This is a letter I shared with some friends.
About 11 years ago my wife, Kat, and I began to search for a new church. The first Sunday that Kat and I attended services at the Vineyard in Overland Park, KS was Mark Flora-Swick’s first Sunday as the Interim Pastor. I was a beaten and wounded Christian who had just left a cultish church. I was a man who was controlled by his wounds and using life controlling habits to medicate them. The Holy Spirit through the love and care of the pastors and people of Vineyard transformed my life. I found healing at the Vineyard for my wounds and God poured many blessings into my life. I became very comfortable at the Vineyard.
I enrolled in VLI in 2004 and also moved to Louisburg, KS. In 2006 I graduated from VLI and I knew that God was calling me to be a full-time pastor. In 2007 my friend, Doug Walton, and I felt called to begin the process of planting a church. We felt it was to be a Vineyard with a different flavor. We felt it was to be either in the heart of Kansas City or at the Lake of the Ozarks and in either case be a church that reached out to the addicted and those who had been hurt by church and rejected religion. When Doug died in 2008 that dream faded.
Over the past five years God kept creating opportunities for me to run into a young pastor here in Louisburg. His name is Erik Kingsley and he pastors New Life Church. We developed a friendship and we would occassionally meet for coffee and talk about growing the church spiritually and physically. New Life has about 80 members but has had attendances on Easter and Christmas of 150. The potential is great for New Life to become the church in Louisburg that ministers to the missing and the hurting in big ways. Out of all of the churches in Louisburg it is the most like Vineyard. The worship is similar, the leadership is similar, and the preaching is biblically sound. The DNA of New Life is very much like the Vineyard.
About 5 weeks ago Erik and I had one of those coffees and he point blanked challenged me to come help him build New Life. In the past when he suggested I should begin to attend a church locally I would gently tell him that God had called me to the Vineyard and it would be God who called me to another church. I did not give it any thought because I was comfortable at the Vineyard and I love that church (the body). This time however I felt God say, “Well at least pray and ask Kat about it”. Asking Kat about it felt pretty safe since she and I had just had a conversation about how much we loved attending the OP Vineyard. When I arrived home from this meeting I told Kat about what we had talked about. She did not hesitate to say, “I would be comfortable attending a church in Louisburg as long as it was New Life”. That was not the reply I thought I would get from her so I was kind of shocked because now I really had to pray about what God wanted since He often speaks to me through her. After spending some time praying about what God wanted I got the impression that I should spend the next few months and attend a service at New Life and then a service at the Vineyard. I felt I was to do this until I got a clear understanding of what God wanted me to do. Five weeks later I have not been back to a service at Vineyard and Erik has placed me on the leadership team. Sunday mornings I do announcements and sometimes the offering (both of which Erik has never had anyone else do before).
Erik has asked me to help build small groups at New Life and help with the care pasturing. His goal is to get me on staff full-time but not until the church grows to regular attendance of 150 with at least 70 giving families.
I am reading a book called, “The Blessed Life” by Robert Morris. It is about tithing, giving offerings above the tithe and giving extravagantly. I am not a believer of the “Health and Wealth” theology nor do I believe in giving to get. I do believe that God blesses those who tithe and He can cause resources to be available when we give extravagantly. I believe that God blesses those who tithe, those who give abundantly and those who give cheerfully.
The purpose of this letter is to ask you to pray with me for the following:
1. Those members of New Life who do not tithe will begin to tithe.
2. That I can train leaders for three small groups and have them in place by September 1st, 2009.
3. That New Life will receive the financial resources for me to join the pastoral team on either a part-time or full-time basis.
4. That New Life will begin to touch the lives of the 51% of the population in the Miami County and Louisburg who do not claim an identity with any church.
5. That I will become an extravagant giver.
I do not want this to sound like boasting but I believe God has given me a servant’s heart and a desire to work full-time as a pastor. I feel most alive when I lead our men’s group, or the small group in Louisburg and or when helping to lead the church. I want to have the opportunity to use the gifts and talents God has given me through the Holy Spirit to touch the lives of hurting and discouraged people. I have a desire to shepherd people and move them forward in their walk with Jesus. I want to pour out into the lives of others what God has poured out into my life while I was at the Vineyard.
Finally, let me share what it would take for New Life to hire me full-time. I currently work as the Asset Protection Associate at the Wal-Mart at 15700 Metcalf and make about $400 per week. Kat and I, have a car payment and a small amount of credit card debt (about $1,000). Our house is paid for and we do not spend a lot of money on things. That is why for the past four years I have been able to work for half the salary I use to make. We have calculated that we can survive on me receiving a salary at New Life of about $350-$400 per week. I have submitted a plan for New Life to supply half of my needed salary and for me generate the rest by working part-time. By doing so I could build small groups and hopefully help add people who do not attend church and increase giving at New Life so that a full-time salary can be supplied.
I believe this is what God is calling me to do. For me it has been a hard few weeks because I am torn by my love for OP Vineyard and my desire to be a shepherding pastor. In my talks with Mark Warner he has encouraged me to do what my heart and the Holy Spirit are leading me to do. The bottom line is God poured into my life at the Vineyard and He does not expect me to be comfortable sitting on what He has done through the Vineyard. New Life is not the Vineyard but it is what I believe God wants me to do and where He had my next blessing.
I believe someone will find this post encouraging and an inspiration to take action on what God is telling them to do right now. If you are stirred to pursue your dream, give in an extravagant way, or to give thanks to God for what He has done for you then please share it with me. Part of my giving is writing this blog and serving others and it is encouraging to me when someone shares that what God inspired me to write has blessed them.
I enrolled in VLI in 2004 and also moved to Louisburg, KS. In 2006 I graduated from VLI and I knew that God was calling me to be a full-time pastor. In 2007 my friend, Doug Walton, and I felt called to begin the process of planting a church. We felt it was to be a Vineyard with a different flavor. We felt it was to be either in the heart of Kansas City or at the Lake of the Ozarks and in either case be a church that reached out to the addicted and those who had been hurt by church and rejected religion. When Doug died in 2008 that dream faded.
Over the past five years God kept creating opportunities for me to run into a young pastor here in Louisburg. His name is Erik Kingsley and he pastors New Life Church. We developed a friendship and we would occassionally meet for coffee and talk about growing the church spiritually and physically. New Life has about 80 members but has had attendances on Easter and Christmas of 150. The potential is great for New Life to become the church in Louisburg that ministers to the missing and the hurting in big ways. Out of all of the churches in Louisburg it is the most like Vineyard. The worship is similar, the leadership is similar, and the preaching is biblically sound. The DNA of New Life is very much like the Vineyard.
About 5 weeks ago Erik and I had one of those coffees and he point blanked challenged me to come help him build New Life. In the past when he suggested I should begin to attend a church locally I would gently tell him that God had called me to the Vineyard and it would be God who called me to another church. I did not give it any thought because I was comfortable at the Vineyard and I love that church (the body). This time however I felt God say, “Well at least pray and ask Kat about it”. Asking Kat about it felt pretty safe since she and I had just had a conversation about how much we loved attending the OP Vineyard. When I arrived home from this meeting I told Kat about what we had talked about. She did not hesitate to say, “I would be comfortable attending a church in Louisburg as long as it was New Life”. That was not the reply I thought I would get from her so I was kind of shocked because now I really had to pray about what God wanted since He often speaks to me through her. After spending some time praying about what God wanted I got the impression that I should spend the next few months and attend a service at New Life and then a service at the Vineyard. I felt I was to do this until I got a clear understanding of what God wanted me to do. Five weeks later I have not been back to a service at Vineyard and Erik has placed me on the leadership team. Sunday mornings I do announcements and sometimes the offering (both of which Erik has never had anyone else do before).
Erik has asked me to help build small groups at New Life and help with the care pasturing. His goal is to get me on staff full-time but not until the church grows to regular attendance of 150 with at least 70 giving families.
I am reading a book called, “The Blessed Life” by Robert Morris. It is about tithing, giving offerings above the tithe and giving extravagantly. I am not a believer of the “Health and Wealth” theology nor do I believe in giving to get. I do believe that God blesses those who tithe and He can cause resources to be available when we give extravagantly. I believe that God blesses those who tithe, those who give abundantly and those who give cheerfully.
The purpose of this letter is to ask you to pray with me for the following:
1. Those members of New Life who do not tithe will begin to tithe.
2. That I can train leaders for three small groups and have them in place by September 1st, 2009.
3. That New Life will receive the financial resources for me to join the pastoral team on either a part-time or full-time basis.
4. That New Life will begin to touch the lives of the 51% of the population in the Miami County and Louisburg who do not claim an identity with any church.
5. That I will become an extravagant giver.
I do not want this to sound like boasting but I believe God has given me a servant’s heart and a desire to work full-time as a pastor. I feel most alive when I lead our men’s group, or the small group in Louisburg and or when helping to lead the church. I want to have the opportunity to use the gifts and talents God has given me through the Holy Spirit to touch the lives of hurting and discouraged people. I have a desire to shepherd people and move them forward in their walk with Jesus. I want to pour out into the lives of others what God has poured out into my life while I was at the Vineyard.
Finally, let me share what it would take for New Life to hire me full-time. I currently work as the Asset Protection Associate at the Wal-Mart at 15700 Metcalf and make about $400 per week. Kat and I, have a car payment and a small amount of credit card debt (about $1,000). Our house is paid for and we do not spend a lot of money on things. That is why for the past four years I have been able to work for half the salary I use to make. We have calculated that we can survive on me receiving a salary at New Life of about $350-$400 per week. I have submitted a plan for New Life to supply half of my needed salary and for me generate the rest by working part-time. By doing so I could build small groups and hopefully help add people who do not attend church and increase giving at New Life so that a full-time salary can be supplied.
I believe this is what God is calling me to do. For me it has been a hard few weeks because I am torn by my love for OP Vineyard and my desire to be a shepherding pastor. In my talks with Mark Warner he has encouraged me to do what my heart and the Holy Spirit are leading me to do. The bottom line is God poured into my life at the Vineyard and He does not expect me to be comfortable sitting on what He has done through the Vineyard. New Life is not the Vineyard but it is what I believe God wants me to do and where He had my next blessing.
I believe someone will find this post encouraging and an inspiration to take action on what God is telling them to do right now. If you are stirred to pursue your dream, give in an extravagant way, or to give thanks to God for what He has done for you then please share it with me. Part of my giving is writing this blog and serving others and it is encouraging to me when someone shares that what God inspired me to write has blessed them.
You can leave a comment or email me at lnclark1950@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing your God story.
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