The Penners: Part 4. The Conclusion. God's Call.

Finally to the conclusion of this story, although it's the beginning of a new chapter in our lives here in Wichita.

Halfway through the fast I was really struggling and by day 4 I stopped. I couldn’t keep it up. On that Sunday morning Angie was scheduled to help lead worship at Hope Community. But the day before, the worship leader had sustained an injury so Angie was to lead by herself with the band.

That morning as I watched Angie lead, I wondered, why isn’t she leading worship in a church like this? She was doing so well and it was great to see her with a full band. Then the pastor of Hope preached and was praying for people in the service. His pastoral heart touched me as I watched him minister and it made me realize how much I have missed that.

The rest of the day I processed that and thought about that morning. At night, I was out in the community with a group from another church. When I came home, I am not sure how this came out or why, but I told Angie, “Why don’t we just plant a church with World Impact?” And she said, “OK”. I was like “What?! You have said ‘No’ to every other idea I’ve had, and now just like that you are saying ‘OK’?”

Well, my excitement was building and we talked for a while. She went to bed and then I stayed awake, and I started to have all of these ideas for a church. Everything was starting to make sense to me. I was getting a vision for a new church in how I could incorporate my different passions, ideas, and my gifting. Those details are for another blog. J

After I wrote all of these thoughts down, even though I was excited, I was still wondering what was going on. I was asking God, “Are You changing my heart for church planting?” I told the Lord, that if this is real, then I needed a supernatural encounter with Him. I have had plenty of ideas in the past, and I needed to know this was from Him.

I put on Pandora and a song from Misty Edwards came on. Immediately, the song ministered deeply to my soul and I felt the Lord so clearly speaking to me through the words. After I listened to the song a couple of times, I then found this video of the song on youtube and listened to it.

For 30 minutes, I felt the Lord stripping away my insecurities and calling me to lead a new church plant. It was a powerful and changing time for me.

I woke up the next day and thought, “Wow! That was a weird night!” At lunch, I shared with Angie what I felt the Lord had said and played her the song. She was crying and confirming the same feelings. I then shared with our leaders and they were surprised at my complete change in desires, yet confirmed the call.

God’s timing was incredible, that weekend Wichita World Impact hosted a church planting conference for 4 church plants. I attended the church plant conference and as I listened to all of the teachings, it was like every light bulb was turning on for me. I felt like the Lord was saying that He had taught me a lot from Lighthouse and the last four years, and now He was ready to use that growth as I lead a new church plant. It was very overwhelming to me. On the last day of the conference, I shared with everyone what the Lord had spoken to me and how I felt like He met me in the middle of my brokenness. It was very emotional for me to share, but, again, I was affirmed by everyone there.

In the weeks that have followed, I have never felt so called to do something in my life. There have been times of being scared and wondering what did I get myself into. But it’s so clear God is asking us to do this.

I can see now God was truly asking me to step out in faith and not play it safe, but I needed to abide and be patient on Him while He revealed the vision. I still need to abide in Christ moment by moment and stay close to Him throughout this church plant.

Overall, I am just amazed at the Lord. I can’t believe how He has renewed my life, changed my heart and called me to this. It’s so above what I am capable of doing, that I know it will have to be the Lord coming through to plant this church.

This is the song that ministered to me so deeply.