June 2025
In April, during Holy Week, I stopped to grab a bite to eat at a barbecue joint in Brenham called Pioneer Smokehouse. As I was waiting for my food, the owner stopped by my table and introduced himself. We got to chatting. I found out he was a Presbyterian pastor who planted this restaurant in church a few years ago.
We set an appointment when I could come back and learn more. I met Pastor Mark at Pioneer on a Wednesday, when they are closed and smoking. We sat outside and talkeda bout ministry.
Mark Renn is a personable, faith-filled Pastor who loves to cook. Raised in Boston, his family moved to Texas when he was in the sixth grade. His family was Congregational, Disciples of Christ, then PCUSA. He is now ECO.
After seminary at Austin Presbyterian, he served as a youth pastor for four years at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Houston’s Rice Village. Following that call, he moved onto a church in Mobile, Alabama, and after that to First Presbyterian in Kingwood, where he served from 2013 to 2019.
Passionate about evangelism and “feet-on-the-ground local missions.” He saw churches spending lots of money but not much time face-to-face. He began to wonder about combining his vocation in ministry with his hobbies. “I started doing beekeeping and beer can art. I always had that entrepreneurial bent. If someone throws something away, I want to see the value in it. I sold my stuff in markets, always putting money aside. I was in breweries like Karbach and St. Arnould’s, selling stuff and meeting people. It became an outreach. I was not pushing church but also not hiding it.
Mark was more energized outside the walls of the church than inside. “I was having more impact doing that kind of stuff.” He saw a lot of wives who were wanting to raise their kids in the church but couldn’t get their husbands involved. He found his hobbies allowing him to connect witih some of these men.
“I liked that stuff, but I couldn’t support my family with it. I liked ministry and it supported my family, but something was missing.” He also loved to cook. “I was doing congregational lunches and Boy Scout dinners.” He began to search for ways to combine these gifts and passions.
“Then, I had two key conversations.”
Hitting the wall with the churches he served not wanting to change, he was pushing but they seemed to just want the status quo. And then a pastor said to him, “It’s no surprise to me that you’re frustrated and unhappy, because you don’t belong at that church. You’re a church planter; you just haven’t realized it yet. Follow where God’s gifts take you.” This was a moment of awakening for Mark.
Then, he had a second conversation with a friend who also had an entrepreneurial spirit. “Have you ever thought about staring a restaurant?” his friend asked. Sometimes hearing God’s call is about listening to the caring voices of those around you. At first, when he pondered the restaurant idea, he thought, “Yeah, maybe someday.” But then he began to wonder: Why not now, while you have the energy and excitement?
So, he started putting the pieces together with church planting and food. He counted the cost. His church gave him $70,000 to launch a new church plant. He looked around and chose Brenham.
Mark told me that in his research he saw that there were three church-planting problems that were the top causes of burnout and leaving after five years.
- You run out of funding
- You have no place to meet
- You don’t have enough people.
If you’re leasing a place, they can pull the rug out at any time or jack up the rent. If you have a restaurant, you own the place. How do we meet people? If you have a restaurant, you meet people. So off they went.
“My whole salary is funded by the restaurant.” Most often, half a church’s budget is personnel. If the church is small, as much as 70% of the budget is paying the pastor, a part-time admin, custodial service, and some musicians.
When Mark stepped out in faith to build this unique model for church planting (later named Pioneer Mission Community) his home church supported him in his family was $70,000 in mission funds to supplement salary and medical benefits for his family while he got his business in the church off the ground.
“We lived off what we could make with the restaurant and only drew on the mission grant to pay for benefits. The first year we drew out $2,500/month, the second year $1,000/month, then $100/month. Now I take nothing from the church. My income is completely covered by the restaurant.”
The restaurant attracts worshippers and the church attracts customers. “Everyone who comes here started out as a customer. They hear about the church through the restaurant.”
And if you think about it, that’s what the apostle Paul did as well. His tentmaking business was a lucrative affair. These were not pup tents. These were large leather tents. The Roman armies were the number one buyers, to house troops. Paul was a tanner. It paid the bills. It was through this business that he met newcomers to the faith and coworkers in the gospel.
Acts 18:1-3 says,
After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he found a Jew named Aquila from Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them, and they worked together—by trade they were tentmakers.
I asked Mark about how the finances worked. His relaxed and open posture indicated compete openness. He seemed eager to share the journey. He told me their church budget was $5,000. I took that to mean their program budget, excluding facility costs. “We pay a guitarist $100/week. He is a school teacher during the week. That’s our budget.” They don’t do stewardship campaigns. “I put out a bucket.” The bucket usually gets $100, just enough to pay the musician.
The church is a 501c3; the restaurant is an LLC, open only on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The church rents the restaurant on Sunday nights for $250/week. “I’m the business owner and the pastor.”
Pioneer Mission Community is not chartered. In Lutheran lingo, we would say they are not yet “organized.” They are a mission, a Synod Authorized Worshipping Community, a church plant. They have intentionally chosen not to charter yet. “The only thing being chartered would add would be more meetings and requirements. Being a church plant keeps us free to focus on sharing the gospel.”
Church is Sunday at 5:00. “The causal nature of this invites lingering and conversation.” Due to the nature of running the business to support the ministry, the church plant doesn’t offer other groups (for adults, children, youth) in addition to Sunday worship. Mark says, “Ministry takes place throughout the week and one I’m one discipleship conversations, not programs.” No youth programs. “My son and two daughter go to youth programs at other churches. My son runs a ministry at Brenham High School.”
As we talked, I came to realized we were on different sides of the theological spectrum. We dabbled in that, gently and kindly. I could see we shared a common love for Jesus, the Bible, and the church.
I appreciated meeting Mark Renn.
And, for what it’s worth, the barbecue was outstanding.
