Episode 82 - Raising Passionate Jesus Followers

Phil and Diane Comer share about their book Raising Passionate Jesus Followers. The Comers have been in ministry together for over 45. Phil and Diane count as their greatest joy that John Mark and Tammy, Rebekah and Steve, Elizabeth and Brook, and Matthew and Simona have each chosen to follow Jesus wholeheartedly. Their two sons have followed their father into pastoral ministry, one of their daughters is married to a pastor, and the other daughter and her husband are living on mission to their friends and fellow designers in the heart of Hollywood and around the world. And now Phil and Diane have the unprecedented joy of watching their seven grandchildren being raised up in a rich heritage of life changing faith. In 2004, Phil and Diane planted Solid Rock, A Jesus Church (now known as Westside: A Jesus Church), in Portland, Oregon. Their son, John Mark, and his wife, Tammy, partnered with them from the very beginning, in what became a clear move of God in and through the thousands of people who came each week. With half of the 6000 or more people being under the age of 30, Phil and Diane have been privileged to learn to adapt the way they communicate to a generation longing for truth expressed in their own language. This movement has now become a network of churches that are similar but with their own distinct leadership and vision. In 2011, Phil passed the lead role on to John Mark's capable leadership and expanding vision. Phil and Diane began to focus their sights on developing a ministry to the next generation of parents who were asking many of the same questions that had perplexed them all those years ago. Thus was born, INTENTIONAL: Raising Passionate Jesus Followers as a way of teaching and training the hundreds of young people in their church who were now just beginning to raise children of their own. The elders of their church asked Phil and Diane to put together a conference for this purpose, both for the AJC family of churches, and for any other churches that might share the need and desire to enable parents to train their own children to love and follow Jesus. Their own church embraced this conference with such enthusiasm that they filled the first session with hundreds of parents, turning people away and quickly rescheduling a second event to accommodate all who wanted to listen and learn. Phil and Diane recognized the pressing need for focused teaching in the spiritual training of children. They have decided to completely dedicate the next season of their lives to focus on this task of training parents. While remaining embedded in Westside: A Jesus Church, Phil and Diane have, thus far, accepted invitations to five countries on five continents and to numerous churches around the United States in order to teach Intentional: Raising Passionate Jesus Followers. https://www.intentionalparents.org/phil-and-diane https://the-intentional-parents-podcast.simplecast.com/ Raising Passionate Jesus Followers book https://www.practicingtheway.org/