About every month, I meet with my mentor in Denver, Colorado. I make the 3 hour drive to share a couple of hours with Larry Renoe over lunch. Larry ministers at Waterstone Community Church in Littleton, Colorado. We served together at Waterstone years ago. Several months ago, Larry challenged me to write an article on the growth of our church here in Wray, Colorado. This is my attempt to put together some of my thoughts.
Wray is a small farming community near the Nebraska/Kansas border. Our biggest exports are beef, corn, natural gas, and kids. I've served at First Christian Church for 8 1/2 years and we have seen steady growth over the last 3 to 4 years. Many young families are attending our church. Our nursery is full of kids. We have some great challenges with our recent growth.
First Christian Church used to be part of the Disciples of Christ denomination but due to the continued liberal theology of the DOC we voted to leave 4 years ago or so. Our church is well over one hundred years old. A year and a half ago, we removed the pews in the church and replaced them with chairs. We also turned the sanctuary's orientation in order to increase our seating capacity. Both of these decisions have led to growth. But I'm not much of a how to kind of guy. I'm too random/abstract for that. So as I've wrestled with why our church is growing, I've come up with a few ideas. Very few of them are technique or programmatic. In fact, the one I'm thinking through today couldn't be less about technique or program.
Calling
I grew up at Cherry Hills Community Church in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. I'm a megachurch product. When I entered seminary my plan was to become a professor of Old Testament. After the birth of our first 2 children, it became evident that a PhD program wasn't the best plan at the time. So I began searching for my first pastorate. For over a year, I worked at Domino's Pizza at night and during the day worked construction. Nothing was happening on the ministry job front. Even though I had many years of ministry experience at several large churches as a youth pastor, finding a call as a pastor proved challenging.
In October of 2002, I finally received a call to pastor FCC here in Wray. My wife and I and our three kids loaded our belongings on a refrigerated Penske truck and made the move from Denver to Wray on November 1. I still remember the excitement but also the nerves of starting as a new young, rookie, solo pastor. At that point, I didn't know how long we would be in town but I did know that I could start gaining some valuable experience. Experience seemed to be standing in the way between me and the large churches I wanted to pastor.
Sounds a bit like a stepping stone mentality doesn't it? It most definitely was. My plan was to graduate from seminary, slip into a teaching pastor position at a large church and perhaps eventually become the senior pastor. But I was many miles from that plan. Instead I was THE pastor.
I struggled with this call for many years due in part to the fact that I was pastoring two small churches whose average attendance barely added up to one hundred. My expectations of myself and my church weren't being met. I also struggled mightily with my call every year at the Global Leadership Summit. Don't misunderstand me, I love the Leadership Summit and attend every year back at the church I grew up at Cherry Hills Community Church. But reading the bios of the speakers…so and so grew his church from 15 folks to over 5,000 in 5 years…hearing messages challenging me to leverage my talents for the biggest impact. I couldn't help but wonder if I was in the right place. Here I was, former youth pastor for 3 large churches in the Denver area, serving in a farming community of just over 2,000 residents in a county of 10,000. I was out in the sticks. My calling felt so small and insignificant. When was I stepping off this stone to the next?
A closer look at my struggle led me to realize that pride was a big part of my problem. My ego drove me to see my work in Wray as insignificant and small. Comparing myself with the "successful pastors" and ministries I had grown up in and cut my ministry teeth on was destroying me. Could I be happy where God had me? Could I be content? Could I even lead the church here to do something significant? Maybe even grow?
I believe that resolving the calling issue finally opened up our church for the possibility of growth. I believe Wray is where God wants me to be. I'm content in my call as long as I keep my ego in check. I'm satisfied with what I'm doing. When God and I got on the same page, things started happening.
In the coming days, I hope to write a bit more about why FCC in Wray is growing. For now, let me ask a question: Are you doing what God has called you to do? Are you where God wants you to be?
