Shepherds rarely work alone for long.

Eventually, they find one another in the field.

Because of you…

Over the past few months, we’ve opened homes, shared meals, gathered around tables and fires, and made space for Shepherd-leaders who spend much of their lives pouring into others.

Spiritual Directors.
Church planters.
Youth Leaders.
Pastors & Friends.

Different callings and contexts, yet a shared understanding of what it means to walk with people through the wilderness of life.

Over time, they’ve become kindred shepherds—companions in the slow and sacred work of tending souls.

Same mugs, different colors.

One thing is becoming increasingly clear:

The Free Range Pastor may be “free range,”

But it is not a lone ranger mission.

In many ways, these relationships have become a kind of relational continued education for me—learning from men and women who are also stepping outside the traditional bounds of church life to seek, gather, and tend people where they are.

Meet my new friends Pachy and Alfredo, two all-star Cuban Church planters. You'll hear more about this if you keep reading...

Kindred Shepherds 1: Spiritual Directors

As part of that continued formation, I’m also continuing certification work in Spiritual Direction through a cohort led by Tim Reist.

Jeanette is participating as a first-year student, and together with Lacy Vairetta, I’m serving as one of Tim’s teaching assistants.

The cohort includes pastors from Church of the City and lay leaders from around Franklin who care deeply about reaching people through thoughtful, relational, and often non-traditional forms of spiritual care.

Like much of what we’ve been learning together, it’s centered on slowing down, listening well, and helping people become more attentive to the presence of God in everyday life.

Kindred Shepherds 2: Church Planters

One dear example of this fellowship is Richard Reives, Executive Director of the EPC Church Planting Community.

Richard’s the reason I’m part of the EPC and our connection to a beautiful network of church planters across the Southeast. Over time, he’s become a trusted friend and kindred shepherd. Richard’s the real deal.

Think of it like this:

The Free Range Pastor tends to work the edges of the field like a sheepdog—seeking wandering sheep and guiding them toward belonging.

Church planters carry that same shepherding instinct, but with a calling to establish new folds and tend growing flocks over time. There is much to learn from one another. And mutual encouragement is deeply experienced at these gatherings.

In January and May of this year, we also hosted dinners for church planters over four evenings—twice in our home and twice in the home of our friends and board members, Brock and Jana Warner.

These weren’t conferences or strategy sessions.

They were spaces to breathe.

To laugh.
To listen.
To learn from one another’s life in the field.
To remember none of us was meant to carry this work alone.

Side note: This June, I’ll actually be leading a seminar for church planters at the EPC General Assembly on our WILCO AM/PM Communities and what we’ve been learning through gathering people around tables, conversation, and intentional spiritual formation.

To say the least.... I'm PUMPED!!

Kindred Shepherds 3: Youth Leaders

Each year, we host nearly 80 Kindred Shepherds from the Barnabas Connection with an after-party—this year hosted at the Warners' around good food, conversation, and long friendship.

The Barnabas Connection gathers youth ministry leaders for Gospel encouragement, refreshment, and long-haul friendship in the unique work of walking with the next generation.

Many are old friends from our years serving together through The Edge, Crieff Fellowship, and High-Life Ministries. Those early years spent chasing after students became sacred training ground for these later years as a Free Range Pastor.

Funny enough, when someone asks Keller what I do for a living, he tells them, “My dad’s basically spending these years cleaning up the relational mess from his first 31 years of ministry.”

Honestly… he’s not entirely wrong. Lord help!

Kindred Shepherds 4: Pastors

One especially meaningful moment this season was participating in the ordination service of Pastor Gage Arnold at First Presbyterian Church in Nashville.

Gage and Ashland are like spiritual family to us. We’ve walked together through nearly every season of life—calling, ministry, dating, marriage, baptisms, and now ordination.

To offer the pastoral charge of Abiding in Christ at Gage’s ordination was both an honor and a joy. Click this to Watch the Charge.

It's a clear reminder that God is still calling shepherds—still setting apart men and women to guide, serve, teach, and tend His people in a weary world.

Some of my favorite calls come from pastors in other cities who reach out and say, “Someone from our church just moved to Nashville. Can you help us chase after them and help them find a church home?”

Often, those transitional seasons carry all kinds of pastoral care needs—loneliness, disorientation, grief, uncertainty, marriage strain, anxiety, or simply the ache of starting over somewhere new.

In many ways, The Free Range Pastor gets to step into that in-between space—walking with people relationally until they find a local church community where they can be known, loved, and truly pastored.

The Leggett-Arnold- Scheffler Easter Picture

Kindred Shepherds 5: You, Our Friends

Picture yourself here.

It would be impossible to name all the friends who share a shepherding heart for people beyond the traditional bounds of the Church.

Many have been the phone calls, coffee conversations, prayers, and long talks about individual souls who are weary, wondering, and wandering.

Much of this work has become a shared journey of coming alongside one another as we continue learning together what it means to shepherd well.

Be on the lookout for the next update where I highlight you—our faithful donors, all family and friends who make it possible to pastor free of charge to individuals and free from constant fiscal anxiety for the Leggett family.

Because of you, spaces like these exist—both for us and for kindred shepherds alike.

Tables are being set.
Fires are being lit.
Shepherds are reminded they are not alone.

And in the middle of it all, we continue learning together what it means to shepherd the wandering, wondering, and weary.

An ancient mission for a timely season.

— Ken

Don't Stop Reading Now: Let's Pray...

Father, we thank You for the fellowship of kindred shepherds—
for tables shared, stories told, prayers offered, and burdens carried together.

Jesus, we thank You for Your gift of church planters, youth leaders, pastors, spiritual directors, and faithful friends who continue stepping into the wilderness of life to seek, gather, and tend souls in Your name.

Spirit, we thank You for the homes, porches, fires, and friendships that have become places of Gospel encouragement and rest. For Your presence and resource to seek and shepherd.

And we pray for those carrying the quiet weight of shepherding others.
Refresh weary leaders.
Strengthen discouraged hearts.
Remind shepherds they are not alone.

Continue teaching us what it means to walk patiently with people who are wandering, wondering, and weary.

Father, set the tables.
Jesus, gather the people.
Spirit, light the fire.

Amen, and Amen!