Joe Graves is a pastor, entrepreneur, and consultant dedicated to rethinking assumptions and creating new possibilities in faith, leadership, and social impact. As the founding pastor of Central City Church—now Cityview Church—Joe has launched and supported numerous churches and nonprofits, including the Columbus Violence Reduction Fund, Little Bottoms Free Store, and the Ohio Writers Association. He is passionate about church renewal, justice, and empowering leaders to navigate change with creativity and compassion. With experience in church planting, organizational health, and nonprofit leadership, Joe brings practical insights and innovative strategies to help faith communities and mission-driven organizations thrive.
Keynotes
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The Entrepreneurial Framework
Are you feeling called to start something new—a new church, a new ministry, a new movement? In this keynote, we'll explore how your unique leadership style and skills can be the foundation for launching new life into your community. Building on a leadership assessment you’ll complete beforehand, we'll dive into different leadership styles, break down essential skills for starting something from scratch, and reflect on how you can best lead in ways that are authentic to who you are. You'll walk away with practical insights and real-world examples. Your leadership matters—and your dream to create something new could be exactly what the world needs next.
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Reasons to Plant a Church—and Reasons Not To
Church planting is exciting, but it’s not for everyone. This keynote explores both the calling and the caution of starting a new church, helping church leaders think through the importance and urgency of church planting while also dissecting the toxic motivations that often fill up that space.
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Neurodiversity in the Church
How can churches be more inclusive of neurodivergent individuals? Pulling from experience as an autistic leader, this session unpacks the strengths neurodiversity brings to faith communities and practical ways to create worship, leadership, and ministry spaces that honor diverse ways of thinking and processing the world.
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The Transformative Power of Storytelling
Stories shape faith, build communities, and inspire change. Pulling from his experience as a creative writer and President of the Ohio Writers’ Association, this keynote examines how churches and nonprofits can harness the power of storytelling to communicate vision, engage people in mission, and create spaces of belonging and transformation.
Workshops
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The Entrepreneurial Framework
Are you passionate about starting new things—whether it's a new church, ministry, or community initiative? In this interactive workshop, you’ll build on your personal leadership assessment (completed before the session) to identify your leadership style and key leadership skills. We’ll break down what effective leadership looks like when launching something new, give you a chance to apply your style and skills in a real-world case study, and offer space to share and learn from others. Plus, anyone interested can sign up for a free one-on-one session afterward to dive deeper into your unique leadership strengths and next steps.
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Building a Ministry Action Plan
Every ministry needs a clear roadmap. This workshop provides a step-by-step process for leaders to define their mission, set actionable goals, and develop a strategy that moves their ministry from vision to reality.
Participants will walk away with:
- A clearly defined process for cultural competency and community exegesis.
- A step-by-step action plan outlining next steps for implementation.
- A framework for evaluating progress and adapting their plan over time.
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Building a Launch Team for a New Church Start
No leader succeeds alone. This session equips church planters and nonprofit founders with the tools to recruit, train, and empower a strong team that shares the vision and can turn it into a thriving reality.
Participants will walk away with
- A recruitment strategy for identifying and recruiting team members.
- A team development plan that includes roles, expectations, and training.
- Practical tools for measuring and maintaining effectiveness in connecting with new people.
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Navigating denominations while challenging the status quo
While there is an increasing need for new churches and fresh expressions, established systems and processes can often struggle to understand the cost of an entrepreneurial endeavor. In this workshop, Joe uses the “Parent Matrix” to explore the relationship between new ideas and established systems and how leaders can protect and support creativity in the church.
Participants will walk away with:
- A clear understanding of power dynamics amongst those who seek to challenge the status quo
- A matrix to process and work through unique power dynamics
- Practical advice on how to birth something new in established settings.
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Sustainability: Redefining Success in Churches and Nonprofits
Success isn’t just about growth—it’s about longevity and impact. Sustainability balances the input and output metrics of an organization, from financial to emotional burdens, to measure the long term impact of an organization. This session challenges traditional success metrics and introduces sustainable strategies that prioritize financial health, leadership development, and mission-driven effectiveness.
Participants will walk away with:
- A redefined metric of success that prioritizes mission impact over numbers.
- Practical financial and operational strategies for long-term sustainability.
- A personalized sustainability plan tailored to their church or nonprofit.
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Supporting Cross-Cultural, Citywide Endeavors
How can faith communities engage across cultures and work together for the greater good of a city? African American churches have a long history of civil engagement. As predominantly white churches begin to move more into civic engagement, there are important postures and practices to ensure they are helping the cause, and not co-opting it. This workshop explores best practices for predominately-white churches to engage in collaboration, cultural humility, and impactful partnerships in diverse urban settings.
Participants will walk away with:
- A deeper understanding of cultural humility and inclusive leadership.
- Practical strategies for building meaningful partnerships across diverse communities.
- A plan for engaging in citywide collaboration while maintaining a clear mission focus.
Testimonials
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“Joe Graves is one of my favorite preachers. He said this quote a number of years ago in a sermon at Central and I've never forgotten it. It challenged me. It encouraged me. It changed me. 'Never make yourself the hero of your own story." This is not about false humility. It's about right-sizing our perspective. For some of us, our natural tendency is to rewrite our narrative to make ourselves the center of the story.”
Rev. Paul Risler
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“Pastor Joe Graves is a selfless man with a heart posture of sacrifice and servitude. Joe has rallied his congregation to support the mission of Mothers Of Murdered Columbus Children, has volunteered as a consultant for the Initiative Operation Under Triple Digits, and has been gracious with giving financial support. The operations of programming would not have been possible without his expertise.” Malissa Thomas St. Clair, Co-Founder of Mothers of Murdered Columbus Children.
Malissa Thomas-St. Clair, Mothers of Murdered Columbus Children
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“Joe Graves has been coaching us through our merger of 3 churches for 4 months and without his help we would not have had a solid process, empathy for all parties, smooth transitions and every facet of our merger already thought-through, walked-through and the way smoothed for us as we step into this new endeavor.”
Dave Warner, social entrepreneur and coach
