When the thought first crossed my mind that perhaps God had called me to Pastor a church, my first reaction was fear. I was afraid it was just another ego thing. I love to perform, I love being on stage, so here was another way for me to be in the spotlight. I knew that was NOT a good reason to start a church plant. So, I quickly squashed the thought, prayed for forgiveness and greater humility, then went on my merry way. Or so I thought...
The funny thing about God's calling, is that you can't outrun it, outlast it, or ignore it. The other funny thing about it...it's not what I personally would have thought God would have me do. It seemed like a sure fire way to feed my flesh. I decided rather quickly to put out so many fleeces that Gideon would be embarrassed. Fleeces are not God's idea and we all know what happened to Jonah when he ran from God's calling. That's when I began to just open myself to listening to the Lord's leading. When I did that, things began to fall into place. Let me share a few things I think all future church planters need to consider. No, I'm not considered successful by many, but after 5 years in and a church that is growing deeper in faith, I feel that I can give you at least a few pointers.
1. Put yourself under a Mentor. For me it was my Pastor, Mark Martin. By willingly waiting upon the Lord and serving wherever your spiritual authority points you can get you ready for when you will be listening to the Great Shepherd's instructions.
2. Don't borrow sheep. Most of you will probably be church leaders, people that are teaching and preaching with many folks that love you. It's natural to want to then transplant the whole ministry into your new startup. Fight the urge. Do not ask ANYONE to leave. Instead, leave that up to them and perhaps even make it hard for them to leave where they are.
3. Find a Tent-making job that fits. If you are stressing big time at your paying job, how much do you think that will transfer to the spiritual job? Quite a bit of your early ministry will be just simply trying to juggle the Family, Job, Church balls and keep them up in the air. If you can be doing something you enjoy (I worked at Starbucks for a while), you will find it a lot easier.
So there are three tips to start off with. I'll post more as time goes on. One big one is "Don't worry about everyone else". Easy to say, hard to do. I really have a great relationship with many of the other church pastors here in Maricopa. I truly pray for them to make a difference for Jesus. Not that I don't wistfully covet some of the toys the other guys have, but it's quickly put out of my mind with the thought that many people look at our fellowship and covet things they see here. It's just part of the fleshly nature we still fight with.
Prayers are lifted for all of you seeking to begin new fellowships where God has placed you. Be faithful..Be watchful..Be grace filled.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment