How We Got Here

In early September 2024, Alli and I began experiencing something similar to what we felt before God led us to plant Antioch—a stirring that He was preparing us for something new. That led us to begin intentionally praying, fasting, and seeking His will.

During a 24-hour fast early in September, we hadn’t received much clarity. As we drove to a local park with our kids, hungry and a bit discouraged, Alli prayed that God would give us something—anything. Almost instantly, an image of a dove entered her mind.

It was biblical, peaceful—but not much to go on. So we prayed for more.

Minutes later, as we arrived at the park, our son ran over to a community library stand, grabbed a book, and handed it to me. It was a children’s Bible with an image of Noah and the animals exiting the ark in Genesis.

Alli and I looked at each other—“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Noah sent out a dove to see if it was time to leave the ark. And now, in this image, they were leaving.

We began to pray about what this could mean. I also shared this with the elders of Antioch and the executive staff at our sending church, Shades Mountain. We didn’t want to jump to conclusions but we wanted to stay open handed. They joined us in prayer and fasting.

Over the next few weeks, the sense became stronger: "Just like Noah built the ark and completed what I asked him to do, you have completed what I asked you to do with Antioch." God placed a strong spiritual burden on our hearts for UAB and downtown Birmingham in March of 2018. There were times I wanted to remove the burden but I couldn’t. God had But in early Fall 2024 the burden began to lift—just as quickly as it had come in 2018.

A week later, Alli flew to California for a wedding she had booked months prior. During her time there a desire was stirred to live closer to family. 

We had always loved visiting family and friends in California, but Birmingham was home. Yet now, something was shifting. As time passed, two things became increasingly clear:

1. We had completed what God asked us to do at Antioch.

2. God was giving us a growing desire to move back to Riverside.

After months of prayer and confirmation from wise counsel we made the decision in late January 2025: we would move back to Riverside, CA in May 2025 once our kids are finished with school even without a job lined up. We are so convinced that this is the direction that God is leading us that we trust that God will provide in his timing and his way.

Why We Are Closing Antioch

On February 16, 2025 we shared with our members that Antioch will close on March 30, 2025. We explored many options. Were any elders or pastoral staff discerning God leading them to become the next lead pastor? Could we partner more closely with Shades Mountain? Could we bring in another pastor from the outside to take my place?

But as we processed, two key realities became unavoidable:

1. People were being sent out but people were not coming in to replace them. Over the last year, we had seen a steady stream of people being sent elsewhere—whether for ministry, missions, work, or other callings—but we weren’t seeing a new wave of leaders and members come in.

2. Financial resources continued to fall short and we saw this as God’s sovereignty. From the beginning, most of our staff have raised their own support. This was a purposeful and long term decision in order to stay committed to reaching the people God had asked us to reach. The next pastor would also need to raise their own support. But as we looked ahead, it became clear that our current financial resources would not sustain us for more than 12-18 months. And the reality is that it would take about that long to both find a new pastor and for that pastor to raise their own support.

After months of prayer, fasting, and discussion the elders and I decided it was better to close Antioch while we all still loved it rather than wait until resources and morale got so low that we wished it was over.

As the months went on in this discernment process that it began to seem clearer and clearer to me that to keep Antioch going would actually be to get in the way of what God was doing. But isn’t this exactly the pattern we see in the Gospels? Jesus spent a lot of time, over a short period of time, with a small group of followers, and then he sent them out. I see God’s hand on us doing the same thing.

As we step into this transition, our hope is that we can all finish this season well—grieving what is lost, celebrating what God has done, and taking stock of what He has deposited in each of us through Antioch.

For those who have called Antioch home, this is a time to reflect: How has God shaped you here? What has He taught you? How has He grown your love for Jesus and His Kingdom?

Antioch is ending, but the work God has done in you is not. Our prayer is that you take what God has invested in you here and allow Him to use it wherever He sends you next.

Over these next few weeks, we encourage you to lean in. Let’s finish together—grieving, celebrating, and preparing for what’s next.

Our first core value from the very beginning was: Kingdom First. It’s about Jesus’ Kingdom first and foremost. Any given church is a means to that end, never an end in itself. The church is God’s ordained means to expand his Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven. That is exactly what we have all seen God do through Antioch: he has brought more of his rule and reign in us and around us. Yes, Antioch failed to become self-sustaining. But Antioch did not fail at the core mission of the church: expanding the Kingdom of Jesus. 

Since Antioch was started we said: Kingdom First. 

Now as Antioch closes we say: Kingdom Forever.