"May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me."

  - Jesus Christ, John 17:23 NLT

our history

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3/1994 – Racial reconciliation trip
While in college, Chad Brennan went on a spring break trip to Canton, Mississippi to serve the poor and learn about racial reconciliation. Laurie (then Stanek) went on the same trip the following year. It was a powerful experience for them both which helped to open their eyes to the realities of racism and ethnic divisions in America (and, sadly, even in the church).
6/1995 – Life in the Middle East
Chad went on an 8 week summer missions trip to work with young adults in the Middle East. Laurie went on the same trip the following year. Then, Chad returned for a one year Stint from 1996-1997. These experiences helped to give them a taste of life as an ethnic minority and the joys of working with Christians of other ethnicities.
10/1997 – Surrounded by diversity
Chad and Laurie worked with college students as staff members with Campus Crusade for Christ in Queens, NY from 1997 to 2003. Living and ministering in one of the most ethnically diverse areas in the U.S. and being a part of two thriving multi-ethnic churches (The Booklyn Tabernacle and The First Baptist of Flushing) taught them about the joys and challenges that come with multi-ethnic ministry.
4/22/2001 – “A Taste of Heaven”
After several years in Queens, the Brennans worked with local ministry leaders and students to organize an event called “A Taste of Heaven”. Young adults from different neighborhoods and ministries came together for a fun, worshipful, prayerful night that was a taste of heaven!
9/22/2001 – First ReNew event
Just days after the terrorists attacks on the World Trade Center (the smoke could still be seen in the distance), young adults from around the city joined together for our first “ReNew event”. During such a sad and unsettling time, it was refreshing and encouraging to worship Christ as a unified, multi-ethnic community of Believers. To learn more about our first event please read the 7 Principles Introduction.
10/2001 – Long-term impact in Queens
Young adults and ministry leaders in Queens, worked together to facilitate “ReNew monthly meetings” which (over the next several years) helped to foster a diverse community of young Christians who encouraged one another and worked together to minister to their community. ReNew played a key role in helping many young adults to come to Christ, grow in their faith, go on missions trips, and enter full-time ministry.
5/2003 – Open doors in Columbus
The Brennans moved to Columbus and continued to work with Campus Crusade for Christ on the campuses in central Ohio. They continued to feel called to work toward building cross-cultural unity in the Christian church. The Lord opened doors for them to connect with a diverse group of ministry leaders and young adults in the Columbus area and a Columbus ReNew was formed soon after.
11/2004 – ReNew activities start in Columbus
ReNew leaders in Columbus began to work together to facilitate monthly meetings and other activities designed to help unite Christians in the area across ethnic and denominational lines. Over the next several years the Columbus ReNew leaders facilitated a wide variety of activities including prayer retreats/meetings, leaders gatherings, large events, and training sessions with young adults from schools, campuses, and ministries throughout central Ohio.
6/2005 – “ReNew Partnerships” is launched
After many hours of prayer, fasting, and consulting with respected Christian leaders, the Brennans felt God leading them to invest all of their time in helping Christians to build biblical, multi-ethnic communities — up to that time, they had facilitated ReNew’s activities along with their normal campus ministry activities with CCC. After nine great years with CCC, they left staff and began the journey of forming “ReNew Partnerships” as a non-profit organization.
9/2005 – ReNew’s efforts expand to other cities
The Lord opens doors for ReNew to serve ministries in other cities including Dayton and Indianapolis. Our efforts in these locations include teaching, workshops, coaching leadership, training, etc.
1/7/2006 – Large multi-ethnic event in Columbus
With the help of over 20 ministries, ReNew facilitated a large event which featured a beautiful assortment of worship, spoken word, music, and teaching in a variety of ethnic styles. Approximately 350 young adults attended the event from 40+ different organizations and campuses. Over the next several years ReNew facilitated four more of these events.
6/7/2006 – We are “official”
ReNew Partnerships becomes officially incorporated as a non-profit organization. We receive our approval as a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization soon after.
9/2006 – Michaela Gregory joins our team
After two years of faithfully serving as a volunteer, Michaela Gregory becomes the first staff member (besides the Brennans) to join ReNew.
10/30/2006 – Thousands impacted through the Main Event
By this time ReNew is playing a strategic role in a variety of multi-ethnic activities facilitated by other organizations. For example, in Columbus, ReNew played a central role with “The Main Event” which drew over 14,000 people. ReNew played a central role in organizing the 400+ event volunteers and the follow-up of the 2100 people who indicated decisions for Christ.
2/23/2007 – First multi-ethnic training workshop
As we sought to help Christians of different ethnicities to share life and ministry together it became obvious that one of the most helpful things we could do would be to provide Biblical training and resources on multi-ethnic issues.
7/2007 – Stephanie Gregory joins our team
After three years of faithfully serving as a volunteer, Stephanie Gregory (who married Michaela Gregory’s brother) becomes a very welcome addition to our efforts.
9/2007 – Our new (old) focus: Bible-based training and resources
After six years of working toward greater interracial unity in the Christian church, the ReNew leaders spent many hours in prayer, fasting, and discussion regarding, “Where should we go from here?” We felt the Lord leading us in the direction of providing Bible-based training and resources to help Christians of different ethnicities to share life and ministry together. We decided to limit our other activities (facilitating multi-ethnic events, etc) in order to focus on training as our primary emphasis.
7/2008 – renewpartnerships.org is launched
After over six months of development, we launched renewpartnerships.org — an innovative new website with one primary emphasis: “Helping Christians of different ethnicities to share life and ministry together”. (press release) We received immediate positive feedback from leaders around the country. The number of visitors to the website rapidly increased to over 150 per day. We also began to send out our free monthly ReNew Newsletter.
11/2008 – Beginnings of the ReNew E-learning Program
We began to lay the foundations and talk with top multi-ethnic leaders around the country about developing the ReNew E-learning Program — an effort to develop interactive training sessions addressing the most critical topics for building and sustaining biblical, multi-ethnic community.
11/2009 – Richard Johnson joins our team
After four years of serving as a volunteer and member of our Board of Directors, Richard Johnson joins our team.
11/2009 – Tiffany Moncrief joins our team
After a year of serving as a volunteer,Tiffany Moncrief joins our team.
12/2010 – Launch of the ReNew E-learning Program
After 2 years of prayer, planning, and hard work we opened our e-learning store with our first session: Initial Cross Cultures with Dr. Brenda Salter-McNeil.  Soon after, we released Harmonizing Cultures with Dr. Michael Emerson.
For the latest developments with ReNew please see our most recent semi-annual organizational update.
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