It’s in the waiting

A couple of weeks ago, we announced that we will have to hold off on the Chicago church plant. If you missed it, you can read the release here.

It was a tough decision. Since then, however, I have had peace about the decision. It’s not happiness, but it is peace.

I was already scheduled to attend a church planting conference this past week. I went, excited to have my fire rekindled, but it didn’t exactly happen that way. Many of the main and breakout sessions that I attended spoke about waiting. These are some of the things that were said:

• God is in the waiting;
• Don’t let the pace of ministry kill you;
• Take time so God’s vision can marinate in you;
• Spend an extra year just to wait; and
• Trust God enough to move at his pace.

Um, thank you?

But seriously, it was exactly what I needed. Pete Wilson spoke from John 11. This is the passage where Jesus hears that his dear friend, Lazarus, is sick, but he waits to go see him until Lazarus is already dead. It just doesn’t make sense. When Jesus arrived, Martha said, “If you would have been here, you could have healed him.” Notice that Martha did not question his power, she questioned his timing. Pete said this:

The question is not, “Can God do it?” The question is, “Can you wait?”

Later in the passage, we see that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. The waiting was for God to get more glory. I end this post with one last quote from Pete:

God’s silence is not his absence.

So we wait.

 

One year later

January 11, 2011 - We publicly announced that we were headed to Chicago to plant a church.

What’s happened in the last year?

Here’s a brief timeline:

February 24 – Spoke at Free Will Baptist Bible College about our future plans, including the Cross-Cultural Communication class.

March 17-20 – Visited Chicago and scouted out some neighborhoods. It was during this time that we met with another pastor and his wife for lunch. He asked us what neighborhood we were thinking about. We told him Albany Park and he pulled out a card. On the card was listed five neighborhoods in Chicago that his church was praying for a church plant. Albany Park was listed first. We also spent some time with the people of Northwest Community Church, our mentoring church, during this time. Chris and Regina Wright hosted us.

March 24-26 – Attended the PLANT! conference hosted by Sovereign Grace Ministries in Philadelphia, PA.

June 21 – I met with our pastor to discuss partnering with our church plant. Grace Community Church agreed to be our sending church.

July 16 – Our website went live: www.churchinchicago.com

July 17-20 – I attended the National Association of Free Will Baptists to network and share our vision for Chicago. During this time, we were able to connect with several pastors.

July 27-August 1 – Trip to Chicago to pray through and exegete the neighborhood. Our mentor, David Potete, was gracious enough to put up with me during this time and introduced us to the church.

September 24-25 – Missions Conference in Broken Arrow, OK. We were also able to share with some dear people in a local home.The Bethany Church, where my brother, Joshua, is the worship pastor, introduced us as their newest church plant partners. Big thanks to Joshua and Allison and the boys for having us stay with them.

October 13-15 – I attended the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) annual conference. This year it was in Indianapolis. I was fortunate enough to attend with my cousin, Kevin Riggs, pastor of Franklin Community Church.

November 4-6 – Trip to Chicago to show our kids the Albany Park neighborhood. We were also able to meet with some couples who are meeting in a house church in AP. Thanks to Chris and Regina Wright for putting up the whole family, even if half of us had strep throat!

November 20 – We were able to share our plans with Good Springs Church, where we ministered for 7 years. This church was very influential in our ministry. We are thankful they have partnered with us.

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Thanks for all your prayers and support! We are greatly anticipating what God has is store for 2012!