Tag: Diary of a Church Planter

Diary of a Church Planter (Pt 7)

Posted on May 11, 2011

This series is taken from my personal diary during the first couple of years of church planting. The entries range from painfully raw to joyfully visionary. I hope they bring encouragement to anyone who reads them, especially church planters.

 

 

Austin, Texas                                                                      November 2, 2008

Last week I spoke at the Acts 29 Bootcamp in Dallas. Preparation for the event was good for my soul. I was more nervous than I can recall being in a while. I had to work this fear out in faith and repentance. The Lord had me in 1 Thess 2:4 for a couple weeks, in perfect preparation for this fight:

For just has be have been approved by God and entrusted with the Gospel in this way we speak, no as pleasing men but God who test our hearts.

The fight was to speak from my security in the gospel not for security and approval of my listenesrs and fellow church planters. God was testing my heart days and weeks in advance. I repented from my desire to impress others and clung to Jesus’ forgiveness and strength in the gospel. I plowed on in the Spirit.

The night before my plenary on Spirit-led Ecclesiology, Robie gently corrected me. She showed me that my talk was trying to impress by “going deep” instead of trying to equip by “sharing my struggles.” I wanted to hide behind the approval of intellect instead of minister from a place of vulnerability. Then she sent me out of the house to keep working on the talk. What a wife.

At the coffeeshop I had a good conversation with John, a homeless guy. Father, call John to repentance, transition his life, heal his pain…Robie is such a blessing. Give me more Christlike love for her LORD. Spirit help me to be aware of how I can serve her and let my new heart live.

Diary of a Church Planter (Pt 6)

Posted on April 11, 2011

This series is taken from my personal diary during the first couple of years of church planting. The entries range from painfully raw to joyfully visionary. I hope they bring encouragement to anyone who reads them, especially church planters.

Austin, Texas August 24, 2007

We are away from the kids for the first time since our U Haul move from Boston to Austin in November 2006. My parents graciously paid for a trip to San Francisco, where we are on our second of five days. Time away from Owen and Ellie has already proven fruitful as we discuss our desires to “be the best mother and father by being a good ‘son’ and ‘daughter’.” This trip is an active reflection of our desire for Owen and Ellie to know who loves them most and who they should love most–God. As wonderful and delightful as they are, they cannot take the place of our marriage, and most importantly God.

As wonderful and delightful as they are, they cannot take the place of our marriage, and most importantly God.

This trip is also a time to consider the greatness of God, and his acts in creation, and my life. It’s not hard. I’m sitting in a cushioned chair, feet propped up on a small wooden table, knees bent, legs leaning slightly to the left. Each time I lift my head, my eyes rest on San Francisco Bay, as I look out our 27th floor balcony upon the vast Pacific dotted with sail boats and surrounded by low-level clouds that look like the will be ready to shower in a few hours. To the right is a small peninsula and to the left is Alcatraz and the Golden Gate, though it is hiding behind the fog…the sounds of the city below call me to business but the Bay to consider God’s blessedness.

the sounds of the city below call me to business but the Bay to consider God’s blessedness.

O Lord, grand that both Owen and Ellie would have moments and vacations like this time away from the busyness of life, and into the blessedness of living. May they see and savor you in creation as well as in the urban. The air is crisp and the sky mostly clear and blue. Caught somewhere between the city below and the city to come, moments like this are rare with two children. THANK you Lord, not merely for the moment but for allowing me to know you’re in it—generous, kind, loving, sovereign, and powerful.


Diary of a Church Planter (Pt 5)

Posted on April 5, 2011

This series is taken from my personal diary during the first couple of years of church planting. The entries range from painfully raw to joyfully visionary. I hope they bring encouragement to anyone who reads them, especially church planters.

 

 

 

Austin, Texas                                                                                     February 11, 2008

Robie had surgery this week to remove a parasitical tumor, which had the possibility of being cancer. It wasn’t cancer and the surgery went very well! I am not grateful enough, though I am incredibly grateful to God and to science and to Dr. Garza.

This is my last week working for bowling.com. The demands of ACL are bearing down, especially fund-raising. God would you raise the money for salaries, costs, and especially rent at the Draft House?

Diary of a Church Planter (Pt 4)

Posted on April 4, 2011

This series is taken from my personal diary during the first couple of years of church planting. The entries range from painfully raw to joyfully visionary. I hope they bring encouragement to anyone who reads them, especially church planters.

 

 

 

Austin, Texas                                                                                     September 8, 2007

I am slightly less scared and four months more experienced, considerable in church planting! I have interviewed four guys for Admin/Exec positions and none have panned. Instead, God brings me Nate, whose story of redemption is fresh and real, a burned rock star gone gospel hungry. A visionary in his own right, dreaming up places for us to meet and a launch weekend in March. Meetings are going well, a mix of community, discussion, prayer, and worship. God is at work.