Supports

Shifts in Thinking

Kaleo’s philosophy of ministry embodies some shifts in thinking away from what is common in traditional evangelical American churches and toward a missional and incarnational theology. People have found these helpful to understand the why behind some of the things we are at work doing and the postures that inform our core values.

Shifts about goals:

From Heaven After Death to Heaven on Earth
From Church to the Kingdom of God
From Evangelism to Mission
From Services to Serving God
From Numerical Growth to Spiritual Growth

Shifts about Church organization:

From church as a Building to the church as People
From a City Church to a Neighborhood Church
From One Pastor to Many Pastors
From Addition to Multiplication

Shifts about how we learn

From Events to Processes
From Information to Transformation
(from an emphasis on correct Orthodoxy to right Orthopraxy)

Shifts about personal devotion:

From Membership to Participation
From Donations to Self-Generosity
From Personal Satisfaction to Love

Core Values

Hospitality

You have a seat at this table. Hospitality is the first core value posture and appropriately is defined as “making room.” Hospitality isn’t just planning behind the scenes, but it needs authentic connections and conversations to really be called hospitality. Hospitality takes intentionality and often, discomfort. Offering loving inclusion often means opening ourselves up to receive negative feedback, to offer confession, and to receive forgiveness.

Presence

Your presence matters. We are designed and created in the image of a God who is present in the world through incarnation. Presence is about being with us and showing up in faithfulness and in body, but it is also about taking ownership in and for the community. Often, people undervalue their presence, thinking, “If I’m not there, it won’t matter.” This posture is diametrically opposed to that thought. Each of us matter in the body of Christ and we are all weaker and at all loss when one of us is missing.

Mutuality

We need you, you need us. Mutuality is the exponential sum of hospitality and presence multiplied endlessly in all of our overlapping relationships and is what happens when our relationships become holy ground. We believe in the priesthood of all believers and that when we come together there is always enough. Mutuality at its best allows us to give sacrificially without strings attached and to receive freely without shame because mutuality recognizes that we and all we have belong equally as God’s children.

Authenticity

You are God’s gift to us. This Christian community can not be authentic without you finding your identity in God and your unique calling. Authenticity isn’t about doing what we want, but about doing what we must do to be who we are. Sometimes authenticity elicits criticism and conflict from others, but ultimately authenticity allows unity (not uniformity) in the body of Christ.

Local

You live here too. This core value posture is a basic proposition: that we all live locally and that our lives, our city, and our world is changed locally. Jesus didn’t visit the entire world, but rather lived out his life in small local cities and villages of the middle-east. God is always revealing the universal through the particular. For us, who now live in a globalized world, it takes intentionality to choose to commit and submit to a place. Only then will we find, not the limitations we expect, but a limitless depth and love for the place we call home.

Growing

Your growth is needed, but continuing to grow takes intentionality and humility. Growing may not always be comfortable, but will always mean change. The gospel, by its very nature, spreads and grows! We value the continued growth toward inward transformation and outward proclamation.

Embodied

Everything about you matters to God. Our relationship with God is not a mental exercise, it is embodied in you and in us as we together make up the body of Christ in the world. Jesus lives as the embodiment of God; teaching us a way to live. By Jesus’ death we realize that there is really no divide between the sacred and the secular, but God’s Spirit is poured out and God’s law has been written on our hearts. Now as we live into embodiment, we can know that what we eat, where we live, who we love, what we spend our time doing all matters; it is all sacred.

Leadership & Interns

True to our shift from one pastor to many pastors and true to our core value of mutuality, there are many people who are a part of the leadership within our congregation. The rule of thumb, outside of the listed outlined roles, is that if you want to start something that will contribute to the life of the church or ministry to the neighborhood, we’d really love to hear your ideas and equip you to lead new initiatives. Within Kaleo, if you do the work of service, you organically become a leader. We want to nurture your call and practically equip you to do the work of Christ in the world.

Rev. Emily JoAnn Haynes, Co-Lead Pastor

Emily grew up as a pastor’s kid in Oklahoma City. After moving all around the Bible belt in her youth to accommodate the churches fragile budgets and fickle priorities, she knew she was being called to ministry, but hoped missions would allow more creative freedom and stability than she saw available state-side. After spending what would have been her sophomore year of college in Germany following an innovative German pastor and developing her spiritual practices and grounding, she returned to Trevecca Nazarene University where she completed her bachelors in Religion and Philosophy to graduate with her original class in 2009.

Determined to return to the creative ministry work in the post-christian European West, she told Caleb that he must be willing to move to Germany upon graduation if they were to date. Having agreed, Caleb and Emily promptly decided to get engaged. After a period of discernment, they felt that God’s call was to take all they had learned to reimagine for the church in a post-christian world and ignore the invisible lines that told them they couldn’t be missionaries in their home-town of Nashville.

Emily was ordained as an Elder in the Church of the Nazarene in 2013 5-weeks after her daughter, Story, was born. She has spent the last 12 years reimagining the church, serving the neighborhood, and discovering the depth of our collective need for transformation. After her second daughter, Daily, was born in 2015 she has been stepping up more freely onto her established soapboxes for both feminism and climate change. She has also been pursuing her passion to understand and use the Enneagram as a resource for Christian holistic spiritual development.

With two daughters in her quiver she sees the future open to possibilities, but the present desperate for change. She earned her certification as a Narrative Enneagram Practitioner in 2021 and uses it in her pastoral care and community work. In the near future, she hopes to collaborate with others to create and lead a post-graduate training program called, The Practice, an intentional community program for young people called to professional or vocational ministry as a way to equip future church leaders for a changing world.

Rev. Caleb Cray Haynes, Co-Lead Pastor

Caleb Haynes grew up in rural Tennessee where the call to ministry grew roots in his early life. In 2008 he graduated from Trevecca Nazarene University with a B.A. in Religion and Philosophy. Following graduation, he served as a volunteer Nazarene missionary through Mission Corp in Mainz, Germany aiding in planting the church, Kirche in Aktion. In 2009, Caleb and his wife, Emily, planted Kaleo Nashville Church of the Nazarene in Tennessee, where they both still serve as co-lead pastors. Caleb was ordained as an Elder in the Church of the Nazarene in 2013 and is currently working toward a master’s degree in Theology and Ecology from Nazarene Theological College in Manchester, UK. Caleb and Emily have two beautiful girls, Story and Daily.

Caleb has a strong calling toward the intersection of ecclesiology and ecology. His love for growing things initially inspired him to help start the Woodycrest Community Garden in his neighborhood in 2010. Caleb has co-vocationally operated Earthtone Reconstruction and Recycling since 2013, working to reduce as much waste as possible from landfills by recycling, repurposing, and reclaiming items for creative use. In 2019 he co-founded Nazarenes for Creation Care and successfully organized the first gathering of over 100 diverse U.S. Nazarenes to discuss matters of creation care at a summit in October of 2019. He is now a member of Tennessee Interfaith Power and Light and is a professional Partner with the Evangelical Environmental Network.

Caleb is involved locally with Whitsitt Elementary School as a volunteer and also works with Cosecha Community Development in serving the diverse residents of South Nashville. He loves writing, reading, and gardening.

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Deirdre Arnett, Children’s Director

Deirdre attended Mount Vernon Nazarene University where she majored in Inter-Cultural Studies but finished her education at Trevecca with a degree in Religion. She now uses all her knowledge in her role as a proud Stay at Home Mom. She likes reading, writing, hiking, going to concerts, and extended periods of quiet. Deirdre’s childhood memories revolve around growing up in the country, spending lots of time outside, and making up games with her 3 sisters.

The role of the children’s director is to think holistically about the needs of the children and families who attend Kaleo. Deirdre oversees spiritual guidance and education, finds and trains volunteers, researches and teaches curriculum, and continues her own education pertaining to the holistic development of children and curriculum. Deirdre must think creatively about how to engage and support the children’s participation in all areas of the church. She must maintain open, clear, and consistent communication with families.

Deirdre was hooked on Godly Play from the moment it was considered an option for Kaleo’s children’s curriculum and is a Certified Storyteller through the Godly Play Foundation. Deirdre is a firm believer that the church is not complete without the welcoming and participation of children and loves that Godly Play approaches children as full and whole beings, not waiting to be filled up with entertainment but rather eager for a safe space to make sense of the very real spiritual experiences they are already having.

Interns

A regular presence of interns allows for two-way mutual benefit with our church. Our interns are given real roles of responsibility based on a combination of needs of the church and their own interests, passions, and callings. This means our interns get to try out creative ideas they have with some freedom to learn and fail. They also get to serve the body that is incarnate in this local church in specific ways where there is a felt-need or added benefit not being met in another way. In this way we are able to grow and go somewhere together.

The acquisition of interns is usually an organic process that starts with the person being an active participant in the life of the church, but on occasion it happens that there is a relational connection that makes intern relationships more specifically intentionally sought out. One active intern also serves as a voting member of the finance team which allows younger representation to that team and gives our interns real experience managing church finances. Most interns are young adults who feel a calling toward ministry work.

If you are interested in interning at Kaleo, please visit our collaborate page to contact us and begin the conversation.

Finance Team & How We Use Money

On Sundays and online, participants, community partners, and neighbors are welcome to join in the work of the church by giving tithes and offerings. There are different ways to give, but however you give we hope you will connect to giving as a part of your spiritual practice of both responding to others needs even in the midst of your own poverty (believing when we come together there is enough) as well as releasing control of your money as you find your whole life reoriented toward holistic love.

Money is budgeted by a financial team and used to meet the needs of the church and neighborhood. We budget based on percentages to set both priorities and safeguards against overspending. We report annually on spending and income at the Family Meeting, but are always open to questions about how money is used.

The finance team is made up of these voting members:

Rev. Emily Haynes (Pastoral Representative)
Ryan Arnett (Finance Team Leader)
Caleb Gerdom (Accountant)
Melanie Pond
Caleb Johnson
Rotating Active Intern

Each year we look at and adjust the budgets based on our priorities, felt needs, and values, but generally follow this uniquely percentage-based system:

50% Ministry: Includes “World Impact” and “City Impact” projects, including supporting Ben & Hannah Ponder, missionaries to Serbia, Harvest Hands, #N4CC, TNU, and special projects. This also includes community benevolence giving, community events, and gardens. “Life Impact” categories in this percentage go-to activities for church spiritual growth, pastoral care of the church community, children’s ministries, Godly Play, Holiday food and supplies, and liturgical events.
25% Pastoral Giving: Includes contributions to the Nazarene Pensions and Benefits Fund, pastoral professional development, and pastoral giving.
25% Administration: Includes office and administrative supplies, building expenses, support of the MidSouth District, and administrative meals.