“Cypress Community Church desires to help everyday people follow Jesus in the everyday. We accomplish this through our natural rhythms as we go into our neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces with a clear desire to bring the gospel message to those who do not know Jesus. We desire to invite people into our communities and rhythms of our lives.”

“We hope to see the kindness of God renew Timbergrove one person at a time through relational discipleship.”

“We want to see Westheimer become a bridge between North and South rather than a barrier.”

This week, I want you to meet the Houston Church Planting Network Residents. Today, Taylor Ince tells us a little bit about himself and what he envisions his church plant to be like in Houston. I admire this brother. We call him The Doctor since he is the only one in the group with a PhD. Above all, he is a fun guy who I have gained insight over the past 5 months. Meet Taylor.

1. Tell me a little bit about yourself…

“I am a 6th generation Houstonian. I have 5 kids: 2 in Heaven, 3 on Earth. I have a Bachelor’s in History from Wake Forest College, a Divinity degree from Reformed Theological Seminary, and a PhD in Hebrew and Old Testament studies from New College, University of Edinburgh.”

2. What is your family’s favorite local restaurant?

“Lupe Tortilla. Because we have a 2-year old and a 4-year old, I am a bit ashamed to say that we spend an inordinate amount of time at Chick-Fil-a.”

3. What books are you currently reading?

Job Through New Eyes by Sumpter,
Prayer by Keller,
A New Testament Biblical Theology by Beale,
Holiness by Ryle,
On the Trinity by Richard of St. Victor,
Teaching a Stone to Talk by Dillard,
Emotionally Healthy Church Planter by Scazerro,
Young Stalin by Montefiore,
Hitler by Kershaw,
John Calvin by Selderhuis,
Center Church by Keller,
The Church Planter by Patrick,
The End of the Beginning by Dumbrell,
Hard Scrabble by Graves,
Horace’s Odes,
Virgil’s Georgics.

4. Who is your favorite dead and alive theologian?

“Dead: Moses
Alive: Tim Keller”

5. What do you do in your time of rest?

“Read, walk, smoke my pipe, pray, spend time with family, cycle, and climb rocks.”

6. Where would be your family’s dream vacation destination?

“Maui. My wife has lots of family there, so the dream is reality, my friends… glorious!”

7. Tell me a little bit about your ministry experience…

“Not much. I had the pleasure of getting to know some Muslim university students in Edinburgh quite well, and that was a huge blessing. We learned a lot and came to love them as some of our dearest friends. We carried our heart for Muslims back to Texas and want outreach to Muslims to be a hallmark of our ministry in Houston.”

8. Where in Houston do you desire to plant a church?

“We will be planting in the Galleria area close to a big Islamic education centre; which is good thing.”

9. Why Houston?

“There are lots of people who are still wandering in darkness and headed to hell. There are lots of non-Christians who think they are Christians and lots of Christians who need discipling. Plus, I’m from Houston and love Houston and God has called us to plant here. We spend tons of resources trying to reach the nations abroad while we could spend much less with greater effectiveness reaching the nations here in Houston… And they are here, more than any other city in the Nation.”

10. What is your vision for your particular church plant?

“Isaiah 61:4
1. Proclaim (herald the gospel and win the lost),
2. Plow (disciple),
3. Plant (life together through parish group multiplication; plant churches that plant churches),
4. Propel (strategic ministry partnerships) to see Westheimer become a bridge between North and South rather than a barrier; to kill abortion in my lifetime and to win Muslims to Christ.”

11. How can we pray for you?

“You have enough info above. Please, just pray! Okay, pray for humility and prayerfulness.”

Folks, contact Taylor through any of the ways below with your prayers, encouragement, and any information you’d like to know about his church plant… 

Phone: 281.624.7680;
Email: taylorince@gmail.com
Twitter: @taylorhadenince

More Blog Posts on this Series:

• Introduction to The HCPN Residency Church Planters
• Meet Joseph Ingram

We desire to be an idol-shattering church, that permeates the gospel within society and culture, so that people live out their identity in Christ.

This week, I want you to meet the Houston Church Planting Network Residents. Today, Joseph Ingram tells us a little bit about himself and what he envisions his church plant to be like in Houston. I have come to appreciate tis dear brother. His counsel, advice, and prayers have been uplifting and encouraging to me in the past 5 months. Always dressing sharp, he might as well be the best dressed resident out of our group! 🙂 Meet Joseph.

1. Tell me a little bit about yourself…

“My name is Joseph Ingram. I was born and raised in Steubenville, OH, a suburb of Pittsburgh, PA along the Ohio River. I have a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from The Ohio State University, and subsequently worked 7 years for J.P. Morgan as an executive before turning pursuits to God’s calling as a pastor. Since then, I have obtained a Master of Theology Degree from Dallas Theological Seminary, and I recently married my life partner, companion, and love, Loren.”

2. What is your family’s favorite local restaurant? 

“We enjoy many. Right now, we would probably say Common Bond Bakery.”

3. What books are you currently reading?

• “Church Unique by Will Mancini,
• Church Planter by Darren Patrick, and
• The Art of Neighboring by Jay Pathak, Dave Runyon and Randy Frazee.”

4. Who is your favorite dead and alive theologian?

“Augustine – I enjoy his intimacy with God and his pioneering thoughts on personal depravity.”

5. What do you do in your time of rest?

“I enjoy working out, socializing with good friends, and dancing with my wife.”

6. Where would be your family’s dream vacation destination?

“A historic city in a country like Italy with artistic history, beautiful landscapes, great food, and romance.”

7. Tell me a little bit about your ministry experience…

“Just recently, while pursuing my seminary degree, I launched and led a worship service in a housing complex located in Dallas, TX. Also, I have been an Associate Pastor at two churches and a home director for a Dallas inner city ministry that provides housing, assistance, and discipleship for those who are marginalized.”

8. Where in Houston do you desire to plant a church?

“Upper Kirby – We are seeking to establish a center city model that sits in the midst of some of the historic residential neighborhoods of Houston, including West University, River Oaks, Montrose, and the Medical District. Additionally, it contains some of Houston’s major economic centers, retail shops and restaurants.”

9. Why Houston?

“I believe metropolitan cities are one of greatest tools in this modern time to facilitate the missional mandate to share the gospel to the ends of the earth. Sheer size and spiritual decay expresses the first need. Additionally, as an world urban center, Houston brings together people from across the globe for business, health care, education, and entertainment. Thus, if we share the gospel in Houston’s diverse urban center, people will take the gospel back to their places of influence, homelands, and even throughout the world.”

10. What is your vision for your particular church plant?

“The Houston urban center is known for its wealth, shopping, food, and entertainment. So much so, that the prime importance of God isn’t a focus. We desire to be an idol-shattering church, that permeates the gospel within society and culture, so that people live out their identity in Christ.”

11. How can we pray for you?

“Please pray that we begin to make relationships in Upper Kirby for friendship, the partnering of the gospel, as well as engaging identity driven people with discipleship.”

Folks, contact Joseph through any of the ways below with your prayers, encouragement, and any information you’d like to know about his church plant…

Email: j.ingram@gatheredchurch.org
Facebook Page
Twitter: @jhenryingram

More Blog Posts on this Series:

• Introduction to The HCPN Residents Church Planters

The Houston Church Planting Network is a fully funded residency that is giving seven men the time with key leaders and pastors in the city during the week to speak into things they need help in and has a system of soul care for church planters that often gets overlooked in the church planting process, preparing them to plant churches in Houston. I am glad to be part of this year’s group. That has been my life in the past 5 months.

Eager to plant a new church, we met for the first time together with our residency director in September, ready to get to work. Since then, we have met every week, to learn how to plant churches, to learn what to be aware of in the mission field, to grow in our character as well as in our preaching and a whole bunch of other things.

Two days of the week, we get together as a Cohort and meet with pastors, church planters and other people who help us plant churches with their insight. From confession of sin to preaching and from marriage nights with our wives to fundraising, we have been encouraged by faithful pastors and church planters. We cannot get enough of these days. For seven men who are entrepreneurial, ministry minded and feel like they are ready to start a new church, this residency has slowed us down (in a good way) and made us check some things in our hearts. That is a good thing. Something I have benefited from a lot.

There is much to be said about the willingness and availability of these pastors who have come and spent some time with us. They have gone before us, experienced ministry like we never have and I sometimes wonder if they think we are crazy when we talk about our big dreams. They have helped us keep our feet on the ground while at the same time encouraged us to move in faith to whatever God has called us to do. I feel so privileged whenever we meet with a pastor/church planter who has given up his morning or afternoon to come and pour wisdom into us. I am so thankful to be able to get together with exceptional men who meet with us every week to challenge us, lead us, pray for us, teach us, and make us confront issues that we need to face in order to go forward in this work.

We have grown together as a group, prayed for one another and encouraged each other. For the next few days coming up, I’d like to highlight these men and let you know who they are, so that you can pray for them and the work of ministry that they are doing as they prepare to start new churches in Houston.

Many of the people who have known me for the past few years know me as a pastor. In 2010, I decided to plant a church in the Spring Branch area of Houston. I, along with a group of about 12 people, met in an apartment complex clubroom and then at a storefront location for Sunday church services. We were intentional about serving the community and, looking back, I believe that we served people well.

On August of 2014, four years later, after a few months of seeing some challenges in our current church plant, we realized that we were faced with a few things that were foundational for a church plant and we had not developed them. So, we closed our church. You could read about those 3 reasons by clicking here. In the following weeks, we helped the church members find other churches, met with whoever needed encouragement and had voiced concern to me. It has been an amazing thing to see the majority of people plug in to other churches in Houston as they continue to serve God.

This is the short story. Now, I am in a church planting residency of the Houston Church Planting Network along with 6 other men who will be planting churches in Houston. Some may have questions about what a residency looks like and I may post more details about it at another time, but I would like to give you a gist of what the HCPN’s residency is.

For that, I will link you to a brief and to-the-point blog post that a brother resident posted a few months ago. Jacob Sweeney is another church planter in the residency who has written about what our residency looks like. As you click onto his blog post, he sums up the residency well by giving you more details on it.

The residency of HCPN is a fully funded residency that gives 7 men the time with key leaders and pastors in the city during the week to speak into things we need help in and has a system of soul care for church planters that often gets overlooked in the church planting process.

Check it out by clicking the link below:
What is a Church Planting Residency? by Jacob Sweeney