. And I pray we have a good time talking all things church leadership, church planting, and I pray that you are encouraged wherever you're listening or watching this from.
Dave (02:00.174) Brilliant, so Philmore it is so good to have you with us the whole way from Seattle. We know it's 9am in the morning for you. So, yeah, well we can sympathise with you because we're in the UK and it's always raining. It's raining very, very heavy. But listen Philmore, it's so good to have you with us. Why don't you tell us a little bit about your faith story and your ministry journey. And just to kick us off.
Filmore Bouldes (02:08.091) and raining, it's too dark. The sun has not come out yet at all. So.
Filmore Bouldes (02:26.679) Yeah, so of course, of course would love to. So I grew up in Detroit, Michigan, grew up in a fairly Christian faith through the Pentecostal tradition. It was amazing until I thought it wasn't amazing, I guess. So I had parents that served in a multiplicity of roles. So I was always at church. I was at church on Tuesday, on Wednesday.
And then we did two services on Sunday, morning and evening. And then my grandmother was also on staff, so she would bring me to work with her sometimes. So I basically grew up and lived in the church. The joke is maybe that's where I was born, quite literally. But I also played basketball. So when you play basketball in Detroit, that's pretty much your god. It's your functional deity. And that was my life. That's basically what I gave my life to. And none of my friends that were playing ball
competitively loved the Lord or had parents that made them go to church. So I began to have a bit of dissent and bitterness toward my parents because I'm like, yo, why do I have to miss certain things for church? But then I start to get good. So my parents were like, okay, maybe this is a route to a scholarship for him to university. So they start to be a bit more lenient with some of my church activities. And about 12 to 20, I would say I rebelled hardcore.
did not really have any interest in following Jesus. I thought people that followed Jesus were quite corny. I don't know if you say that in the UK, that basically means lame, not cool. It was a bit weird to me, and I didn't really see anyone that I could model my life after. Everyone was, church was a bit older too as well. Anyway, to cut a long story short, when I was 20 years old, I'm in college on a scholarship, and I am doing terrible, all my hopes and dreams of...
Nathan Benger (04:01.525) Yep. Hehehehe.
Filmore Bouldes (04:24.563) making money, play basketball, are completely going down the drain and I am depressed. In the summer, I get invited to go to a Christian retreat. I accept the invite, gave my life to Jesus in a radical, transformative encounter. The last night of the camp, said yes to him, went back to my college campus, found a campus ministry, and now I'm here. I ended up moving to New York pretty soon after that. I was there nine years.
at a church plant called C3NYC, which I'm sure we could talk about here. It's actually now called Fount. And yeah, they changed the name. It was, they had to, when they kicked me out, they said, you know what, we got a clean house here. Just kidding. That's a bad joke. But yeah, so I was at Fount for nine years, served youth pastor. I was campus pastor, executive pastor.
And then my wife and I decided to call to a moving church plant about a year and a half ago. And that was brings us to Seattle now. So I hope that wasn't too long. That's it.
Dave (05:29.802) what no that's great and we'll find out a little bit more about that maybe just tell us a little bit about hey what do you do for fun I know you've mentioned some of the sports stuff there anything else you do for fun
Filmore Bouldes (05:42.483) Um, I like to eat. So, uh, I love food. So that's the thing about marrying into a Korean family. Cause my wife is Korean American. Koreans love to eat. So their greeting is not, how are you? Uh, or how was your day? Their greeting is, did you eat? That's literally how my mother-in-law greets me. So, uh, I'm not mad about it. You know, some people may think it's a bit forward. I'm like, listen, I did not eat. Do you have anything for me to eat? Uh,
Dave (05:47.394) That's a hobby. That's a hobby. I like that.
Nathan Benger (05:49.835) Yep.
Dave (05:54.972) Oh yeah.
Nathan Benger (06:09.325) Hehehehe
Filmore Bouldes (06:11.819) So I love it. I'm really, I love to eat. Yeah, so pretty much, you know, I think for fun, if I'm not playing basketball, I'm watching basketball. If I'm not watching basketball, I'm out with my wife and friends and we're out on the town grabbing a bite to eat somewhere. In the summer, we would go on walks a lot. My wife and I love to go on walks, but pretty much basketball and church planting and food are like my life at the moment, and my wife, of course.
Dave (06:40.002) Wow, that sounds like a good try out of activities there, so fantastic. Hey, let's go ahead.
Filmore Bouldes (06:43.644) Yeah.
Nathan Benger (06:43.689) Yeah, yeah. Who's your basketball team, Wilmorth?
Filmore Bouldes (06:48.867) Oh, I'm still a New York Knicks guy. So I was at New York for about nine years, as I said. So I was a part of a New York Knicks bandwagon, even though it's not much of a bandwagon to be celebrated because the New York Knicks are not good. But I'm loyal to them. And this is our year. We say that every year, right? This is going to be terrible. Yeah, this is our year to hopefully win.
Nathan Benger (07:10.814) Every team says that.
Filmore Bouldes (07:18.271) Two playoff series, last year we won one. So if we get one more than we won last year, then I think we'll be okay.
Nathan Benger (07:24.569) progress.
Dave (07:25.902) Brilliant, brilliant. And I know you were saying there, obviously you served at NYC C3 church for over nine years. So we've got a few questions on that. Maybe Nathan, if you kick in with that and get us going on those questions.
Nathan Benger (07:37.941) Yeah, yeah. Yeah, what were some of the big takeaways for you of being part of that church plant, C3 NYC? You know, kind of what were some of the most exciting things about being part of the team and that church plant?
Filmore Bouldes (07:55.635) Yeah. So, I mean, it was nothing but positive, I would say. My pastors and, you know, spiritual mentors remind Josh and Georgie Kelsey were who I served under there. And I think most of my takeaways are actually from what I gleaned and learned from them over the past eight and nine years. I think inherently, though, when you're in New York City, there's a bit of resilience that just gets on you. So I think church planting mixed with the spirit of New York.
What I learned the most was just how to have a resilient faith, a resilient spirit. Um, when you are portable church, uh, and there's no venues that you own and you don't you, and you get no's because essentially what was happening is we, we were basically renting out our venues and anytime the business that we were renting from got a bigger contract or more money, they would just kick us out.
So there was times where it'd be like Thursday, we're like, where are we gonna meet for church? Because a lot of them didn't wanna do, some of them did permanent contracts, but some of them, they just were like, they like to keep their options open, which is like the classic thing that we do nowadays. But anyway, I would say just the spirit of like, hey, you know what, there's a problem. We're not gonna run away from this problem. We're gonna run toward it and believe that God has a solution. So I think that's probably one of the biggest takeaways. And I learned that from seeing my pastors model that, that spirit of faith.
I think if there's anything that I learned, it's just to have a spirit of faith, but not just any faith, a resilient faith, because there's many obstacles, particularly when you're in New York City. It's the most expensive city in the world. I think maybe Singapore is higher, but it's expensive, so you just got to grit and you got to grind. But the reward is definitely...
definitely worth it for sure. So I would say, long story short, just the spirit of faith is what I learned being part of the team and seeing God do amazing things.
Dave (09:59.138) And just a follow up on that then, what was your sort of biggest ministry challenge do you think being there?
Filmore Bouldes (10:06.843) Yeah, I mean, so we grew really fast. So I was there about a year into the church. It was about 100 people when I showed up, I think, maybe a little bit more. And then for the first five years, we grew five locations in five years. So we planted a location every year for the first five years, and then COVID hit, right? So the most challenging thing was leading the church through COVID, but also leading the church
out of COVID because we were a church of about 2,500, 3,000 people at the right, but at the right prior to COVID and we lost probably about 70% of our church. Some to some of the, you know, that's the story of many churches, but it was New York super transient. So most people were moving back home. We got a lot of the, Hey, yeah, just going back home for about, you know, a few weeks. And then people just never come back like key leaders,
So that was definitely challenging. And then in addition to that, there was a lot of obviously unrest that was happening, a lot of the political sort of, I would say, polarization and an idolatry came forward, and that sort of split the church a bit. So I would say that was definitely the hardest challenge. Navigating, okay, how do we love people? How do we empathize people? But how do we actually hold to...
uncompromising truth of what we believe the scriptures teach about how to respond to certain moments or stances on certain things. And then I think in addition, taking the church basically out of that into rebuilding and replanting was quite difficult because basically you're still trying to, you know, see it's like the, it's like when Nehemiah went back to Jerusalem, he's kind of surveying the, the rubble. Okay. What's here? What's the damage? So there was a lot of
you know, surveying the rebels, seeing, okay, who's still in New York? You know, who's still with us? And, uh, that was difficult because some people you thought were going to be with you, with you. They weren't. Uh, but there were a lot of people that surprised us. There were a lot of people that moved to the city and were like, you know, what, we want to be a part of this. So I would say definitely, but then also my role was I was the executive pastor at that time. So I was, I was leading the staff as well. Uh, and the staff.
Filmore Bouldes (12:26.727) you know, they're dealing with friends that have left. Some of their best friends have left the city. Some of my best friends have left the city. So you go from doing ministry with friends to doing ministry with strangers, but you still have to have the same passion and integrity and courage to see God do something significant. So managing their emotions, but also trying to call them to a task, it was quite difficult for sure.
Nathan Benger (12:50.969) Yeah. What about for you personally, Philmore, what was the most significant personal challenge during that nine years for you?
Dave (12:52.142) Portland.
Filmore Bouldes (13:01.679) Yeah, that's a good question. I think, I mean everything really. I didn't have a lot of discipline as a 24 year old when I first moved. So, when you start to get responsibility and you're overseeing budgets and all the organizational things, I just got rebuked and corrected probably 75 billion times.
Dave (13:30.254) Ha ha
Filmore Bouldes (13:30.707) Because I just want to be with people and like, preach and raise up leaders. But all the like, back end and the organizational management, I think that was a weak point and still is a weak point of mine. I think I've grown. I know how to staff that now. But I think, yeah, that was a challenge. And then I think, yeah, the transience of the city was pretty difficult, I would say. Just people who you thought were going to be with you longer leaving.
So what you have to learn to do is really guard your heart and it's a tension between guarding your heart but also not cold. So that, you know, cause you never know who comes and who's gonna stay. And you've had your heart broken, you know, a million times. So you have to figure out and discern, okay, how much of my heart do I give to this person?
Dave (14:09.634) Definitely.
Filmore Bouldes (14:29.171) and without them basically, you know, receiving me as a co-leader. So that was a big challenge as well. And I think also just navigating, being married, so going from the transition of being a campus master to being married and inviting my wife into that story and that journey, because she was serving, but she didn't really see everything, obviously. So when she's on, she's married to someone who's a campus pastor.
Dave (14:46.134) here.
Filmore Bouldes (14:58.375) You know, that was difficult because there's a lot of days that were difficult and hard. And I don't want to bring all the stress home, but I also don't want her to feel like she's not in the loop. So navigating what to share with her versus what not to share with her, because I don't want her to see certain people in the congregation in a certain light, like in a negative light, but I also don't want to just bottle my emotions.
Dave (15:16.643) and.
Filmore Bouldes (15:27.431) So that was difficult, that first year marriage, she thought that I never was open with her or vulnerable with her, so that was quite difficult. And I'm like, babe, if I tell you, you're going to want to, you know, smack everybody at church. So that's a bad joke. She's kind, but I would say just navigating being married and, and welcoming your wife into something. It's like the kitchen, they say, you know, she saw the kitchen.
Nathan Benger (15:41.305) Hehehehehehe
Dave (15:44.606) Yeah, yeah.
Nathan Benger (15:45.314) Yeah.
Nathan Benger (15:52.375) Yeah.
Filmore Bouldes (15:57.091) Yeah, that was a difficult part. So I would say those three.
Dave (16:01.078) Yeah, great stuff there. And obviously you were there for nine years, different roles. Thinking now going into this new church plant, you've been there a year and a half. But what are some of the key things you're taking from NYC C3 to this new church setting? I know you've talked a little bit about your personal stuff, the resilience, the faith, the grit, which I think you need for church planting. But what else? What else are you taking? Because
Filmore Bouldes (16:19.996) Yeah.
Dave (16:30.898) Obviously the churches are doing a great job and the NYC. So what are you taking with you? What's your biggest learnings I guess?
Filmore Bouldes (16:39.715) Yeah, so I think there's two things, two things that I would say that come to mind. The first is, and I'm a preacher, so I take a long time to say a point, but when you think about Fount or C3NYC, you don't think about a communicator, you don't think about a speaker, you think about the community. Like the reputation that C3NYC has in New York is,
Nathan Benger (16:49.091) Hehehe
Filmore Bouldes (17:07.367) Man, they're really good at building community. The relational fabric of the church is really, really strong. And that's what hold the church together. So I would say that's the number one thing that I'm taking away. We want to build a church that feels like a family. We don't want to build an event-based church. And I think that's very intentional with how our pastor is built. They started with dinner parties, which were essentially what they sound like, dinner parties, inviting friends over, inviting strangers over.
over your home, sharing scriptures, praying together, sharing stories, having a meal, laughing, all of those just natural human connection things. That's what we want to do. So we're doing that right now. Every Sunday we sort of have a form of a dinner party right now with our church and the people that are like with us. And one of the biggest encouragements that we've got and about, we've only been here about a month and a half and people have said,
It already feels like a family. Um, and that's encouraging because Seattle is actually a city that's dealing with loneliness at a higher rate than other cities. Um, that's because of the weather. That's because of a thing called the Seattle freeze. Seattle people are known to not, to freeze people out. So they don't really invite people into their relationships. Uh, so, so we want to, we want to say, you know what the kingdom of God and the church.
can show you a better way. So I would say that. We don't wanna be known for how good I can teach. We don't wanna be known for anything. We wanna be known that the church feels like a family. That really does model John 13, love one another so that the world will know you're my disciples. So that's really the heartbreak. And then another thing that I learned I'm taking, hold people lightly in the sense of, do not hold titles in people, in the sense of like just release people.
Like don't, don't feel like you have to, you know, I don't have to control people. They're gifted, they're graced to do the thing that God's called them to do. And I think our pastors really did that well, man. I was there for like a year. I was preaching on Sunday, like after being in New York for a year. Like he just saw the call of God and he not hesitate to release. So I think we don't wanna hesitate to release. We wanna be confident. Obviously you...
Filmore Bouldes (19:34.399) discernment, do they have character, do they have integrity, right? Like those are all the things. But it's for me, I think a lot of times we don't release because we have identity in what the thing that people encourage us in or affirm us for. So if people affirm me as the preacher and as the teacher, I don't want to release any of that responsibility to other people because I'll get less affirmation, they'll get more affirmation. No one wants to say that, but everyone does. Everyone kind of deals with that. It's a human thing.
Nathan Benger (19:37.206) Hmm.
Filmore Bouldes (20:02.931) But Pastor Josh and Georgia were really good at releasing. So I mean, I dream of having a church of some of the best preachers and teachers in the Pacific Northwest, just raising them up, some of the best leaders. So I would say a church that feels like family and a church that releases people into their gifts and their callings.
Dave (20:20.938) I love that. Brilliant. I love that idea of... Go ahead.
Nathan Benger (20:21.854) Yeah, great. Great.
Nathan Benger (20:26.957) Now go for it Dave.
Dave (20:27.998) Nathan, did you have a question? No, okay. No, I was just gonna pick up on this idea of holding lightly because I think there's something in that, isn't there, where you've got to invest heavy, like invest in people's lives as if they're gonna be with you for generations, but hold lightly because you never know when it's time for them to move or what will happen. So there is something about that, just investing heavy and giving your all to somebody, but hold lightly because they're not...
Nathan Benger (20:30.681) I'm sorry.
Dave (20:56.406) they're not yours, they belong to God and I think just picking up on that.
Filmore Bouldes (21:00.487) Yeah, and I'm a steward, you know, like, I want to steward their life and their calling and I want them to be, you know, it's classic. We've heard it, we've heard it, you know, before, so it's not an original thought, but I've heard that it said Jesus didn't prepare people for his presence, he prepared them for their absence, meaning that he prepared them in a way that they could thrive when he wasn't there. And that's the type of leader.
Dave (21:02.52) Yeah.
Filmore Bouldes (21:27.723) And that's the type of community that we want to be. We want to prepare people that they can thrive without needing to be spoon-fed or handheld by me. And we want to plant autonomous churches as well. We want to send people out and to do their thing. And even now, a month and a half, I got my eyes on people. I'm saying, hey, you are going to plant a church. Seattle is dying. There's no churches. We need more churches in this region, more churches in the Pacific Northwest.
Nathan Benger (21:52.021) This is... Right.
Filmore Bouldes (21:57.472) So yeah.
Nathan Benger (21:58.929) Yeah. Now, I wonder if you, Phil Mutt, would expand a little bit on the whole dinner parties kind of idea. Obviously you mentioned C3 New York and now Fount Church. They are well known and especially around the dinner parties. You know, I've come across that content, but I mean, I wonder if you'd just share around how that helps you to build church.
Filmore Bouldes (22:01.086) Yes.
Nathan Benger (22:26.581) what that's doing, obviously you talked a little bit about the family vibe and what it kind of practically looks like in a setting.
Filmore Bouldes (22:37.135) Yeah, so obviously I think it builds church because One of the biggest felt needs obviously is for relationship, you know, everyone wants genuine meaningful relationships When your relationships are strong and your life is terrible You still feel like you have a sense of purpose because of relationships So if you're prioritizing that and I think theologically also it's there Jesus said my God said, you know man was not live You know created to live alone. So that's communal connection
relationship with God and relationship to one another. My convention and contention is that Jesus did not just come to reconcile us back to God, He came to reconcile us back to one another. So yeah, people were created for that. So I think that's why it works and that's why it's a good focus at the front end. There's a lot of different ways you can kind of start a church plant, but we want to be intentional about that. But practically it sounds just like what it, what the name is. It's a party.
So we don't want it to feel like a Bible study. We don't want it to feel like a small group per se. There's a bit of intention and excellence that goes into it. We're thinking about the hospitality. Like we're very generous with how we train leaders to be hospitable, but also how right now, my wife and I, with a few other people, we're kind of bearing a lot of the load of that. We're thinking about intention. Like my wife was gone in Korea for two weeks, and then she came back.
And she's like, no, we need to put the food here because this is a central spot when people come in. They're gonna wanna talk around this table because I had like off to the side. She's like, never put stuff off to the side because it's gonna isolate people or you put stuff in the center. I'm like, that's brilliant. But you know, that's why I need her hospitality gift in this. So I would say just little things like that. We're heavy on hospitality. I don't think when we get to heaven and we...
Dave (24:27.522) Hehehe
Filmore Bouldes (24:35.431) And we're at the banquet of the saints. There's going to be a few chips and soda and some salsa. I think it's going to be abundant. So we're really trying to create heaven on earth through dinner parties and treat people to think about it like that. And I think what also separates it, I think we really did a really good job. And we're aiming to do that as well here, just establishing roles. So every dinner party.
has a role, people have roles and responsibilities that hospitality hosts follow up and discussion. So how it works is for the first 30 minutes to an hour, people arrive, there's music on, there's hospitality out, there's candles, and there's just connection. We're catching up. Leaders are, we're opening the room, making sure no one's alone. We're big spirited, we're connecting. And I think early on now, I'm saying that now.
to people, even at the front end, because a lot of people are new and they're coming in and are like, who are these people talking? I don't know them. And I'll just get on a mic, because we have a mic at our thing. And I'll say, hey, you may not know anyone, but really this is intentional. People are talking. We want you to meet someone new. Step out of your comfort zone. Go talk to someone. There's someone here that would love to meet you. So I'm saying that every day, every week. And then we get into a discussion time, where we just kind of, what we used to do back.
back in New York was talk around Sunday's message, but now I'll just have like a thought that I'll share and it will kind of break off into prayer off of what I'll share. And then we spend more time. And my favorite thing is time will be up because we go about an hour and a half and people still stay and they linger and they talk. And I think that's a sign of health. So I think if every dinner party has hospitality emphasis, connection emphasis, prayer emphasis, scripture emphasis, I think it will succeed.
Dave (26:32.61) Right. Can I just pick up on that and just think of the culture then, I know you mentioned earlier a film or about Seattle and the Seattle freeze in the sense of high people normally would get on. How do you, how are you going to think of overcoming that? I mean, just knowing, I know there's the kingdom principle, we get that, but thinking of the wider society, if there's that sort of reluctance to connect.
What's your strategy for overcoming that then?
Filmore Bouldes (27:04.499) Yeah, that's a really good question. I guess I really haven't thought about a strategy. I'm pretty confrontational person. I don't really mind being confrontational in the sense of if someone is a believer, I have a conversation differently about this than if they're a non-believer. So if they're a non-believer and they're a bit closed up.
Dave (27:25.326) share.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Filmore Bouldes (27:33.675) closed-minded, closed off, and they don't really welcome people or open up their circle. It's a totally different conversation. I walk with them. We're empathetic. We're gracious. We're patient. But with people here that are saying, hey, you know what? We want to be a part of this, I'm having a conversation and saying, hey, you are not the product of... I mean, you are in one sense, you're flesh.
is attracted to maybe some of the cultural things in Seattle that are not kingdom, but you're also born again. You're born again into a new kingdom way. And I think a lot of times what happens is people kind of just settle for I was born this way or I grew up this way. And I don't like that. I think that's an excuse. It should inform you.
And you should be aware of it. And it's not important. Um, but I think, and it's not a personality thing as well. Like you can be introverted and be, uh, welcoming. You can be extroverted. You can be whatever on the Enneagram. Like it's not about that. It's about just a spirit to say, Hey, I exist as a believer to welcome people into the family of God. So I think we just talk about it really. Like, uh, like, uh, there's really no.
nothing else that I could really say that I do. Like, one of our values is family. So we talk about, hey, this is what the church is. The church is a family. And in my conversation when I'm meeting people, I'm saying, hey, this is the church that we see. So that's pretty much how we do it. We just hit it straight on.
Dave (29:14.434) Yeah.
Dave (29:19.466) Yeah, I like that. I like that. So maybe if we just push on a little bit about the new church plant, it's called One Church. Excuse me, One Church. Tell us what's unique. I know you've mentioned family there. What else is unique about One Church and what you're trying to do?
Nathan Benger (29:21.151) Mm-hmm.
Thank you.
Filmore Bouldes (29:27.381) Yes.
Filmore Bouldes (29:38.471) I think so far what's unique is it's pretty diverse. I've had friends who grew up in the area and now they either live in New York or other places. They may see photos of our church and say that's not normal. You don't really see diverse churches in Seattle. Now I credit that just to, cause my wife and I, you know, I think you attract who you are. So we're diverse. Obviously she's Korean, I'm African-American, but then also...
we've always had diverse relationships. So it's pretty easy for us to connect. So I would say in that sense, it is, and one of the things that we talk about is we don't wanna build a community off preferences. We wanna build a community based on the person of Christ. Your preferences are important, particularly if they're ethnic and cultural, but we want the center and the glue of this community to be around Jesus. So I think that's what makes it unique. It's diverse.
But I don't know, I think this is probably a lame answer. I think we wanna be a church that is excellent, but also we wanna be a church that's word and spirit. So I wanna attempt to have a church that is knowledgeable of scripture, church history, has a liturgical bent, observes the sacraments, but also leans into the power of the spirit, but also...
when someone sees the Instagram, they're like, oh, this is actually attractive, you know? I feel like I wanna combine all of those things, you know? That may sound vain, but that's just who I am. I was a creative before I was a pastor. I was a photographer, so I can't change that part of me, but I also am a nerd. I love to read, you know, and I love to learn and glean, but also I grew up Pentecostal and I grew up in people falling out and...
Nathan Benger (31:14.006) Yeah.
Filmore Bouldes (31:33.039) you know, modesty cloths and all that craziness and seven hour services and worship. So I think I'm like a church mutt. So I'm a theological sort of stew or whatever. I come from a many traditions. So I think, yeah, I want our church to feel like a bit, oh man, this has a bit of, um, you know, it's, it sounds, it's kind of got a bit of Baptist, how much they emphasize the word, but then it kind of feels.
Charismatic because they have lingering in their services and they wait for God to speak or feels a bit like a vineyard church But then it's like wow, it's creative and it's edgy So I think yeah, those are the things we aim to do obviously where a year and a half We're a month and a half. So this could all fail but that that's That's that that's our aim and our four values our truth presence family
Nathan Benger (32:19.253) Yeah.
Filmore Bouldes (32:31.599) and mission. So we believe that the main mission of the church is just to make disciples. The question that we're asking is not what will we achieve, what are our goals? The question we're asking is who are we becoming as a church? So my number one responsibility is to see people become more like Christ. My number one responsibility is not to grow a big church. So I want to see people become more like Christ and I believe people become more like Christ when they have these four
the truth of God, the presence of God, the family of God, and the mission of God. So we want to build a church around those four values.
Nathan Benger (33:08.889) Great. I wonder, Philmore, whether you could talk into maybe the journey of you having the desire, how did you have that desire or God placed on your heart, we wanna plant a church, having that conversation with Josh and Georgia Kelsey, how that went. And yeah, just the process of that before this, this month and a half that you've been launched OneChurch.
Filmore Bouldes (33:37.135) Yeah, so it's haven't even been a month and a half actually. It's been about 40 days, but I just thought about it just now. But yeah, so I never wanted to church plant ever. People would ask me in the past three, four years, pretty frequently, and I'll always say no, because it looked really difficult and hard. And also my wife is from a church planting family. Her grandfather later in her life planted a Korean church in Seattle that was pretty significant, probably one of the biggest Korean churches in Seattle. So I never wanted to do it.
August, late July, August of 2022, I had two dreams. I never remember my dreams, ever. In the past 10 years, I probably remembered five dreams. Two of them were the ones that I had pertaining to Seattle. And I am not, like I'm super open to the gifts of the spirit and things in the spirit, but I was like, I'm not gonna necessarily just jump on this straight away because it could just be, you know, I had too much pizza or whatever.
So Guadalpeo always use that analogy, pizza. So basically what we did with those dreams, the first dream that I had that I'll tell you is my wife and I were driving to church and I realized we weren't in New York, we were in Seattle. And then I began to preach at this church that we were driving to and I recognized that everyone in the audience, they had on Seattle Seahawks jerseys.
And if you go to any church right now on a Sunday in Seattle, you will see that people wear Seattle Seahawks jerseys. The Seahawks run this city. So I sat with that and I woke up with like, hey babe, I think this is prophetic of sorts. She was caught off guard because the backstory is when we were engaged, she wanted to move to Seattle. I said, never. So now she's like, what? Cause she gave up that dream. That's a long story that maybe she can tell someday. But
Nathan Benger (35:08.717) hehehehehe
Filmore Bouldes (35:31.707) So we sat with that word. I had another dream, sat with that word, began to process it with, you know, one person outside of my family. Uh, and then we then brought that to our pastors and said, Hey, we feel like God may be calling us to plan a church. Uh, and then we had, you know, you know, we had about, uh, that took about, I would say that was like maybe January, February, March, April, about four months of, of just kind of lingering around.
the initial thought and vision of us funding a church. And then in April, it was like, you know, we got released to do it. And they, spiritual mentors of ours, they blessed it. And just about every person that we looked up to blessed it. So yeah, we just discerned it. It was probably about a six month, six, eight, eight month process of just discerning the word and.
For us, it meant a lot that spiritual mentors affirmed it. So we're like, you know. And then there was a lot of things that like, my wife was like, this has to happen, this has to happen, this has to happen, and all three of those things happened. So yeah, we just, we sat and we waited with it and the Lord was faithful to confirm it. And now that we're here, it's like so obvious. It's quite wild, yeah…
