Church Planting - Sunny San Diego to Sunny Phoenix

Once the fog of Savannah's surgery and recovery began to lift, church planting returned to our radar screen. The assessment center was still the next step, but this time we would not be able to be so close to home. Hmmm, Brooklyn Park in August or San Diego in January. We may have gotten the better end of that deal. In fact the weather was not the only blessing of that week, because without the delay and having to go to San Diego we would not have met the Pedrozas and our involvement in Life180 would probably have never happened.

Now we are getting to a part of the story that is deeply personal and not really mine to tell. Let's just say that we got a lot of positive feedback at the assessment center, but heard some hard and painful things too. We left that week confused and discouraged about what God was doing and where he was leading.

Ben spent that next weekend alone a lot and praying. It felt like we had hit another bump in the road and we were so confused. We felt very strongly that this was what God was calling us to do, but nothing seemed to be working the way we thought it should.

Sometimes I wonder if God just shakes his head and smiles a little when we are in places like this knowing that he is about to reveal exactly where he wants us to be and we just can't see it yet. I can picture him saying, "Just you wait. This is all about to make sense."

We got home very late on a Thursday night from San Diego. Sunday evening after the kids went to bed, we were sitting and talking. One of the outcomes of the assessment center is that they all agreed that Ben would make an amazing "number two" in a church plant. That didn't really make a lot of sense to us since the model for church planting up here is not really a team approach.* What did being a number two mean when most church plants didn't even have a number two until more than a year into the process? That didn't really seem like getting to help plant the church to us. So as we were sitting there I said to Ben, "So if you could work with or for anyone that you met this past week, who would it be?" Now you have to understand that Ben is an internal processor. That means that he often takes time to think before he speaks, and does not make statements or decisions lightly. However, that night he instantly replied, "Dwayne." I was shocked at the speed of his response. We spent the next few moments talking about why he thought that. It was a fun conversation to have, but Dwayne lived all the way in Arizona, so it was really a hypothetical exercise at best.

A few days later, Ben met with our senior pastor, Jerry (who also went to the assessment center with us as one of the assessors), to talk about what the next steps might be, and to process that week. Ben left that meeting and went down to his office. A few minutes later Jerry called down to Ben's office. He had just gotten off the phone with Dwayne, who had called to seek permission to pursue Ben has his "number two" for the church he was planting in Arizona - Life180.

What!?!?

That's what you should be saying right now. That is certainly what we were saying at the time.

Obviously you already know how this story ends. Kind of kills my ability to build suspense.

After a week of prayer and lots of talking together, we both felt like this is what God had for us next. To move our family, try to figure out what to do with our house and its underwater mortgage, and uproot my career was a huge decision. But as we look back on the last two years, and how God has orchestrated our lives, we see this path clearly. The fact that I am excited about this even though I would be happy to never move again, is even more confirming.

There you have it; our journey to Life180. We ask for prayer during this time. As they told us over and over again at the assessment center, church planting is like being on the front lines of a spiritual battle, and the enemy will attack you on every side. Please pray for protection for our marriage, our family, and for the Pedrozas (Dwayne, Michelle, and their two kids). We have already seen God answer prayers and provide for us in so many ways since we took this leap of faith, but we would also appreciate continued prayer for all the details of moving down there, and raising our support.

Speaking of that, if you would like to support us financially as we follow God's leading you can click on the Life180 link on my sidebar and find information how to do so. One of the commitments we have taken on by being a part of this church plant is to raise support for the first three years of our ministry down there. The church will start to take over that responsibility as it grows, but for the time being we will be living solely off the support we can raise, which include health insurance. Gulp. But I believe that God provides when we are obedient to him, and that includes all the details like rent and health insurance.

Oh, and you can thank my client who didn't show up for her appointment on this Saturday morning for getting the rest of the story so quickly. And you should also thank me, because there is a new issue of People magazine sitting right next to me, and I am choosing to do this first. Believe me, it wasn't an easy choice.

*It turns out that although team church planting is not the model up in Minnesota, it is very much the model in Arizona and other southern states. What didn't make sense to us as far as being an associate or executive pastor of a church plant made perfect sense to the people assessing us.