Or, the land of our fathers. We are in Texas for a few days, looking for a house, meeting with members of the church and the presbytery and even looking at potential schools for Andy and Joey. As some of you know, I have been informally issued a call to come and be an assistant church planter with Elliott Greene in Duncanville, TX. We are really excited about the opportunity to be involved with a church plant and to work with Elliott. I have the highest respect for Elliott. He has been a friend and mentor for years, so it will be a blessing to join with him in this work.
I met with the executive director of the Southwest Church Planting Network yesterday. After talking for a while about what Elliott and I have planned, they said that it sounds like a great fit. I can help Elliott in doing things that he doesn’t have time to do. Realize that Elliott is also a professor at Redeemer Theological Seminary as well as the driving force behind Tyrannus Hall, a seminary on wheels. (You can listen to Elliott preach by going to this page.) The point is that Elliott is really busy and I can help take up some of the work in this regard. I will also help with preaching and discipleship duties. Preaching when Elliott is out of town, and discipleship at every opportunity.
Both Elisa and I are really excited about this opportunity, especially given the fact that I never thought I would get the chance to be a church planter. We both went to the church planting assessment center in Atlanta back in 2004 and they ruled that I was never, ever, ever, no, not ever to consider becoming a church planter. They said “go, be a pastor in an established church.” Ironic that God seems to have different ideas about what He wants me to do (He gets all the glory in this call and all the details as well).
We are struck with the irony and the goodness of the Lord in all this. He really has taken care of us since we stepped down from GPC Aiken back in 2009. Even in the darkest moments, He is still good, and I’ve had some truly dark moments over the past 18 months. It was at the point that I decided to get out of the ministry and find a secular job that God’s mercy came flooding into our lives once again. It’s like God was saying it is not my decision to end my call or not. It’s His decision. This is a faith issue that He was allowing me to trust even in the darkest moments. I think I scored a strong D+. Nonetheless, His goodness overshadows my weaknesses because that day, Elliott called and suggested that I come help him with the church plant.
Not only will I have a call, but we get to move back to TEXAS!!! It will be so nice to be close to family once again. Instead of having to drive for two days, or one day, we will only have to drive 3 hours in either direction to see our folks, and 45 minutes to see other members of our family. It has been truly great to be in other parts of the country, but there is nothing like coming back to the state or your origins. For us, that is Texas. (I know neither boy was born in Texas. But both are born over Texas soil. We had some dirt from my dad’s ranch in Brenham below the tables where they were born. So yes, they are Texans too!)
Even though we love Texas, we love Christ all the more. That is the center of the church that Elliott is starting. The church, Christ the King PCA, is centered upon Christ, His love for us, and our response to that love for Him. That is a great foundation for who we are in Christ, those who are redeemed for the service of the King. If we are bought with a price, then our service should be for those who understand that precious relationship with Him, and live to serve Him. Here is the church web site.
Also, here is the video for the church planting network:
Please watch the video. This is what we are becoming a part of. It truly exciting to see how God has worked through the network and men like Elliott. What is neat is that they had a plan to plant 50 churches nationally and 50 churches internationally by 2020. They exceeded that goal this past year with 103 churches, well ahead of their goal. Apparently God’s plan was more than that. Amen!
I am so excited for you! What a great opportunity! Church planting is hard work as you know….Jason has really been blessed by the challenges. His plant was unable to support two pastors (it is in Oregon, you know), so Pat Roach is at work at Hope and it is growing. Jason is associate pastor at an established plant in Chicago (will particularize this summer) with Stuart Lattimer. To God be the glory. Glad your family is moving HOME, at least for now until eternity.
Cathy,
I was just thinking about you as I walked up Hank’s sidewalk after lunch. I was wondering how you are Terry were doing and thought it would be neat to run into you soon. Hope all is well.
Blessings
Timothy
Timmy, that is great news! As you may remember, my parents worked as church planters in Kansas after they both retired. They established a church in Claflin, Kansas, home of WNBA star Jackie Stiles. They said the work was hard but highly rewarding.
My oldest brother started his a career as a foreign missionary as a church planter in the Philipines. He worked in that capacity for several years before being promoted to Philipine Baptist missions business manager.
How often are we told that we don’t qualify for positions that we are profoundly capable of performing? I once left a job as a telephone customer service representative after 13 years of national award winning customer service, and applied for the same position at another company who used consultants in the hiring process. Their so-called consultants concluded that I didn’t have the personality required to be a good representative for their company, so they recommended a different position in the company. I didn’t last through the probationary period.
Experts don’t always know what they are talking about. I bet you’ll be a great church planter. BTW, I recently played a recording of one of your sermons, and my wife and i were both impressed.
HI Mark,
Thank you. I do appreciate that.
I am looking forward to the process and helping Elliott. He is truly gifted and a wonderful teacher/pastor/friend. Not only will the work for the Lord be a blessing, but watching and listening to Elliott will be as well. I believe his sermons are posted on the church’s web site. I will have to check into that.
Blessings