Vernon and Ashley take you through every room where they broke the news that they're planting a church in Charlotte. The kids around the dinner table. Ashley's parents, Pastor Mike and Kathy. The Christian Hills board. The whole congregation on a Sunday morning. Each room reacted differently. Each room mattered.

This episode covers the six months they held this news quietly, the audible gasp when they finally told the church, and the hard week that came right after the high of going public. They talk about what it means to bring your kids into a decision this big, what it's like to tell your father-in-law he's about to lose you as his worship pastor, and why the emotional crash after a big announcement can hit harder than the announcement itself.

There's a deck in Vernon's old neighborhood that sat unfinished for twenty years. Every board in place except two. Nobody plans to stop at 99 percent, but somehow that's where the story ends.

This week, Vernon and Ashley finally tell their congregation what they've been sitting on for months. It starts in Genesis 11, with a family that set out for Canaan and settled in Haran instead, and it ends with the biggest news of their lives: they're leaving Christian Hills to plant Extended Grace Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.

This episode is the real thing, recorded live the morning they told their church family. You'll hear the tears, the laughter, the fourteen years of history behind the decision, and the question they leave everyone sitting with: where's your Haran?

Scripture referenced: Genesis 11:27-12:1, Acts 7:2-4, John 10:12, John 15:16, Romans 8:28-31

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For the first two episodes, you've heard the story of the calling. This time, Vernon and Ashley slow down and explain the heart behind it all: where the name Extended Grace actually came from, what it means, and why it stuck even though neither of them expected a "church name" to sound quite like this one.

They also break down their mission statement, "Formed by Jesus together, to become like Jesus for others," phrase by phrase, including the theology behind how they believe real transformation happens. Then they turn to South Charlotte itself: who's moving in, what they're carrying with them, and why this specific community is who Extended Grace exists to reach.

It's part origin story, part theology lesson, and part honest look at what they're praying for as the move gets closer.

Learn more or get involved at extendedgracechurch.com.

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Keywords: church planting, church plant podcast, Extended Grace, South Charlotte, Matthews NC, spiritual formation, Christoformity, Dallas Willard, Fellowship of Christian Assemblies, FCA, co-pastors, church name meaning, mission statement, new churc

Vernon and Ashley are literally recording this one from the airport, flying home from their very first trip to Charlotte. In this episode, they walk through the last few days day by day — meeting the missionary family who hosted them, the discouraging moment with private school costs, and a wild emotional swing between faith and fear. Then Sunday happens: a visit to a thriving church plant, a sermon on joy that hits closer to home than expected, and a journal entry that marks the real beginning of Extended Grace. If you've ever waited for God to make something "obvious" before taking a step — this episode is for you.

SHOW NOTES:

In this episode:

• Recapping the trip to Charlotte, NC — the first time either Vernon or Ashley had visited the area
• A day at the JAARS campus (Jungle Aviation and Radio Service), including a helicopter ride over the region
• Driving neighborhoods, researching schools, and the sticker shock of private school tuition
• The emotional back-and-forth between faith and fear — and what it looks like when a marriage carries both at once
• Meeting a church-planting couple in Waxhaw who are becoming "kindred spirits" and future sister-church partners
• A Sunday visit to a 5-year-old church plant now running 1,400 people across four services
• The sermon, the worship set, and the moment it all clicked — including the journal entry marking July 12th, 2026 as the start of Extended Grace

Mentioned in this episode:

• JAARS (Jungle Aviation and Radio Service) — [jaars.org]
• The Berg Church, Harrisburg, NC
• Matthew 9 & 10 — the harvest is plentiful, the workers are few
• Genesis 12–16 and Acts 15–16 — Vernon's parallel study on control and God's redirection
• Galatians 5 — the fruit of the Spirit, and the sermon on joy
• Devotional: Through the word - https://www.bible.com/en/reading-plans/42220

Connect with us:Follow along, get updates, or find out how to get involved with Extended Grace at extendedgracechurch.com

In the very first episode of the Extended Grace podcast, Vernon and Ashley sit down to tell the story of how they got here. Two years of praying through burnout and a call into full-time ministry, a door at their home church that felt wide open and then quietly closed, and an opportunity from Ashley's dad that neither of them saw coming.

This episode covers the year of ambiguity, the moment that felt like a death, and the surprising excitement that followed once "church planting," something they swore was never for them, became the answer they didn't know they were praying for.

SHOW NOTES

In this episode:

• Meet Vernon and Ashley Johnson, and hear how the Extended Grace podcast came to be
• Nearly two years of praying through a call into full-time ministry, and the burnout that pushed them toward it
• Ashley's eight years as worship and creative pastor at Christian Hills, and Vernon's season as part-time executive pastor while working full-time at LinkedIn
• The hard season of feeling called forward with no clarity on where — and the moment in November that felt like a breakthrough, followed by a door that closed again in February
• Applying to other churches, and why theological fit (including women in ministry) made that search harder than expected
• The unexpected phone call about a church-planting opportunity with the FCA in North Carolina — and why neither of them wanted it, at first
• Meeting Pastor Anthony Simmons and Pastor Dave Carlson at their denomination's convention, and the moment it started to feel real
• Setting up the first trip to Charlotte to pray, look around, and listen for what God might be saying

Mentioned in this episode:

• The FCA — the network of churches our current church is a part of. https://fcaministers.com/
• Acts 16 — Paul, Silas, and the Holy Spirit redirecting them from Asia to Macedonia
• The Buns family — missionaries with JAARS, based in Charlotte

Connect with us:Follow along, get updates, or find out how to get involved with Extended Grace at extendedgracechurch.com