Our Founders

Brandon Sutton

Brandon Sutton is the lead pastor of Christ’s Fellowship in Gallatin, Tennessee—a church he replanted in October of 2024. He is the co-founder of The Replant Network. Brandon is passionate about helping churches attain biblical faithfulness and revitalization. He holds a M. Div. from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is married to Sherrie and the father of Emma and Aurora.

Erik Reed

Erik Reed is the lead pastor of The Journey Church in Lebanon, Tennessee. He is the founder of Arise Camps, a student ministry camp focused on discipling students in rich theology and cultural engagement. He is also the co-founder of The Replant Network, a ministry dedicated to restoring and strengthening local churches to stand as pillars and buttresses of the truth in their communities. In addition to his ministry work, Erik is engaged in many different entrepreneurial ventures and is the author of Uncommon Trust and Hold the Line. He is a host of The Bully Pulpit podcast, where he addresses political and theological issues from a Christian perspective. He is married to Katrina and is the father of three children: Kaleb (who went to be with the Lord in 2019), Kaleigh Grace, and Kyra Piper.

Coaches and Ministry Specialists

  • I serve as one of the Pastors at Christ’s Fellowship in Gallatin, Tennessee, a one-year-old church replant. I was sent out from The Journey Church in Lebanon on the Core Team as a Pastor to revitalize what was formerly Grace Point Church. From the beginning, our goal has been simple: to see the gospel bring life where decline once had a foothold and to build a congregation that multiplies rather than maintains.

    I have been involved in ministry my entire life, and I have witnessed how God restores health to His Church when His Word and mission take priority. Before stepping into pastoral ministry, I worked for a multi-billion-dollar company focused on process improvement and organizational revitalization. The Lord used that season to shape my understanding of clarity, order, and stewardship as reflections of His nature. Those same biblical truths now guide how I lead and serve His Church.

    Through the work at Christ’s Fellowship, my desire has grown to help more churches see the vision and need to replant rather than simply grow larger or compete while other churches close their doors. My heart is to see healthy churches sending out leaders, revitalizing struggling congregations, and multiplying gospel witness across communities.

    I am grateful to partner with The Replant Network in that mission, equipping pastors and congregations to embrace a biblical vision of renewal and reproduction for the glory of Christ.

  • Morgan Cates is a graduate of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and serves on staff at The Journey Church. Morgan’s primary responsibilities at TJC include teaching, assimilating new people, and providing congregational care. He lives in Lebanon, TN with his wife, Carly, and their son, Adam.

  • Shawn Casto - Sending Pastor of The Journey Church. I’ve been blessed to be in full-time ministry with The Journey Church for over 5 years in discipleship and missions roles. I love equipping and sending people to go to the lost and unreached to engage them with the gospel and build disciples of Jesus Christ.

    Shawn is passionate about equipping and sending people to go to the lost and unreached to engage them with the gospel and build disciples of Jesus Christ. He is married to Renee and has one son Logan and a daughter-in-law Kendall.

  • Jeff Long serves as the For the City Director at The Journey Church, where he leads community outreach efforts designed to show Jesus as incomparably glorious. In this role, Jeff oversees 14 lay-led ministry lanes and partners with 8 local organizations to serve vulnerable populations and advance the gospel in Lebanon, Tennessee.

    Before entering full-time ministry a year and a half ago, Jeff spent eight years as a teacher and coach, cultivating his passion for leadership, team development, and creating healthy organizational culture. He holds a master’s degree in Teaching and Learning from Bryan College.

    Jeff is deeply committed to helping churches engage their communities with the love of Christ. Through The Replant Network, he looks forward to encouraging and equipping other church leaders to build strong teams and impactful outreach ministries so that God’s glory is reclaimed in every community.

  • Nick Judd is the Discipleship Pastor at The Journey Church in Lebanon, TN, where he invests his time in writing and producing curriculum and discipleship materials for the local church. Nick is passionate about growing people in their knowledge of the Word of God and in their ability to defend it in the midst of a culture fighting against truth.

    After trusting Christ in 2002 at age 19, Nick began serving in lay ministry almost immediately. From early in his faith, he was introduced to music ministry, jail ministry, and evangelism. He continued to serve in various capacities in the local church, teaching, preaching, leading worship, and writing. Nick became a member of The Journey Church in 2016, where his love for apologetics led him to join a team of men who built the church’s apologetics ministry together. This thriving ministry has since significantly impacted the church and the community by addressing issues like abortion, Biblical sexual ethics, and the false Gospels that plague modern Christianity.

    During this time, Nick also began teaching the Bible to elementary students. Seeing the great need for young people to know, understand, and be able to defend the Word of God, he recognized the Lord leading him into vocational ministry. In 2021 he accepted a pastoral position at TJC. 

    Nick is married to Brittany and has three children, Grace, Hope, and Sawyer. 

  • Matthew (Matt) Espenshade brings more than three decades of leadership experience in organizational management, strategic vision development, and mission-driven operations across both government and ministry contexts. He currently serves as Executive Pastor and elder at The Journey Church in Lebanon, Tennessee, where he provides executive oversight of staff, ministries, and operational systems designed to align the church’s mission with measurable outcomes.

    Prior to entering full-time ministry, Mr. Espenshade completed a distinguished 24-year career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). In his final post, he led the Bureau’s Nashville Field Office, managing a multidisciplinary team of 100 employees and overseeing operations, intelligence, and administrative systems across Middle Tennessee. His leadership roles within the FBI included directing international teams as Legal Attaché in Budapest, Hungary, and Nairobi, Kenya, where he coordinated U.S. and host-nation law enforcement efforts and advised embassy leadership on strategic initiatives.

    Throughout his career, Mr. Espenshade cultivated expertise in systems design, crisis management, and organizational resilience—skills honed through leading complex investigations, multinational operations, and interagency collaborations. His ability to clarify vision, align teams around mission objectives, and build sustainable organizational structures has earned him recognition including the FBI Director’s Award for Excellence in International Operations and the Brigadier General Richard T. Ellis Award for Excellence in U.S. Intelligence Collaboration.

    Mr. Espenshade’s leadership approach integrates disciplined strategic planning with a relational and mission-focused perspective. He is passionate about helping organizations establish healthy leadership cultures, strengthen operational processes, and build systems that translate vision into execution.

    A graduate of Saint Joseph’s University (B.S.) and Norwich University (M.S. in Organizational Leadership), Mr. Espenshade also serves on the boards of Blue Sky Global Ministries, the Evangelical Council for Abuse Prevention, Imago Classical Academy, and the Abuse Prevention Advisory Council for the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.

    He and his wife, Lisa, an experienced educator, have lived and served globally and are the parents of four adult children: Matalyn, Ava, Ella, and Seth.

  • Keith Jackson serves as one of the pastors of Christ’s Fellowship, a church replant in Gallatin, Tennessee. Sent out from a healthy sending church in 2024, Keith helped lead Christ’s Fellowship from a struggling legacy congregation to a thriving body of believers marked by unity, spiritual vitality, and missional engagement. He is passionate about seeing dying churches renewed by the gospel and equipped to become sending churches themselves.

    As a replanting coach, Keith walks with pastors through each stage of the replanting process helping them navigate leadership challenges, develop sustainable financial and discipleship strategies, and cultivate a culture of evangelism and mission. His ministry philosophy centers on the conviction that a healthy church is one that makes disciples who live on mission for the glory of Christ.

    Keith holds a Master of Divinity from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Missions and Evangelism. He and his wife, Casey, have five children and love investing in the next generation of gospel workers.

  • Bo has served in both full-time and bi-vocational ministry for more than 20 years across Kentucky and Tennessee. His ministry experience includes work at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the Kentucky Baptist Convention, and the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, where he partnered with pastors and churches in church growth and revitalization efforts. Bo holds a Master of Divinity from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

    He currently serves as the Executive Director of Knowing Jesus Ministries and as a coach with The Replant Network. Bo brings a deep love for the gospel, the local church, and those who shepherd it. He is passionate about helping pastors, their families, and congregations depend fully on God, rediscover gospel vitality, and thrive together for the glory of Christ.