I believe in the team approach to church planting, or any ministry for that matter. We weren’t meant to do life alone, and we weren’t meant to do ministry alone. When God made Adam, he saw that he was alone so he made for him a team mate. When Jesus went to be with the Father, he gathered a team (the church) to continue his work. When Paul went out planting churches, he did it with team mates.
When Andrea and I began praying about who to ask to join our team, we ultimately ended up asking all of our best friends. Initially we had a longer list than that. We could have gone with the approach of determining which gifts were missing from the team, and finding people with those gifts to join us. However, we felt that this core team first and foremost needed to be people that we could love and trust, and who would support us come hell or high water. That was one of the best decisions that we’ve made in the last year and a half.
If you’ve ever planted a church you know that there are going to be some rough times. We haven’t even planted the church yet, but we’ve had some rough times. I can’t imagine going through those times alone, or with a group of people that I didn’t love and trust. The other night, while Andrea and I were struggling to make sense of our circumstances, our team was there to encourage and strengthen us. It meant so much to us, and confirmed in us that they were the right choice and that we can’t do it without them. I know in the months to come that God will begin bringing to us many other people who will fill the gaps that our current team has. And I know that in time some of the people on our team will be replaced by others. But for now, we’ve got the greatest team a church planter could ask for.
The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you see one more card
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part
-Tom Petty
The house hasn’t sold, and it needs to sell before we move. I wish I had an explanation for this. It’s been on the market for 7 months now. The house next door has sold twice in the last 6 months, seriously. My only comfort is Isaiah 55:8-9, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. 9 “ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”
God knows that all I want right now is to be in Missoula. For some reason that isn’t happening. Please pray for us. This is a difficult place for us to be right now. I know in my heart it will all work out, but right now it doesn’t make any sense at all…at least to me.
A number of years ago I was given a prophetic word that stated that I was a man who liked to carefully plan out the path ahead of me, much like a train knows exactly what path it is going to take. However, the word went on to say that God was going to be pulling up my tracks, so hang on. Ever wonder what it’s like to be going 100 mph in a train and have it jump the tracks? I think we jumped the tracks a few miles back, but I just now figured it out. Darn it anyway (am I always the last to know?). I thought I had this whole church planting thing figured out, but I was wrong. I HATE THAT! Our house was supposed to be sold by now! We were supposed to have a place to live in Missoula by now! Our planting team was supposed to be so cohesive by now, only nuclear fission could tear it apart! Our worship team was supposed to be fully formed and tuned to a tee by now! Some days I think I would just get off the train if it weren’t moving so fast. Back to my old life. My old life, so safe and predictable. You gotta love that. Hmm, warm and cozy. Steady paycheck. 8-5. Blah, blah, blah. My biggest problem was that my Guitar Hero cd got scratched beyond repair. You know, the only reason I even stay on the train is because I’m 95 +/- 5% convinced I’m supposed to reach my final destination. I’m actually convinced of the call on my life. Almost to a fault. I’m not convinced every waking moment, but I’m convinced enough that some days I’m afraid that I’m willing to throw everything away for the sake of Jesus. Well, not everything as in my faith and my family, but everything as in the pickup I love, the freedom I love, the 4-wheeler I love, the safe, nice, new house I love, my good credit report, and everything else shallow that I love.
I wonder if Moses ever felt this way when he led the children of Egypt out of Israel (Or was it the children of Israel out of Egypt?) At one time Moses led a posh life. What happened to him? Did he go off the deep end? I’m sure that’s what all of his stable-minded friends were thinking as he led his Kool Aid gang towards the Red Sea. Not a single one of that generation made it to their destination. What a bum deal. It wasn’t the Kool Aid either, it was their lack of faith.
Sometimes I think I’m kinda like Moses, except for all the cool superpowers, and I only have a handful of followers. And I don’t have long, flowing hair. I wish I had long, flowing hair.
No, come to think of it, I’m going to be a Joshua instead. I bet Joshua was bald like me.
I spoke with Brent, the director of Youth For Christ yesterday and it looks like we are going to be able to meet at the new City Life Community Center in Missoula. The meeting areas aren’t finished yet, but they should be by the fall. We’re going to plan on meeting there anyway during our monthly meetings in the summer. I figure maybe folks will catch the vision for helping YFC get the building finished. I think this is going to be a great partnership with YFC. We’ll have lots of opportunities to impact the youth in Missoula. I also think the building has almost everything that we need to get started. Hopefully we’ll outgrow it quickly! I’m not positive about the office situation right now. The office spaces are essentially full, but they have a couple of storage rooms that they’re thinking of converting to office space. It would obviously make sense to have an office there, but we’ll see. Ultimately the board of directors has to approve the use of the building at their May 20th meeting. They’ll make a decision on the office space at that time as well. Thanks for all of you who have been praying for us, it looks like we’ve gotten an awesome breakthrough!
I have found that as my life has gotten more complicated I am continuously searching for ways to simplify it. I take the same approach when it comes to ministry. Our society is so busy these days, no one has time for all of the church meetings and outreach campaigns we pastors continuously invent. So, I’ve been thinking about a new approach. A simpler approach. What if we were to simplify the Christian life so that all of our spiritual disciplines could be boiled down to a concept as simple as “The power of one”. If we could get everyone to spend just one hour a week living out spiritual disciplines, we could turn the world upside down. Here’s what I’m talking about:
- 1 hr a week serving your community
- 1 hr a week serving your church
- 1 hr a week investing in each important relationship
- 1 hr a week in reading your bible
- 1 hr a week mentoring someone
- 1 hr a week being mentored
I know this simple concept is very easy to criticize and pick apart, but perhaps it would be a good place to start as a church. How many people do you know that do all of these things? Perhaps they don’t do them because they are overwhelmed with life as it is. But, if we could encourage everyone in our church to just start by spending one hour a week doing these things, just think how God might use us to change the world. Even one hour a month. What do you think? We could probably nail most of these just by getting together once a week with a group of like-minded people with a common purpose. Sounds too simple. Couldn’t possibly work. Could it?