I must confess (again) that I am a logical individual the majority of the time. When presented with a challenge I tend to gravitate toward the “strategize and plan” method of conquering it. I lay out action plans to arrive at my goal and worry when things don’t line up the way I think they should.

God has once again shown me how that method of ‘controlling’ and doing things in my own strength is not His way.

You see, I believe that God is inherently a show-off (in a good way) … mostly just because He can and because He likes to remind us He is the one in control – not us. This whole church-plant thing is certainly more under His control than ours. And for that I am grateful.

So … back to the good news! Continue reading →

Ok … how to begin this post?

Well, I suppose I’ll start at the beginning in case anyone out there needs to be brought up to speed.

My husband is a Pastor. For 14 years we lived and served in Nashville, Tennessee. Last June we were sent to Savannah, Georgia, after much prayer and confirmation from our Pastors to plant a church here.

A couple of months after arriving we began a Bible Study with some of James’ co-workers, and then in January we started meeting as Brookstone Community Church with regular church services in our home each Sunday. Attendance has been steady and we’ve seen some visitors come and go, but we knew it wouldn’t be long and we’d need a place to meet.

It’s been really tough, spiritually speaking, to make any headway. The divine connections we experienced when we first arrived seemed to all but stop and we seemed to face dead ends at every turn.

Prayer and Fasting

About six or seven weeks ago, we got serious about things and started meeting with the Marrie’s once a week to pray and fast for our situations – both personally and for the church.

Almost immediately we felt a renewed sense of peace – even if we weren’t seeing things change – and we continued to pray and fast each week.

Four Weeks Ago

I’d say approximately four weeks ago, on a Saturday, James was headed into work and I was headed to a Girl Scout meeting. On a “whim” James stopped at a small, country church when he saw someone outside mowing the lawn. He’s been looking to meet other Pastors in the area for friendship and network purposes. So, he was delighted to discover the man at the building was one of the men in charge at the church.

Long story very short … this gentleman and another man had started the church as a ministry extension from a local thrift shop in order to minister to the needs they saw daily in that shop.

James and he struck up a friendship and they have been going to lunch almost weekly since then.

The Offer

I’m leaving a LOT of details out and for the sake of brevity, I’ll just cut to the chase.

Out of the kindness of his heart, he offered the use of their church building for our services!

The church is small but ample as a starting point. It has a small sanctuary that will seat about 80-85 in the current configuration. It also has two classrooms and a multi-purpose kitchen/meeting area.

The plan: to have early morning services and to have mid-week services on Thursdays.

So, we now have a place to meet. Pretty awesome, huh?

James sat down today at lunch to hammer out the details for our meetings …

(Cue late-night infomercial voiceover)

“But wait, there’s more.”

Did I fail to mention that neither of the men who started the church believed they were to Pastor the church?

Indeed that is the case. Both of them have professed they are otherwise gifted and have been filling in until a pastor could be located. Enter a third man, who joined them about six months ago as interim pastor.

He and his family travel about an hour each direction on Sundays so that he can pastor the church here. He believes he is to start a church in his hometown but is tending to the needs here in the meantime.

Stepping out in Faith

Long, long story again cut very, very short …

As James prepared to sit down to discuss details regarding our services, they sat down with very different intentions.

By the end of lunch, plans were underway to, in their words, “pass the baton” to new leadership and to lock, stock, and barrel, merge with us and become Brookstone Community Church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rather than us joining them, they would like to turn things over to us and become one church.

WOW!!

There’s still a lot of legal things to be worked out but as of Sunday, James will be preaching there each Sunday from now on and one of their men will continue a Discipleship class for mid-week services during the transition time.

It’s all SO MUCH to take in right now, but this truly was NONE of our doing and completely, 100% God’s.

Many times over, the men who started the church have stated that maybe they were able to build it up so that another could take it. They even referenced the Old Testament story about King David and how he wanted to build a dwelling place for God {the Tabernacle} but all he was able to do was gather the materials in preparation for another.

We know that unless the “Lord builds the house” we labor in vain here, and we are acutely aware that He is what it will take to pay the mortgage on the building and to maintain any type of forward motion. BUT, we trust that He started this thing and will surely see it through to completion.

It feels like we are a train on a track and God is the locomotive. We can’t go anywhere under our own power but He has sent us on the ride of our life!

The Unfolding Story

I can’t wait to share with you all that is sure to come in the weeks ahead. I’ll be sure to post pictures and acquaint you with the church family as well.

We’re excited and deeply humbled at the same time. Exhilarated giddy-ness mixes with somber awareness of the task at hand. We can’t wait to see what God has in store!

*Please continue to pray ~ In fact, this blog is merely a means to share basic info. If you want to join with us in prayer for this endeavor, please email me (or send a Facebook message) and I’ll add you to our email list.