1. You’re planting a church. Why?
Our decision to plant a church came after about two or three years of praying for a new ministry opportunity. We did not believe we were accomplishing God’s purpose for us in this world. We expected the answer to be another traditional ministry. What God dropped in our laps was the opportunity to plant a church. We had never even thought of such a thing, much less imagined ourselves doing it. Our first reaction was to run the other direction. However, we decided that if we were going to pray for God’s direction, we must be ready to accept the answer, whatever it might be.
2. What’s your background and experience that lends itself to this endeavor?
I have 35 years under my belt as a pastor in very traditional settings. I have nothing in my professional background that would have lent itself to or predicted such an experience as church planting. I must say, however, that this context has excited and encouraged me in ways that nothing in my past ever has. So I think that my natural gifts and inclinations, given by God, have well prepared me for this including a great love for people and some pretty decent networking skills. I also think that my experience and maturity gives me unique qualifications (most planters are young bucks).
3. You’re using some alternative means of “spreading the word.†What are you doing and how is it different from normal church planting methods?
Classic church planting and evangelism generally calls for a lot of marketing. Door hangers, direct mail, and other materials are used to saturate a community or part of a community. We did not have the money to do this, so we looked for alternative means to create community awareness. This has included joining and volunteering as a means to be connected to the city, becoming a member of three boards and various organizations, going to community socials, and offering my services, and being a regular party animal. I genuinely enjoy the relationships built through community involvements.
4. Is it “selling out†to build a church like you might build a business? Why?
Hummm. We decided that we preferred building good relationships over mass marketing. I’m not saying that mass marketing is wrong. I just like this means better. We’re essentially inviting friends to join us in this—friends we’ve made in the last year through our connections and networks. Since we’re not using self-initiated, business-like methods, we have a much greater sense of God leading us through this. We’ve followed relationships as they have opened to us. We’ve had lots of neat God-surprises. I’d hate to use a business model because I think it would make me feel like I was in the driver’s seat.
5. Describe the kinds of people you’d most like to attract?
We love 20’s/30’s, and that is who we seek to reach. The median age of our town is 27.8, so our target is appropriate. We also enjoy hanging out with the unchurched. I had been warned by other church planters that church-hoppers would seek out our new church and try to foist their personal agendas on us. I think that our untraditional approach helps filter out a large part of that. What self-respecting traditionalist would want to attend church with a gathering of young adults using the arts to direct attention to God? (A bit of humor….)
6. What’s your vision for this church, five years from now?
I’d like to see a dynamic group of people who are making a positive, caring impact on the city of Merced. What a hoot it would be if the first people that the City thought about when it needed help with something was LifeSpring Church. I’d also like LSC to be a place where you find interesting, mind-filling ideas, worship, and service—a community of Jesus in the truest sense of the word..
7. What are you most afraid of?
I’m afraid of two things primarily. One is that we will run out of money. I have one more year of support and then it’s “hit the streets, Bud!†My method depends heavily on my being available and about town, and having to be bi-vocational would really hurt that. The other thing I’m afraid of is that we will just founder and fail. I’d really hate it if at the end of the next year we never got beyond the beginning stage. That’s my feeble faith talking.
8. What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned so far?
Far and away, the biggest lesson I have learned is to turn loose of control and give that to God. I’m the poster child for Control Freaks Anonymous. Cutting lose the moorings like we did when we moved here was really insecurity producing. But, I’ve found that the most wonderful surprises have been hiding in that drift from the shore. When I thought I was in control I wasn’t happy.
9. What non-Christian celebrity would you most like to have speak at your church?
That is a hard question. I’m intrigued by Kevin Sites. His goal is to cover every armed-conflict in the world within one-year. He cites 31 armed conflicts, with 15-20 seeing recent military action. I don’t know where he is with regard to faith but I think that he could challenge the Western church to wake up to the pain and anguish of our world. I’m also intrigued by Bono. I know that he is a Christian, but he’s not your typical Christian. You’ve got to love a guy who begins a speech to the President and Congress by saying, “Please join me in praying that I don’t say something we’ll all regret.†And “God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house…God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both of their lives…God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war…God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives…†I’d love to have Bono speak to LifeSpring Church.
10. What question keeps you up at night, pondering?
I was raised in a conservative movement, and I’d have to say that I still have a pretty conservative theology. However, I’ve learned not to dismiss too quickly what people to the left of me are observing and saying. In that regard, I think that probably the most niggling questions have to do with being a person of grace and mercy toward the weak, disenfranchised, poor, sick, ignorant, those I disagree with or don’t understand, etc. I think it is a delicate balance to respect the authority of scripture while not becoming self-righteous, judgmental, and exclusive. That, to me, is a difficult dance. I think that one of the ugliest people in the world is a “Christian†who has somehow come to feel entitled, better than, or finished.
