well, it’s official… i resigned. as of february 11th, 2007 i will no longer be the interim sr. pastor of heartland community church and will begin to roam the streets as a substitute teacher in the decatur public school system (hopefully) and as some sort of employee in the wonderful world of starbucks (also hopefully).Â
although these employments will only be temporary (hopefully) it will provide me with a great deal of opportunity to step outside of the church world and once again be immersed in the culture and be able to connect with and understand people from different walks of life—not to mention visiting some other churches to learn from and understand the idea of community in a variety of contexts. i’m truly looking forward to this.Â
now some of you may be thinking/wondering what on earth is going on and why i would leave a stable position in order to substitute teach and work at starbucks (not so stable positions). that’s a good question… and i do have an answer for you.
for about 5 years (yes that would be shortly before tracy and i got married) we started talking about and wondering what it would be like to go and plant a church—in fact, you could say that God very much put this idea/dream/vision upon our heart to plant something that would make a major difference in a large urban center as well as making an impact around the country and all throughout the world. well, for 5 years i’ve chickened out of the idea. however, God has continued to place this burden more and more on our hearts to actually step outside of ourselves and do something about it. (that’s a lot easier said than done.) we tried this about 2 years ago when we first thought about joining up with the boston partnership (now reunion christian church) but God in his infinite wisdom and mysterious ways put a stop to that mid-stream leaving us in decatur, illinois to try and figure things out. well, nearly 2 years later God is making “way” and opportunities and possibilities have been opening up in front of us like never before.
upon the words and advice from a friend to “nut-up” i decided to start testing God in this area about 2 months ago (november) to see if this is really what He’s calling us to do and what He wants from us/for us. through a series of events that one could only call “God things” and through a series of confirmations that also could only be called “God things”, tracy and i made the decision to step out, “nut-up,” and work towards planting a church.
for several months i’ve carried around with me a list of 10 questions that i have periodically returned to wondering if this church planting route is really for us. it’s been an invaluable tool and last week, for the first time ever, i was able to answer all the questions in the affirmative. not only that, i posed the same questions to tracy and got the same answers. for the first time in a long time we feel a sense of clarity about our vocation—for the first time in a long time we feel that God has given us a direction to pursue. and it is with this realization that we’ve understood (in hindsight) that God has been preparing us for this next adventure and journey in our lives. we’re excited and we’re look forward to figuring out the details and allowing God to push us in his direction… we’re being patient and allowing God to make “way” before us.Â
please pray for us, we’re excited but nervous, exuberant yet freaked out at the same time. we have all sorts of thoughts and emotions running through our minds and hearts and could use some clarity from God—but we’re hopeful and anxious.Â
we’ll keep you abreast of the developments as they come to light! for now, all we know is: 1) church-planting; 2) urban-center…
(musings: part 1)
(musings: part 2)
Related posts:
- musings on the open way (pt. 2)
- musings on the open way.
- church staffing… open thread.
- musings about the incarnational way.
- ::::aaron’s musings::::
What an exciting adventure you’re walking in!
I’ll pray.
Just the other day Scott L. from North Point mentioned in a post how he was praying for you. You know that I have great confidence in you and even greater confidence in the One who is leading you! Begin the adventure!
Where are you looking at for the plant?
And oh yeah, my extra shot grande no foam skim milk caramel steamed mocha latte better be good dammit!
So, you’re shooting for a bivocational ministry? Most of my ministry experience has been bivocational. For the past couple of years my income has been non-ministry, with the exception of an occasional gift from a person or church that helped support the work in Brazil. Once I’ve recovered from my one full-time experience (that ended in April 2005 and I’m still working through it) I hope to get active in ministry again.
Good luck and Godspeed with your endeavours. It sounds glamorous to be a self-supporting missionary, but it is HARD WORK. All I know is we need more of them.
good news, mr. mayor. good news.
where? good question—answer: an urban center that has yet to be determined.
bi-vocational? well… hopefully not… but i guess if it had to come down to it we would.
My heart is with you man. You’ll be just fine. The grass IS greener
yeah! that’s really all I have to say and I must inquire, they have a Starbucks in Decatur?
I’m so excited for you two!
yes, there is a starbucks… and yes it’s really small.
erik, i’m looking forward to the green pastures!
In the ghetto lingo of home turf, Big Ups. I’m totally stoked for you guys, and we will have to visit you again before your time in Decatur is no more.
Check out my blog if you get a chance – it’s lonely out here in British Columbia!