The Path to Church Planting
Reluctant. I think if there is one word to describe my calling to church planting, this would be it. I could point out many
ways in which God shaped me for this new adventure since I be- came a Christian as an 18-year-old. I’ve been married to my beauti- ful wife Larisa for 10 years. I’ve been the youth pastor at Dalmeny Bible Church (DBC) for the past seven-and-a-half years. Let me tell you about the past four years — the years I have displayed a bit of a Jonah complex. Four years ago, I heard the initial rumblings of a new FEBC
church plant project in Saskatoon. Dennis Friesen, senior pastor at DBC, was working to identifying areas of the city that did not have a good church presence. I was immediately interested to a certain extent. I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of planting a church, but in my mind, it would have meant going overseas to do it (I wanted to be like the apostle Paul for a long time). Nothing really came to fruition at that time, but at the FEBC Annual Con- vention in July, something changed. It was officially announced that the Prairie West Extension was going to move forward with the church plant. Tat announcement solidified my interest. I remember sitting in the pew in Rhineland, Sask., on a hot af-
ternoon (with no air-conditioning). As the announcement about a church plant was made, I felt an immediate inner stirring. I felt like I was being told that I should put my name in for the church planter. I actually don’t remember much else from the rest of con- vention because this thought kept running through my mind.
by Dave Cornelius I talked with Larisa aſter I got home and told her that I
thought God may be leading us into church planting. My next move was to go fishing. Fishing has always been a way for me to get away from everything and spend time with God. I spent a lot of time with God that aſternoon. I don’t think one of my flies even touched the water — I just stood on the bank praying. I was not asking God to guide me in planting a church; I was asking God to take this nudge away. At that moment in my life I was scared. I kept praying that I wouldn’t have to even think about being a
church planter, and aſter a few months the thoughts went away. But amazingly, instead of hearing an internal voice, people around me started to speak. Numerous people asked me what I thought about becoming a church planter. At the time I shrugged it off by rational- izing that it was a coincidence. A close friend (who also understands the importance of youth ministry) jokingly asked me when I was go- ing to become a “real pastor.” Tese types of interactions continued. Two years ago Larisa was doing an internship in Regina for her
doctorate program in Psychology. Tat year, Larisa stayed in Re- gina during the week and was home on the weekend. During that year I started to feel a discontent growing. I assumed that it had to do with the fact that my wife was gone during the week. However, aſter the year was finished, I still had this feeling. I started to pray about whether I should enter seminary, hoping that would scratch the itch. Ten Pastor Dennis and I went on our annual August fishing trip. During this particular trip, I told Dennis about look-
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Fellowship Focus, January/February 2017
FellowshipForward.org
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