Church planting has been on my mind for years. It was the first thing that intrigued me when I began pursuing vocational ministry and I never shook that. If anything, that desire grew as I became more and more convinced of the centrality of the local church to God’s redeeming work in the world.
Fast forward to last year. Susan and I had discovered a podcast called Theocast that really ministered to our souls. We resonated with the focus so much that Susan told me, “You should plant a Theocast church!” I told her that wasn’t a thing. She kinda nailed it.
In September, the hosts of Theocast mentioned that they were coming out to San Diego and we’re looking for a venue to host a live podcast. I offered up our building, which led to a phone conversation with Jon Moffitt who pastors Grace Reformed Church and is the director of Theocast. That phone call turned into hanging out while they were in town, which turned into a friendship.
Right around this time I started exploring seriously what God had next for me in ministry. For a while nothing seemed to line up- open opportunities were not good fits, while those that did fit had significant obstacles.
Throughout this time Jon and I were connecting regularly, walking through the challenges of our respective ministries together. One day, a thought occurred to me- I wondered if there might be an opportunity to help Jon out in Tennessee with the ultimate goal to church plant.
My first move was to bounce it off my wife. Susan is a California lifer, so I expected significant reservations. But she was excited and intrigued by the idea from the jump. So I decided to float it by Jon next time we talked.
When we did, he led out the conversation by telling me about a bunch of things lining up for a church plant in neighboring Columbia- families asking for a reformed church in Columbia, an awesome venue that was most likely going to be available for gathering, rent-free- and how he wished they had someone so they can lean into that. Then I told him what I had been thinking about and we were off and running.
We made a trip out to Tennessee right before everything locked down due to COVID. We spent a lot of time with Jon and his family, explored Columbia, and met a lot of folks from Grace Reformed. Everything was overwhelmingly positive, and we came back excited to continue to pursue it. After a lot of prayer and counsel, we came to believe this was truly what God had next for us.
With all that is going on in the world, it seems like a strange to step out and leave that safety and security of what we have known for so long here in San Diego and at The Fields. Yet, we have been encouraged in that by all the ways we have seen God’s hand in it in so many ways- things like our daughter Ryleigh’s adoption happening so suddenly and finalizing right before the courts shut down, free us to be able to leave. All that is going on in our world has only strengthened our conviction to proclaim the Good News of Jesus wherever He is calling us.
Columbia, here we come!