The Story

How did we get to this point? Let me give you the story.


We left Fort Wayne last April and were sad to go. However, we honestly never thought we would be moving back. I knew I wanted to preach and lead a congregation and the opportunity to do so in Fort Wayne wasn't there.


Through the summer I did 12 hours of Masters work and loved it. And I actually got all As (though this semester I got two A-s so my GPA has plummeted to just above 3.9). We were thinking about what was next as we came into the fall and never considered church planting- ever.


Then, in September I was in a class I actually just audited with Dr. David Roadcup. He said, "Friends, do you realize that more people are coming to Christ in America today surrounding new church plants than in any other way?"


To be honest, I didn't know that. But it got me thinking, to say the least. The next 48 hours was one of those times when you can't turn something off. God was speaking and I was writing (even in class, sorry Dr. Roadcup). I kept quiet about it until the next evening when I told Kristen.


"I've got a crazy idea" I said. Then I told her I thought maybe God was talking with me about going back to Fort Wayne and leading a ministry that would focus on leading people to Christ.


She rolled her eyes.


How will it work? What about the other resumes and offers out there? Who will work with us? How can we do this in a way that builds the body of Christ as a whole? How will we provide for our family? What do we need to do/learn/research before even thinking about this?


At that time we had few answers.


Over the next few weeks I realized some things God already had in place. Three of my friends down here were 1) A missions pastor, 2) An elder of a new church plant, and 3) A minister of a church plant. Besides that, the class I was auditing, Characteristics of a Healthy Church could also be called "Church Planting 101".


Things began to fall in place. Before Thanksgiving, after countless hourse of prayer, research, talking, asking, learning, etc, we took a week to fast and pray about this idea. At the end of the very busy week, we felt as though God had not yet spoken.


Until Friday.


On Friday I got a call from the only couple who at that time planned to join us in the work in Fortt Wayne if we made that move. The man essentially shared that his schedule had opened up considerably and he would be more available for ministry that he would have been.

Later that afternoon, Kristen called a friend in Fort Wayne. She asked, "If there was someone who wanted to rent your home when you move at the end of the year, what would you think?" The friend said that they had decided not to rent their house out unless God dropped renters in their laps.

God was dropping- even though Kristen didn't tell her it was us at that point.

There are a million more details I could share about our experience up to this point. However, I share these just to give you a glimpse of the story to this point. I am tempted now to write about the plans for the future, but I think I will leave that for a later post.