On The Road Again

In case you haven’t heard yet, we are moving to Colorado! I have accepted the opportunity to become the pastor of two small rural churches 15 miles east of Fort Collins.

Whenever you announce something like this, everyone wants to hear the details. After all, you don’t do something crazy like leave your home and move your family over a thousand miles away from everyone unless something lucrative has turned up. Well, I’m sorry to say, there’s nothing lucrative to share. We are downsizing quite considerably, and we won’t be making any more money either. There are times when I think about what I’m about to do and my mind starts running…If this isn’t God, Tim, this is the stupidest thing you’ve ever done.

And I believe that is a true statement. For several reasons, however, I do strongly believe God is calling us to these two tiny communities in Colorado. Because of all of this, I kinda feel like an expendable pawn in God’s hand. He’s sovereignly choosing where to place us, and it’s not my place to resist. I trust that He knows what He’s doing, and I want to do my all for Him where He places me. If things don’t turn out for my “good,” that shouldn’t factor into the equation. This should be all about what is good for Christ and His kingdom! I am much closer to accepting this than I was six months ago!

The position is bi-vocational, and I hope to continue in the legal video business to supplement my income. If that doesn’t work out, I will have to find additional employment elsewhere. In addition, we will be moving a month before our baby is born, which presents several challenges.

But I believe this is God, and because of that, I choose to trust God that He will take care of all the questions and concerns we face.

I also have some fears about taking on this responsibility. At times, it feels daunting. Beyond the legitimate concerns I have, there are silly ones too, like: What if I have to immerse someone in baptism who weighs three times as much as me?  How do you do that without the power of God?? 🙂

Of course, that’s the least of my concerns. What I fear the most is compromising myself as a leader. If you’ve read my blog, you know that I am frustrated with the lack of leadership in churches. Pastors seem more concerned with growing their church and becoming “successful” according to what our culture dictates. I recognize that in large part, I’ve largely been all talk on this subject, simply because no one has given me the opportunity to be in this position yet. But now I have the opportunity to step to the plate and take a full swing of blind faith.

My brother-in-law lent me the book, Radical, by David Platt this past weekend while we were at the beach. Even though I’m not quite finished with it yet, I would highly recommend it to everyone! Seriously. Throw away your My Best Life Now book, and click on that link! Then I will permit you to continue reading this blog post. Ok, now that you’ve read through the site and bought the book: I was surprised and excited to see many themes in this book that correlate very closely to many things I’ve written recently in my blog regarding the Gospel and the depressing state of the American Church and church leaders. I have no other explanation for this, except to continue to believe that the Holy Spirit is confirming to me that He is at work in my life–and in leaders in churches of all shapes and sizes.  I am grateful to have had the opportunity to hear the Gospel clearly preached and lived out the past six months at Brook Hills. While my awakening to the Gospel occurred before we started attending there, every Sunday we attended was confirmation for me that God is doing something supernatural in my life during this time. And it has been awesome to see a megachurch being led in a bold direction that takes the Gospel and Scripture seriously. Perhaps the Holy Spirit is awakening various church leaders to realize what this is really all about. Maybe a few of us (I hope more than I realize) are disillusioned with what we see in the modern church and church leadership, and rather than just talk about it, we want to do something material about it. This is my desire. But I greatly fear that I will get sucked into the mire in the process. I don’t want that to happen. I want every decision I make to be the leading of the Holy Spirit–not what I think would work best to grow our church, etc.

In the book, Radical, David Platt laments briefly over having been entrusted to your typical American megachurch, and wonders how God wants to take it from where it’s at currently to a more biblically-honoring congregation. I kinda feel like I have the privilege of starting something relatively from the ground up, to ensure these things don’t happen in my setting. Platt talks about how churches shouldn’t depend on earthly resources, talent, professionalism to do the ministry of God. Well, with this venture, I have the opportunity to prove this notion true. While others may not see that as a blessing, I do. The question is: am I strong enough in my faith in God to follow His leading and avoid the many traps that church leaders get sucked into? I see this as a test and a challenge. It greatly motivates me.

Here are some other things that get me excited about this new venture:

1. These two churches are the only evangelical churches in their respective communities. As a result, they must not fail—they cannot fail. There are no other churches around, unlike here in the South. They clearly have a mandate to reach their communities, or else their communities are guaranteed to remain lost. Period.
2. Less than 10% of the people in these communities attend church. That means there’s a true mission field there, unlike anything around here in the South where everyone claims membership somewhere. There’s something real to be done.
3. Most pastors would pass over this opportunity because it involves pastoring two small churches bi-vocationally. That just motivates me even more to step up to the plate.
4. For quite some time, I’ve submitted to people in leadership when they’ve told me that I was too idealistic, and that if I were the senior pastor of a church, I would quickly change my opinions on how we must aim high instead of settling for your average Sunday morning attender. Now it’s my turn. I can actually start to implement these things instead of being shot down or berated. I am eager to see what happens!
5. I refuse to base whether I’m successful or not by whether a church grows or decreases in attendance. I base it on whether we have followed Scripture and the Holy Spirit. As a result, I believe there’s no way I can fail! Even if the church closes it’s doors because of financial difficulty or whatever, I will refuse to believe that this means failure. It’s just time to start from scratch and begin meeting in people’s homes in the communities. We only fail if we give up trying to reach the community for Christ. This motivates me greatly.

I am also looking forward to being 45 minutes away from the Rocky Mountains! The area is very different from here–but also very beautiful! Even the plains we will be living in have their own charm and beauty. I will be posting pictures of our recent visit on my blog under the “Family Photos” link on the top menu. The people from the churches that we met a few weeks ago were so gracious and hospitable to us when we visited there. We were honored that both churches voted unanimously to welcome us as their new pastor! We have many reasons to be excited in the face of many fears.

I would appreciate everyone’s prayers during this time. From the logistics of moving everything in two weeks, to the great challenges we will face once in Colorado–there is plenty to pray about! Most of all, will you pray that I will be true to God? Will you pray for these two small churches–only 40 in combined attendance–that we would recognize that while we don’t have anything in earthly resources, we do have all kinds of heavenly resources at our disposal through Christ’s power in the Holy Spirit? Will you pray that the Gospel continues to miraculously change my life and begins to miraculously spread through these two churches and communities? I would greatly appreciate it!