We're Moving!

A lot has happened since my last post. Needless to say, it’s been hectic. But in all of this, we have seen our God work in our lives to confirm the call to plant a house church in East Alton, Illinois. And we pray that it is the first of many.

Since my last post my wife has been offered a job and plans are that she will begin in June. We’re excited about that, and we believe that God opened the door for that position. It means that we will have some income very soon after our move. We praise God for that.

Our next major step was to secure a place to live. We decided to look at places to rent. That proved to be a futile effort, so we started to look for a house to purchase. We first looked at a couple of online internet sites. After looking at many houses in the East Alton area I found one I thought would work. Later, we called a realtor and scheduled a couple of days to look at houses. She informed me that the one I had found on the internet had an offer on it and was not available at this time. So we drove up and looked at a half dozen houses one afternoon. My wife and I agreed that none of them “felt right.” I was impressed to ask our agent again about that house. God moves in mysterious ways. The other offer fell through and we looked at the house. We believed it was exactly what we needed and we made an offer. Through negotiations we were able to get the house at substantially less than the asking price.  Tomorrow we will close on the house and next week we will begin the actually moving process. We are thankful for the way God has provided for us.

Last Sunday was my last time in the pulpit as pastor of Ridgway FBC. I have to say it was a great experience. I love this church and they have been supportive of God’s call upon my life to plant house churches. They gave us a great love offering and I take that as a tangible expression of their love and support for my wife and me. It’s a God thing.

We are still looking for a church to serve as our “mother church.” We’ve talked to a couple of pastors and neither has worked out. Recently someone talked to a pastor at another church who expressed interest. Yesterday I called him and had a long phone conversation with him. He is definitely interested. Could this be the hand of our Lord and God at work again? I’m optimistic that it is.

Over the last few months I’ve watched God work in the lives of my wife and me as we’ve tried to be faithful to His call to plant house churches. He has moved in little things and in major ways. I’ve praised Him each and every time. So, today as I pack more boxes in preparation to move I’m going to be praising the Lord. If you live close enough to drive by, don’t be surprised if you hear praise coming from my house.

It's Official!

A week ago I submitted my resignation to First Baptist Church, Ridgway, Illinois. My last official day will be May 31. So, we will be moving to the Alton, Illinois area, where we will plant a church in East Alton. It’s a bittersweet experience. We are excited to begin a new phase of ministry as church planters, but I’m going to miss the Ridgway FBC family.

Twenty-two years ago I came to southern Illinois to serve as the Director of Missions for Saline Baptist Association. I spent nineteen years in that role. During that time I got to know the Ridgway FBC family and developed a closer relationship with them when I first served six months as their interim pastor. I made some real friends during that time and fell in love with the church family. When they called their next pastor I knew he would be serving a great church.

Several years later the pastor resigned to serve another church in Illinois and, again, the church asked me to serve as their interim. I served six months again and then became their pastor shortly after my interim with them was completed.

Two great interims were followed by a great pastorate. When I became their pastor I assumed I would spend ten years with them and then retire. God had a different plan. About a year and a half into my pastorate he began to speak to me about another change in my life. So, after three years as their pastor, I’m off to plant a church in East Alton.

Ridgway FBC isn’t a perfect church. I don’t know of one that is. But they’ve been a perfect church for me. They have loved me and allowed me to share God’s word with them every Sunday for almost three years. I’ve ministered to them and been ministered to by them. We’ve been family, and that’s why I’m going to miss them.

I’m praying God will send them a great man to serve as their pastor. 

We’ve Been Approved!

A few days ago I received word from the North American Mission Board that we had been approved as church planters. That’s one step closer to becoming a church planter in East Alton, Illinois. But we are not there yet. There are still a few steps that must be taken before we can actually begin planting a church. We must find a supporting church, jobs, a place to live, pack, and move. It seems like a lot that needs to happen, but we’re trusting the Lord to open the doors, and He can make it happen “in a flash.”

A lot of church planters go to plant a church. We are actually going to East Alton to plant multiple churches. How many? Well, that’s in the Lord’s hands, too. We are planning to plant house churches, sometimes called organic or relational churches. This is not a new idea. You will find house churches in the New Testament.

Basically, a house church is made up of six to twenty people who regularly meet in someone’s home. Once a week they come together for a fellowship meal followed by worship and Bible study. These church meetings often last between one and a half and three hours. It is usually inter-generational and is usually not led by a full time pastor.

The desired outcome is that those attending will grow in their relationship to the Lord; grow in community with each other; share the love of Christ where they live, work, and play; and that they will reproduce other such communities of believers. We believe God has called us to raise up a network of these small churches. Our hope and prayer is that many people will come to know Christ and grow in a relationship with Him and with others.

We need help. Here’s how you can help right now.

1. Pray for a supporting church. We need a church in the area who will agree to support us by receiving our house church as members and by assisting us in our financial accounting needs. 
2. Pray that my wife and I can find jobs. We are too young to retire and most employers would consider us too old to hire. So, this is definitely going to need to be a “God thing.”
3. Pray for others to join us in this process. If two or three Christian couples join us we can multiply much more quickly and reach more people for Christ. 

We believe in the power of prayer. Thanks for praying for us.

We Passed Another Hurdle

Last week my wife and I sat down with Charles Campbell and Eddie Pullen, members of the Illinois Baptist State Association Church Planting Team, to discuss the results of our recent Invest assessment for church planters. When we went began the assessment process I spent a lot of time working through a book and preparing documents. Then we went through the actual assessment, which was a series of interviews with assessment teams. They asked a lot of questions, and either wrote notes on paper or entered notes in a computer. We had no idea what they wrote. But the process was good.

So when we sat down with Charles Campbell and Eddie Pullen we were looking forward to finding out if we had “passed.” The good news is that we have passed that stage. The results will be passed on to the North American Mission Board. We are trusting that God will lead us through this next stage.

We are still moving forward. While we wait to hear from NAMB we are in the process of seeking a church to serve as our sending church. I am looking for a job, and we are looking for a place to live. We are also praying that God will lead us to the “person of peace” that we need to discover in order to begin the planting process.

We will be planting a “house church” in East Alton, Illinois. House churches are small, with an attendance that usually is between ten and thirty people. East Alton is a town in the metro-east area of St. Louis. The population of East Alton is just a little over 10,000 people. The town mimics the U.S. average with a third of the population uninvolved in a faith experience, one-third somewhat involved, and one-third actively involved. The average age of the people is 41 years old.

Right now we are looking for prayer support. Here is a list of our prayer needs:

• Pray for our approval from the North American Mission Board.
•  Pray for a sending church to come alongside us.
•  Pray that God will provide employment for me.
•   Pray that God will provide a place for us to live.
•   Pray for a “person of peace” as we begin to plant a church in East Alton.

My Call To Church Planting

I had the joy of serving as Director of Missions for Saline Baptist Association for almost twenty years. During that time I have the privilege of promoting missions among thirty-four churches and participating in several mission trips. Our association was also involved in support church plants.

About ten years into my ministry there God began to speak to me about the need for new church plants and I took advantage of opportunities to encourage young pastors to consider church planting. At the same time God began to place a burden on my heart about a town in need of a new church plant.

As I prayed about it I also talked to other pastors and with leaders in our state office. There came a time when I finally scheduled a meeting with the state church planting strategist for that area. As we talked about the need and my desire to involve our association in supporting a church plant there he said, "Randy, it's obvious God has given you a passion for this. Maybe you should be the church planter."

I responded that it was a college town and needed a young man to serve as church planter. We prayed, I left, and they called a man to serve as church planter there. I left my position as Director of Missions and began as pastor of First Baptist Church, Ridgway, Illinois. I settled in and thought my interest in church planting was over. After all, I’m approaching retirement age! But God wasn't done with me yet.

I've served as the pastor for Ridgway FBC for almost three years, and I've had a blast. It's a loving church, and I love them. But God was using this time to speak to me about church planting. About a year ago God began to speak distinctly and consistently about church planting. I began to talk with my wife about what God was saying. Then I began to talk to a few close friends and family. Eventually I spoke to state personnel involved in church planting.

During the last few months God has clarified His call to church planting and opened doors I never expected to open. Six weeks ago I began the North American Mission Board and Illinois Baptist State Association assessment process. A week ago my wife and I went through two days of intense interviews. We are now waiting to find out the results of our recent interviews.

I am confident that we will be planting a church in the near future. We believe God has called us to plant in a specific town and a specific kind of church. In my next post I'll tell you more about it. In the meantime, pray that we will pass our next interview.

It's Been A Long Time Coming

A week ago I announced to my church family that God has called my wife and I to become church planters. In the near future we will sell some of our belongings and pack up the rest to move to the St. Louis, Missouri area to plant a new church. It's been a long time coming.

It's been awhile since my first day of school. Where we lived there was no kindergarten, so I started when I began first grade. One major event that year stands out in my life, and it was the beginning of my love for missions.

During that time the Southern Baptist Convention was in the midst of the 30,000 Movement, which was an attempt to start 30,000 new churches in America. My father was called by God to plant a new church on the west side of Rockford, Illinois. So, we loaded everything we owned into a cleaned out cattle truck and moved. I was six years old, but I remember the move and much of the next five and a half years that Dad served there.

We met in people's homes on Wednesdays and Sunday evenings. Sunday morning Sunday School and worship were held at the Odd Fellows Hall. I remember that because we always had to go early on Sundays to clean up after their Saturday night parties. I also have fond memories of the experience because a year later I asked Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. The church moved from meeting in the Odd Fellows Hall. to a house the church built. Worship was in the basement and the main floor was used for class rooms. A couple of years later the church built a new, more traditional, church building and we moved into what became the parsonage. It was my first exposure to missions.

Through the years I have had other experiences that prepared me for my call to become a church planter. There were those trips to Ridgecrest Conference Center in North Carolina. There, as a child and young teenager I heard missionaries tell of their call to missions and of the places they served. There were summer missionaries who stayed in our home. Later, when I surrendered to the Gospel Ministry. I was involved in short term mission trips to New York, Bulgaria, Louisiana, and several other places. God was at work in my life, preparing me for His call to become a church planter,. but I didn't see it coming.

Watch for my next post: "My Call To Church Planting."

Wild Strawberries and 7-11 Songs

As you look back on your life it’s funny the things you remember. And it’s strange how your mind pairs them together. Recently, two things from my childhood came together at the same time—wild strawberries and a “7-11 song.”

I pretty much grew up attending church services and meetings. Dad was a pastor. The first church I can remember was the Mt. Zion Southern Baptist Church in Kilbourne, Illinois. Well, more precisely, Mt. Zion was out in the country near Kilbourne. It was the traditional country church building, I think. It even had a cemetery close by. As summer is just around the corner I was recently reminded of the wild strawberries behind the church. (I wonder if they still grow there?)

In the mid-50’s parents weren’t so concerned about the safety of their children. After the worship service I could run free outside the church building. And, when they were producing, my first stop would be the wild strawberry patch. I’m sure they were not as sweet as the home grown or store variety. But for a five year old boy the thing about those strawberries was that I could eat as many as I wanted. Since Dad was the pastor we were usually the last to leave, and that gave me a lot of time in the strawberry patch.

There were other “sweet” things about my preschool experiences in church. Sunday School classes for the children were in the basement. We had wires stretched across the basement with curtains that slid along those wires to make the classrooms. If you didn’t like what was going on in your classroom you could always listen to what was happening in the one on the other side of the curtain.

So what do I remember about preschool Sunday School? Uh, not a lot. But I do remember feeling loved and I remember “Do Lord.” Oh how I loved to sing “Do Lord.” When I thought about it the other day I burst out in song. And it dawned on me. “Do Lord” was a “7-11 song.”

For you who don’t know what a “7-11 song” is, it refers to songs where you sing the same phrase over and over again—like seven words eleven times.” I’m not going to attach an audio file with me singing it. You don’t need that pain. But, when I was five years-old I loved singing that chorus and had no idea that Johnny Cash recorded it. I just liked the song and knew I wanted to go to “glory land” one day.

Wild strawberries and a “7-11 song.” Those were sweet days for a five year-old boy. You know what? It would be a pretty sweet day for this old guy today. Oh, and here are the lyrics for “Do Lord.”

"Do Lord"

Do Lord, O, Do Lord, O do remember me,
Do Lord, O, Do Lord, O do remember me,
Do Lord, O, Do Lord, O do remember me,
Way beyond the blue.

I've got a home in glory land that out-shines the sun.
I've got a home in glory land that out-shines the sun.
I've got a home in glory land that out-shines the sun.
Way beyond the blue.

Do Lord, O, Do Lord, O do remember me,
Do Lord, O, Do Lord, O do remember me,
Do Lord, O, Do Lord, O do remember me,
Way beyond the blue.

I took Jesus as my Savior, You take Him too.
I took Jesus as my Savior, You take Him too.
I took Jesus as my Savior, You take Him too.
Way beyond the blue.

Do Lord, O, Do Lord, O do remember me,
Do Lord, O, Do Lord, O do remember me,
Do Lord, O, Do Lord, O do remember me,
Way beyond the blue.