In March, I announced that my family would be leaving our current ministry role at Indian Springs Baptist Church to plant a brand new church in Columbus, Ohio. Most people have some idea of what it looks like to leave one position for another, but I’ve found that a lot of my friends and family don’t have context for what it looks like to prepare to be church planters. Here’s what we’ve been up to lately.
1. We’ve been really busy with the student ministry. Graduation season is always really busy as our students are graduating high school and college. Also, all of our services in the summer are student-led, which makes it sound super easy on the youth pastor (it’s not). But it’s so worth it! I love that we’re spending our last precious months investing in our students, so that they can be equipped to do the work of the ministry. I like that picture better than me soaking up my last few moments on the stage.
I’ve had a couple people talk to me about when we’re going to “check out.” I just have a fundamental belief that God has us here on purpose and that the people in front of us are the ones we’ll serve. We’re not gone yet, so don’t expect us to check out. Even when we’re living in Columbus, we expect to keep in touch with everyone via social media. We said we were in it for the long haul, and we weren’t kidding.
2. I’m carving out as much time as possible for fund raising.We’ve been blessed with a huge financial partner (can’t wait to tell you that story)! But we still have a lot of work to do on fundraising. My goal is to raise an entire year’s worth of money before we ever move to Columbus. This will include our family’s living expenses and ministry budget. That may sound crazy to you, but we believe that our God is with us and will provide for us!
Thankfully, we won’t need many funds at all for our first year’s ministry budget. This will be another blog post for another day (again, another part of the story I can’t wait to tell), but we just have a desire to spend a lot of time with the people in our neighborhoods, schools, and community gathering places. This means we’ll be spending a lot of time around dinner tables and coffee shops. We won’t need a facility bigger than our house for a little while. Still, this requires the work of connecting with people who have a heart to expand God’s Kingdom through the work of church planting! It’s a lot of work, but I’m loving it! God has been doing a lot recently to show us that He’s got this!
3. We’re having our third child any day now! This is the point where you’re probably shaking your head and questioning our timing.“You’re going to walk away from a steady salary and plant a church a couple months after you have a baby? Are you crazy?!” My friends will readily tell you that crazy is just one of my shining characteristics.
Seriously, though, it is crazy. We know that. To help you understand, this is not our timing. God has done some crazy things over the last 6-12 months to make it extremely clear that this is His plan for us. Yes, we’re nervous. Yes, our parents are freaking out a bit. But you know what? God is faithful and He’s a better parent than I can even try to be. On the practical level, my wife is in the late stages of pregnancy and is ready to have a kid! We’re doing everything we can to get ready to welcome this baby into our home (cleaning off the old bassinet, pulling out the newborn clothes, trying to help our older kids to understand that this baby isn’t a punching bag, etc.).
4. I’m writing again. A couple years ago, I started a writing projectand I dropped it. I grew discouraged with my lack of time to write and just filed all of that content away. Recently, I’ve felt a strong burst of inspiration to pick it back up. In fact, I’ve been writing furiously the last couple weeks or so and think I might be able to wrap it up by the end of the summer! Simply put, this book is about what it takes for the current generation of teenagers to step up and become next generation leaders. I’m convinced that there are a few disciplines that pastors, teachers, coaches, small group leaders, and parents can embrace that will help students realize their potential in the Kingdom. I’ve done some research around this topic and can’t wait to finish it! I’m hoping it will be a great resource for the church!
5. I’m selling t-shirts. Random, right? Well, I joined the team at Ink Custom Tees as an Account Executive. My work travels with me, which means I’ll be selling shirts in Ohio to help make ends meet. I’m thankful for some of you friends out there that have already put an order in for t-shirts (thanks Mandy, Casey and John!) and hope to be able to get churches, schools, businesses and non-profits connected with really great shirts! All proceeds will go to feed hungry children. Mine.
As of right now, we ship out in less than 4 months. We hope you’ll continue praying for us! We have lots of ground to cover, but we believe that the Lord has already covered it! We’re just walking the path that He has laid out for us!