We believe the Church is the hope of the world!
Sorrowfully, we see American society moving further away from Judeo-Christian core beliefs. Studies show over the last 30 years church attendance has declined and church growth has not kept pace with the increase in population. Our culture is becoming increasingly secularized and polarized, making our nation more vulnerable to destructive non-biblical trends. We believe that new paradigms and approaches are needed in this season to more relevantly introduce people to the love of Christ. City Advance invites pastors, leaders of non-profits, marketplace and prayer leaders to engage their community in relevant ways.
Our Plan
We believe God is stirring a movement in cities worldwide. City Advance is calling leaders with a vision for citywide gospel movements to come together to connect, equip and grow these movements to the next level. City Advance is an “iron sharpening iron” approach, cross-fertilizing ideas and practices across various disciplines that relate to the broad topic of ‘city transformation.
History and Perspective
City Advance started as a leadership learning consultation. The initial prototype was launched as a two-day gathering that preceded Movement Day in New York City, October 2012-2015, pioneered by Tom White, Glenn Barth, and George Ordway.
Tom White
FOUNDER & PRESIDENT | City Advance
Tom conducts an international ministry catalyzing and developing citywide movements of unity, prayer, and collaboration. White has emerged as an innovator and practitioner in the city transformation space—building collaborative partnerships among kingdom-minded leaders to more effectively reach their communities with the Gospel. Since 1991, he has led over 900 Leaders Prayer Summits in numerous cities worldwide. In 1990, he authored The Believers Guide to Spiritual Warfare, a best seller (Baker). In 2014, he published The Practitioners Guide: Building City Gospel Movements. Tom serves on the Global Cities Alliance Team for Movement.org, and is a faculty member of the Movement Day Scholars Program, training city leadership teams from around the globe. Tom and his wife Terri reside in Corvallis, Oregon.
Sam Estes
DIRECTOR | City Advance
Pastor Sam Estes has been in ministry for 50 years and now serves as City Advance Director working in communities introducing the Church to the City and the City to the Church creating fully cross-sectored relationships to bring about community impact. Married to Debby for 45 years, a retired first grade schoolteacher. They have four married adult children, 14 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren.
He is the facilitator of the Sanger Community Task Force: a group of community leaders whose goal is to network, collaborate and meet the ongoing needs of the Sanger community. He is Past Chairman of the Sanger District Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and is currently Sr. Chaplain for the Sanger Police Department. He has served as Executive Director for Youth For Christ and in several churches as Youth, Music pastor, and the past 30 years as Senior Pastor. He has been a private pilot for 40 years introducing aviation to hundreds of kids. He has coached community youth teams in Soccer, Volleyball, Baseball and Basketball teams. He is an avid fisherman, motorcyclist, and sports enthusiast.