IN FOCUS The Journey Hanley Road (St. Louis, Missouri

THE JOURNEY HANLEY ROAD LOCATION: St. Louis, Missouri

IIn every edition of the Midwestern Magazine, we seek to highlight faithful churches. For this issue, we are glad to highlight a church across the state—The Journey Hanley Road—pastored by Midwestern Ph.D. student, Carlos Smith. With five locations across the St. Louis metro area, The Journey is a gospel-centered church whose vision reads, “We are a diverse community centered on Jesus Christ, seeking to wholly enjoy His grace, faithfully embody His love for one another, and boldly engage our culture with His truth, from our neighborhoods to the nations.”

RONNI KURTZ Tell us a bit of the story of The Journey Hanley Road. When did the church start, and how did you get there?

CARLOS SMITH Thanks for the opportunity to share about The Journey Hanley Road. The Journey is a multisite congregation comprised of five churches across the Metro St. Louis area, and it began about 18 years ago in the founder’s basement. The congregation that I lead is actually the original Journey location and was formed when

the newly planted Journey merged with Hanley Road Baptist Church. Hanley Road Baptist, under the leadership of Pastor Slade Johnson, had long been a beacon in the Clayton area. They saw the merger with The Journey as a way to continue the mission of the church to impact the Clayton area. Today, The Journey Hanley Road is located in University City, just a few minutes from Washington University. Another cool thing about Hanley Road is that we changed locations two years ago, moving further north in St. Louis in an effort to reach a more diverse demographic. We were able to make this move by swapping buildings with a local synagogue. We actually still share space with the synagogue as they renovate our old building. This has led to some awesome fellowship and witnessing opportunities!

I came to The Journey Hanley Road just 18 months ago. Prior to serving at The Journey, I served at First Baptist Church of Chesterfield, Mo., as the associate pastor of Christian Life & Student Ministries. I actually got connected to The Journey by doing some teaching with Midwestern’s Three Fourteen Institute. Through that connection, I learned of the awesome work that the Lord was doing at Hanley Road and felt drawn to it.

RK Has there been anything in ministry that has surprised you since you became the lead pastor at Hanley Road?

CS One surprise for me in ministry has been the prevalence of anxiety and depression amongst Christians. My congregation is a

middle class, well-educated group of people and yet, in spite of their relative stability, there seems to be a milieu of anxiety. In preaching, I regularly have to speak to the guilt, shame, fear, and anxiety with which our people wrestle. It can often be easier to preach to and about the behavioral and moral aspects of a person’s life, but I’ve learned to speak to the pervasive internal struggles that seem to have marked millennials in a unique way.

RK The church is located in my hometown, St. Louis, Missouri. What have you come to love about pastoring in St. Louis?

CS St. Louis is a cool city! One of the things that I have come to love about serving in St. Louis is the relationships that exist among pastors, particularly SBC pastors. I have great relationships with many of the church planters in the area and enjoy the Plant Midwest events that bring together pastors and ministry leaders from around the area. Our association is strong and encourages partnership and collaboration across churches. This connectedness that we enjoy is important because, while St. Louis is a cool city with a good food, sports, and music scene, it is a hard place to do ministry. St. Louis struggles with deep racial issues, both personal and systemic, and it is also plagued with high crime and poverty rates as well. This means that many of our pastors are doing ministry in hard places. The relationships and support of other pastors is absolutely critical to sustaining and encouraging the men serving God’s people in the trenches.

RK Many of our readers are those who are pursuing pastoral ministry, what advice would you give them as they spend their days preparing for ministry?

CS I would encourage students to give themselves wholly to their studies. Master Greek and Hebrew. Immerse yourself in the best theological thought that you can get your hands on. Soak up every word of the world-class professors that you have the opportunity to learn from. Don’t just study for the grade but study for mastery. God’s people desperately need men who have tough minds and tender hearts. But above all, I would encourage students to give themselves fully to the pursuit of Jesus Himself. Treasure Him above all else. Revel in your union with Christ. Love the Scriptures. Read your Bible, not just as a textbook, but as food for your soul. Pastoral ministry is hard, and what will carry you through is not knowing a subject matter but knowing the person of Jesus. Pastoral ministry will expose your idols, your weaknesses, and your deficiencies. What you need in those moments is the security that comes from knowing that you are fully accepted and loved by Jesus. Your identity and union with Christ are the anchors that you need to weather every storm of ministry.