{"id":101,"date":"2013-11-11T20:04:48","date_gmt":"2013-11-11T20:04:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/peanutsandpopcorn\/?p=101"},"modified":"2013-11-11T20:04:48","modified_gmt":"2013-11-11T20:04:48","slug":"meet-the-real-church-hoppers-of-church-rescue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/2013\/11\/meet-the-real-church-hoppers-of-church-rescue.html","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Real Church Hoppers of ‘Church Rescue’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"(L-R)<\/a>
(L-R) Jerry Bentley (Doc), Anthony Lockhart (Gladamere) and Kevin Annas (Rev Kev) are the Church Hoppers. (Photo: T-Group Productions)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Believe it or not, 40% of all new churches will fail within their first year of operation and 80% won\u2019t make it past five years! That\u2019s pretty surprising, but thankfully, churches across the United States have a new resource to go to for help. The Church Hoppers, featured in National Geographic\u2019s new reality series, Church Rescue<\/i><\/a>, travel the country to find churches that are having trouble in paradise.<\/p>\n

The Church Hoppers<\/a> consists of three ordained ministers who each have their own special skills: Kevin Annas (Rev Kev) is the team\u2019s business consultant, Jerry Bentley (Doc) focuses on emotional health and Anthony Lockhart (Gladamere) is a sales and marketing analyst. I got a chance to speak to the three of them recently and here is what I learned about themselves and the show:<\/p>\n

Rev. Kev, Doc and Gladamere have been friends for a long time but came to work together about five years ago. \u201cWe got frustrated with the church structures that we were in individually,\u201d says Gladamere. \u201cGod just kind of brought us all together to found this para-ministry. We actually wanted to plant a church and we went through all of the motions and preparations and exhausted ourselves into the structure and the strategic plans for that and then ultimately out of that, God birthed the reality of Church Hoppers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The three are all about nicknames including the name of their company. \u201cWe strategically named ourselves Church\u00a0Hoppers,\u201d says Rev. Kev. \u201cChurch hoppers\u201d are notoriously uncommitted to the church and we are very committed so we wanted to get the attention of the church leadership by naming our company something that would be remembered.\u201d Their nicknames are easier to remember as well. Doc got his name simply because he received a Doctorate in Ministry in Christian Counseling. Rev. Kev received his name from a 12 year old girl and it just stuck. And Gladamere?<\/p>\n

\"Gladamere,<\/a>
Gladamere, Doc and Rev Kev hug Rev. Roseboro, the pastor of a small “Bapticostal” church. (Photo: T-Group Productions)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe watch him a lot,\u201d says Doc. \u201cWhen you see him, you\u2019re going to realize that he is a unique individual. I mean, he\u2019s a pretty man, but ultimately, it was better than the second name that we could have given him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was something that just developed out of fun,\u201d adds Gladamere. \u201cI\u2019m the kind of guy that is very relational and I am willing to take a lot of abuse, so I\u2019m okay with it. It really fits my personality.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me give you the real answer,\u201d interjects Rev. Kev, \u201cWhen you see him at various places on the show, people are going to question what nation he\u2019s from, and so we felt that [the name] Gladameer kinda covered them all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Church Rescue<\/i> is produced by T-Group Productions, the same people who present Mystery Diners<\/i> on the Food Network and Storage Hunters<\/i> on TruTV. As it turns out, one of the stars of Storage Hunters<\/i>, Sean Kelly, had overheard from some Hollywood folks that many of the networks were looking to present new shows with a religious angle since. Through Sean, the trio met with T-Group and then later National Geographic, who fell in love with the new show\u2019s concept.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are always promoting, lifting up and benefitting the ministry regardless of their denomination, but he also felt like we were fun characters, says Rev. Kev. \u00a0\u201cOnce we had a sizzle real prepared, the National Geographic Channel said that they absolutely loved it. They are, in our perspective, considered to be the gold seal of reality television. They try to remain true to whatever the culture the show is trying to depict and is just a beautiful fit for each of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Doc,<\/a>
Doc, Rev Kev and Glademere celebrate with Pastor Greg. (Photo: T-Group Productions)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When asked how many churches they have \u201cfixed,\u201d they replied, \u201cHopefully, all of them. We\u2019ve worked with dozens of ministries across the United States. In every case, we\u2019re happy to say that there is a common success,\u201d says Rev. Kev. \u201cWhen we leave that ministry, there is a new unity, a focus that has been refocused or narrowed and there is anticipation that once their congregation finds out that their leadership team has spent time with somebody outside their ministry team trying to improve what they\u2019re doing, it\u2019s an automatic boost to the ministry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe focus [not only] on that ministry or religious organization. We focus on them,\u201d says Gladameer.\u201d[We focus on] what makes them unique. What makes them passionate. When you and I are passionate about something that we are gifted at and we talk about all circles of our lives. It spills out onto people. And it\u2019s authentic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evident from the very first episode these guys \u00a0are not in the business of changing the churches or ministries. \u201cWe don\u2019t want them to be the church like the one in the big city if they are a little country church,\u201d says Gladamere. \u201cWe want them to adopt practices that are unique to them – what makes them come alive in the way in which they do ministry. Then that allows us to deal with the human resources part of things. Once those areas are tightened up and people are willing to move forward in unity, then [we can] help promote that out into the community that they live in.\u201d<\/p>\n