Our Mission is to put Jesus on display through the collective witness of God’s people in every part of our city.

Our Vision to see our entire city rejoice because the love of Jesus is visible through the unified witness of allGod’s people in every neighborhood, industry, and sector.

Established in 2007

In 2007, pastors from various denominations gathered around a table to ask, “how might we work together to see our church participate in God’s mission for our city?” What grew out of that was a vision for a visible city-wide church movement and the fruit has been countless leaders collaborating for mission in our city.

Surge desires to catalyze multi-ethnic church leaders in Arizona from diverse church backgrounds committed to friendship, God's mission, and the flourishing of our local communities. We pray Surge, in partnership with countless other gospel partners across our city, will make Jesus visible to our neighbors.

Next steps…

Sign up for our next Discover Surge session to learn more about the organization and its mission. We’d love to meet you!

Markers of the City Movement

Jesus

Jesus is both our solid ground and our common ground.

Unity

The church In its many forms, traditions and doctrines best puts Jesus on display through collaboration.

Relationship

Gods Spirit weaves us together through shared action and fellowship.

Confession

We confess Jesus as Lord and the Spirit’s leading before a loving Father. 

Hospitality

Making room for others is a priority.

Friendship

The goal of our vocation is friendship with God and others.

Posture:

  • We are fully dependent on Christ to transform us into vessels of love and give us the courage to love radically in every part of our life and world. This requires lives of listening to God in prayer, discernment, and worship.

  • We require postures that counter-act certainty, is open to surprise, and allows our presuppositions and stereotypes to be challenged. We work to grow in our resiliency so that we can stay in the uncomfortable, turn toward people and places that we may intuitively resist, and seek fresh eyes that allow us to notice Christ’s treasure hidden in people.

  • We are committed to non-transactional relationships built on mutuality and gift exchange. We know each other by our names and stories; not roles, brands, or titles.

  • We laugh together and enjoy each other and the world. We celebrate what is right in the world.

  • We do not turn away from the weak, vulnerable, and suffering. We move toward those experiencing suffering and walk in solidarity with them. We position ourselves to see through the lens of the most vulnerable.

  • We have a complex, interconnected strategy that co-creates tables of friendship for those called to be catalysts of reconciliation and collaborative mission. Love allows us to show up in places where there is disagreement, division, and even hostility. Love holds multiple tensions together by identifying diverse gifts and stories, affirming the distinct role they play in a community, and holding each other accountable to mutual submission. This is the only way to bridge polarized and divided families, church communities, and cities in ways that display the life of Christ who lived a life of mercy, forgiveness, and boundary-crossing love.

  • Our work and relational patterns must be held accountable to authentic love. Like Christ washed his disciples feet, we too pursue a posture of servanthood and hold each other accountable to the way scripture describes love  (1 Cor 13, Phil 2, 1 John, John 13).

Surge is a collaborative partnership of many local congregations throughout Arizona. We are not a parachurch or a separate nonprofit, but are church leaders committed to serving the church in Arizona alongside one another. Our leadership, financial support, and mission is all carried out through the many local congregations and strategic partners involved.

Who we are

Executive Team

  • Dennae Pierre

  • Aaron Dailey

  • Emma Tautolo

  • John DelHousaye

  • Caleb Campbell

  • Gavin Linderman

  • Rochto Joassin

Leadership Team

Surge has a decentralized leadership structure where the primary leadership, innovation, decisions, and activity happens through various teams. Our leadership team is made up of the primary leader coordinating each team.

To learn more about a specific ministry,
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Surge School

Dr. John Delhousaye
Lead

Charlie Meo
Surge School Curriculum

Dave Beldman

Missional Training Center

Rennee Worcester
Christian Parenting

Caleb Cambell
Regional Learning Cohorts

Teena Dare & Jim Mullins
Faith, Work & Rest Podcast

Networks

Aaron Dailey
Lead

Terry Pierson & Ruth Hoffman
Women in Leadership

Luke Simmons
Church-Planting Cohort

Deenbo Kidane
Daniel Initiative

Nicolas Mwangi
Prayer Networks

Neighbors Table

Emma Tautolo
Lead

Crystal McCowan
Criminal Justice Advocacy

Micheal Denson
Create Commission

Dawn Farmer
Women’s Peacemaking Conference

Mary Kaech
Phoenix Refugee Connections

Katie O’Dell
AZ127 (Foster Care Initiatives)

Michel Duarte
Surge Global

Board of Directors

Marty Caldwell
Chief Foundation Officer, Young Life

Summer Montoya
Spiritual Formation Director, Redemption Gilbert

James Nwobu
Marketing Direction, Showit, Inc.

Dennae Pierre
Executive Director, Surge Network

Katianna Strunk

Founders

In 2007, Tyler Johnson & Chris Gonzalez, began organizing churches around equipping and releasing church members to be missionary-servants in our cities. Surge started as a collaborative project between several churches to train members of their congregations. As churches began to train their church members together,  churches from different denominations and backgrounds began to co-fund and share leadership of the Surge Network. In 2012, Tyler and Chris also founded the Missional Training Center (MTC) to provide an MA in Missional Theology. Redemption Church, Missio Dei, Via Church, Roosevelt Community Church, and New Valley Church are among the anchor churches who have participated since the beginning and provide substantial funding to sustain and grow the work of Surge.