Dino Rizzo of ARC (Association of Related Churches) Reviews the First Season of UNSCRIPTED

ARC (Association of Related Churches) is a cooperative of independent churches from different denominations, networks, and backgrounds who strategically resource church planters and pastors to help them reach people with the message of Jesus. ARC exists to launch, connect and equip churches, and to see a thriving church in every community.

In 2000, ARC was founded to resource couples to start life-giving churches. Since its beginning, ARC has expanded into a multi-faceted, global organization while staying true to its core mission. As of Fall 2022, ARC has planted more than 1,000 churches. Supported by a diverse community and independent churches, ARC celebrates all God is doing through the local church.

ARC recently concluded the successful airing of the season of its new web series called UNSCRIPTED. The series follows Dino Rizzo, Executive Director of ARC (Association of Related Churches), as he visits with incredible pastors and leaders throughout the world.

Dino Rizzo recently sat down with his son, Dylan, to review the first season of the web series UNSCRIPTED.

Dylan Rizzo:  You were able to sit down with really some of our great friends, some legends, some pioneers, I would say. And you sat down with Pastor Wayne Francis in New York, he’s a part of the Life Church family, and one of your best friends, Pastor John Siebeling and Pastor Herbert Cooper and Brian Cromer who just planted an incredible church. They’re really killing the game in Cincinnati. And there was also your interview with Stephen Chandler and Jimmy Rollins. There were probably a lot of unscripted moments. What off the bat jumped out to you, whether it was with Pastor John or even Pastor Herbert?

Dino Rizzo:  One of the things we’ve done with this is I do not let anyone know what I’m asking. It is unscripted.

Dylan Rizzo:  Right. It’s got to stay that way.

Dino Rizzo:  It is impromptu. It is unplanned. I want to hear from their heart. I want to get into their soul. So we don’t send them a bunch of questions. We just sit down, and we go. I had a blast with Herbert Cooper. Herbert Cooper is one of the best guys on the planet. He and Tiffany are incredible. People’s Church, Oklahoma City. He planted a church back in the day as we did. There was no ARC; there was no playbook. There wasn’t much of a groove to try to figure out. There wasn’t even hardly even anybody to talk to. So I loved how he was like, “Oh no, we didn’t do the ARC way. We did it the hard way.” I love some of the things he said about that.

Herbert is on our Lead Team and gives tremendously to church planters and loves pastors, and is building a great church. But he went through things, and everybody’s got to figure it out. You wish there was a wand that you could say, “Okay, do great,” but you have to figure it out.

Dylan Rizzo:  I remember one of the clips from Brian Cromer’s episode; he talked about when he first went into Cincinnati. He didn’t go get a billboard. He didn’t go do a Sunday service. He went to all the other guys in the city and was like, “Hey, we’re not in competition. Let’s try to do something together,” which I think is how you go about the process. It usually tells a lot about how the process will go for you. What did you take away from your conversation with Brian?

Dino Rizzo:  He honored the leaders, the guys that had been there. And he had a great first day. Again, he had learned a lot from a lot of pastors and a lot of good leaders.

Brian, he’s a good leader himself. He’s humble but confident. We’re in a narcissistic world. We all struggle with that virus. I love that young man. He’s doing it right, and he’s doing it for the right reason. He just loves people. I’ll never forget when I was there that day. I was preaching. He was never around. I couldn’t find him anywhere. He’s always at the foyer. He’s outside. We did baptisms out in the courtyard at some school, and that’s what it’s all about.

Dylan Rizzo:  Your conversations with Stephen Chandler and Jimmy Rollins were very unscripted. Looking back, that was really one of my favorite episodes with you, Jimmy, and Stephen. What was it about speaking with them that made it special?

Dino Rizzo:  When we had our conversations with Stephen Chandler and Jimmy Rollins, you tell them about doing something different, unscripted; it was a conversation everybody wants to hear. It was one of our most-watched episodes. It was because two guys pastoring in the same area, strong leaders, great wives, great teams, and they said, “What would it be like if we could come together and appreciate each other’s strengths, realize each other’s weaknesses?” It’s what your grandfather always says, “It’s amazing what can get accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit.”

Dylan Rizzo:  You look at both of those guys. It’s not like that was a desperate move. One guy was struggling. It was like, “We got to make this work.” That was almost just a prepared move where it was like, “Hey, what could we do if we came together and we looked at what are my strengths? What are your strengths? What are you guys doing? Where are you guys killing it in outreach? Where are we struggling?” I think it says a lot about them too, just as leaders. It’s obvious why they’re both very successful in what they’re doing is because there’s a level of humility to go, “You know what? I don’t have to be the guy who gets all the credit,” which I think was a big thing I took away. And they’re the funniest. It’s unscripted conversations.

Filming this season with one of your best friends, really like an uncle, a father figure to me, Uncle John Siebeling out of Memphis. I think it’s really cool watching you guys growing up and all he’s doing with bringing other cities in and bringing other leaders who have been really pastoring and running in their city for a while. I loved even what you all talked about on one of the clips with the episodes that you guys did, which was “What worked back then that still works today?” Not the complex things. What are the simple, timeless things that never stopped working? I love that moment.

Dino Rizzo:  There was a touch on our time together. When I look back over my life, I’ve had some great friends, and if I start to mention them—but for me, it’s been, Pastor John and Pastor Chris. Those guys this last decade have been ride or die. Both of them are strong leaders, theologically sound. “Bible, Bible, Bible, prayer.” As much as they lead, which I think is important, especially for your generation, they bring it back to the simplicity of: “Know God and love people.”

Dylan Rizzo: I think growing up in this, that’s the whole vision of ARC, is to believe in a couple, to believe in a leader that, “Hey, even though you’re going into maybe uncharted territory, a city you’ve never been through that God called you to; hopefully, we can come alongside you, provide resources, provide finances.” Even something like this, at the end of the day, we’re going to have fun conversations, we’re going to have amazing interviews. But really, this is a resource.

So that’s what I’m really looking forward to with Season 2. We were very meticulous on who we were going to bring on to really not just show one side of planting, one side of pastoring. We’re going to film tomorrow for a guest that is still a year out from even planting this church. That a lot of you would know. I think that was one reason I love being on this series now. There have been amazing ways of church planting, and I think there’s another way of, “Guys, I’m 26, 27, 28, 30 years old,” where it’s like, “Okay, now, what does this look like for us?” I think it shows what we’re about at ARC is like, “Hey, we don’t just plant one type of couple. We don’t just send to one type of city. We’re here, and we’re going to be here for the long haul.”

To learn more about ARC, visit arcchurches.com. You can watch season 1 of Unscripted on YouTube at youtube.com/arcchurchestv.

(Disclaimer: Devdiscourse's journalists were not involved in the production of this article. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Devdiscourse and Devdiscourse does not claim any responsibility for the same.)