Confessions of an Autonomous Church Planter

[Nahum]

We had an awesome service this morning. The spirit of God moved in a very refreshing way, and the gifts of the Spirit were in operation from the very first prayer of the service.

I have been in my city for a little over six years, and we've seen great miracles. We have also suffered enormous setbacks. In 2005 our church baptized over 25 people and saw almost as many receive the Holy Ghost. In 2006, we lost almost half of our church for a variety of reasons. We have begun to recover, and attendance is steadily climbing again.

My wife and I have been on a never-ending roller coaster ride since August of 2000. For the past year the church has been in full "bunker mentality" mode. Compounding the problem - my wife has been diagnosed with Graves Disease. But in all of our trials, God has been good. As of Monday of last week, our church is completely debt free. I now have saints who are capable of teaching and ministring to others.

This morning a message in tongues came forward that confirmed what the Lord had spoken to me while I was on vacation in Colorado last month. I am paraphrasing, but the gist of the message was that Jesus knows where we are at, that a spiritual rain such as we have never experienced is on its way, and that the Lord promised to send winds of refreshing, beginning immedately.

This all happened before one key was played on the keyboard. People were weeping, and clapping, and praising God all over the building. There was a noticable change in the atmosphere of our people.

I want to encourage every church planter and home missions church to stay in the fight. Faith brings a reward. Don't give up hope. The Lord still walks among his churches.

[freeatlast]

Sounds great PP.....we had to cancel because of ice storm.

Got company just arriving for some fun and fellowship tonite.

[Nahum]

Originally Posted by freeatlast

Sounds great PP.....we had to cancel because of ice storm.

Got company just arriving for some fun and fellowship tonite.

No ice down here, thank God.

[SDG]

Your breakthrough is coming, PP.

[mizpeh]

Originally Posted by Pastor Poster

We had an awesome service this morning. The spirit of God moved in a very refreshing way, and the gifts of the Spirit were in operation from the very first prayer of the service.

I have been in my city for a little over six years, and we've seen great miracles. We have also suffered enormous setbacks. In 2005 our church baptized over 25 people and saw almost as many receive the Holy Ghost. In 2006, we lost almost half of our church for a variety of reasons. We have begun to recover, and attendance is steadily climbing again.

My wife and I have been on a never-ending roller coaster ride since August of 2000. For the past year the church has been in full "bunker mentality" mode. Compounding the problem - my wife has been diagnosed with Graves Disease. But in all of our trials, God has been good. As of Monday of last week, our church is completely debt free. I now have saints who are capable of teaching and ministring to others.

This morning a message in tongues came forward that confirmed what the Lord had spoken to me while I was on vacation in Colorado last month. I am paraphrasing, but the gist of the message was that Jesus knows where we are at, that a spiritual rain such as we have never experienced is on its way, and that the Lord promised to send winds of refreshing, beginning immedately.

This all happened before one key was played on the keyboard. People were weeping, and clapping, and praising God all over the building. There was a noticable change in the atmosphere of our people.

I want to encourage every church planter and home missions church to stay in the fight. Faith brings a reward. Don't give up hope. The Lord still walks among his churches.

WOW! What an encouragaing testimony. The Lord quickened a verse to my heart a couple of weeks ago and I've been praying it ever since.

Zechariah 10:1 ASK ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain: so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain.......

Isaiah 44:3 For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:

[Neck]

Originally Posted by Pastor Poster

We had an awesome service this morning. The spirit of God moved in a very refreshing way, and the gifts of the Spirit were in operation from the very first prayer of the service.

I have been in my city for a little over six years, and we've seen great miracles. We have also suffered enormous setbacks. In 2005 our church baptized over 25 people and saw almost as many receive the Holy Ghost. In 2006, we lost almost half of our church for a variety of reasons. We have begun to recover, and attendance is steadily climbing again.

My wife and I have been on a never-ending roller coaster ride since August of 2000. For the past year the church has been in full "bunker mentality" mode. Compounding the problem - my wife has been diagnosed with Graves Disease. But in all of our trials, God has been good. As of Monday of last week, our church is completely debt free. I now have saints who are capable of teaching and ministring to others.

This morning a message in tongues came forward that confirmed what the Lord had spoken to me while I was on vacation in Colorado last month. I am paraphrasing, but the gist of the message was that Jesus knows where we are at, that a spiritual rain such as we have never experienced is on its way, and that the Lord promised to send winds of refreshing, beginning immedately.

This all happened before one key was played on the keyboard. People were weeping, and clapping, and praising God all over the building. There was a noticable change in the atmosphere of our people.

I want to encourage every church planter and home missions church to stay in the fight. Faith brings a reward. Don't give up hope. The Lord still walks among his churches.

I will pray for your wife. Stay encouraged, God will continue to bless. The days ahead will be filled with amazing miracles. You have some awesome folks coming your way....

Nathan Eckstadt

[Rhoni]

Originally Posted by Pastor Poster

We had an awesome service this morning. The spirit of God moved in a very refreshing way, and the gifts of the Spirit were in operation from the very first prayer of the service.

I have been in my city for a little over six years, and we've seen great miracles. We have also suffered enormous setbacks. In 2005 our church baptized over 25 people and saw almost as many receive the Holy Ghost. In 2006, we lost almost half of our church for a variety of reasons. We have begun to recover, and attendance is steadily climbing again.

My wife and I have been on a never-ending roller coaster ride since August of 2000. For the past year the church has been in full "bunker mentality" mode. Compounding the problem - my wife has been diagnosed with Graves Disease. But in all of our trials, God has been good. As of Monday of last week, our church is completely debt free. I now have saints who are capable of teaching and ministring to others.

This morning a message in tongues came forward that confirmed what the Lord had spoken to me while I was on vacation in Colorado last month. I am paraphrasing, but the gist of the message was that Jesus knows where we are at, that a spiritual rain such as we have never experienced is on its way, and that the Lord promised to send winds of refreshing, beginning immedately.

This all happened before one key was played on the keyboard. People were weeping, and clapping, and praising God all over the building. There was a noticable change in the atmosphere of our people.

I want to encourage every church planter and home missions church to stay in the fight. Faith brings a reward. Don't give up hope. The Lord still walks among his churches.

Dear Pastor Poster,

Sounds like you are reaping the rewards of your labor....Lord send a special blessing to this home missions Pastor and His wife...because they belong to you and because you can! Heal Sis. PP in Jesus name!

Jehoveh Jireh!
Jehoveh Shalom!
Jehoveh Nissi!

We give you the highest praise Jehoveh Rophe!

[Nahum]

Originally Posted by Neckstadt

I will pray for your wife. Stay encouraged, God will continue to bless. The days ahead will be filled with amazing miracles. You have some awesome folks coming your way....

Nathan Eckstadt

In Jesus' name!

[Sam]

Originally Posted by Pastor Poster

We had an awesome service this morning. The spirit of God moved in a very refreshing way, and the gifts of the Spirit were in operation from the very first prayer of the service.

I have been in my city for a little over six years, and we've seen great miracles. We have also suffered enormous setbacks. In 2005 our church baptized over 25 people and saw almost as many receive the Holy Ghost. In 2006, we lost almost half of our church for a variety of reasons. We have begun to recover, and attendance is steadily climbing again.

My wife and I have been on a never-ending roller coaster ride since August of 2000. For the past year the church has been in full "bunker mentality" mode. Compounding the problem - my wife has been diagnosed with Graves Disease. But in all of our trials, God has been good. As of Monday of last week, our church is completely debt free. I now have saints who are capable of teaching and ministring to others.

This morning a message in tongues came forward that confirmed what the Lord had spoken to me while I was on vacation in Colorado last month. I am paraphrasing, but the gist of the message was that Jesus knows where we are at, that a spiritual rain such as we have never experienced is on its way, and that the Lord promised to send winds of refreshing, beginning immedately.

This all happened before one key was played on the keyboard. People were weeping, and clapping, and praising God all over the building. There was a noticable change in the atmosphere of our people.

I want to encourage every church planter and home missions church to stay in the fight. Faith brings a reward. Don't give up hope. The Lord still walks among his churches.

You are being tried in the fire.
This is an email I sent out a couple of days ago:
----------------------------------
Below is the daily devotion from The Purpose Driven Life for Thursday February 22nd. It is titled "The Fine Print" and touches on an aspect of the Christian life that we don't like to talk about ---going through bad things and tough stuff. When I read this I thought about a conversation Father Froelich (some of you know him as Bob Froelich) and I had recently while we were at the Vineyard serving on the prayer team for Monday Night Growth and Healing.

Bob brought my attention to a passage in the first few verses of Eccclesiasticus chapter 2 which reads:
1 My son, if you aspire to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for an ordeal.
2 Be sincere of heart, be steadfast, and do not be alarmed when disaster comes.
3 Cling to him and do not leave him, so that you may be honored at the end of your days.
4 Whatever happens to you, accept it, and in the uncertainties of your humble state. be patient,
5 since gold is tried in the fire, and chosen men in the furnace of humiliation.
6 Trust him and he will uphold you, follow a straight path and hope in him.
7 You who fear the Lord, wait for his mercy; do not turn aside in case you fall.
8 You who fear the Lord, trust, him, and your reward will not be lost.
from the NRSV and The Jerusalem Bible

This is a warning that if you determine to serve the Lord, you can expect an ordeal and disaster and to be tried like gold in a fire. I told Bob that this may have been the passage the Apostle Paul was thinking of in the summer of AD 49 when he was preaching in Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch in the area of modern day Turkey. He had been preaching in Lystra and there was a man healed who had never walked. When the people there saw this obvious miracle of healing, they thought that the gods had come down from heaven to visit them. They thought that the two preachers, Paul and Barnabas, were Jupiter (Zeus) and Mercury (Hermes) and tried to worship them at the temple of Jupiter which was in front of Lystra. After Paul finally persuaded the people there that he was not a god but the servant of the one true God who was the Creator of all, then along came some Jews from nearby cities, who stoned Paul, dragged his mutilated body out of town, and left him for dead. The disciples gathered around the crushed, broken body of Paul and prayed. Paul got up, went back into the city, and was preaching again the next day.

The record in Acts chapter 14 says that he then went back to the nearby recently established churches, strengthening the disciples, encouraging them to keep the faith, and explaining "We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God." In the paraphrase known as The Message, this reads: "After proclaiming the Message in Derbe and establishing a strong core of disciples, they retraced their steps to Lystra, then Iconium, and then Antioch, putting muscle and sinew in the lives of the disciples, urging them to stick with what they had begun to believe and not quit, making it clear to them that it wouldn't be easy: 'Anyone signing up for the kingdom of God has to go through plenty of hard times.'"

Here's the devotion from The Purpose Driven Life which gives this same message:

2/22/2007
The fine print
by John Fischer

“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.” (2 Corinthians 4:8-10 NLT)

These verses are what I call the fine print of the Christian life. When you sign up, you sign up for this, but unfortunately, not too many people read that far into the contract, and not enough leaders point it out. So when bad things start happening to us, we think something went wrong with our faith. Not necessarily. In fact, it’s an honor to think that your faith is worthy of being tested.

It’s a reverse spiritual principle that nonetheless is true: We get beaten down so that Christ might rise in us. It’s the whole idea God has of avoiding confusion. See, he doesn’t want people confusing human power and achievement with his power and what he is achieving in and through our lives. If all Christians were super-Christians, people would be impressed with them. As it is, God wants people to be surprised at us, not so much impressed – surprised that we can keep on believing, given what has happened to us. Surprised at us – impressed with God. That’s the way it should go.

It’s important to know this so that the things that happen don’t throw us into a tailspin. Paul wrote in the passage above that troubles, confusions, knock-downs, and drag-outs are all to be expected in a life of faith, and they are not just something to suck it up and endure, they are what will actually release the power of God in our lives. We encounter death-like experiences so that Christ’s life-like nature may clearly be seen in us, despite what is happening.

Let me try and say this again. This is not just endurance training through tough times. This is God’s strategy for ministry through us. There is no other way for it to be done. His strategy is his power and strength through our weakness – his life through our death. This doesn’t just happen to some Christians; it happens to us all if we desire to be effective in our faith.

So don’t forget the fine print today, and allow the troubles you face to springboard you into finding God’s purposes even in this. He had this planned all along. It’s even in the contract!

[Nahum]

Originally Posted by Sam

You are being tried in the fire.
This is an email I sent out a couple of days ago:
----------------------------------
Below is the daily devotion from The Purpose Driven Life for Thursday February 22nd. It is titled "The Fine Print" and touches on an aspect of the Christian life that we don't like to talk about ---going through bad things and tough stuff. When I read this I thought about a conversation Father Froelich (some of you know him as Bob Froelich) and I had recently while we were at the Vineyard serving on the prayer team for Monday Night Growth and Healing.

Bob brought my attention to a passage in the first few verses of Eccclesiasticus chapter 2 which reads:
1 My son, if you aspire to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for an ordeal.
2 Be sincere of heart, be steadfast, and do not be alarmed when disaster comes.
3 Cling to him and do not leave him, so that you may be honored at the end of your days.
4 Whatever happens to you, accept it, and in the uncertainties of your humble state. be patient,
5 since gold is tried in the fire, and chosen men in the furnace of humiliation.
6 Trust him and he will uphold you, follow a straight path and hope in him.
7 You who fear the Lord, wait for his mercy; do not turn aside in case you fall.
8 You who fear the Lord, trust, him, and your reward will not be lost.
from the NRSV and The Jerusalem Bible

This is a warning that if you determine to serve the Lord, you can expect an ordeal and disaster and to be tried like gold in a fire. I told Bob that this may have been the passage the Apostle Paul was thinking of in the summer of AD 49 when he was preaching in Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch in the area of modern day Turkey. He had been preaching in Lystra and there was a man healed who had never walked. When the people there saw this obvious miracle of healing, they thought that the gods had come down from heaven to visit them. They thought that the two preachers, Paul and Barnabas, were Jupiter (Zeus) and Mercury (Hermes) and tried to worship them at the temple of Jupiter which was in front of Lystra. After Paul finally persuaded the people there that he was not a god but the servant of the one true God who was the Creator of all, then along came some Jews from nearby cities, who stoned Paul, dragged his mutilated body out of town, and left him for dead. The disciples gathered around the crushed, broken body of Paul and prayed. Paul got up, went back into the city, and was preaching again the next day.

The record in Acts chapter 14 says that he then went back to the nearby recently established churches, strengthening the disciples, encouraging them to keep the faith, and explaining "We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God." In the paraphrase known as The Message, this reads: "After proclaiming the Message in Derbe and establishing a strong core of disciples, they retraced their steps to Lystra, then Iconium, and then Antioch, putting muscle and sinew in the lives of the disciples, urging them to stick with what they had begun to believe and not quit, making it clear to them that it wouldn't be easy: 'Anyone signing up for the kingdom of God has to go through plenty of hard times.'"

Here's the devotion from The Purpose Driven Life which gives this same message:

2/22/2007
The fine print
by John Fischer

“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.” (2 Corinthians 4:8-10 NLT)

These verses are what I call the fine print of the Christian life. When you sign up, you sign up for this, but unfortunately, not too many people read that far into the contract, and not enough leaders point it out. So when bad things start happening to us, we think something went wrong with our faith. Not necessarily. In fact, it’s an honor to think that your faith is worthy of being tested.

It’s a reverse spiritual principle that nonetheless is true: We get beaten down so that Christ might rise in us. It’s the whole idea God has of avoiding confusion. See, he doesn’t want people confusing human power and achievement with his power and what he is achieving in and through our lives. If all Christians were super-Christians, people would be impressed with them. As it is, God wants people to be surprised at us, not so much impressed – surprised that we can keep on believing, given what has happened to us. Surprised at us – impressed with God. That’s the way it should go.

It’s important to know this so that the things that happen don’t throw us into a tailspin. Paul wrote in the passage above that troubles, confusions, knock-downs, and drag-outs are all to be expected in a life of faith, and they are not just something to suck it up and endure, they are what will actually release the power of God in our lives. We encounter death-like experiences so that Christ’s life-like nature may clearly be seen in us, despite what is happening.

Let me try and say this again. This is not just endurance training through tough times. This is God’s strategy for ministry through us. There is no other way for it to be done. His strategy is his power and strength through our weakness – his life through our death. This doesn’t just happen to some Christians; it happens to us all if we desire to be effective in our faith.

So don’t forget the fine print today, and allow the troubles you face to springboard you into finding God’s purposes even in this. He had this planned all along. It’s even in the contract!

Sam, this really ministers to me, and is quite beautiful. Thanks for sharing.