Additional information
by Rosario Picardo (Author)
Rosario Picardo was a recently divorced and slightly jaded ex-Marine when he heeded God's call to plant "a church for broken people." This book chronicles the struggles and triumphs of Embrace Church, from its beginnings in his basement as a rare urban church plant to a multi-campus congregation that reaches hundreds of folks broken by poverty, burned by Christians, and in need of healing grace. By telling his story, Picardo hopes to inform, inspire, and encourage seminary students, future church planters, and any Christian committed to expanding the body of Christ among marginalized people in urban areas. Alongside relevant data and theological insights, Picardo shares the practical lessons he learned, as well as personal journal entries about his internal struggles, in order to offer a comprehensive glimpse into not only the need for new church plants, but the difficulties and opportunities that exist in this sort of ministry.
Author Biography
Rosario (Roz) Picardo is Ginghamsburg's Executive Pastor of New Church Development, partnering with Senior Pastor Mike Slaughter and the leadership team to dream and deploy new faith communities within the Ginghamsburg community of churches. Picardo also provides for the oversight and growth of our current Dayton campuses, partnering with Pastor Jon Morgan at the Fort McKinley Campus while also currently serving as the campus pastor at The Point Campus in Trotwood. Roz is an Ordained Elder within the United Methodist Church, holding a MDiv from Asbury Theological Seminary and a Doctorate of Ministry from United Theological Seminary. He leads a consulting group for church planters/pastors called Picardo Coaching LLC and is the author of Embrace: A Church Plant That Broke All the Rules (Pickwick Publications) and Get to Work: Recovering a Theology of Bivocational Ministry (forthcoming by Wipf & Stock Publishers). Before joining the Ginghamsburg team in July 2014, Roz served as the founding and lead pastor of Embrace Church, a multi-campus church plant in Lexington, KY.
