Confirming the Called
- Mike Rydman
- Sep 9, 2007
Confirming the Called
Soteria Church is blessed, and truth be told we exist largely because of the support and resources given us by the Christian Evangelistic Association, East 91st Street Church in Indianapolis, and the Acts 29 Church-Planting Network associated with Mars Hill Church in Seattle. All three of these church-planting networks conduct "boot camps" throughout the year, and also go to great lengths to "assess" the calling and fitness of potential church planters.
It was my privilege this past week to travel to Raleigh NC to participate in the largest boot camp Acts 29 has ever conducted. Over 400 people were in attendance in this boot camp hosted by Vintage 121 Church in downtown Raleigh. Every one of the speakers hit it out of the park in helping the attendees to realize the centrality of the gospel in planting and growing churches.
Part and parcel with boot camps is the assessment of potential church-planters. These are men and their wives who sense the call of God upon their lives to plant mission-minded, gospel directed churches that will in time plant other churches. Our job as assessors is to confirm that calling and ascertain the fitness of that candidate for the task.
It is hard work to sift through the data that has already been collected on the candidates before they even arrive at a boot camp. Candidates complete several exhausting online assessment tools, provide extensive information on their training, pastoral experience, theology, health of their marriages, and even give us permission to look into their personal finances. By the time the candidates are ready to submit themselves to assessment we already know quite a bit about each of them.
This is an unnerving experience for everyone involved. It is unnerving for the candidates, in that they are opening themselves up to all kinds of scrutiny, perhaps at a level of transparency they have never encountered. For the assessors it is also unnerving, as it is our "job" to attempt to see what God is doing in the life of that candidate, and confirm God's calling of the candidate to plant a church.
This time around, I experienced both potential extremes in the assessments. Sadly, two of the couples I helped to assess were not ready to plant. A lack of experience and biblical training were issues that could not be ignored. When asked the question, "What is the Gospel?" both of the men gave weak answers. In good conscience my assessor partner and I could not recommend either of these earnest but not-yet-ready couples to plant a church.
To our joy, the third couple quickly evidenced the calling of God to plant. Joe has already been a lead pastor, their marriage is rock solid, his theological training is thorough, and...he's already known the hurts and hard work that come with leading a church. It was not at all hard for us to enthusiastically affirm their calling and fitness to plant a church that will plant churches, and we recommended them without reservation. St. Petersburg FL is soon to gain a great new church that will proclaim the gospel of Jesus.
Assessing church planting candidates is hard work to be sure, but it is also a joy, and this is why I appreciate our church freeing me up several times each year to go and serve as an assessor. The greatest benefit for me, and hopefully you see it as an indirect benefit to you is that in asking hard questions of candidates it forces me to consider again my own responses to the same questions. Why is this helpful you ask? Because our Lord Jesus is deadly serious about His Church. This is the Church He died for, the same Church He lives for, and the same Church he initiated through the power of the Holy Spirit to be the "Body" of Christ where Jesus is the head. Jesus is the "Senior Pastor" of His Church, and His agenda for us is the proclamation of the gospel, the good news of salvation and reconciliation through the grace of God in Jesus Christ.
Romans 16: 25-27 says it this way:
"Now to Him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith - to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen."
The agenda of the Church is the proclamation of the gospel. The goal of this agenda is for God to be glorified, everywhere, in all nations, whether that "nation" be St. Petersburg FL, or Everett WA, or in me or in you.
When I attend and help out at a boot camp for church-planting candidates I leave even more impressed if not scared to death over the immensity and difficulty of the task, my own inadequacies, and the clear primacy of the gospel that increasingly captivates my soul.