To help take the Good News to the last 3,000 unreached tribes, Saddleback’s PD Team hosted their first PEACE Day event. Held on January 24 at San Diego’s Bayview Baptist Church, the gathering introduced the PEACE Plan to churches that have never heard or been involved in this final frontier project.

Participating in this alpha-test event were 22 leaders who were trained on how PEACE works in conjunction with the Purpose Driven discipleship process. During the pilot study, content and delivery mechanisms were explored in preparation for a second beta test scheduled for February. By early March, the PD Team plans to deploy PEACE Day events nationwide.

Highlights from the trial run event included worship, a video message from Pastor Rick Warren, and PEACE sessions on foundation, mobilization, transformation, and expansion. Attendees were treated to lunch and dinner, as well as a segment on church health and next steps.

According to Pastor Tom Crick of Global PD Development, “The gathering gave leaders an understanding of the PEACE Plan and will help churches get started with PEACE as their mission model. It also helped Bayview members understand how they can implement PEACE in their church.”

After Saddleback committed to equipping Rwanda as a Purpose Driven nation, other churches—including Bayview Baptist—have stepped forward to install the PEACE Plan and PD in African countries. To date, 21 international partnering churches (IPCs) have accepted the role of teaching national church leaders PD strategies, and tools to reach communities and UUPG’s.

As the Bayview team partners with Uganda, they will also be actively pursuing PEACE locally as a church body. In order to be fully equipped, ministry heads will take part in PEACE leader training from January 31–February 2 at Saddleback Rancho Capistrano. Other next steps include joining PD Essentials Training to help build a healthy foundation for their church.

“The PEACE Day event was a great introduction to the PEACE/PD discipleship process,” explains Tom. “It also provided an opportunity for churches to get involved in training, implementation, and the coaching process for church health. Our hope is that these churches will, in turn, reach other churches that are closer in proximity to the last 3000 unreached tribes.”

To learn more about becoming a Purpose Driven Church, visit pd.church/start.