From a Dream to Wave Church SD
So I have been waiting for some time to start writing this post. God has been up to more than I could ever explain this past year to lead Angelina and I to the point of jumping head first into pursuing Jesus and His kingdom through planting a church; Wave Church SD. In reality we really are not planting a church, we believe that Jesus builds his church, we rather are seeking God in community with a relentless passion to see His Kingdom come!
The truth is our journey to this point has not been easy or journeyed alone, so many people have come along side us as we experienced a major crisis of church that we found ourselves in over the last few years. It was through these individuals that God began to shape a dream, a Kingdom dream that could not be extinguished. A dream to see a genuine movement of Jesus in a community of believers set on living our lives to show the world that God is real. With a deep heart and passion to seek and follow Jesus in our daily lives, and experience the awesome power of God in our midst. This started as an experiment with a group of guys I love and cherish in my life. We journeyed through a season of Listening Prayer, as we learned to listen to the voice of God and obey, we saw God begin to move in our lives, marriages, and community, God began to place a larger Kingdom dream on all our hearts.
As pastors we often have a hard time coming to the point of being real and honest about the situations we find ourselves in when it comes to church and ministry. We hold out hope that God is in this, all the time, and pain, and struggle, and investment is all worth it. But what if somewhere along the way we had stopped giving our best to the King and His Kingdom and instead we found ourselves just investing in someone else’s kingdom, or even your own. What if all of a sudden it all just seemed so empty and pointless? God is nowhere to be found and to be honest you wonder if he really ever was. Over the last year God has re-captured my heart for what he called me to when I first went into ministry years ago, to pursue Jesus with a reckless abandon. While on a spiritual retreat in Georgia with some amazing people God spoke a verse that has changed my life as it comes to following Jesus. Galatians 5:1 ” It is for freedom Christ has set you free, stand firm therefore, and no longer be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” For me this has meant a relentless pursuit to remove every hurdle and yoke of slavery that empty religion and institutional church had placed in my life and stood in the way of me following Jesus.
The statistics are out in America we are now entering the post-Christian age, the church is on the decline. Millions of people in America are walking away from church. The reality is that even though many are walking away from Church they are not walking away from Jesus. These individuals are seeking a faith free from the hurdles of institution and religion. How many of us in ministry as Pastors really wish we could walk away as well to pursue the Savior we have given our lives in service too. I believe it is not too late for the church but God is calling us out to make a change, to seek Him with a relentless passion and to remove the hurdles that stand in the way of following our Savior, to be the incarnation of Jesus on earth!
