A Movement of Churches — Est. 2026

PLANT.
GROW.
MULTIPLY.

The Mercy Collaborative exists to be a movement of churches that identify and train church planters to plant, grow, and multiply more churches.

See the Churches See the Process
Church planted Church planted Church planted Church planted
Prayer over the Oasis Church launch team

The Aim

35by 2035

Eight churches stand with us today, four of them plants. Our goal is 35 church plants by 2035 — so every year between now and then, we're asking who plants next.

4 planted so far31 to go
8 churches stand in the collaborative today — 4 of them plants.
Connect With Us See the Churches
A baptism celebration at a Mercy church

Who We Are

Built on the Great Commission

Mercy Church was planted in 2015 out of The Summit Church's vision to see 1,000 churches planted in a generation. The reason: we believe the local church is God's Plan A for reaching the world — and we want to get in on it and be part of planting Gospel-centered churches around the world.

So we launched Mercy Collaborative, under the umbrella of the Summit Collaborative, to keep that planting vision reproducing. Eight churches stand in the family with us today, four of them planted. The aim isn't to stop there — it's 35 churches by 2035, each one planted by a church within the Mercy Collaborative.

2015
Church planted
110+
Summit network churches
35
Churches by 2035
2028
Full launch goal

What Drives Us

Our Core Values

Under the umbrella of the Summit Collaborative, we hold these four convictions — they shape every church we plant, every leader we train, and every city we enter.

Who's Leading

Meet the Team

The people anchoring the vision and equipping the next generation of church planters.

Spence Shelton
Anchor Lead Pastor

Spence Shelton

Provides direction, voice, and training to pastors across Mercy Collaborative — anchoring the vision and equipping the next generation of church planters.

Scott Urbanek
Mercy Collaborative Director

Scott Urbanek

Oversees the overall leadership and execution of the church planting strategy — connecting churches, developing planters, and championing multiplication.

Will Toburen
Shepherding Pastor

Will Toburen

Walks alongside pastors across Mercy Collaborative — shepherding, encouraging, and caring for the leaders who are planting and strengthening churches.

How We Plant

Assessment.
Training.
Multiplication.

From the first conversation to a thriving, multiplying church — every phase is intentional, rigorous, and walked together.

Phase 01

Assessment

Every planting journey begins with an honest assessment. Under the umbrella of the Summit Collaborative, we use the Lead Pastor Profile to evaluate a potential planter's calling, character, competency, and chemistry with the Mercy family.

This process is humbling and rigorous — not to weed people out, but to set every planter up for long-term success.

Lead Pastor ProfileCharacter EvaluationVision Alignment
Lead Pastor Profile

Under the umbrella of the Summit Collaborative, every planter is assessed against the same Lead Pastor Profile: nine markers across Character, Competency, and Calling — plus three Mercy Family alignment markers.

Character

Spiritual Maturity

Deeply rooted and spiritually qualified

Self-Awareness

Knows their gifts, limits, and story

Confident Humility

Conviction with the humility of Christ

Competency

Drive

Takes responsibility to make things happen

Communication

A maturing preaching voice and a compelling vision

Multiplier

A track record of leading teams and growing ministries

Calling

Vision

Clear, mature, and compelling

Alignment

Rooted in Scripture, affirmed by experience

Community

Affirmed by their sending church and spouse

Mercy Family alignment

Capacity

Can lead a church past 250 and develop a planter

Chemistry

Other family pastors would confidently recommend their church

Missiologically Relevant

Exegetes the culture and shows how the gospel speaks to it

Phase 02

Training

Assessed planters enter a structured season of equipping. Drawing from the book of Acts, we invest in the whole person — theologically, missionally, and practically.

Training happens in community — planters learn alongside other leaders, receiving coaching, teaching, and real-world exposure to healthy church planting.

Pastoral CoachingTheological FormationCohort Learning
Equipped in community

Planters grow in Character, Competency, and Calling alongside other leaders.

9-Month Cohort

Each meeting focused on one topic of the Lead Pastor Profile

Church Planting Residency

A fully funded resident, housed in a founding church

Coaching & Community

Teaching, coaching, and real-world exposure to healthy church planting

More detail coming

Phase 03

Pre-Launch

With a city identified and a planter ready, the pre-launch phase is where vision becomes strategy — building a launch team, establishing a sending partnership, and embedding in the target community.

We prioritize cities with growing job markets, sendable populations, and diverse communities.

Launch TeamCity ResearchPartnership Building
Getting ready to launch

The planter and the family prepare together.

Launch Team

City Research

Partnership Building

More detail coming

Phase 04

Launch

When Mercy Collaborative launches a church, the whole network launches together. Financial support, prayer, and people flow into the new plant.

The launch is not a finish line — it's the beginning of investing in the church's first-year health and growth.

Network SupportFinancial PartnershipLaunch Sunday
Planted together

When the Collaborative plants a church, the whole family plants it.

Network Support

Financial Partnership

Churches in the family financially support every plant

Launch Sunday

More detail coming

Phase 05

Strengthening

We don't send and forget. Ongoing care is built into our DNA — lead pastors stay connected through regular check-ins, retreats, and the relational fabric of our collaborative.

We walk with planters through the hard seasons, and every church we plant becomes part of the network that supports the next one.

Ongoing CoachingAnnual RetreatNetwork Accountability
Never sent and forgotten

Ongoing care is built into how the family works.

Ongoing Coaching

Annual Retreat

Time together throughout the year: trips, video calls, and a retreat

Network Accountability

When one pastor calls, the family answers

More detail coming

Start the Conversation

The Family, Planted

Meet the Churches
Carrying This Forward

Every church below started the same way Mercy did — a small team who believed their city was worth another try. Here's who's carrying that forward with us.

The Web

One Goal. Many Threads.

Every church we plant becomes a new strand in the web. Tap a church to see its story.

Hub — Mercy Church Planted by Mercy — connected to the hub Churches that have joined — not planted by Mercy Next up — the 31 still to plant

Next Up

The Next 31

Every open node represents a future church plant. We don't yet know who, where, or when — only that God is calling the next churches to be planted. Four are planted; thirty-one are still to go.

Connect With Us

Stories

Stories From
Around the Collab

Updates from the churches we're planting, the leaders we're training, and the cities we're entering — told by the people living it.

Watch

Hear From the Collab

Church Plant Update: Oasis Church Launch
Watch on YouTube ↗
Church Planting Vision: Charlotte, a Dormant Volcano
Watch on YouTube ↗

Next Steps

Plant With Us.
Grow With Us.

To reach 35 churches by 2035, we need churches planted by Mercy, churches planted by our plants, and strategic churches grafted in from the outside.

Get In Touch

Is Your Church One of Them?

Reach out below and our team will follow up personally.

Plant with Mercy

A new church is planned for Charlotte in 2026. Join the launch team or support the plant.

Train New Planters

We help our current plants identify and develop the next generation of church planters.

Graft In Your Church

Strategic churches from outside our network are invited to join the mission.

Fuel the Mission

Give to the Mission

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Why We Give

Giving isn't a transaction — it's participation in what God is doing through His church. When you give to Mercy Collaborative, you're fueling planters before they've raised a dollar, training pastors before they've led a church, and reaching cities before a single sermon has been preached there.

[Drafted from an internal reflection on giving found in your files — confirm final wording with Scott/Spence before publishing.]

How Giving Works

Once a processor (Planning Center, Tithely, or Donately) is selected, this section will include a direct giving button, fund designations, and tax-receipt information. Until then, use the form below to reach our team directly.