Leaving the plant to plant again, part 1

God allowed me to plant Soteria (now Port Gardner Community) Church in March 2005. In quick succession I left my role as the Executive Pastor of a large church, recruited the college-career group, raised a healthy amount of money, aligned with Acts 29 and planted ten minutes away in downtown Everett, WA. Admittedly I had no idea what I was doing. I read a book that year, 10 Church-Planting Landmines. Looking back I’m surprised I even have legs to stand on; I proceeded to step on all ten (and countless other) landmines.

I also came to think (in a self-absorbed way) that perhaps the reason our Lord had me plant Soteria Church was so He could do a transformative work in my own life. I countered by praying for no one else to get hurt in the process. I could go on and on for decades describing the sins I have subsequently repented of and the lessons learned.

In 2010 I found myself restless. I wasn’t completely satisfied with the health or advancement of our church and mission. Everett had become a hotbed for new church-plants, including several Acts 29 plants. This included a Mars Hill campus established just blocks away from our Sunday gathering space. We adopted a main thoroughfare, fed under-resourced school kids and served our neighbors. I was coaching guys in the U.S. and abroad. And I was restless.

But my restlessness came with a certain level of guilt, and I felt guilty; guilty that I was placing my own expectations in front of God’s priorities; guilty over whether or not I was abandoning God’s call on my life to move on to something else, something “better;” guilty that I wanted to leave this church because it was no longer easy or fun or progressing on my timetable. And maybe all I wanted was the freedom of a do over.

But if my own past is at all instructive, this seems to be the way God prepares me for a transition; and this comes with two indicators: 1) God does not let me rest until I follow, and 2) Deb is on board. I have learned, the hard way, several times over that if Deb does not agree with me it usually means Deb and God are on the same page and I’m the one going off the rails. And, if I’m honest in my own self-assessment I see how God has caused me to be restless before I am willing to hear His call; and this many times over.

Meanwhile, God put Alaska on my heart. He put it on Deb’s heart too. We were not yet Alaskans. We are native Californians. But, and probably by God’s doing we started to devour everything Alaska. We found ourselves reading voraciously, and watching almost all of those Alaska reality shows (of which there are perhaps too many.) And this all made no sense to either of us.

But we believe God to be sovereign, and we found ourselves increasingly open to His sovereign lead. And at this point we knew we were again on the front end of transition. But to what end?