“Rest isn’t just not working—it’s about doing what fuels you.”
As lead pastor of Renewal Church of Chicago and president of The Chicago Partnership, Derrick Puckett has been navigating the unique challenges of leading an urban church and a church planting network. Puckett shares with Barna how he intentionally tends to his emotional, mental and spiritual health to counterbalance the stresses of ministry, marriage and family life—and how those rhythms shape his leadership and his church.
Q: In what ways does leading an urban church bring added or unique pressures?
Derrick Puckett: Chicago is a transient city—people come for school or a job, stay a couple of years and move on. That alone creates pressure because you’re constantly rebuilding community.
Our church sits in a pocket of the city where multiple neighborhoods and cultures intersect. From day one, we’ve positioned Renewal as a regional church, not just a neighborhood church. We want to bring people together across lines that usually divide. I always say—if the United Center can bring 20,000 people together for a Bulls game or Disney on Ice, and no one cares who’s sitting next to them, why can’t the Church of Jesus Christ do the same?
