CHARLIE MITCHELL

Pastor. planter. author. catalyst.

Twenty years of building churches, developing leaders, and doing the hard work in hard places. Now rooted in Southwest Florida and still building.

Teaching Pastor at Summit Church • Founder of Maroon House • SWFL Catalyst, Church United

Author • Southwest Florida

Built in the Hard Places

I’m a shrimper’s son from Key West who grew up in Harlem Heights, Fort Myers. I lost my dad at 13, came to faith at 15, and have spent the last twenty years planting churches, writing books, coaching leaders, and building things in the places most people drive through without stopping.

I founded Epiphany Church in Baltimore in 2017, the same year I was diagnosed with kidney disease. I planted and pastored through years of urban ministry and physical decline, helped architect a church merger that became Hopeville, received a kidney transplant in 2023, and came back home to Southwest Florida in 2024.

The work has never been just a career. It’s always been the answer to a question I’ve been living with since I was a teenager: what does it look like to build something that lasts, in soil that doesn’t make it easy?

The Work

Twenty years of building has produced a lot of entities. Here’s where to find each one.

  • Maroon House

    Soul care coaching and cohort experiences for urban church planters and ministry leaders navigating the real costs of the work.

  • Summit Church

    Teaching Pastor at Summit Church in Southwest Florida, where I joined the teaching team in September 2024.

  • Church United SWFL

    Southwest Florida Catalyst for a national network mobilizing pastors and churches toward collective community impact.

  • Books & Writing

    Urban ministry resources, soul care reads, and the Soul Care Mixtape series — real talk for leaders who need it.

  • Dope Daily Audio Bible

    500+ episodes. 16,000+ downloads. Scripture made accessible for everyday life.

  • Deep Cutz

    Long-form writing on ministry, culture, leadership, and the inner life. For the leaders who like to think.

Speaking

Charlie speaks to pastors, church planters, denominational leaders, and community organizations on urban ministry, soul care, courageous leadership, and the intersection of faith and culture. He is available for conferences, retreats, church engagements, and leadership events across Southwest Florida and nationally.

Recent and Notable

  • Salem Chapel, Winston-Salem, N.C.

  • Renovation Church, Hampstead, N.C.

  • Habitat for Humanity of Lee & Hendry Counties

  • Heights Foundation

  • Backstage Soul Care Conference 

Stay in the loop

Once a month. No noise. Just what I’m working on, thinking about, and building, with one link to something worth your time.

The Charlie Mitchell Dispatch — a monthly letter from a pastor, planter, and builder who’s been in the work for twenty years and still has things to say