A Bold Move

 

Frozen water on a rain channel coming off of our roof.  Recently we had a major cold front that kept us below freezing for many days, and we had our first snow.

 

One year ago on December 5th, I arrived in Portland, Oregon with my truck, some clothes, and a bunch a junk in a trailer I had just towed for 2,200 miles.  I had responded to a call to come to the Pacific Northwest to plant churches and live as a missionary with my family.  I had a job in Everett, Washington that started that very day, but we had not sold our house in Houston, we didn't know anybody in Everett, we had no plan, no place to live, and were living on money the Lord provided us during that time.

I'm sometimes amazed looking back.  What was it that made us so sure that this was the thing to do?  Had God really spoken to me and Amanda?  Yes.  Did He tell us what to do now?  Yes.  Did he tell us what would happen in a month, 3 months, or 1 year.  No, although we did ask.  He showed us just what we needed to see at that moment.  That's how the Father has worked in our lives, because I believe if we knew the details of what would be happening, we'd turn away in fear.

I have heard from so many people during this last year who have said that we inspired them to do something new for the Lord in their life.  Praise God!  I never imagined that would happen, but I now see that stepping out in faith can move others to action as well and tell them about this Jesus that we serve.  It is an unexpected testimony in the midst of just trying to figure it all out.

You can read the story of this journey in my November and December 2013 posts on this blog.

The Rest of the Story

So I must confess that I've held a lot back from all of you over the last 3 months, and it's time to tell you what has really been going on.  We are officially going to move forward to plant a church in north Everett, somewhere in our neighborhood south of downtown.  This actually goes back to August of this year after we had finished the mission trip with Humble Area's First Baptist Church.  I managed to reconnect with Seattle Church Planting and got signed up to attend their week-long Church Planter Basic Training.  I figured I could at least get this out of the way and figure out next steps after that.  During that time, I began praying for the Lord to very specifically answer a request of mine to show us that He wanted us to move forward.  Within 2 months, the prayer was answered in that very specific way (this doesn't surprise me anymore.  Praise the living God!) and I had a clear indication that now is the time.

The implications for us are pretty immediate.  We will begin transitioning out of leadership at EFC, meaning I will no longer share in the teaching rotation with Mike and that we will no longer be Community Pastors in the church.  This is a difficult but necessary thing to do because our focus must now be on our neighborhood and north Everett in general.  

Our intent is not to plant off of EFC because this new church is going to have to be different from EFC, not because EFC is doing something wrong but because north Everett itself is in need of a different kind of church.  EFC is a 15 minute drive from our house and is in more of a suburban setting, while north Everett is the city's core.  You'll find that even a 5 minute walk in this area takes you to areas that are extremely different economically, socially, and culturally.

The beauty of all of this is that Mike and the other Community Pastors are in full support of us taking this leap of faith.  Our experience over the last 2 months has not been without many tears though.  It's hard to back away from a church family that has loved and embraced us from day 1 in Everett.  Probably within a period of months, we will no longer attend EFC at all.

This leaves us with a lot of excitement about the future but a lot of nervousness as well.  We are sailing directly into waters that are uncharted for us.  We have a vision for this new ministry, a name for the church, and a timeline for development, but we still don't have all of the leadership team in place and have no clear idea on what the next 12 months will look like.  But when you think about it, that's really no different than any other part of this journey we have been on. 

Three Immediate Challenges
We face three immediate challenges as a new church plant and are wrestling with each of them right now.  The first challenge involves how this church will be structured.  I believe we will be a different kind of church in how we focus our efforts.  Yes, we will have large-group gatherings and we will also have small-group gatherings.  What I see most American churches doing is focusing all of their energies into the large group experience, which has created an enormous problem of disobedience in discipleship for most church attendees.  What I have seen and even done myself in these situations is invite people to church in the hope that they will actually come and hear a message that will change their life.  But I'm not delivering that message to them myself because I'm "not qualified," but the pastor is an eloquent speaker so he MUST be able to get through to them.  This also explains why movies such as "Passion of the Christ" and "Exodus" are or will be popular as an outreach event for so many churches.  We like to think we can place people in front of the right speaker or message and they will automatically believe.  But we have to look at the results we are getting with that approach.  In response, in my mind, we must be a church of disciples who make disciples, walking with people in the mess of their lives and trying to bring them to healing in Jesus.  That involves the pastor, the staff, and every single member of the church.  And this must be a central part of our culture.

The second problem is with staffing.  What people will we need on staff to be an effective church?  One thing I see is that God is doing unbelievable things in kids here, so we have to focus a lot of our efforts on kids.  Second, I see the need for a quality worship pastor which in part is the practical thing for us to do.  I have no musical talent whatsoever!

The third challenge we face is in funding this new effort.  I have had a full range of emotions on this subject which go from me wanting to be in full-time ministry all the way to me being fully bivocational and self-supporting our family.  I'm thinking right now we will stick with a bivocational model for myself and everyone else on staff at the church.  What I have seen since moving here is that it is very difficult to get a church with a traditional church model to the point where it is truly self-sustaining.  People don't give and attendance numbers are low when compared to churches in the South.  This causes the pastors to focus a lot of attention on just getting people to come in the hope that they will stay and give, and in turn creates an environment in which success is defined as church attendance and budget.  Yet when I read the New Testament I see Jesus' definition of success as someone who knows Him completely.  He never was interested in attendance numbers since He had the ability to see in the heart.

 

The lamppost in our front yard with Everett in the background.  This is a constant reminder to us to let our light shine before men.  If you've read The Chronicles of Narnia- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, you will get another view of the significance of the lamppost to us.

 We will see what God does with all three of these challenges.  We are praying over all three, and are praying specifically for the future children's and worship pastors, that they would hear God and be willing to follow Him to the Pacific Northwest to join in the work that He is already doing.  The more time I spend here, the more I realize it has nothing to do with what I initiate.  Instead it has to do with what the Spirit initiates and with our sensitivity and obedience to recognize and follow Him.  

Praise God, who has a plan and invites us to come along in the adventure!