Reflections of a Three Year Dream
We are quickly approaching our third anniversary of starting North Creek. I believe that looking back at what God has done is one of the most important practices you can have in your life. So often we feel like God isn’t in the picture, but if you take the time to sum up where you are at, God becomes really clear in hindsight!
Here are my favorite highlights of the last three years. They are perhaps the most humbling things in my life. I just cannot believe that God has allowed me to be a part of this journey. I hope that you feel the same way.
After this weekend, we will have baptized over 40 people in three years. What a reflection of success! That is why we do what we do. Each person reflects a changed life.
We have had a couple dozen people go through Starting Point. Some have decided to serve Christ and some have walked away. Although that saddens me, I feel a great peace in my heart about it. Our only job is to tell people and live it out in our own lives. God is the one that saves people. He’s not done with anyone, yet. We did what He asked of us and He will finish what He started.
Our team is the most important thing in my world. We have a great, talented, devoted, generous, and truly unstoppable team around us. I do not take that for granted. I dream for their lives and what they can be in the future. Greatness is upon them and they have the character and obedience to be used by God in astounding ways. I hope that North Creek continues to be a part of each of their stories! What I have learned about them in three years is that each of them is deeply gifted in areas that I did not expect. I just keep getting surprised by their latest step into being even more amazing than I previously thought.
You can LOVE your church. I hate to admit it, but I have been in way too much “church drama” in my life. I was surrounded by conflict, bitterness, unforgiveness, gossip, and tearing down. I began to wonder if Christians were just hurtful people and ministry was for those that God felt could handle torture. I needed that to be wrong and the good news is that the last three years have been pure joy!
I’m really not sure how we have made it financially as a church. This is the part of the journey where I see God’s hand the most. We did not want to do fundraisers and travel around asking other churches for money. We just wanted to jump in and hope that our attenders would give. So far, so good! Thanks, God!
Mark and I are the most blessed pastors ever! The people at North Creek are like family – the really good family that you always wished you had. Sometimes I feel like people don’t believe us when we say how much we have loved planting a church. But if they met the people at our church, they would know that every word is true. Thank you for making this adventure the best of my life.