Vertical Pursuit is not a brand. It’s a burden.
A burden to empower ordinary believers for extraordinary impact.
A burden to make Jesus’ last command our first priority.
A burden to equip everyday people for everyday mission.
A burden to confront apathy and awaken the Church to action.
A burden to ignite fire in hearts that have grown cold.
A burden to awaken souls to the power and purposes of God.
A burden to engage the lost and lonely.
And a burden to recover the one mandate Jesus refused to let the Church negotiate:
Jesus’ vision was never to just build crowds.
It was to raise disciples, release them into the world, and reproduce His life in others.
Ecosystem
Vertical Pursuit is a discipleship ecosystem.
An ecosystem with a relational pathway that invites others in, invests deeply in their growth, and inspires a movement of resilient and relentless disciples who pursue God, pursue others, and live fully formed lives.
Where disciples rise, the ordinary are unleashed, and influence spreads without limits.
Where our role is faithfulness and God’s role is fruitfulness. Scripture makes this unmistakably clear. Paul writes, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6)
We’re making four shifts within this eco-system.
We stop impressing people and start preparing them.
- From distraction to devotion
- From information to formation
- From performance to presence
- From hype to holiness
What this means:
This is the shift from spiritual spectatorship to spiritual apprenticeship.
It confronts consumer Christianity and replaces it with intentional formation.
We stop hiding in crowds and start living as friends on mission.
- From meetings to mentoring
- From crowds to community
- From platforms to proximity
- From programs to people
What this means:
This is the shift from anonymous attendance to embodied belonging.
It dismantles isolation, and shallow connection.
We stop doing ministry for people and start releasing ministry through people.
- From passivity to purpose
- From control to collaboration
- From restraining to releasing
- From consuming to contributing
What this means:
This is the shift from dependency culture to discipleship culture.
It activates gifts, releases authority, and multiplies leaders.
We stop building bigger churches and start multiplying disciples.
- From comfort to commission
- From seating to sending
- From managing to multiplying
- From gathering to scattering
What this means:
This is the shift from maintenance mode to mission mode.
It decentralizes believers and releases it into everyday life.
Because the Kingdom doesn’t grow in comfort.
It multiplies in obedience. It spreads in courage. It moves when we release what holds us back.
from spectators To disciples who disciple.
This isn’t about hype. It’s about formation.
This isn’t about platforms. It’s about people.
Forming hearts and minds through resources, videos, books, studies, podcasts, teaching, and tools for real spiritual growth.
Fostering connection and community through cohorts, gatherings, camps, and conferences, where belonging, encouragement, and inspiration thrive.
By shaping and activating leaders through retreats and mentoring that refresh their calling, ignite their purpose, and release them into action.
Multiplying disciples and influence onto campuses, prisons, stadiums, gyms, businesses, and arenas, releasing Kingdom impact so the movement never stops.
This is Not just a program, it’s a movement.
Movement
It’s a grassroots movement of ordinary men and women across the nation who are done with consumer Christianity — and are stepping into ownership of the Great Commission.
Firefighters. Teachers. Students, Coaches, Athletes, Business owners. Stay-at-home moms. Mechanics. Nurses. Retirees.
People who aren’t pastors. People who don’t have theology degrees. People who simply said, “I’m willing” — and discovered they could lead a group that changes lives.
We see a generation rising.
Fully alive in God. Rooted in identity. Bold in mission.
Disciples who pursue Him vertically and multiply His life horizontally.
This is Vertical Pursuit.
About our founder
Mike Tatlock
Mike Tatlock is a pastor, author, speaker, chaplain, and founder of Vertical Pursuit whose passion is helping people become deeply rooted in Christ and live with purpose in the places God has called them.
For more than 30 years, Mike has served in pastoral ministry, with a consistent heartbeat for discipleship, helping ordinary people experience the transforming life of Jesus and equipping them to invest that life in others. He believes the Church is at its best when people move beyond simply attending, consuming, and knowing about Jesus to actually becoming disciples who live like Jesus and make disciples of others.
Mike has traveled around the world teaching and sharing the gospel and has served as adjunct at Bible colleges and seminaries. He is an author and writer and has spent more than a decade serving professional athletes through basketball chaplaincy, including with the Portland Trail Blazers and Portland Fire.
That same passion for discipleship led Mike to create Vertical Pursuit, a growing ecosystem of resources, relationships, experiences, and communities designed to help people pursue God and pursue others with intentionality.
At the center of Mike’s ministry is a simple conviction:
People were never meant to pursue Jesus alone.
Whether around a table, a campfire, in a locker room, a church, a workplace, or halfway around the world, Mike loves creating spaces where people can encounter Jesus, build authentic relationships, discover who God created them to be, and be released to make an eternal difference in the lives of others.
Away from ministry, Mike loves hunting, fishing, sports, the outdoors, and just about anything involving adventure. He and his wife, Bernadette, have been married for 31 years and have two adult children.
His life’s pursuit is simple: reach people with Jesus, root them in Jesus, and release them to help others do the same.
