Inner-City Church Planting


Speakers

Dhati Lewis

Dhati Lewis is the lead pastor of Blueprint Church in Atlanta, Georgia. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of North Texas and earned his Master’s degree from Dallas Theological Seminary. During his early years of ministry, Dhati became increasingly burdened to see healthy disciple-making churches in the city. This burden grew until the Lord gave Dhati a clear vision to plant a church-planting church in Atlanta. In 2009 Dhati, along with twenty-five others, moved to Atlanta with the goal of becoming the last generation of believers to abandon the urban context in search of sound discipleship. Dhati also serves as the BLVD Experience team director with the Send Network Team at the North American Mission Board. Dhati and his wife Angie have seven beautiful children.

John Onwuchekwa

John Onwuchekwa, a native of Houston, Texas, was born into a Nigerian home where the gospel was cherished deeply and modeled excellently. After graduating from college, he studied at Dallas Theological Seminary. He’s served at churches in both Texas and Georgia and in 2015 moved into the Historic West End to help plant Cornerstone Church with his best friends. He and his wife, Shawndra, have been married since 2007. They’re eager to see the hope of the gospel restore a sense of family, dignity, and hope to their neighborhood through their local church of ordinary people.

Mike McKinley

Mike McKinley was raised in suburban Philadelphia. He received a B.A. in Religion and Classics from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and an M.Div from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. In 2004, Mike was brought onto the pastoral staff at Capitol Hill Baptist Church as a church planter. In 2005, he brought a small group of people from CHBC to Guilford Baptist Church in order to help revitalize the church’s ministry. He served as Guilford’s pastor until 2013, when Guilford merged with Sterling Park Baptist Church, where he now serves as Senior Pastor. Mike has been married to Karen since 1997, and they have five beautiful children: Kendall, Knox, Phineas, Ebenezer, and Harper. In his free time, Mike loves to spend time with his family, reading all kinds of books, and daydreaming about the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Eagles.

Richard Mullen

Richard Mullen is a pastor at Cornerstone Church in Atlanta, Georgia. A graduate from Baylor University with a B.A. in Sociology, much of his professional experience has been in the social services field. In 2012, Richard completed a church-planting residency through the Rebuild Network and currently serves the local church as the Community Life Pastor.  Richard is the husband to Amanda and father to four children: Micah, Jaeden, Amaya, and Aaliya.

Thabiti Anyabwile

Thabiti Anyabwile is the pastor of Anacostia River Church in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, Thabiti served as the pastor of First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman for seven years. He is a native of Lexington, North Carolina. Thabiti holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in psychology from North Carolina State University. He is the author of Captivated: Beholding the Mystery of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection, The Gospel for Muslims: An Encouragement to Share Christ with Confidence, The Decline of African-American Theology, The Life of God in the soul of the Church, Finding Faithful Elders & Deacons, and What is a Healthy Church Member?. He is the happy husband of Kristie and the adoring father of three children. A former high school basketball coach and bookstore owner, he enjoys preaching, reading, sports, and watching sci-fi films.