"Limitless God"

“I wasn’t given the gifts to plant a church.” I had just heard Pastor Doug Banks tell me that he believed that God would call me start a new church. I had worked underneath him for about two years at that point. I believed that phrase with all my heart. It didn’t come out of fear; it was a fact. I was a problem solver, not a start from scratch kind of guy. God had shown Pastor Doug the potential I didn’t see.  

I would continue to work under him for nine more years without a thought of church planting. Pastor Doug and I both believed that God was guiding me to move somewhere else. This was guided by prayer not dysfunction; we felt God was finishing this chapter. I thought that meant to look for open churches, because that’s what you do right? Other churches had asked me to send a resume, but I didn’t feel God was guiding me to those places. Other doors were not opening, but I wasn’t frantically looking to leave, so I left it all in God’s hands while prayerfully seeking. 

We were sponsoring the South Central Sectional meeting at the church when Pastor Hal Kooistra spoke of a church plant they were starting in Chicago. It was going to launch out of a building where a previous church had been meeting for many years. My wife and I knew that church well. We had helped with their youth program and had gotten to know many of the people. We had been praying for them since we heard that the pastor was stepping down knowing it would be a tough transition. 

After the meeting, my wife and I went home and spoke about the plant. We believed we needed to pray that God would send someone with a heart for the area and for the people. God woke me up at two that morning, He really is outside of time isn’t He, and I thought I just needed to pray more for that pastor. The next day I went to the sanctuary and God put on my heart to call Pastor Hal and ask about the church. But “I wasn’t given the gifts to plant a church,” I thought. As we know though, when God speaks we better listen. So I called him up and asked tons of questions. Eventually he said, “We just need to get the right campus pastor.” My heart sunk. Before I knew it, I shared that my wife and I have been praying for what God wanted us to do, and I believed this was it. 

This started my Planting journey. In one month, I was approved by the Board and making list of what we needed. We had to gut the building, get it ready for the launch, while preparing a team in just three months. This was way too big for me, but not for God. The greatest lesson I learned in this journey was on the sovereignty of God. He made all things come together; from our amazing Worship Pastor Hannah Stanford to our volunteers who are worth more than gold. God is doing amazing things at Hope Church Midway and I get to be a part of it because I didn’t allow my limitations to get in the way of a limitless God. I can’t wait to see what He does next!