Today we’d like to introduce you to Pastor Addison Canidy.
Hi Pastor Addison, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in Topeka, KS and I was called to preach at the age of 15. I ran away from that calling for about 3 years and I finally accepted my calling during my freshman year in college, admittedly not the best timing. I quickly received many preaching opportunities because I was known to be a young singer around town, so people assumed I was a good preacher because they knew I was a pretty good singer. They quickly found out that I still needed some work in the preaching department. Throughout college, I continued to preach and I started a campus-wide bible study called “Real Talk”. It became quite popular to the point that my professors were attending every week.
After I graduated college, I moved back home to be the youth pastor at my home church, Antioch Missionary Baptist Church. After a year of working and youth pastoring, I started to feel a sense of stagnation and I knew that God was calling me to more. After much prayer and counsel, I moved to Atlanta, GA to start Seminary at The Morehouse School of Religion at The ITC. Before moving to Atlanta, ironically, I had considered the idea of starting a church but after moving I quickly realized that it wasn’t a good idea because of how difficult church planting is, so after visiting a few churches, I joined a church called Changing A Generation FGBC. For about 10 years I moved up the ranks starting on the Praise Team, then college director and then youth pastor. I was youth pastor the majority of my time there and after 7 years in that position, I then was selected to be the next Sr. Pastor of the church. It was what I thought I wanted and desired. I was so excited to start this part of the journey but due to unforeseen circumstances, my time came to an end before I could take over in 2020.
After going through that experience I felt like I was starting over completely and I was left with only the necessary essentials, my wife, children, therapist, friends and most importantly, God. However, that was all I needed to start The Promised Land Church ATL. I knew that this is where God wanted me so that I could seek him for his will for my life instead of pursuing my will for my life. And after much quiet time with God, The Promised Land Church was born. I had no prior experience with church planting but God promised to order my steps, and he has been faithful to keep that promise. And though this has looked different than I ever would have expected, the impact has been tremendous even in our infancy. In 4 months’ time, we have helped send a member who is also a college graduate studying to be a pediatric doctor to study abroad in Spain. We also gave 8 families $250 for their Thanksgiving needs. And as of right now, we are still operating 100% virtually. To be amazed at what we have been able to do is an understatement and to know that this is only beginning gives me so much hope for the future. This time last year I was not in a mentally healthy place and now that we have started this church life has definitely taken a turn for the better. For the first time in my life, I feel truly free and that freedom is priceless and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
This road has definitely had its challenges. Starting a church from nothing was not in the plans I had for my life but God’s plans are definitely better than mine. Starting a church alone has so many difficulties, but adding a pandemic to the mix had made the word difficult an understatement. At this point, we have not had an in-person service yet and as a Pastor, I have not met many of the members of our Church. Being 100% virtual has forced us to be creative in how we reach out to our people and potential members. Another challenge is recording out services. We record 4 services in one day each month. Which means we are a month ahead each month. For our production, we have a service producer, sound tech, camera tech and a full band and praise team. We record at a location on the beltline for about 5 hours and that has built in challenges each month.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
With us being such a new ministry we want to make an impact that is sustainable and as we grow our impact grows. Our Values as a church are:
– Spontaneous generosity
– Disciplined curiosity
– Missional intentionality
– Bold authenticity
– Personal dignity
I am most proud of how much we have been able to give in such a short time. We are not a ministry that has a lot of resources but I have made it a principle of ours to always “give when we need”. When we have expenses coming up and are unsure about how we will take care of those responsibilities we find someone who is in need and give what we can.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
God and consistency will take you to where you want to go. When you identify your purpose don’t allow the path you take to devour your patients. Success may not come overnight but it will come if you have God, consistency and patients.
Contact Info:
- Email: TheLandchurchATL@gmail.com
- Website: TheLandATL.com
- Instagram: @TheLandATL
- Facebook: The Promised Land Church ATL
- Youtube: The Promised Land Church ATL
Image Credits:
Ashley King
