At the 2022 GACX Forum, JD Payne defines "apostolic imagination" in the early church as, "A Spirit-transformed mindset that helped facilitate urgent and widespread gospel proclamation, disciple making, church planting, and leadership development." Apostolic imagination also helps resolve the tension between movement methodology and those who are more focused on the maturation of believers.
J.D. Payne serves as a professor of Christian Ministry at Samford University. Prior to this, he was the pastor for church multiplication with The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, AL. Before that, he served with the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and as an Associate Professor of Church Planting and Evangelism at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he also directed the Center for North American Missions and Church Planting.
