Our Story

Tony and I spent years inside what people call church. Building it. Growing it. Hitting all the marks—on paper.

But the better it worked, the harder freedom was to find. People talked about grace and lived like slaves. Nothing honest could be said because the version of God we were serving couldn't handle it. And neither could the institution.

When we started teaching the God Jesus actually reveals—a God who doesn't offer a handle for control, just a promise to be with you in the good and the bad times—people pushed back.

Because that God doesn't generate popularity. And an institution built on self-preservation can't afford to let grace mean what Jesus meant.

So we left. And started Lark.

We wanted to help people see Jesus for who He actually is, and step into being the Church around ordinary tables. That's where people learn to live free.

— Russ Johnson, Co-Founder

The word “lark”…

Is a a salute to the free-falling bird that sings just for the fun of it. It's an old word for a joke: a delightful subversion of expectation.

Grace is a lark: a divine joke on every rule we invented for life with God. The punchline has always been that we were never behind. The game we invented was the only thing keeping us from living free.

Jesus didn't come to help us get the rules right. He came to end them.

The name is the theology. Every time someone hears it and asks what it means, the conversation has already started.

Our Vision

Lark exists because the conversations the Church was meant to have aren't happening. And without them, people hear about grace their whole lives and never live in it.

We exist to create those conversations, protect them from becoming a system, and keep every door free so the next person can walk through.

We are not building an institution.
We are lighting fires and leaving.

Our Beliefs

About grace

Grace is not something you unlock with the right belief. It's not a temporary pardon when you mess up on the way to getting life right. It's a lark: a divine joke on the Performance. Jesus reconciled all to God through His death and resurrection. That's the good news. The invitation out of the exhausting madness of trying to hold it all together.

About the Church

The Church Jesus started isn't something you attend. It's something that happens when people gather honestly, trust Jesus in the middle of real life, and stop performing for each other. A building doesn't make it. A stage doesn't make it. A table makes it. That's where freedom grows: not in programs, but in honest conversations where grace is trusted.

About change

Transformation is God's work. Not ours. We are branches on a vine—we exist in the hands of the Vinedresser. The Performance tells us to try harder, manage better, get life right. Jesus tells us we were never in charge of that. Freedom isn't something you achieve. It's something you receive, again and again, in honest conversation, at an ordinary table.

The creed

We hold to the doctrines expressed in the Nicene Creed. Everything else flows from there.

  • A man with a beard and tattoos wearing a denim jacket and white t-shirt, sitting and gesturing with his hands as if talking or explaining something.

    Russ Johnson

    Russ lives in Southwest Florida with his high school sweetheart, their 9 year-old, and a revolving door of grown kids and two new grandsons. He’s an author and podcaster who traded pastoring for finding missing Legos, training boiler operators, and conversations on the road.

  • Man with tattoos and sunglasses sitting at a wooden picnic table outdoors, holding a glass of beer toward the camera. Other people are sitting at a table in the background, surrounded by trees.

    Tony Sorci

    Tony hails from Northwest Indiana, where he and his wife, Pam, are raising four kids. He’s the founder and creative director of Katiko Creative and proud to be a Lark. In a former life, people called him “pastor,” but now he’s known for his enthusiasm for tacos al pastor.

  • A woman with wavy, shoulder-length hair smiling outdoors with a tree in the background. She has a nose piercing and tattoos on her arm, wears gold necklaces and a white top.

    Sarah Mezzera

    Sarah brings a unique perspective to the Larkcast, fueled by her passion for capturing and sharing people’s stories. She’s married to Chad, a mom of two, and the proud owner of Butterbee, a unique tattoo shop just outside of St. Louis.

  • A man in a green t-shirt sitting at a table, smiling and laughing in a restaurant or cafe setting.

    Josh Chevalier

    Josh is a husband to Cari, a father of four, and sports writer who offers people a safe place to land, and there…find freedom in who Jesus is. He emdowers movement from the music city of Austin, TX.

  • A young woman with long blonde hair and a white shirt, smiling at the camera in a cozy, warmly lit room with patterned seating.

    Christa Johnson

    Christa is a rare sixth-generation Floridian, married to her high school sweetheart (Russ 😉). She’s a devoted mom of three, a new grandma, a sassy homemaker, and the owner of Down Home Vintage, an online shop for unique treasures.

  • Black and white photo of smiling man with short tousled hair and beard, outdoors near water.

    Mike Jarrell

    Mike is a husband to Jackie, a father of three, a lover of Philly Cheesesteaks, the Eagles, and slowing down with people. In his past life he was a “missional church” pastor. Today he helps people reimagine the Church where they are.

  • A man in a dark shirt, glasses, and a baseball cap sitting and smiling indoors near a window, holding a phone.

    Jameson Allen

    Jameson brings language and insights to the resources of Lark. Hailing from Iowa, he is married to his hishschool sweetheart, a father of 4, and a theology junkie who loves the long versions of people’s stories.

  • A black and white photo of a couple taking a selfie behind a motorcycle on a street, with buildings and cars in the background.

    The Mayfield's

    Ryan is an entrepreneur and Cadrian is an executive assistant. Outside of work, their hope is to cultivate conversations in Tulsa —and beyond—that help ordinary people find the freedom to reimagine life in who Jesus already is for them.