For Pastor-Lay Couple, Rev. Jeff and Jessica Taylor, The Adventurer’s Leadership Academy (ALA) has been a lifeline for their ministry leading Fresh Expressions of Church. Feeling a call to a different kind of ministry, the couple envisioned a kind of church that could take place in campgrounds or online among people who RV. Their vision gave way to RV Church.
The Adventurer’s Leadership Academy, or ALA, is a multi-conference collaboration in partnership with United Theological Seminary that equips lay, licensed and ordained adventurers to cultivate fresh expressions and other forms of innovative ministry. The Foundation for Evangelism provided an Innovation Grant to launch the laity certification track in 2021. Participants in ALA join a cohort, giving them a community of peers from whom they can learn, be supported and support, along with guided in-context experimentation.
For Jeff and Jessica, their ALA cohort has been a welcome community of encouragement during difficult times in their ministry. Jessica is currently working with the Fresh Expressions Florida team, and Jeff is an ordained elder in the Florida Conference of The United Methodist Church.
