Long Term Vision

There is a long list of challenges in church planting.  I wouldn’t trade our problems for a traditional church’s problems, but nonetheless, the challenges are sometimes daunting.  I think that the most recent realization is the long term reality of growth.

When you open the doors of your church plant, I think there’s a hope that people will just naturally flood through your doors and the hard work will be over.  After months of planning and advertising and working, you really need to believe that after opening Sunday, you get to rest.  However, Monday morning comes with the harsh reality that you need to do everything all over again for next week…and the next week…and the next week. 

The reality is that the launch of a church is not a sprint, but a marathon.  We are right at 100 services and we have mastered some parts of this church plant thing.  Set up, tear down, budgets, responsibilities, getting people involved in ministry…we have it almost to an art form.

But what I have not mastered is patience.  I want Vancouver to be reached with the love of Jesus and my personal timeline is NOW.  However, in the irony of God, His timeline is much wider than mine.  He is more concerned about the journey…both of the individuals who will come to North Creek and the church itself.  He wants us to be molded and shaped precisely how He wants us, which might take a day or it might take 40 years!

I’m in it for the long haul, but my spirit is anxious.  Anxious to see with my eyes what God has put in my heart so long ago.