The calling
About five years ago, my wife and I were on a camping trip to a wonderful, quiet campgrounds called Sulfur Lake. It is a quaint retreat area, no frills, just a lot of peace and quiet. We continue to plan trips to this particular campgrounds because it is peaceful and we can relax. It was on that first trip to Sulfur lake that I heard God's first whispering into my life about church planting.
I was pretty new to this whole Christianity thing, but my conversion experience was amazing and I was on fire for the Lord. I still remember to this day, experiencing the Holy Spirit when I accepted Christ as my savior. It was a warm flooding of reassurance and strength.
I had no idea what church plating was at the time. So the prophetic words I spoke to my wife as we were walking around the fishing lake took me by surprise. "We are going to start a church someday" just seemed to flow from my lips, almost as if I didn't even speak them myself. I immediately dismissed the thought, not knowing what it meant or why I even said it. God has ways of reminding us of His will....
I later started my theological training at VLI, and quickly had aspirations on becoming a youth pastor. The prophetic words I spoke were but a phantom within my subconscious. I was a youth pastor now because that is what someone told me I had aptitude for. I even enjoyed teaching teens and hanging out with them. I mean honestly a lot of my responsibilities revolved around playing guitar hero and eating pizza, who wouldn't love that.
As I continued to dig deeper and deeper into scripture, the words in the Bible would jump out at me and become a fire in my soul. It was in my deeper studies of scripture that I realized that God wasn't calling me to be a youth pastor. He was calling me to church planting. In fact he had been calling me since I had left Sulfur lake campgrounds years before.
But like the relationship/calling of Neo and the Oracle in the Matrix, I had to come to terms with who God was calling me to be. It has not been an easy process, but it has become one of the most rewarding journeys of my life. I have found there is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.
To be continued......
I was pretty new to this whole Christianity thing, but my conversion experience was amazing and I was on fire for the Lord. I still remember to this day, experiencing the Holy Spirit when I accepted Christ as my savior. It was a warm flooding of reassurance and strength.
I had no idea what church plating was at the time. So the prophetic words I spoke to my wife as we were walking around the fishing lake took me by surprise. "We are going to start a church someday" just seemed to flow from my lips, almost as if I didn't even speak them myself. I immediately dismissed the thought, not knowing what it meant or why I even said it. God has ways of reminding us of His will....
I later started my theological training at VLI, and quickly had aspirations on becoming a youth pastor. The prophetic words I spoke were but a phantom within my subconscious. I was a youth pastor now because that is what someone told me I had aptitude for. I even enjoyed teaching teens and hanging out with them. I mean honestly a lot of my responsibilities revolved around playing guitar hero and eating pizza, who wouldn't love that.
As I continued to dig deeper and deeper into scripture, the words in the Bible would jump out at me and become a fire in my soul. It was in my deeper studies of scripture that I realized that God wasn't calling me to be a youth pastor. He was calling me to church planting. In fact he had been calling me since I had left Sulfur lake campgrounds years before.
But like the relationship/calling of Neo and the Oracle in the Matrix, I had to come to terms with who God was calling me to be. It has not been an easy process, but it has become one of the most rewarding journeys of my life. I have found there is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.
To be continued......
posted by Unknown at
6:24 PM
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