They say you can’t fight city hall. Well, you can…but without divine intervention, you won’t win. After planting our church in 2007, we had a series of moves and eventually grew to the point of leasing space 24/7. As we looked for something large enough to house us, we encountered roadblocks from our local planning and zoning department. These organizations have an enormous amount of power and autonomy with precedent in the courts. Thus, they can pretty much do—or not do—whatever they want. What they often don’t want is new churches. Churches are tax exempt. Thus, if they own property, it’s less revenue opportunity for the municipality. While some see the value in churches due to community s
On the heels of a major doctrinal transformation with the Worldwide Church of God, taking a position with a small Baptist Church seemed easy… ...Or, so I thought! What followed was another 7 year transition capped-off by a three-way merger. Whew! In fact, the Baptist Church transition was tougher. I’ve said that getting Baptists to drop a Sunday PM service was harder than telling three congregations that everything they’d been taught for the past 50 years was bogus! One leader was so upset, he basically made it his personal mission to oppose everything and anything I suggested. His wife was running around the church telling folks that he was the REAL pastor because, unlike me, he CARED about
Sometimes the best things in life are the hardest to obtain. Our transition from a legalistic cult in Worldwide Church of God, to becoming a biblical, evangelical denomination was brutal—but blessed. We constantly faced new doctrinal and administrative challenges during the transformation. And, people either loved it or hated it. I remember one of my best friends, a deacon, falling against my chest sobbing. “I can’t take any more of this Jesus stuff,” he cried, “You’ve got to stop preaching all this Jesus stuff.” I had to choose between my Lord and my friend. I chose the Lord, but the pain and loss was intense. To be cliché, “It was the best of times and it was the worst of times.” The resul