September 15, 2024
SALISBURY, Md. — One year after the release of Send Network’s popular podcast, “Terminal: The Dying Church Planter,” church planter Richard Pope and producer Tony Hudson sat down again to catch up on a rollercoaster of a year. Their conversation reveals an unforeseen outcome.
The first eight episodes of “Terminal” follow Richard’s difficult but powerful life story — a journey that led him to launch Canvas Church in Salisbury, Md., while battling terminal cancer. Despite doctors’ warnings that he had three to five years left to live, Richard and his team launched Canvas Church in 2021, and in 2023, Richard and Tony recorded the first eight episodes of “Terminal,” telling the story of how it all happened.
“The first time you interviewed me, it was just an idea, and it was kind of nerve-wracking to talk about it,” Richard tells Tony at the start of the new ninth episode titled, ‘Signs and Wonders.’
“Now, it’s joyful to talk about it,” Richard says. “We’ve seen salvations, we’ve seen baptisms, lots of incredible things going on. God has been faithful to us. And now, there’s a handful of other men who are just about ready to be sent out.”
“I like the framework Send Network is using now,” he adds. “You have a Sending Church — they send out a church plant. A Multiplying Church — they regularly send out teams and planters. But a Movement Church is a church that influences church planting in a region, and other churches plant churches because of this church.”
“Canvas will be a movement church, or we will close,” Richard tells Tony decidedly. “There’s nothing in between.”
But in the past 12 months — or, as Tony puts it, 31,536,000 seconds — there were times Richard wasn’t sure he would get to witness his prayers for Canvas Church come to fruition.
“Right after we recorded the podcast was the sickest I ever was,” Richard shares. “I was coughing up blood clots, and I was getting worse, and I was like, man, I might not even see this podcast come out.”
Yet, despite having a lead pastor battling a terminal disease — or partially because of it, Canvas Church grew by 40 percent in the last year, baptized 58 new believers, sent out another church plant, and trained more future church planters and ministry leaders.
And, in an unexpected turn of events, Richard is, at least as of now, still around to see it all.
Richard found that his diagnosis — coupled with a podcast telling the world about it — gave him opportunities he hadn’t ever imagined having at 27 years old. He aims to harness these opportunities to join God’s activity in expanding His kingdom.
“What’s been good about my terminal cancer is that it forced me into this survival wartime mentality that I actually think we should just live in all the time,” Richard says. “If we really believe what we say we believe about Jesus, why are we so apathetic to our neighbor that’s dying and going to hell?”
Tony, the writer and producer of the “Terminal” podcast, has often reflected on how his story led him to share Richard’s. Twenty-five years ago, Tony survived his own battle with cancer, eventually linking him to Richard years later.
“It was a long time ago, but God knew even then that somebody would have to tell this story,” Tony comments. “And so now, Richard and I can both look backward and see God’s activity, and we can both look forward and see God’s promises.”
To hear more about how God is using Richard’s health journey and uncover a remarkable change of events, tune in to the newest episode of “Terminal” available on every major podcast platform. Photos and additional podcast materials are available at TerminalChurchPlanter.com.
