Who We Are

13 years of church planting and more…

The Summit Collaborative is a family of churches that works together to help each other thrive and multiply. We started with the church planting vision of The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham. Now, we are an international movement of over 70 churches who believe thriving churches developing thriving leaders is the path to church multiplication.


Our History


In 2009, J.D. Greear, pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, declared a bold vision. He said he wanted to see The Summit Church plant 1,000 churches in a generation! That goal, along with a culture of sending, created a need to multiply. 

A simple strategy of learning all we could and putting our “yes” on the table led to our first planting team moving to Denver, CO. The following year, our second team moved to Murfreesboro, TN. Another year later, three different teams moved to three new cities to do the same thing - 

A movement was born. 

Fast forward a few years and the Church Planting Cohort spread across the country. Pastors would fly in for training a few times a month, and more and more churches were planted each year. 

Over time, we began to ask what the whole group was meant to do together. By planting so many churches, The Summit Church had created a family that all loved each other and wanted to see more churches planted. 

The Summit Collaborative was born. 


A Farm System


Looking back at this history, we can praise God for building a farm system of churches that helps each other thrive and work towards multiplication. 

In major league baseball, there is a large system of development for players. There are triple A, double A, and single A teams - all with increasingly strong players and all working individually to prepare for the big leagues. Those teams in different cities are working toward the same goal of preparing players for the highest level of the team. While each team has their own stadium, fans, and desire to win, they all work together in development for a common goal. 

We say our family of churches is a farm system because eachchurch is a farm of leadership development. 

That farm system is all committed to identifying new leaders, supporting each other like family, and championing the multiplication that comes out of our churches. 

What We Do

The strategy for our collaboration has three distinct values that drive us forward.

We Identify Leaders Through Relationships


This has been true of the Collaborative since our beginning. Most of the people we have planted came through one of our churches or by the referral of one of our pastors. Within this piece of the strategy lies an important point for determining the character and calling of the people we are planting. We believe that it is only over time that you can confirm a person’s readiness to lead. 

As we continue to move forward, we are committed to the philosophy that the best way to identify leaders and prepare them for high levels of leadership is through regular assessment and the creation of development plans. For this assessment process, we use our development grid and our 9 point church leader profile to create a development plan.  

Many leaders that we are developing in our farm system of churches might never plant, but will continue to help our existing churches thrive. We are relying on God to do the work of calling new planters forward from within our family of churches.  

We Support Each Other Like Family


The care that exists in our Collaborative does not come primarily from the Collaborative staff team but from the support that all of our churches give each other. When a leader from a Collaborative Church calls, the family of pastors and leaders answers that call. 

Our Collaborative team provides opportunities throughout the year for meaningful connection through trips, video calls, and a retreat. 

We Champion Multiplication


When one Collaborative Church plants a church, we all plant a church. As a Collaborative, we are all committed to seeing multiplication happen. That means we financially support church planting and our churches also contribute to the content and experience provided for the development of future leaders. 

The strength of our church planting assessment and cohort comes from years of experience. With every passing year, we have new resources (in the form of new churches), and stronger leaders as our pastors and teams continue to get experience and grow personally.

Leadership

Staff

Clayton Greene Picture
Clayton Greene
Summit Collaborative Director
Clayton is trained as a physical therapist and practiced outpatient orthopedics for 5 years prior to moving to Wilmington, NC where he was the Executive Pastor of the Bridge Church. The Greene family returned to the Triangle to be closer to the medical care at Duke and UNC. Clayton is also a co-founder of GoodKind, the maker of Advent Blocks. The Greenes live in Durham, NC with their two daughters Cara and Susan and are members of Waypoint Church.
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Matt Love
Director of Cohorts
Matt has been attending The Summit Church since his days as a student at UNC-Chapel Hill and has been serving the Collaborative since 2017. Prior to this, he served for four years on staff with Campus Outreach Raleigh, a college ministry in the Triangle, overseeing staff development and student mobilization. Matt now oversees the equipping and development of church planters through the Church Planting Cohort as well as the development of Collaborative church leaders through assessments and pipeline cohorts. Matt lives in Durham with his wife Lindsey and their daughter Charlie.
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Anna Murphy
Summit Collaborative Associate
Anna Murphy graduated from NC State with a degree in Textile Technology. Anna is excited to use her organizational and leadership skills for the good of church multiplication. In her role, she leads in operations and events. Prior to this, she served as the Director of Organizational Alignment for The Summit Church, leading campus launches and other organization-wide projects. Anna lives in Raleigh, NC with her husband Nate and her son Adam. They attend the Blue Ridge Campus of The Summit Church.

Board

Mandy Foster Picture
Mandy Foster
Director of Operations, Mercy Church, Charlotte, NC
Mandy oversees all church operations, including finance, human resources, facilities, and systems. She provides executive-level leadership and facilitates team-building among our staff team. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management from Western Carolina University and enjoys going on adventures to new places with her husband Ryan and their two kids.
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Logan Dagley
Lead Pastor, Park Slope Community Church, Brooklyn, NY
Logan and his wife Lisa have been married for over a decade and have four children. He has been a pastor for over 15 years, and prior to this, he spent time overseas as a missionary to college students. Logan received his undergraduate degree from The University of North Carolina and earned an M.Div., M.A. in Old Testament Studies, and Ph.D. in Applied Theology.
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Bryan Loritts
Executive Director of Teaching and Development, The Summit Church, NC

Dr. Bryan Loritts is the privileged husband of Korie, and the graced father of three sons–Quentin, Myles, and Jaden. He serves as a teaching pastor at The Summit Church in North Carolina. He is the award-winning author of seven books including Saving the Saved: How Jesus Saves Us from Try-Harder Christianity into Performance-Free Love, which was given the Christianity Today Award of Merit, and his latest release, The Dad Difference. Dr. Loritts co-founded Fellowship Memphis in 2003, and later founded The Kainos Movement, an organization committed to seeing the multiethnic church become the new normal in our world, where he serves as president. In addition to his responsibilities as a pastor, Dr. Loritts travels extensively throughout the world preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ at conferences and events, as well as serving on the board of trustees for Biola University and Pine Cove Christian Camps.

Matt Love Picture
Matt Love
Director of Cohorts, Summit Collaborative, Durham, NC
Matt has been attending The Summit Church since his days as a student at UNC-Chapel Hill and has been serving the Collaborative since 2017. Prior to this, he served for four years on staff with Campus Outreach Raleigh, a college ministry in the Triangle, overseeing staff development and student mobilization. Matt now oversees the equipping and development of church planters through the Church Planting Cohort as well as the development of Collaborative church leaders through assessments and pipeline cohorts. Matt lives in Durham with his wife Lindsey and their daughter Charlie.
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Christopher Rudolph
Managing Director, UNC Management Company, Chapel Hill, NC
Chris Rudolph is Managing Director of the Public Investments team at the UNC Management Company. Chris was formerly was a directional elder at the Summit Church in RDU where he is still a member. He lives in Cary with his wife Michal and 3 kids.
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Clayton Greene
President, Summit Collaborative Board, RDU
Clayton is trained as a physical therapist and practiced outpatient orthopedics for 5 years prior to moving to Wilmington, NC where he was the Executive Pastor of the Bridge Church. The Greene family returned to the Triangle to be closer to the medical care at Duke and UNC. Clayton is also a co-founder of GoodKind, the maker of Advent Blocks. The Greenes live in Durham, NC with their two daughters Cara and Susan and are members of Waypoint Church.
Anna Murphy Picture
Anna Murphy
Treasurer, Summit Collaborative Board, RDU
Anna Murphy graduated from NC State with a degree in Textile Technology. Anna is excited to use her organizational and leadership skills for the good of church multiplication. In her role, she leads in operations and events. Prior to this, she served as the Director of Organizational Alignment for The Summit Church, leading campus launches and other organization-wide projects. Anna lives in Raleigh, NC with her husband Nate and her son Adam. They attend the Blue Ridge Campus of The Summit Church.

Support

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Chris Gaynor
Pastor of Prayer, Summit Church, RDU
Chris is the pastor of prayer and worship at The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, NC, where he has served since 1986. He is married to the lovely and talented Michelle Gaynor. They have two teenage sons, Hudson and Haddon. Chris is a graduate of Wake Forest University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Chris loves using his many years of experience in the church to love and care for the pastors in the Summit Collaborative.
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Dave Turner
Pastor of Collegiate Multiplication and Development, Summit Church, RDU
Dave currently serves as Pastor of Collegiate Multiplication and Development at The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham. He is married to Lauren (clearly the better half), who is a biblical counselor. They have been married for 16 years, and have four kids (Graham, Macy Jane, Beck, and Jay). Dave enjoys doing anything in the mountains, a good road trip, & adventures with his family.
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Rick Langston
Lead Pastor of Strategic Alignment, Summit Church, RDU

Rick has served in a variety of disciple-making roles at The Summit Church since 1991 (Outreach, Assimilation, Small Groups Pastor, Executive Pastor). He was the Summit’s first Campus Pastor and led multi-site development for several years, launching Summit’s first ten campuses. Currently, as Lead Pastor of Strategic Alignment, Rick coaches senior level staff and church planters, consulting in the areas of church growth, vision, strategy, and staff development. 

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Courtney Shelton
Pastor's Wife Support Coordinator

Courtney is excited to facilitate a support system for wives of pastors in the Collaborative. She and her husband, Spence, have been married for 20 years and have four children, Zeke, Ben, Ellie and Haddie. They began doing ministry together at The Summit Church during college. They moved in 2015 to plant Mercy Church in Charlotte, NC. She loves to read, go to the beach, nap, all things Disney or grab Chick-fil-A instead of cooking dinner. 

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Tom Howe
Coach, Church Planting Cohort
Tom Howe is originally from California and moved to NC many years ago to work as an executive of a baseball team. He worked in the front office of several baseball teams including being the General Manager of the Greensboro Bats/Grasshoppers as they built the new downtown stadium. He was the General Manager and Executive of the Year in Minor League Baseball in 2005. After that season, Tom decided to leave baseball and went into vocational ministry where has served in various leadership roles for the past 19 years. He also started a ministry called Unleashed by Design that focused on leadership coaching with church leaders and did that for over a decade before joining the staff at Mercy Hill Church where he is the Senior Director of Sending. Tom is married to Kami for 23 years, and they have two sons.
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Scott Urbanek
Coach, Church Planting Cohort
Scott is passionate about impacting the darkness in our world. He graduated from Palm Beach Atlantic University, has his Masters of Divinity from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and has a Doctorate of Ministry in Executive Leadership from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is married to Jessica, and they have five kids. Originally from Florida, he loves all things Miami Hurricanes and hanging out with friends.
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Dustin Walker
Coach, Church Planting Cohort
Dustin has been married to his wife, Lori, for over 16 years. They have three daughters: Cameron, Taylor, and Peyton. He graduated from both MTSU (B.S. in Math/Secondary Ed.) and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div). Before coming on staff full-time he spent the previous 9 years teaching high school math. In addition to spending time with his wife and girls, Dustin also enjoys running and building stuff with wood.
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Carlie Thompson
Assessments Coordinator
Carlie is a resident at Two Cities Church in Winston-Salem and serves part time as the Collaborative Assessments Coordinator. In her role, she is a critical player in the success of our leader assessment engine.
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Philip Owens
Church Planting Cohort Coordinator
Philip is on staff at Redeemer City Church, a church plant from The Summit Church, and has been working there since the church was started in 2022. He has helped oversee multiple ministries but currently directs all the Assimilation and Guest Services processes of the church. He grew up as a missionary kid in Bangkok, Thailand and met his wife in Missouri while in college. They now have two kids ages 3 and 1.
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Joshua Budd
Church Planting Cohort Coordinator

North Carolina native, Joshua Budd graduated from Liberty University and worked in construction sales. Now Joshua is a resident at Two Cities Church in Winston-Salem, NC, working in college ministry and earning his MA through South Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary. 

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Victoria Sonbert
Communications Coordinator

Victoria and her husband Kobe moved to Charleston in 2022 to help launch Harbor City Church, and now she brings her creativity to our team through her role as Communications Coordinator. With a background in design and a value for authenticity, Victoria helps people meaningfully connect with the mission and community of the Collaborative.

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Emily Clark
Event Coordinator

Emily has been attending Two Cities Church since her first week at Wake Forest University, when the college pastor there invited her to a cookout in his backyard. She is now a College Resident at Two Cities Church, helping students find their identity and purpose in Christ. She is thrilled to be serving to be serving the Summit Collaborative as an Event Coordinator! 

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