We understand this has been a unique season of change, both within Foursquare and in our world at large. To communicate clearly and fully what’s happening in the Western District of Foursquare, this FAQ is a working document that will be updated as we continue to build into the future.
If you have questions that aren’t answered below, please contact Western District Administrative Assistant Karnel Watkins.
FOURSQUARE WESTERN
:: What states are included in the new Western District?
California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. Our district includes approximately 432 churches and missional communities.
:: What is the organizational structure of the Western District?
The primary purpose of the Western District team is to care for and serve local churches and pastors. Within each District, there is a District Supervisor, Associate Supervisor(s), NextGen Coordinator, Mission Mobilizer, Multiethnic Coordinator, and Communication and Events Coordinator. This team exists to lead church transitions and health, mobilize church planting, provide administrative support, provide missions engagement opportunities, support multiethnic and multicultural congregations, plan engaging and helpful events and training, inform local pastors of what’s happening in the district and larger Foursquare community, and more. Here is our District Team:
Billy Calderwood – District Supervisor
Grace Kladnik– Associate District Supervisor
Tim Russell – Associate District Supervisor
Mark Slomka – Associate Supervisor
Leland Rounds – Administrator
Brittany Johnstone – Communications + Event Coordinator
Natalie Werking – NextGen Coordinator
Johanna Oddo – Missions Mobilizer
Jennifer Thigpenn – Multiethnic Coordinator
Karnel Watkins – Administrative Support
Learn More: Meet the Western District Team
Our District is organized into nine Regions. Each Region is served by a Regional Pastor. The Regional Pastor is a new role designed to provide an extra layer of support, care, resource, and connection to our local church pastors. We also have four Regional NextGen Coordinators that serve our NextGen Leaders. Lastly, each Region has 3-5 areas within them, each served by an Area Pastor, who provides care and connection for 10-20 pastors.
Our nine Regions, Regional Pastors and Regional NextGen Coordinators are:
Todd Clease, Regional Pastor – Region 1
Brian Cain, Regional Pastor – Region 2
Dale Swanson, Regional Pastor – Region 3
Brian Goodell, Regional Pastor – Region 4
Joe Hernandez, Regional Pastor – Region 5
Heidi Messner, Regional Pastor – Region 6
Erick Edquist, Regional Pastor – Region 7
Justin Klatt, Regional Pastor – Region 8
Kent Miyoshi, Regional Pastor – Region 9
Lauren Amstutz, NextGen Regional Pastor
Dan Britton, NextGen Regional Pastor
Joanna McAdam, NextGen Regional Pastor
Chris Stewart, NextGen Regional Pastor
Learn More: Meet the Western Regional & Area Pastor team.
:: Whom do I call if I have a question?
Karnel Watkins serves as our District Administrative Support. She’s available to point you in the right direction regarding any questions, concerns or needs you have. You can also contact your Area and Regional Pastors. Contact Karnel Watkins.
In addition, our team members each have areas of special focus, so you can reach out to them directly. These include:
- Finances, Bylaws and Church Logistics: Leland Rounds
- Pastoral Transitions, new Lead Pastors, Church Health, and Ethics Issues: Contact your area pastor
- Church Planting, Mergers and Churches coming into Foursquare: Contact your area pastor
- Multicultural and Multiethnic Churches and Leaders: Jennifer Thigpenn
- NextGen (Kids, Youth, & Young Adults ministries): Natalie Werking
- Missions and FMI Workers: Johanna Oddo
- Events and Communications: Brittany Johnstone
:: We’re looking to fill a staff role at our church. Is there any way the District can help us find a good candidate?
Although we don’t currently have an official non-lead role networking system, you’re welcome to send us openings and we’ll let you know if we know anyone who might be a good fit. Please include a detailed description of the role, hours, pay and responsibilities.
:: I’m looking to find a role on staff at a church. Is there any way the District can help me get connected?
We have created a simple resumé platform for you to submit your resumé. Please include as many details as possible.
:: This has been a really challenging season. Does Foursquare have any confidential counseling resources available?
We understand the incredible pressure and strain pastors have endured in this season. You are not alone. We are here to support you and help you in any way we can. If you want to talk or need direction on finding help, please call us at the Western District. In addition, we listed some resources below.
Recommended Resources
Paul Kuzma, the Director of the Center for Spiritual Renewal, put together a variety of resources to serve pastors in this challenging season. You can find those here: Foursquare recommended resources for pastoring in a pandemic.
Counseling Services
We can help you connect with professional counseling to process your experience in this season. We encourage you to use your church’s resources to pay for this. If you need financial assistance to see a counselor, please contact the District office.
Center for Spiritual Renewal
All licensed pastors have access to the Center for Spiritual Renewal. We have two campuses, one in Los Angeles and one in Virginia. These are spaces designed to both give pastors rest, as well as meet with professional counselors for care and support. Learn more here: Foursquare Pastoral Care.
Urgent Pastoral Care
If you have an urgent pastoral care need, reach out to Robby Booth (213.989.4252) and Paul Kuzma (540.394.7222). All voicemails are confidential, and every attempt is made to return calls within 24 hours.
THE FOURSQUARE CHURCH
:: What is the new organizational structure of The Foursquare Church, also known as U.S. Foursquare/ICFG?
Foursquare is organized into three sections: Culture, Cause and Corporation. Each of these three realms of responsibility is designed to serve a different aspect of the Foursquare Movement and are all actively working together to focus on our goal of more and growing leaders, together on mission.
Culture: This team promotes a culture of diversity within our unity, and the spirit of lifelong learning and emotional, mental, and spiritual health. This team is actively working to support the Foursquare Church in developing a culture of more and growing leaders, together on mission, across all areas of ministry and influence. This team includes Leader Health and Development, the Center for Spiritual Renewal, Women in Ministry Leadership (WIML), Communications, and others.
Cause: This team is focused on recruiting, developing, and sending people for mission, both domestically and internationally. This team includes our Districts, local churches and pastors, church planting, Foursquare Missions International (FMI) and our shared mission emphasis.
Corporation: This team provides the infrastructure that allows our other teams to function, including information systems, credentialing, legal counsel, accounting, and properties. They are committed to efficiency and effectiveness, prioritizing stewardship, both now and into the future.
:: Practically, how does Foursquare plan to serve and care for pastors well with larger districts?
We understand the concerns that have been raised with the new structure and moving from 11 districts to 6 districts. However, we’re committed to expanding care, providing broader resources, and leveraging our relationships across the Districts to serve pastors well. To do this, we’re working on several things, including:
Consistent Systems across Districts: Our Districts are working on building consistent systems of support and administration. The goal is that a pastor would have a consistent experience and see common values and priorities when moving from one District to another. This will also make it easier to serve transitions and appointments across Districts.
Developmental Workgroups: All our current District Supervisors and Associate Supervisors are participating in developmental workgroups to develop tools, consistent structures and serve different Foursquare people groups. These workgroups include:
- Church Health
- Leadership Development
- Mobilization of Women
- Church Planting
- Multicultural Engagement and Development
- NextGen
Implementation of Regional Pastors: The Regional Pastor is a new role. These Pastors will serve around 50 churches each and work closely with the Area Pastors. They will support transitions, identify churches that need extra care and support, create realms of collaboration, and identify resource churches, support relationships between both majority culture and multiethnic churches, and be a connector of people and resources. Foursquare Western now has nine Regional Pastors plus four NextGen Regional Pastors.
FOURSQUARE FINANCES AND RETURN OF THE TITHE
:: In this new organizational structure, what is our church’s tithe going towards?
Each Foursquare church in good standing gives 10% of its income from tithes and offerings to the Foursquare Movement. Here’s a breakdown of how that 10% is used:
5% – Funding of Foursquare administration and District teams
1% – Retirement fund for the Lead Pastor
4% – Missional Investment Funds (also known as Return of the Tithe). This is money returned to each church for the purpose of investing in church planting, missional outreach, and leadership development.
:: I’m new to the Foursquare Movement. What are the Missional Investment Funds?
Missional Investment Funds (also known as Return of the Tithe) are funds given to US Foursquare churches designated for church planting, missional outreach, and leadership development. This corporate decision was made with the belief that the best people to determine how to invest in Kingdom work are local pastors and local churches. This money is dispersed to tithing churches in good standing on a bi-annual basis. The amount is 40% of each church’s tithe to the Foursquare Movement.
:: It seems like there used to be more money available for support through the district. What changed?
We are now living in the full reality of the Missional Investment Funds. 40% of the income previously available to the districts to utilize for support and care is no longer coming to the districts. Instead, it’s being returned to the local church in the form of Missional Investment Funds. This means that it’s important that our local churches are considering Kingdom opportunities, partnerships, and church planting in new and creative ways.
LICENSING
:: I have someone in my church I’d like to see get licensed as a Foursquare minister. What is the process now?
Foursquare now has a centralized licensing process. The purpose of this new national licensing pipeline and team is to ensure consistency and a high standard in the experience and training, as well as the knowledge, skills, and pastoral qualifications of the people that we license as Foursquare ministers. Learn more about the licensing process and start the application HERE.
:: I’d like to be involved in coaching my licensing candidates. Can I do that?
Yes! You can be involved in coaching your own candidates. Because of our new national licensing process, we’re asking everyone interested in coaching to go through a training. This training includes walking through the new online material, as well as some coaching methodology. If you’re interested in becoming a coach, email Foursquare Credentials Formation Training Coordinator, Jenna Livingston.
TRANSITIONS AND CHURCH HEALTH
:: I’m feeling that my season as the pastor of my church may be coming to an end. What do I do?
Our Supervisory team is here to help process and discern with you the next steps in your ministry journey! If you are feeling a change coming in your ministry assignment reach out and connect with one of our Associate Supervisors as your first step. They would love to connect with you, hear from you and help guide you through the transitional conversation and process. It’s never too soon to begin this conversation, even if you envision a transition three to five years out.
:: As we navigate this new cultural landscape, we’re considering partnering with another church and combining our congregations. What do I do?
As we look at the future landscape of the Church in the United States, creative innovation, missional opportunities, and Kingdom partnerships will all be key components. We’d love to help you process the idea of a partnership with another church community, as well as questions to ask yourself and dialogue through as you consider this. If you’re considering a partnership and would like to discuss it and learn more, please reach out to one of our Associate Supervisors.
CHURCH PLANTING
:: We want to plant a church. What do we do?
Hooray! We want to plant churches, too. We are committed to planting the gospel in new ground and working together to saturate the Western District with life-giving churches.
If you are a church planter: If you are an individual, couple or team that is feeling called to church plant, please start by talking to your Lead Pastor. We work hard at planting churches in relationship with our churches and pastors. Once you’ve talked to them, you and your Lead Pastor should reach out to one of our Associate Supervisors. They are working to mobilize church planting and planting partnerships in the Western District. The goal of this initial conversation is to determine the next steps and how to best support you and your sending church.
If you are a sending church: We love that you want to plant a church. Please reach out to our Associate Supervisors to start a conversation. We want to help you, resource you, and support you in any way we can.
:: What is Foursquare’s development and training process for church planting?
Foursquare Multiply is our church planting pipeline. Multiply is a national team designed to train, connect, resource and fund Foursquare church planters, as well as engage and support sending churches. You can learn more about Multiply at foursquaremultiply.com.
:: Our church would like to help with church planting, but we don’t have the resources to send out our own plant. How can we help?
As we look at the future, working together and forming planting partnerships will be a key component in effective church planting. There are lots of ways to be involved in church planting, including:
- Working with another church or a group of churches to plant
- Providing non-monetary support, like administration, community, care and prayer
- Providing one time or ongoing financial support
- Serve on an Advisory Support Team for a church planter
If you want to get involved in church planting in any of these ways (or more), please reach out to our Associate Supervisors.
NEXTGEN
:: There is a Foursquare Kids’ Curriculum in the works. When will it be ready and how do I get it?
The new Foursquare kids’ curriculum is called Build. It’s a Foursquare distinct curriculum highlighting Jesus as Savior, Healer, Baptizer and King. The Foursquare Kids’ Curriculum will be completed and launched this year at Connection 2022
:: In our new Foursquare structure, what do Western Summer Camps look like?
In the Northwest District, camps are run by local NextGen leaders in collaboration with the District. This summer, we have 12 camps planned across the District. We’ll continually update this list as more details are finalized. To learn more about a camp, including how to register your kids or talk to a Camp Director, please contact Natalie Werking.
CHAPLAINS
:: How do Chaplains and chaplaincy training fit into the new structure of Foursquare?
We’re committed to supporting and promoting chaplaincy as an incredible mission opportunity and ministry calling. Chaplaincy is a key component to Foursquare collectively pursuing our mission of more and growing leaders, together on mission. To learn more about chaplaincy or to connect with other chaplains, reach out to Foursquare Chaplain Director Jason Reynolds.
MULTIETHNIC
:: I lead a Hispanic church. Who do I connect with?
We now have a dedicated National Hispanic District, designed to serve the unique needs of our Hispanic pastors, leaders and congregations. You can connect with the National Hispanic District by reaching out to their Administrative Support, Francisca Vargas at fvargas@foursquare.org or call 213-201-4816. This entire team is bilingual.
:: We have a multiethnic congregation in our church. What resources are available for us?
Our Western District has a new Multiethnic Coordinator, Jennifer Thigpenn. Jennifer’s role is to support multiethnic leaders and congregations as they navigate their unique contexts, opportunities and challenges. Jennifer is developing a variety of resources to serve multiethnic leaders, including licensing in other languages and multiethnic church plant training. To learn more about Multiethnic ministries, contact Jennifer Thigpenn.
MISSIONS
:: We have folks in our church interested in missions. Who do I connect them with?
Johanna Oddo is our Western District Missions Mobilizer. She can help you learn about opportunities in Foursquare Missions and connect you with the Western Missions team. To learn more about Missions, contact Johanna Oddo.
:: We want to send a short-term mission team, but don’t have a missions department in our church. Is there someone in Foursquare that can help me?
Yes! Foursquare sends a variety of short-term teams (called “GO Teams”), primarily to serve with and support our missionary workers around the world. To learn more about opportunities to send a team, please contact servewithfmi@foursquare.org.
:: We’d love to share with our church what’s happening through FMI around the world. How do I learn more?
We have Foursquare missionary workers all over the world doing amazing things for Jesus. We chronicle many of these stories and make them available for you to share in your church. You can learn more at foursquaremissions.org and sign up for the FMI Newsletter.
