Karma of Church Planting

Somewhere in a former life, if you believe in such things, I must have been the equivalent of a Nazi Storm Trooper or something equally vile and disgusting. Somehow I have earned the purgatory of church planting. I am in my seventh pioneer church.

That’s right. Seven.

Something in me draws me to fledgling pastors with a vision. Men who are passionately chasing after the Lord Jesus and offering others the opportunity to come along on the adventure. There is something so appealing about the call to be a part of a different expression of the body of the Lord.

What is wrong with me?

Church planting offers you the opportunity to crash and burn in an endless variety of amusing ways. You never seem to run out of ways to splatter yourself against the cold, hard, unforgiving wall called reality. You find yourself being stretched in ways you never knew you could stretch. In the circus, they call you a contortionist. In the church, they call you Pastor.

The Bible says that we are to rejoice in the Lord always and we are to give thanks in all things. I finally found a reason to be thankful for my complete lack of musical ability and my inability to carry a tune in a bucket with a lid on it. My pastor can’t ask me to be on the worship team.

There is, however, something irresistible for me in this whole process. It is watching a team that at times resembles the freaks from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, led by the Three Stooges, be transformed into the image of Christ. Somehow the Lord takes us and uses us to create a place where His Holy Spirit likes to meet with us, and we are able to invite people to experience His presence and be transformed as well.

Fortunately, God is not looking for perfect people led by the Apostle Paul. He is looking for us. He invites us to become part of a group of imperfect people led by sincere seekers to bring His Kingdom to a city. And for whatever reason, He chooses to meet with us and we are transformed in the experience.

There is something in that raw encounter of desperation that happens in a church plant, where you are crying out to God to come and meet with you because you have nothing else, that is unlike anything you will ever experience. You can’t hide behind a program or behind talent, because you don’t have it. Either God comes and meets with you or you fold your cards and withdraw from the game. And time after time, He comes.

And that is why I’m here.