3 Sessions • Live on Zoom • Offered Once in September and Once in January
Completely Free to Attend

The Introductive Cooperative is a dynamic, three‑session Zoom preview designed to introduce you to who we are, what we do, and the mission you can be part of. This engaging sneak peek offers a firsthand experience of our approach to equipping and encouraging rural pastors and congregations.

Across these sessions, you'll discover the heart behind our work and gain a clear sense of how our 16‑session Networking Cooperative empowers leaders through connection, growth, and shared support. This exclusive preview is offered only once each September and once each January, giving you a focused opportunity to explore what participation could mean for your ministry.

Best of all—it’s completely free and designed to inspire, inform, and equip you for the journey ahead.

8 Sessions 

District Cost (one time slot, up to 12 pastors): $5,000

Individual Cost: $500

The Networking Cooperative is a transformational experience designed to bring pastors into a vibrant spiritual community centered on the mission of Jesus. Over the course of 8 sessions, pastors journey together through a powerful blend of focused lessons and peer‑mentoring encounters. Each cooperative becomes a committed community with a shared, biblical purpose: to labor together for a harvest in rural communities (Matthew 9:35–38).

Pastors will discover a space to learn, galvanize, grow, and encourage one another as mission‑minded ambassadors of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20). This cooperative is not simply training—it's renewal. Participants are invited to rediscover their calling as missionaries and to be equipped for “re-missioning,” while also finding practical support for the real challenges of rural ministry through peer mentoring.

This cooperative serves as the foundational step in partnering with Dirt Roads Network toward long‑term rural missional leadership. Our hope is that pastors leave energized and ready for movement—inviting 3–4 congregational leaders to join them in the next phase of The River: Discipling Community.

For those not yet ready to bring congregational leaders along, a transition pathway into a Grow Cooperative is available, ensuring every pastor continues forward in a supportive, mission-focused environment.

8 Sessions • (Composed of lessons, coaching, and mentoring)Pastors + 3–4 Congregational Leaders | Follows Completion of the Networking Cooperative

District Cost (one time slot, up to 12 pastors): $5,000

Individual Cost: $500

The Discipling Community Cooperative is the next step in The River, designed for pastors who have completed the Networking Cooperative and are ready to bring 3–4 congregational leaders with them into a deeper journey of spiritual formation. In this cooperative, pastors and leaders become a unified, spiritually growing community centered on the person and mission of Jesus.

Across 8 transformative sessions—ideally structured as 8 sessions including peer mentoring and some coaching meetings to ensure meaningful heartwork is completed—participants grow together as disciples who embody the rhythms, attitudes, and mission of Christ. Guided coaching creates space for reflection, accountability, and practical application, supporting the intentional spiritual shifts your file materials emphasize, including identity formation, discernment, and movement from “lake” to “river” mindsets. 

This cooperative strengthens the spiritual community within the church, helping leaders develop shared language, shared practices, and shared mission. As participants experience growth together, they are prepared and encouraged to move forward into the Discerning Community Cooperative, where they will listen deeply to the Spirit and seek God’s direction for their congregation’s future.

8 Sessions • (Composed of lessons, coaching, and mentoring)

Pastors + Their Spiritual Leadership Community | Follows Completion of the Discipling Community Cooperative

District Cost (one time slot, up to 12 pastors): $5,000

Individual Cost: $500

The Discerning Community Cooperative is a transformative experience designed for pastors and their spiritually growing leadership teams who are ready to seek God’s direction with clarity, unity, and deep dependence on the Holy Spirit. Building on the relational and spiritual groundwork formed in the earlier cooperatives, this phase focuses on listening—truly listening—to how Jesus has uniquely gifted, positioned, and called your community to join Him in His mission.

Across eight intentionally crafted sessions, your leadership community will explore who you are, why God has placed you in your specific rural context, and how your unique identity can fuel mission. Through guided practices of communal discernment, prayer, reflection, and shared conversation, participants learn to recognize God’s leading and align their congregational life with the purposes of Jesus.

Because discernment thrives in an atmosphere of trust, presence, and deep spiritual attentiveness, we strongly encourage adding an in-person gathering hosted by one of our DRN ambassadors. Being guided by an outside advocate creates the space for teams to draw closer, listen deeply to God’s direction, and experience meaningful breakthrough moments together. (Participating congregations are responsible for covering the travel expenses of the DRN specialist.)

Upon completing the Discerning Community Cooperative, teams are encouraged to advance into the Transforming Community Cooperative, where the Spirit‑led insights gained here begin shaping concrete missional movement in the life of the congregation.

8 Sessions • (Composed of lessons, coaching, and mentoring) 

Final Unit of The River • Catalyzing Spirit‑Empowered Congregational Movement

District (one time slot, up to 12 pastors): $5,000

Individual Cost: $500

Coaching (12 months  • Recommended for MAP Implementation): $2,000

The Transforming Community Cooperative is where congregations move from discernment to bold, Spirit‑led action. Over the course of 8 sessions, pastors and their spiritual leadership teams identify the steps of discerned obedience necessary to live out their God‑given calling—both personally and as a unified missional community.

In this cooperative, teams are guided to turn prayerful insight into practical, transformational ministry, embracing rhythms that allow the Holy Spirit to reshape their congregation from within while empowering them to bring renewal to their rural community. This is the phase where clarity becomes courage, and where churches step confidently into the mission Jesus has entrusted to them.

To support lasting transformation, we highly recommend that congregations continue with monthly coaching for at least a year after completing the cooperative. This ongoing guidance helps teams stay aligned, implement their Missionary Action Plan with confidence, and navigate the real‑world challenges that come with meaningful change.

The Transforming Community Cooperative equips churches to:

• Actively live out their discerned calling

• Implement Spirit‑shaped action steps with confidence

• Grow as a unified, mission‑driven leadership community

• Engage their local context with renewed energy, purpose, and hope

• Experience the ongoing empowerment of the Holy Spirit in their ministry

This culminating unit of The River helps congregations become communities that live transformed and bring transformation, carrying the mission of Jesus into the heart of their rural community with strength and joy.

8 Sessions • (Composed of lessons, coaching, and mentoring) 

Ongoing Support for Pastors Not Yet Ready for a Discipling Community Cooperative

District (one time slot, up to 12 pastors): $5,000

Individual Cost: $500

The Grow Cooperative provides pastors with a life‑giving spiritual community centered fully on the person and mission of Jesus. This cooperative affirms what every rural pastor needs to hear: You matter, your people matter, and your community matters.

Designed especially for pastors who are not yet ready to invite congregational leaders into a Discipling Community Cooperative, the Grow Cooperative offers a meaningful path forward. Here, pastors continue to benefit from encouragement, peer mentoring, and missional connection, all within a supportive community of learners committed to following Jesus with renewed purpose.

Within this cooperative, pastors experience:

• A spiritually nurturing network of peers

• Ongoing support and camaraderie

• Encouragement rooted in shared rural ministry realities

• Guidance toward mission‑minded leadership in their God‑given context

• Peer mentoring that places the pastor at the center of relational and missional development

The Grow Cooperative helps pastors stay energized, spiritually grounded, and mission‑focused—ensuring that no pastor walks their journey alone. It is a community of leaders who continue to grow, listen, and prepare for the next faithful step in their ministry.