Planting Partners

I was so excited to be working with Dave Reno at Grace Fellowship. I love the God sized Kingdom vision that exudes from Dave. Beyond creating a large, passionately outreach oriented church he has/is creating a church planting movement that The Journey North is now proudly part of.

Over the course of the five years I worked as the Pastor of Adult Ministries there, I saw about 8 church planters get called. Every time a new church got started something deep within me was stirred. I decided to see if I had the juice…the first step was assessment center.

We were nervous as we drove up. I remember wondering, “Who would be there?”, and “Would I measure up?” I also remember Elizabeth was freaking out… she was so scarred (looking back that seems so funny to me). But we pulled ourselves together and put on our game faces as we walked in.

At the end of the experience we have to confess it was a HUGE blessing to have people speaking honestly into our lives. We decide to put a lot of weight on their feedback to us. And when we got the green light, it was a tremendous confirmation (especially for Elizabeth).

So we decided to plant some place North of the Twin Cities, but had a hard time determining just the place God would lead us. All the cities that made the most since lacked one intangible, they just didn’t feel right.

I still remember when an old friend (Roger Anderson from Elim Baptist Church) called and asked if I would be willing to consider Brainerd. Wow, I had always thought of myself as a city dweller or at least a suburbanite. Brainerd seemed a bit farther North than I had imagined. Roger had a life long friend, Al Steiff who was part of a small group. That small group had prayed for two years that God would use them to help a new church get started in this area. When Elizabeth and I met this group it was love at first sight. We new immediately that this was the place God had been preparing for us. And so the decision was made to sell our home, move the family and start a new adventure called The Journey North.