We were lucky to catch up with Zach Lambert recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Zach thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you have any thoughts about how to create a more inclusive workplace?

The church in America is not usually known for being an inclusive place, but we’d like to change that. Not because it’s cool, but because Jesus was the most radically inclusive person who has ever lived.He was constantly in trouble for hanging out with the “wrong” kind of people and inviting everyone to experience love. Our mission at Restore is the same. We are a place where anyone has a seat at the table and everyone can experience the extravagant love of Jesus.

Over the last 6+ years of pastoring Restore, we’ve gotten in trouble for the exact same things. We’ve been called an apostate church, we’ve lost a bunch of funding, we’ve been kicked out of a denomination, a number of church networks, and even an office space, and I’ve been told I’m “going to hell” more times than I can count.

But every time something like that happens, God shows up and reminds us how important this work really is. We’ve been able to be a part of helping so many people have their faith in Jesus and the church restored. As hard as it’s sometimes been, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I was born and raised here in Austin. I grew up in church, but never really bought into it. In fact, I was the one constantly asking questions, voicing doubts, and pushing back against any rules I considered unfair. This posture led me to be kicked out of Sunday school classes, church youth groups, and a private Christian school all before I turned 14. I spent most of the middle and high school playing sports, smoking weed, and trying to figure out who I was.

A major turning point in my life happened the summer before my senior year of high school. One night out on Lake Travis with some friends, I overdosed on a combination of cough medicine and alcohol. Needless to say, I was shaken up.

After that experience, I began to struggle through some existential questions. Things like:

– Why am I here?
– What is the purpose of life?
– Is God real?

Even though I’d been kicked out of the church and found most of the Christianity I’d been exposed to archaic and oppressive, I decided to start trying to find these answers by reading the Bible. Thank God I started with the story of Jesus found in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. I had always known about the beginning and end of Jesus’ life (Christmas and Easter), but I had no idea about the rest of it.

I couldn’t believe how much he loved to hang out with and help the people on the margins! How he didn’t care about getting in trouble for sharing a meal with tax collectors and prostitutes (the folks I most identified with) and how he just loved people so radically. I fell in love with the love of Jesus.

During that time, I reconnected with a girl I’d gone to middle school with (Amy) to get some advice on how to be a Christian after everything I’d put myself through. We met for dinner and she treated me exactly like the Jesus I read about treated people. And just like I fell in love with his love, I began to fall in love with hers as well.

There is so much more to the rest of the story, but the short version is this:

– We got married when we were 21.
– Went to graduate school (seminary for me and speech pathology for her) when we were 22.
– Had our first child when we were 25.
– And planted our church, Restore Austin, in 2016.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Both my social media and our church’s has grown tremendously over the last couple of years, but honestly I don’t have any tips or tricks that illustrate how we did it. At the beginning of the pandemic, we decided not to shy away from difficult topics and speak out consistently for the marginalized. I believe those two things transformed our socials.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Clients probably isn’t the right word, but people get connected to our church because we really cater to people who have experienced spiritual trauma and church hurt. We want to be a place where folks can safely deconstruct and reconstruct their faith while being fully loved and accepted.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.restoreaustin.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zachwlambert/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zachwlambert/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ZachWLambert
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/restoreaustin
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/restore-austin-austin
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@restoreatx