A Sanctifying Experience

 

I know that you don’t follow this blog because you want to know about what I am going through. You want to hear the tales of church planting… miracles… God’s provision… the unexplainable. There is certainly much of that to be told. But I feel like I should tell of another side of church planting; the refinement of the church planter.

I am learning so much every week as we plant Valley Town. I feel like God is teaching me more than he has ever taught me. I am growing closer Jesus daily. There is nothing like being sanctified. And this work of church planting and pastoring is incredibly sanctifying. I am fighting back tears of gratitude to my Lord as I think about all that He is doing in me right now.

It’s an incredible blessing. But it isn’t comfortable. Sometimes it is painful. I’m learning the truth about being a pastor. It isn’t glamorous. At times it is lonely. The weight of responsibility can be crushing.  Even though we have a solid group of regular attenders (about 35 people) we’ve run into a good bit of opposition in the town. Many folks are just mad that we are here. I am constantly struggling with feelings of inadequacy… which I feel because I’m not adequate to carry out this work. But God uses the weak… He uses the ones who are not wise according to this world. God is teaching me to depend fully on him.

I’ve been reading about Elijah. God sent him to Zarephath to live with a poor widow and her son. The word “Zarephath” means ‘crucible’ or ‘place of testing’. God didn’t use Elijah on Mount Carmel in the public eye until after he had spent some time in his place of testing. You see God sent Elijah to that widow and her son in order to bless them, that’s clear. But God could have delivered that widow and her son by any number of miraculous provisions. God sent Elijah to Zarephath because Elijah needed Zarephath. It was for Elijah’s good! Surely there were times that Elijah though, “Why here, God? What am I doing here in this poor widow’s house when the nation is in crisis?” But God was sanctifying him. God was increasing his faith and teaching him humility. God was refining Elijah for what was to come.

I’ve recently come to realize that God didn’t send me to Wilmington because I am “just right” to plant a church here. He could have called countless others to Wilmington. He called me to Wilmington because I need Wilmington.

Church planting is hard. It’s hard emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and even physically. Some days are extremely difficult. There are days that I really miss being a firefighter in Georgia. But this sanctifying experience is wonderful. I would never go back. These past 16 weeks have been incredible. The privilege of being a part of a new church being born is amazing.

I’ve heard it said that nothing worth doing is easy. I believe that’s true, at least in terms of church planting. It hasn’t been easy. It isn’t going to get easy. But it is certainly worth doing.

May God be glorified and the name of Jesus lifted up in Wilmington and all of New England!

 

How to Fight for Joy

Two years ago I read “Desiring God” by John Piper. It taught me so much about God and his heart to see us live a life that is full of joy in him, because when we are finding our joy in God we will glorify God with our lives.

I just want to share a few ways that I learned from John Piper to fight for joy.

1.) Know without a doubt that true joy in God is a gift from God.

• “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23)
• “Restore to me the joy of your salvation” (Psalm 51:12)
• “ in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand arepleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16:11)

2.) Understand that joy must be FOUGHT for.

• “Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.” (2 Corinthians 1:24)
• “I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith.” (Philippians 1:25)

3.) Determine to ATTACK all known sin in your life

• Sin destroys your faith and kills your joy. You’ve been set free from the bondage of sin. Why willingly go back into joy destroying slavery?
• “ In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.” (Romans 6:11-12)
• “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” (Romans 8:13)

4.) Be confident that even when you sin you have the righteousness of Christ

• “Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me.  I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication.” (Micah 7:8-9)
• Satan is “the accuser”. When you who are no longer condemned (Romans 8) feel the weight of condemnation for your sin, stand firm in the grace of God provided for you through Jesus. Fight your sin from the knowledge that you are RIGHTEOUS in Christ.

5.) Meditate on the Word of God day and night

• The fight for joy is a fight to see God just as he is. When you see him rightly, you have joy. We see him by looking into his Word.
• “You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.” (Psalm 9:10)
• God’s Word revives the soul. (Psalm 19:7)
• God’s Word produces joy in the heart. (Psalm 19:8)
• Just as our physical bodies need the sustenance of food, our spirits need the Word of God as our sustenance. We can’t live by eating only food. (Matthew 4:4)
• “Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart.”(Jeremiah 15:16)
• The Word has been given to us, that Christ’s joy may be ours and so that our joy would be full. (John 15:11)

Believer, the joy that you are longing for is worth fighting for. Determine that you will not settle for less than the lasting and satisfying joy found in God.

The Life of a Church Planter

So much happens every week that it’s tough to post updates about everything. I thought I could just post a few little snippets of our life here lately.

After our launch, God did a really cool thing and put Valley Town on the front page of the newspaper. A bunch of new folks have come to Valley Town because of that article. We see lots of new faces each week at our gatherings. People are really excited about Valley Town.

It’s a lot of fun living in a place that is so different from home and trying to find ways to live as a missionary. Zac and Chris and I like to go down to the basketball courts in town and play pick-up games with younger guys. We frequently eat lunch at the local pub and we are getting to know the ladies that run the place. There is a pizza and bowling joint up the road that we have been eating at pretty often intentionally building relationships there. Tiff and Dawn have play-dates pretty much weekly to get together with all the mom’s that they’ve met since being here. Last week there were 25 people in our little house! Most of the girls in the group aren’t really interested in coming to Valley Town and so it’s a really great way for the girls to be salt and light. I’m really proud of them for their decision to “go to them” instead of waiting for them to “come to us”.

That’s just a little bit of what it looks like for us to live intentionally here. Even though it is an incredible adventure, we get exhausted sometimes. We miss family and friends back home… bad. Don’t romanticize this whole church planting thing. Sundays are great! They are so encouraging and energizing for us. But we are being poured out all week long. It isn’t just about Sunday gatherings. In fact, it’s less about Sundays than it is about those relationships that we are building and investing in all throughout the week. Relationships are hard work… but they are worth it.

We did get to “get away” to one of the beautiful lakes in the area last weekend. We spent a Saturday just relaxing and grilling out, canoeing, playing corn-hole, and letting the kids run wild. It was so refreshing.

Weather is strange here right now. One day it may not get out of the 30′s and then the next day may be perfect with highs in the 60′s. We’ve been taking walks on the golf course in our backyard in the evenings as the sun is setting over Haystack Mountain. It’s beautiful here.

We are about to launch our huddles (missional small groups) in just a couple weeks. We are so excited. Chris put together an awesome video introducing the idea of huddles. We showed it at gathering and folks are pumped about getting plugged in to a huddle. Here is the video:

God is certainly moving in Southern Vermont. We will keep you updated.

Ben

A Church Being Born: Week 2

God is at work in New England!

I’ve read that you should expect attendance on your second Sunday after you launch to be about half of what it was on your launch. I think that is especially true if you launch on Easter Sunday, the largest church attendance day of the year.

Well we don’t obsess over numbers, but we celebrate when there is reason to celebrate, and we think this is reason to celebrate…

Our 2nd Sunday following our launch had greater attendance than our 1st Sunday on Easter. We can only point to God for the reason behind this. He is behind everything that’s happening. He gets the glory. We are certain that he has big plans here in the valley. It is incredibly exciting to be here in the middle of it. So many of you are praying for us and it is incredibly encouraging to know this. Please, please, please continue to pray for us. There are times when it is very lonely being here so far from our home, but your prayers move our gracious God to action on our behalf. It is when we see him so clearly at work that we are comforted. This is a good work.

We will be in touch.

A video of the message from Easter is now online. If you would like to watch it, you can view it here:  www.valleytownchurch.com/media

The Launch!

I just finished eating celebratory pancakes that Tiffany made this Monday morning. We are taking a day of rest and celebrating God’s goodness. It’s snowing outside… hard. I can’t get used to this Vermont weather! I want to fill you in on what has been happening this past week.

The past year (at least) has been in preparation for this, the launch of Valley Town Church. We have planned and dreamed and had team meetings and worked hard to be ready for this.

On Tuesday Tom, a Christian who grew up in this area but moved to California back in the 80’s, flew across the country to see his old friend Peter and to be here for our launch. Tom has been following our story ever since coming across our calling video after the flooding in Wilmington. On Wednesday morning I met Tom and his friend Peter for breakfast. Peter’s family has lived here in the valley for generations. He seemed to know every person who came through the doors of the Cup & Saucer. Peter was refreshingly transparent about his pain and the fact that his life was unraveling at the seams. He was very eager to hear more about Jesus.

That same day Graystone Church sent a mission team all the way up from GA to help us prepare for our launch. They arrived Wednesday afternoon and we had dinner with them at one of our favorite restaurants in the area. We tried to download all the information we could about Wilmington and about our plans for the next several days.

 

Friday morning we met for prayer at our house and Peter and Tom came by to check things out. We shared more about Jesus with Peter. We let Peter and Tom know that we were about to begin praying together and that if Peter felt comfortable with it, they were welcome to hang around. Peter wanted to stay. We began to pray for Wilmington and for the Lord to do huge things here for his name’s sake. I prayed that God would come and set Peter free and awaken his heart to the truth of the gospel. After I finished praying there was a long silence. No one moved. Suddenly, to our shock, Peter began to pray. In the most refreshing, raw appeal to God Peter asked the Lord to “accept him” and said, “I accept you God and want to walk on your walkway”. He went on to pray that his family would follow him as he followed Jesus. After he had finished praying, I looked up to see Peter with tears welling up in his eyes and a giant smile on his face. He was beaming. Peter had just met Jesus. We all celebrated with Peter. Tom had been praying for Peter for 5 years. His flight across the country had been worth it.

For the next couple days we all worked hard to prepare for our Community Easter Egg Hunt that we had on Saturday. The Graystone team stuffed over 1,300 eggs with candy. They helped us clean up the park and prepared it for the event. We had our big speakers out with music playing. We were ready to give every person who showed up an invite card to our Easter Celebration the next morning. Finally with just 10 minutes to go before we started, waves of people began to pour in. About 150 people from the community showed up and learned about Valley Town Church and had a great time. It was a HUGE success. People were very thankful. The local newspaper was there. They said that they were very interested in what we were doing and asked us if they could do a story on us. We of course said “yes”.

That night as it began to sink in that the next day was our launch, we couldn’t ignore the butterflies in our stomachs. What if no one showed up? Then what?

Sunday morning I crawled out of bed at 5:30. “This is it” replayed over and over in my head. I had been dreaming of starting a church for years now… and it was here. The first time that I felt the Lord calling me to preach was in January 2006, more than 6 years ago. Then God had specifically told me to move to Wilmington, VT to start a church in December of 2010. After all this time, the big day was here. I couldn’t help but wonder, “What if no one comes?” I couldn’t even eat breakfast. I could barely get out of the bathroom to be honest. I left my house at 7:00 and as I pulled out of the driveway I wondered if the knots in my stomach would be there for the whole morning. Epic theme music played loudly in my head even though the truck radio was silent.

We finished setting up Memorial Hall and as Zac and Dawn practiced their songs one last time, I closed myself in the nursery and went over my sermon notes for the millionth time. Chris ran around like a mad man tying up loose ends and giving direction to the Graystone team. The Gathering would begin at 10:00. At 9:20 we all came together and asked the Lord to show up and change lives by the power of the gospel. The Graystone team asked to lay hands on us and pray for us. After everyone who wanted to pray had prayed, there was a pause and a man standing behind me with his hand on my shoulder began to pray. “God,” he said, “It’s Peter… the newcomer to the group. I can feel you here. I can feel something new inside me.” I fought back tears of joy as Peter prayed. Even if no one else showed up, this would all be worth it. Peter was worth all of it.

Valley Town Bulletin

 

A few minutes later, the Wilmington town clerk, a very pleasant woman named Susie arrived early to help us greet folks as they arrived. Susie and Peter waited to hand out bulletins and welcome people as they came in the door. Coffee was brewed. The music was playing. Set-up was complete. I kept praying, “Lord, bring people here. This is up to you”. It was about 9:50 and no one had come. I’m not sure if I want to go throw up, or cry in a corner somewhere.

Finally the first family showed up. Over the next 10 minutes or so, people began to pour in! We were all so pumped. God had done it! I gave the welcome talk and explained for everyone what to expect. Zac and Dawn led us in worshipping God. I preached a message about Jesus. Brian Wuoti led the time of giving. Chris finished us off with announcements. As Chris dismissed everyone something that I’ve never experienced happened. Everyone began clapping and cheering! The folks were so excited that they were cheering! I got chills.

Most people hung around afterward and talked for a while. I spoke with some firefighters who were already brainstorming about ways to get the guys at the station to come to Valley Town. It seemed that every person we talked to was not only intending on coming back next week, but wanted their friends and family to come with them. If you include our Graystone mission team of 7 people, someone counted 45 folks total. In the South, the bible belt, this might not be a number to cause huge celebration for a church’s launch day. But here in the least churched state in America, in the little town of Wilmington (about the size of the high school I went to) this is cause for celebration!

We are so excited about what is to come. We already can’t wait for next Sunday. What might God do? This is the most exciting time in our lives. It has certainly unfolded differently than we had expected, but it has been according to God’s plan, not ours. He is in control. The message of the gospel is going forth in Southern Vermont, just as He planned. God is good… and he LOVES the people here in this valley.

SUNDAY IS COMING!

Well, we are just a week away from our Easter Launch. That’s right… in case you forgot, we are having our GRAND OPENING APRIL 8th! I have been slacking in my blog posts for the past month or so. We are wicked busy as you might imagine.

The website is getting a ton of traffic which is good. If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out:

VALLEYTOWNCHURCH.COM

I can’t say enough about the team that God put together to do this. My wife is such an encourager/faith builder, and she gives me a great kick in the pants when I need one. Zac is like the Tim Tebow of Executive Pastors. Dawn is killing it leading worship. Chris is practically a black belt in awesomeness (which is needed in countless situations). And the Wuotis who are on our Launch Team are such incredible people they would make Mother Theresa feel like a convict.

The town is talking. Thousands of mailers are out, posters are up, invite cards are being handed out. There is still a lot to do this week though. We are having a big Easter egg hunt on Saturday. The Graystone team will handle most of that.

Pray that we fill every chair on Sunday. Pray for the good news to be received and for lives to be changed. Pray that Jesus is lifted up for all to see.

Jesus has been so good to us through these past months in Wilmington. I feel closer to him right now than I have in a very long time. It’s all about HIM. Thank you for all your prayers and support.

I will update again soon,

Ben

An Update from the Mission Field to the Mission Field

I know several people have wanted to know more about how things are going here in Vermont. Things are going really well for the most part. God has certainly gone before us and prepared the way. People have been very kind and welcoming. The general response to us starting Valley Town here has been encouraging. Folks are often even a bit excited about what we are doing.

It’s been to our advantage that Wilmington is a small town (about 2,200 people depending on who you ask). Word spreads fast in a small town. And of course we need word to spread quickly if we are going to launch on Easter. “New” stands out in this beautiful historic village founded in 1751. That means we stand out. There are always tons of visitors here in Wilmington. This is a tourist town. But when people ask us how long we are visiting for, and we tell them that we’ve moved here, we often get a very surprised reaction. It’s nice to feel like people are glad we are here.

It is still breathtaking every time I take a drive or go for a walk. The other day I was trying to work in my office and started getting stir crazy. I put on my boots and just started walking out my back yard into the woods. I came across some bear, white tail, and moose tracks. It was a great time alone with the Lord… something that I would not have been able to do so easily back in GA.

I was imagining that once we moved here it would be somehow easier to live as a missionary. I figured that moving to a new place among new people would make me more missional, or at least I thought it would make it easier for me to get out there and live like a missionary. I mean if you get out of your comfort zone and say “yes” to the Lord’s call to plant a church and move to a brand new place, then it should come naturally to live life like a missionary… right?

Ok, so here’s what I’m learning right now. I’m still me. Even in Vermont. Even as the “pastor” I’m still me. I’m the same me that I was as a firefighter, or a builder. I’m still the introverted, self-centered, afraid, comfort-seeking, easy-road-taking me that I have always been apart from Christ in me making me act any differently. That’s who I’m up against in this mission to love my neighbors. I wasn’t able to leave “me” behind when we moved here.

So it’s still a challenge. I still gravitate toward being lazy and staying at home. I still tend toward seeing my time as mine. I still have to think hard about ways to get out there and be a missionary to my town. It means sacrifice. It means giving up doing what I want to do sometimes. It means spending money sometimes, having food for guests, driving places. It isn’t easy. It isn’t convenient. But it’s worth it.

So why am I telling you this? Because it reiterates the fact that where you live, whether it’s in Africa or India, or China, or Vermont, or Georgia, doesn’t make you a missionary. And it reiterates the fact that what you do for your job doesn’t make you a missionary.

These are the facts:

1)    If you are a follower of Jesus, you have been sent by Jesus to go and make disciples (Matt. 28:18-20).

2)    You live where you live because God has determined it (Acts 17:26), and it’s your job to be a missionary and represent Jesus to your family, your friends, your coworkers, and your neighbors.

3)    It’s never going to be easy to die to yourself and love your neighbor. It isn’t easy for those “missionaries” overseas either. And in just the same way that every missionary must choose to be a missionary every day, you must make the decision to be a missionary every day.

4)    You live on a mission field. Vermont is a mission field, sure. But we didn’t move here because Georgia wasn’t one. We moved here because this is where God wants us to represent Jesus. Where ever you are, that is your mission field. Now go and make disciples of Jesus.

 

Practice Gathering

Here are some pictures (mostly of setup, sound check etc.) of our Gathering today. The purpose of today was mostly to get inside Memorial Hall and do a “practice run” service. It was exciting and a huge learning experience. Everything went incredibly smooth. We still have tons of stuff to get done to get Memorial Hall the way we want it but stuff didn’t look terrible even with the very little we had to set up.

Zac and Dawn lead worship and sounded excellent. Chris did an awesome job planning out the order of service and running the whole thing. The message was a little sub-par, but I can work on that.

We are pumped.

It’s actually happening. God is working and we have front row seats.

Full Steam Ahead

Well no one says that the life of a church planter is slow paced and relaxing… there’s a reason no one says that. I absolutely cannot imagine trying to do this on my own. It would never happen.

We are having our first practice gathering tomorrow. We have signed a contract to secure the space that we will be meeting for the next 4 months. We are meeting at a place right in town called Memorial Hall.

Memorial Hall was built in 1902. It is a beautiful historical landmark of Wilmington. We are so fortunate that we were able to get this space. We have big plans to transform it into a modern and intimate spot for our gatherings.

Also, our website is up. We are very excited about how it turned out. Please check it out. Hope you like it.

www.valleytownchurch.com

Until There Is No Strength In Me

We rolled into Wilmington, VT 18 days ago with the intention of starting Valley Town Church. Interestingly enough, We were not the only one with a game plan.

We have an enemy here in Wilmington. He has been here longer than us. He has been here for generations. He has much invested here. He has a team on his side. This enemy is unseen but real.

We have plans to start a church here. Still this is a means and not an end. One day when we look back on our efforts we hope that we see more than just “a church” here in Wilmington. It is our desire that people in Wilmington become worshipers of the one true GOD. It is our desire that people who live here who are not worshiping God would learn who Jesus is, and would give their lives to worshiping him.

Our unseen enemy is real, he is cunning, and he has definite plans to put a stop to what we are doing. We have felt his efforts. We’ve heard his discouraging words. We’ve shed tears.

But I do not fear him.

I fear the prospect of not carrying out my calling. I would do anything to see this area they call “the valley” become a place that the name of Jesus is magnified.

He is worthy of my life. He gave his very life to redeem souls here in the valley. They are the reward for his suffering. They are the reward.

But when he gave his life he did not stay in the grave. He rose from the grave. HE IS ALIVE!

So this is a declaration. I will not stop. By the grace of God, I will press on! I hope that my unseen enemy is reading this. HEAR THIS, “I WILL NOT STOP”!

I will give my life to glorify my Lord. I will move forward in his strength until there is no strength in me. I can do nothing on my own, but the Spirit in me makes me a threat to the forces of darkness here in the valley. There is a silent army waiting to rise up.

Dry bones are rattling. Oh Sovereign Lord, can these bones live? Breathe on them breath of God. Raise up laborers here in this place who will proclaim the gospel of Jesus to the valley and throughout New England. Raise up soldiers who will march with me with the banner of Jesus held high above us. Advance your kingdom. Raise up voices who will shout from the rooftops,

“ARISE! LIVE IN JESUS NAME! 

RECEIVE FORGIVENESS AND FREEDOM!

WALK IN NEWNESS OF LIFE!

BEHOLD YOUR MAKER!

EMBRACE YOUR SAVIOR AND KING, JESUS!”