John Teter and Peyton Jones are both leading authors and experts on church planting who decided to join the Free Methodist Church USA in recent years. In a recent episode of “The Light + Life Podcast,” they shared what has attracted them to make the Free Methodist Church USA their spiritual home.
“If someone was seeking a home, the question I would ask is: What’s the strength of the operating system? You don’t want the operating system to crash,” said Teter — the planting pastor of Holy Faith Fellowship in Compton, California, and the executive director of its Holy Faith Antioch church planting and leadership development wing — who called the five values of The Free Methodist Way “a robust, strong operating system. And then from that, you can be creative and contextualize, and I would just say, do a deep dive on these five. Do a deep dive on the five freedoms, the applications of that, and I think you’re going to be pleasantly surprised at how strong they are. They’ve stood the test of time, and I think they’re only going to get stronger in our upside-down, crazy world.”
That sentiment resonated with Jones, who hosts the “Church Planter Podcast,” contributes to “Through the Word” with 10 million listeners, and serves as the chief executive officer of NewBreed Training. His books include “Church Plantology” and the forthcoming “Discipology.”
“One of the things that really impressed me when I came in was how kingdom-minded the Free Methodists are,” said Jones, who added that Free Methodists “are truly not out for the Free Methodists. They are truly out for the kingdom. It just happens to be that this family — this tribe — has these values, and so we stick together around those.”
Teter and Jones were joined on the episode by Larry and Deb Walkemeyer, the Free Methodist Church USA’s strategic catalysts for multiplication, and host Brett Heintzman, the Free Methodist Church USA’s director of communications.
‘A Divine Contact’
Teter said that when he and his wife, Becky, planted their first church around 2007–08 in Long Beach, California, he and Larry Walkemeyer served together on the board of a local church planting collective. The Teters “always loved and admired” the Walkemeyers and their “beautiful apostolic ministry,” and John reflected, “Larry and Deb are kind of who Becky and I want to be.” Then the Teters had “a really wild later-in-life faith challenge similar to [John] Wesley’s when he had the Aldersgate” experience.
The Teters connected further with the Walkemeyers while planting independently, and John said, “It just felt like a divine contact for us.” While part of Presbyterian and Evangelical Covenant churches, John Teter developed an admiration for Wesley and his “method of the holiness clubs,” “apostolic multiplication,” and “love for the poor.”
Larry Walkemeyer reflected that Teter “was transitioning to plant Holy Faith, and we had this conversation. … Deb and I both just felt like John’s a perfect fit for who we are as Free Methodists.”
Deb Walkemeyer reflected that while previously planting and expanding the Compton (California) Community Garden, she reached out to Becky Teter who had “created a social enterprise” with a “fantastic business plan. She sat with me one whole evening in her den, and just said, ‘Here’s the plan,’ and shared that gift with me and said, ‘Go for it. We’re here to support you.’”
Deb recalled wishing then that the Teters were part of the Free Methodist Church. Her wish ultimately came true.
Going Together
The Compton Community Garden also helped Jones connect with the Walkemeyers.
“I had heard about this incredible community garden in Compton that was just way ahead of its time. I think Deb was practitioning things that people were just starting to write about, and we got her on a version of the ‘Church Planter Podcast,’” Peyton recalled. “I got off the podcast and said to my wife, ‘I just met you … once we get established, and we know what we’re doing. I just met your twin.’”
Deb Walkemeyer later met Jones’ wife, Andrea, at a dinner and realized, “She is a such a kindred spirit, even though she’s like two decades younger.”
Larry Walkemeyer said he admired Jones after reading his books and connecting with him through Exponential, which Larry also serves as the church multiplication organization’s director of equipping and spiritual engagement. Jones also had planted a church in Long Beach, California, where the Walkemeyers served at Light & Life Christian Fellowship although they didn’t know each other well during their common time in the coastal city.
“When we became friends in Exponential, I began to have conversations with him about Free Methodists and just saw the similar heart and love, and thinking and theology that Peyton had, and I thought, ‘Man, he’d be a great fit,’” Larry said.
Jones said the Walkemeyers are known for their “incredible humility,” and added, “I don’t think people understand Larry’s role. Sometimes, at Exponential, he is the pastor of that team. He is the shepherd on staff there. He leads the prayer meetings, and he brings just the presence of the Holy Spirit to that team.” Jones was already impressed by Deb’s “apostolic spirit,” and then he found himself impressed with “Larry’s character, his gentleness, his Christlikeness.”
Jones met together with Larry and a similar denomination’s multiplication director and asked each one why he should join their denomination. Larry successfully convinced him that the Free Methodist Church was the best home for him.
Jones’ background includes working with several denominations and theological movements such as the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Church, Calvary Chapel, and the Southern Baptist Convention.
While collaborating with Mac Lake — the father of popular Christian singer Brandon Lake — to build training for Southern Baptist church planters, Jones thought, “It would be so cool if I had a tribe like all these Southern Baptists have a tribe. … I’m never going to have that, because I am such a weird blend of the Holy Spirit stuff from the mission field, the committedness to Scripture from Calvary Chapel, the multiplication. … All this stuff was mixed around within me. And then, of course, I married into an Arabic family and adopted two little ladies of color, and now I’m like, ‘OK, all the social stuff is very real and important to me.’”
Jones thought “these things don’t go together” until discovering The Free Methodist Way. He and Andrea took a history and polity course and realized, “We had been Free Methodists for 20 years and not realized it.”