Our Pastoral Residency Program Has Launched!
In September 2026, For Columbus launched its inaugural citywide Pastoral Residency Program with eight future leaders, drawn from seven different churches, formed through a holistic and relational 15-month cohort. The residency vision grew out of a need pastors across Central Ohio know well: senior-level training and development for ministry is scarce, and what exists rarely reaches deep enough. To meet that gap, For Columbus partnered with Rich Nathan, a lifelong pastoral leader whose ministry has launched more than 30 church plants and personally raised up dozens of pastoral and ministry leaders now serving locally and around the world. What sets this residency apart is its relational intimacy and theological depth. The residency is built around personal and small group mentorship, applied theology, and relevant leadership training to prepare leaders for a lifetime of fruitful ministry.
Recently we posed some questions to Rich Nathan, the Director of the For Columbus Pastoral Residency Program.
Q. Rich, you transitioned onto the For Columbus team in January of 2026. What has excited you as you've met and talked with pastors and future leaders across many denominations in Columbus over this past year?
Rich: I've loved meeting more than two dozen younger Central Ohio pastors who I didn't know before. Most of my pastoral relationships in the past were with pastors from my generation (boomers). So it's been wonderful to spend time with pastors who are in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. What's been especially encouraging is that I'm meeting men and women who are tired of consumer/market-driven/slick Christian services. Instead, while they continue to passionately desire to reach lost people, the men and women that I'm meeting are building churches designed to produce deeply-rooted disciples of Jesus whose lives have been radically transformed. They want to go deep and not just wide.
Q. Why do you believe Columbus needs a bigger pipeline for leader development and training?
Rich: I'm regularly hearing from pastors about the need to develop high-level leaders - future staff pastors, church planters, and senior pastors who can take over existing churches. There are some pastors who are my age who literally have no one they know who can take over their churches after they retire.
Financial realities make attendance at a seminary for 3 years impossible for many potential leaders. Seminaries also pull leaders out of their local churches where they are currently serving and growing. And while seminaries have done a great job in sharpening theological knowledge, they haven't done a great job in developing the skills, spiritual habits, or character of those who will be serving as pastors. That is where a local, low cost, pastoral residency program comes in. I'm currently working with eight different residents from seven different churches. These residents are able to continue to work in their own churches while supplementing that work with theological and leadership training.
There's an old saying that, “Christianity is always one generation away from extinction.” The book of Judges is exhibit A, concerning what happens when the knowledge of God is not transmitted to the next generation. Judges 2:10 is the critical verse: “And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.” [Judges 2:10, ESV] Here is the biblical generation-gap disaster. There was a failure on the part of the older generation to transmit a relationship with God and the memory of God's mighty acts. Then we read the dreadful consequence: “And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. 12 And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger.” [Judges 2:11-12, ESV]
Q. What has equipped you to launch a pastor residency program?
Rich: I've always felt a particular calling to develop the next generation, to train new pastors, plant new churches, and send out new missionaries. Since the early days of the Vineyard, I've always had a pastoral intern. My goal was to spend lots of time with that intern, imprinting them with the things that God had shown me and our church. By the grace of God, we had the privilege of seeing over 30 churches planted and we sent out dozens of missionaries. After serving Vineyard Columbus as a senior pastor for 34 years, I directed three cohorts of pastoral residents for the Vineyard over the past five years. But this last year, I moved from Vineyard to start a pastoral residency program for our city under the auspices of For Columbus.
Q. What do you hope to see emerge from this program?
Rich: My hope is that we'll see some of the residents plant new churches, start new campuses for larger churches, and take over existing churches in Central Ohio, bringing fresh vision and new life to congregations in our city. My prayer is that those who go through the program will not only be deepened theologically, but also will grow in their leadership skills and in their own spiritual formation.
Q. How can others stay in touch and learn more about future residency cohorts?
Rich: People can check the For Columbus website at forcolumbus.org/residency. The plan is, God willing, to start a second cohort in 15 months after this current cohort is completed. We'll be sending out information to anyone on the For Columbus list about when applications will be open for the second cohort. And I would be delighted to have coffee or conversations with pastors in our city who are interested in finding out more about the residency program for leaders in their church or even for themselves.
