Well, This is Happening
Well guys, I have some news.
Let's rewind a year so we can start at the beginning.
Last summer Kyle and I started talking seriously about his next steps in ministry. At the time, he had been at our church, Heritage Park, for twelve years as the student pastor (now 13). We love our church and it hurts to think about leaving. However, Kyle was feeling like he was being called to lead the church in a different role than he currently had.
He has always been interested in planting a church from Heritage Park. Our church has always talked about planting, but there has never been a plan as to when that would happen. Also, I had zero interest in planting a church. Admittedly, I didn't know much about church planting, but what I did know was intimidating. There is the uncertainty of salary and you don't have a full staff. So, Kyle would be responsible for basically everything. Honestly, church planting seemed like a lot of work that was all out of my comfort zone. This just didn't seem like a viable option.
So, last fall, we started a job search.
Initially Kyle was open to various roles. As the application processes and search continued, he became more and more focused on lead pastor roles. Because of this, we knew we would probably have to move. The odds of finding a lead pastor role in the town you already live in are pretty small. I told Kyle I would follow him anywhere, as long as it wasn't cold.
The job search continued for the next few months. We had some good conversations with a good number of churches, but nothing was a perfect fit for us or for them.
I think the hardest part of this process was the secrecy. Our family and a couple of our closest friends knew about the search, but the vast majority of people didn't. It was pretty hard to show up to our small group every week wanting to tell them about what was happening and what stage of the process we were in with what church, but not be able to say a word about it. Church job hunting is a lot different than it used to be. There are no more search committees coming to watch a potential pastor preach. Everything is done online (Skype interviews, videos of sermons, etc.), so that made our secret a little easier to keep.
We met some great people along the way who were able to help us really focus on what we wanted to do and why we wanted to do it.
Kyle went on sabbatical from spring break to Easter, and we actually went out of state to interview for a job. I say "we" because I was being interviewed too. Side note: it is so weird to be interviewed over multiple days for a job that I won't be getting paid for...
While away on this interview, I think God really showed us that Kyle's passion for church planting was the route we needed to take. These interviews were something that we went through together, and I saw how Kyle approached each church and their culture. I think he would have been a great pastor at any of these churches, but when he talked about planting, he had a different passion in his voice. While he could be the pastor of these churches where we were interviewing, it was like he needed to plant. For some reason (okay, it was the Holy Spirit), I was more okay with planting and the idea wasn't scary. Well, it was still scary, but not something that I was completely closed off to like I had been for years.
When he came back from his sabbatical, he started having conversations with people in and out of our church about the process and what it would look like to plant.
The ball got rolling and he started doing some assessments and having meetings with an organization called Houston Church Planting Network (HCPN). HCPN has a residency program that you have to be accepted into. For this, they have an assessment process you have to "pass" in order to participate. In June we both went to a 4 day assessment that was, well, brutal. We didn't know what we were walking into, and it was really intense. I guess I was kind of imagining a conference about church planting, but it was nothing like that. I'll spare you the details, but know that I spent an hour crying in a stairwell on the third day.
We got through it, and ultimately received the green light to plant and for Kyle to join HCPN's residency program. A few weeks later we announced it to our church.
There are a lot of questions that we still don't have the answers to, but here is what we do know:
-Our plant will be down in the Dickinson/Texas City area.
-We will be building a house and moving to the Lago Mar subdivision. We have chosen our builder, floor plan, and lot. We are just waiting for the city to approve some things before we can put down earnest money and start the building process. Once we do that, it should be about 6 months before we move.
-Kyle will be the lead pastor of this new church.
-Our current church will partner with us, but this will be a completely separate and new church.
-Kyle will be doing a two year residency with HCPN starting this fall. During the first year, he will continue being the youth pastor at our church. Because the second year of the residency is more intense and he will need to focus on the church plant, our church will be looking for a new youth pastor to replace Kyle after this school year.
What we do not know yet:
-Where we will meet (hopefully a school or community center).
-The name of the new church.
-Who will come with us from our church to the new church.
-When the church will launch. We are planning for the early-ish part of 2021, but nothing is set.
Here are some specific things you can be praying for with us:
-For the students at Heritage Park during this transitional year
-That Kyle will be able to finish his season of student ministry well
-The enemy's attacks in the areas of our marriage, parenting, calendar, finances, and relationships with others
-The house buying/building/moving process
-That God will work in the hearts of the people who will be a part of our team
-For the hearts of the people in the Lago Mar/Texas City/League City/Dickinson/Santa Fe area
-That this church will be a place where people who are far from God will find a place to be healed, belong, and be renewed in Christ.
Thanks team. We are nervous and excited at the same time. But hey, at least Texas City isn't cold.
Let's rewind a year so we can start at the beginning.
Last summer Kyle and I started talking seriously about his next steps in ministry. At the time, he had been at our church, Heritage Park, for twelve years as the student pastor (now 13). We love our church and it hurts to think about leaving. However, Kyle was feeling like he was being called to lead the church in a different role than he currently had.
He has always been interested in planting a church from Heritage Park. Our church has always talked about planting, but there has never been a plan as to when that would happen. Also, I had zero interest in planting a church. Admittedly, I didn't know much about church planting, but what I did know was intimidating. There is the uncertainty of salary and you don't have a full staff. So, Kyle would be responsible for basically everything. Honestly, church planting seemed like a lot of work that was all out of my comfort zone. This just didn't seem like a viable option.
So, last fall, we started a job search.
Initially Kyle was open to various roles. As the application processes and search continued, he became more and more focused on lead pastor roles. Because of this, we knew we would probably have to move. The odds of finding a lead pastor role in the town you already live in are pretty small. I told Kyle I would follow him anywhere, as long as it wasn't cold.
The job search continued for the next few months. We had some good conversations with a good number of churches, but nothing was a perfect fit for us or for them.
I think the hardest part of this process was the secrecy. Our family and a couple of our closest friends knew about the search, but the vast majority of people didn't. It was pretty hard to show up to our small group every week wanting to tell them about what was happening and what stage of the process we were in with what church, but not be able to say a word about it. Church job hunting is a lot different than it used to be. There are no more search committees coming to watch a potential pastor preach. Everything is done online (Skype interviews, videos of sermons, etc.), so that made our secret a little easier to keep.
We met some great people along the way who were able to help us really focus on what we wanted to do and why we wanted to do it.
Kyle went on sabbatical from spring break to Easter, and we actually went out of state to interview for a job. I say "we" because I was being interviewed too. Side note: it is so weird to be interviewed over multiple days for a job that I won't be getting paid for...
While away on this interview, I think God really showed us that Kyle's passion for church planting was the route we needed to take. These interviews were something that we went through together, and I saw how Kyle approached each church and their culture. I think he would have been a great pastor at any of these churches, but when he talked about planting, he had a different passion in his voice. While he could be the pastor of these churches where we were interviewing, it was like he needed to plant. For some reason (okay, it was the Holy Spirit), I was more okay with planting and the idea wasn't scary. Well, it was still scary, but not something that I was completely closed off to like I had been for years.
When he came back from his sabbatical, he started having conversations with people in and out of our church about the process and what it would look like to plant.
The ball got rolling and he started doing some assessments and having meetings with an organization called Houston Church Planting Network (HCPN). HCPN has a residency program that you have to be accepted into. For this, they have an assessment process you have to "pass" in order to participate. In June we both went to a 4 day assessment that was, well, brutal. We didn't know what we were walking into, and it was really intense. I guess I was kind of imagining a conference about church planting, but it was nothing like that. I'll spare you the details, but know that I spent an hour crying in a stairwell on the third day.
We got through it, and ultimately received the green light to plant and for Kyle to join HCPN's residency program. A few weeks later we announced it to our church.
There are a lot of questions that we still don't have the answers to, but here is what we do know:
-Our plant will be down in the Dickinson/Texas City area.
-We will be building a house and moving to the Lago Mar subdivision. We have chosen our builder, floor plan, and lot. We are just waiting for the city to approve some things before we can put down earnest money and start the building process. Once we do that, it should be about 6 months before we move.
-Kyle will be the lead pastor of this new church.
-Our current church will partner with us, but this will be a completely separate and new church.
-Kyle will be doing a two year residency with HCPN starting this fall. During the first year, he will continue being the youth pastor at our church. Because the second year of the residency is more intense and he will need to focus on the church plant, our church will be looking for a new youth pastor to replace Kyle after this school year.
What we do not know yet:
-Where we will meet (hopefully a school or community center).
-The name of the new church.
-Who will come with us from our church to the new church.
-When the church will launch. We are planning for the early-ish part of 2021, but nothing is set.
Here are some specific things you can be praying for with us:
-For the students at Heritage Park during this transitional year
-That Kyle will be able to finish his season of student ministry well
-The enemy's attacks in the areas of our marriage, parenting, calendar, finances, and relationships with others
-The house buying/building/moving process
-That God will work in the hearts of the people who will be a part of our team
-For the hearts of the people in the Lago Mar/Texas City/League City/Dickinson/Santa Fe area
-That this church will be a place where people who are far from God will find a place to be healed, belong, and be renewed in Christ.
Thanks team. We are nervous and excited at the same time. But hey, at least Texas City isn't cold.
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