Planting Space

I’m in Orlando at the conference and I’d have to say it has been everything I expected and more. The speakers have been inspirational and motivating. I’m pumped up. Jeremy and Mark, our final two, were asked, “How would you inspire church planter.” If you like what you read, click on the bloggers name to go to their blog.

Rules:
1. 300 words or less
2. Top Vote Getter Wins
3. Voting Ends Sunday at 11:59 pm
Mark Doebler - The Grove - Peoria, Illinois

I remember it like it was yesterday. It was daunting and yet exhilarating
at the same time. Although I was still young, I had looked forward to it
with great anticipation. After what seemed like an interminable wait, I was
finally in position to start moving forward. At first it felt like this was
going to be a major disappointment. Things were moving much too slow and
the first hill to climb seemed to be far too big and even uncertain. But
then.. it was as if a shot of pure adrenaline was injected straight into my
bloodstream. What followed was a series of twists and turns, hills and
hollows that took my breath away but left me wanting more. Little did I
know that my first ride on a roller coaster would be my first indoctrination
into church planting.

Church planting is more like that ride than I would ever have imagined. The
anticipation can almost leave you breathless. The wait to begin feels like
an eternity. Climbing the first hill seems like you have taken on too much.
But then you roll past the crest and God-momentum takes you on one of the
wildest rides of your life - half-scared out of your wits that you have made
the biggest mistake of your life, and half-crazed that you wouldn’t want to
do anything else.

Church planting will be full of extreme highs and plummeting lows. Just
when you think you’ve got it figured out, you’ll find yourself in a hairpin
turn that jerks you back into reality and reliance on God. But if you
enjoy being fully alive there is nothing more satisfying, nothing more
fulfilling. If you have church-planting in your DNA, this is the ultimate
experience of John 10:10. So buckle up and enjoy the ride!

Jeremy Myers - Planting in Montana

Faces. We see them everywhere and every day. Some faces are recognizable and
incite feelings of love, passion, tenderness, and happiness. Other faces
give rise to feelings of anger, wrath, jealousy, or fear. It’s these faces
that must push us forward, these faces that must motivate us to reach out
with the love of Jesus.

You know the faces you need to reach. We all have them in our lives. They
are the faces of God’s children, many of whom are far away from Him. Others
don’t even know His name except in a curse. A handful of these faces knew
God once, but no longer believe He cares about them any more. Still others
feel that God couldn’t possibly love them after what they’ve done.

They are the faces of divorce, lust, abortion, drugs, abuse, violence,
death, heartache, heartbreak, loneliness, fatigue, rejection, and pride.

They are the faces of your grocery clerk, your mailman, your boss, your
neighbor, the homeless person you’ve walked by for years on your way to
work, the pregnant teen whom you believe is just reaping what she’s sown,
the bitter widow, the ex-con.

The list goes on and on, and it includes you and me.

Yet somehow, we think we don’t belong on this list. We know the truth. We
are different.

But if that is so, it’s only because someone in your life answered God’s
call to reach out to you, and help you out of the muck you were dwelling in.

God is calling again for people to go out and be His hands in the world;
hands of love, grace, kindness, friendship, and truth.

Are you going to see the faces in your life for what they are, or for who
they can be? It’s your move.

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