May 24, 1943
YMCA, Chicago, IL
VENTURE CHURCHES NETWORK | IT BEGAN WITH THE GOSPEL & PRAYER
Founded by local churches to fulfill the Great Commission
It began with prayer, May 24, 1943. As World War II was raging on, churches were in conflict over the historic beliefs of the Christian faith. While some turned away from the authority of Scripture and the divinity of Jesus, many other faithful followers of Christ wanted to continue sharing the truth of the Bible and the good news of Jesus throughout the world. And they wanted to send out missionaries with the same love and conviction.
It was in this historical context, wrestling with these questions of faith, that approximately 75 Christian leaders met in Chicago, Illinois to pray and seek a way forward. While on their knees in prayer, they took a history-making stand. WorldVenture, then known as the Conservative Baptist Foreign Mission Society (CBFMS), was born and incorporated that year to assist churches in training, sending, and supporting missionaries with an unwavering commitment to the authority of the Bible and the proclamation of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
HOW OUR NATIONAL ASSOCIATION STARTED
It was in this historical context, wrestling with these questions of faith, that in 1943, approximately 75 Christian leaders met in Chicago, Illinois to pray and seek a way forward.
While on their knees in prayer, they took a history-making stand and started a mission agency called Conservative Baptist Foreign Mission Society (now WorldVenture).
CBFMS, and later Conservative Baptist Home Mission Society (now Missions Door) were born to assist churches in training, sending, and supporting missionaries with an unwavering commitment to the authority of the Bible and the proclamation of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
Returning to Roots
These same churches that formed CBFMS/CBHMS, saw their denomination continuing to move away from their founding gospel message. After three years of encouraging the denomination to return to its historic gospel roots, and at the risk of their church properties and pastoral pensions, in 1947, these churches moved away from their denomination and formed the Conservative Baptist Association of America.
HISTORY OF VENTURE CHURCH NETWORK – N. CALIFORNIA & NEVADA
Venture Church Network N. California/ Nevada (VCN NorCal/Nevada) is one of eight regions of Venture Church Network. The national association came into being as a result of a group of churches who left the Northern Baptist Convention over core doctrinal and missional issues in the late ’40s. Regional meetings were held in areas across the US, including California. , our association was formed in January 1949. The first president of CBA/NC was Ralph Kraft.
Some of the earliest projects were the establishment of new churches, campgrounds, and mission endeavors. In 1965, the CBA/NC association purchased Silver Spur Conference Center (near Sonora) and Camp Hammer (near Santa Cruz). Camp Hammer was eventually handed over to Twin Lakes Church in Aptos, CA, so that the association’s finances and time energies could be devoted to developing Silver Spur Camp. The regional offices were located in Hayward until moving to San Jose in 1958.
Dr. Bruce Clatterbuck followed and served as regional director for 26 years (1968-2004). Under Bruce, the association leased land from WestGate Church and built a new regional office to facilitate a growing staff and to provide a location to offer seminars to churches within the association. The hiring of Dr. Mark Platt as Director of Church Planting was an intentional move to develop a total church planting strategy. Member and fellowshipping churches grew from 55 to over 140. Most of the growth was a result of Church Planting. During those years, annual meetings moved from being hosted in churches to the scenic venue of Asilomar.
In 2002, a new office building was purchased in Stockton, which provided not only larger office space but also additional units to provide rental revenue to the association. A Blue Ribbon Committee was created to assist in transition planning, which resulted in the relocation of the CBA/NC office to Stockton, the name change to “Next Generation Churches” transition planning for a new director, and the calling of Dr. Paul Null.
With the early retirement of Paul Null at the end of 2009, Dr. Brad Franklin, Senior Pastor of Lakeside Church in Folsom, took the reins as Transitional Executive Director. Under Brad’s transitional leadership, NextGen saw the implementation of Regional Networks—groups designed to connect pastors and churches in surrounding areas to meet regularly for encouragement, growth, and support.
In November 2011, Dr. Brad Franklin and the board passed the baton to Dr. David Whitaker, Lead Pastor of Morgan Hill Bible Church, to serve as our Executive Director. At this time, our offices were moved to Morgan Hill, CA. This decision reflects the model for our association to be a network of churches facilitated by our association of pastors and leaders, working together as a network of missional churches, transforming lives with the grace and truth of Jesus Christ.
The NextGen leadership, in February 2019, heard from David Whitaker that he would be resigning his role as Regional Executive Director to accept the national leadership role for CBAmerica. The excitement for this strategic change was exciting for the future of CBAmerica but left a question about who would be the next leader of NextGen.
At the end of March 2019, Dr. Craig Hardinger accepted the call to be the next Regional Executive Director. Craig Hardinger is currently the Lead Pastor at Arcade Church in Sacramento, CA, since 2009. He has a heart for all to hear and understand the truth of the Gospel. His powerful preaching makes plain the deep truths of God’s word. He desires to equip people to become disciple-makers.
He held a B.S. from Corban University, an M.Div. from Golden Gate Theological Seminary, and a D.Min. from Bakke University. He is also a practicing biblical counselor, certified through ACBC. Craig and his lovely wife Debbie have been married since 1981 and are the proud parents to Scott and his wife Steph and grandparents to Silas and LJ. He is an avid cyclist and enjoys reading and roasting coffee in his free time.
In July of 2022, Craig Hardinger stepped down as the Regional Executive Director of Venture Church Network N. California/Nevada to pass the baton to Pastor Joshua Lane.
On August 1, 2022, Josh took over the role of Regional Executive Director for the Venture Network Association NCal/NV region.
He was born and raised in Sacramento and worked as a youth pastor in Atwater and Santa Rosa. In 2005, he moved back to Sacramento to pastor Northside Church. Since Northside Church was a church plant from Arcade Church, he found himself in a network of churches and pastors, now known as Venture Church Network (VCN). In the first several years, the pastors in VCN provided him with the encouragement, equipment, and community he desperately needed. From that experience, Josh saw how vital belonging to VCN is. After serving several years on the board, in 2015, he joined the VCN staff to lead our Ministry Leadership Certificate (MLC) program in partnership with Western Seminary. In 2020, he increased his role by working with our church planters.
Josh graduated from CSU, Sacramento, with a BA in Communications in 2006 and an MDiv from Western Seminary in 2012. He has completed the coursework for his DMin from Western Seminary and currently writing my dissertation on Narcissism and Preaching.
Josh’s passion for relationships with pastors and the church has already brought in great depth and growth to our association.