“You can’t be a pastor! That would make me a pastor’s wife! And I am NOT a pastor’s wife.” These were the very first words I said to my husband after he confessed to me that he felt God was calling him to be a pastor. (Encouraging, I know… Bear with me.) Some women attend seminary and meet their future husband while he is studying for a career in ministry. She’s prepared to be known as the “pastor’s wife” for their marriage. That is not what happened to me. I was completely unprepared to be a pastor’s wife– my husband was in logistics at a warehouse. I never imagined God would call him to be a pastor and I would be a “PW”– I didn’t even know what PW meant!
Thankfully, God brought me around and I joyfully accepted this new role. I looked at it as a big, new adventure we would go on together. My husband and I, in ministry, doing the Lord’s work. Proclaiming the Gospel to hurting and broken people, together! What could be better than that?
If you’re reading this and thinking, “Oh man… She might be in for a shock.” You’re right. I was!
After 16 years in ministry, I can honestly say it has been a big adventure– one that has included many wonderful, joyful mountains, but one that also included several painful and dark valleys. Most of those valleys have happened in the season of replanting/revitalization in our church. In those valleys, it’s easy to feel isolated and alone in ministry. Looking at other churches, I would think, “They have it all figured out. They don’t seem to struggle the way we’re struggling! Maybe we just aren’t called to this.” Perhaps you have felt that way, too. If you’re a pastor reading this, I can almost guarantee your wife has felt that!
On a recent episode of the Replant Bootcamp podcast, host Jimbo Stewart spoke with three replant wives (one of whom is probably his favorite guest of all time) to take a look at the resources available to the wives working alongside their husbands in church renewal.
The Replant Wife Experts
During those moments of isolation and loneliness, sometimes all we need is a small reminder that we aren’t alone. This is where I found myself at the first Replant Summit I attended with my husband. We had navigated some very discouraging and hard times in our church and we signed up hoping to be refreshed and renewed. I was burdened with many needs, some spiritual and some within our own family. When I saw a breakout session for “Replant Wives,” I thought, “Nope.” The last thing I wanted to hear was how amazing life was for all those wives and how wonderful their churches were.
My husband convinced me to go, and I entered that room overwhelmed and anxious. I sat at an empty table prepared to sit quietly and speak to no one. But before I could enact that plan, other women came to sit at the table. These women were all so friendly and kind, and I found myself sharing some of my concerns with them briefly before the session even started. They seemed to understand everything I had experienced. They seemed like they “got it,” in a way that my other friends didn’t. Those women were Audrea Stewart, Darlene Dryer, and Barb Bickford, the hosts of the breakout session and the spouses of Jimbo Stewart, Josh Dryer, and Bob Bickford, respectively. Turns out, I hadn’t sat down at an empty table– I was at “their” table! (I had somehow missed the purses, laptop bags, and materials they had around the table.)
For the next couple of hours, I sat with many other women in the room as these three incredible women poured into us with biblical, practical advice for this journey. They each shared their stories, complete with heartaches and struggles. They were transparent and relatable, but also gently and wisely continued to point us each back to Christ and His leadership. As we each began to open up with our own worries and anxieties, I realized I had been wrong. I wasn’t alone or isolated. There were so many women struggling with the same issues I was– and these three “expert Replant Wives” had struggled with them, too!
I know these three women would object to being called “experts”– they are just wives who are doing their best to assist their husbands in this work of church renewal. But that day, Audrea, Darlene, and Barb gave us more than the resources of books to read, biblical passages to study, and tangible tools for problem-solving– they gave us the resource of friendship. We were able to connect with each other, as women all over the room began to bond over shared trials, joys, and everything in between. The connections I formed that day reminded me that I wasn’t alone. The resource of friendship was something that I will never forget.
The Replant Wife Facebook Page- a Source of Connection
After the Summit, I went home and immediately joined the Replant Wife Facebook Group. There, I get to interact with Audrea, Darlene, and Barb, but I have also met Replant Wives from the Midwest, the Pacific Coast, and the Northeast United States. It is a closed group, so wives can be transparent without worrying about breaking confidentiality. They can share their burdens and know that someone out there understands what they are going through. They can share helpful articles and books they’ve read, but they also share prayer requests and biblical questions. It’s a forum for pastor’s wives in church renewal, so there are even helpful tools for struggling congregations.
Some of the questions that are asked and answered are practical– “Has anyone done VBS on a budget? What tools were helpful?” “Has anyone been involved in rewriting bylaws? What did you run into that you didn’t expect?” “What is a great meal for unexpected company or for feeding a large crowd?” These questions are answered by other women in the context of church renewal– churches with normative attendance, budgets, and resources. Churches a lot like yours.
This online connection fosters a community. Now, when I go to a replant conference with my husband, I can connect with the women I know from the Facebook page and get updates on their lives and ministries. We look forward to seeing each other and catching up. Our community has borne each others burdens and celebrated each others successes. We are truly in it together.
The Replant Wife Website, Blog, and Podcast
Another important resource for Replant Wives is the website, which also houses the blog. Audrea, Darlene, and Barb have all penned blog posts regarding common issues in this renewal life. Audrea wrote on navigating the post-holiday blues, Barb has written a series on longevitiy in ministry, and Darlene is writing about finding joy in trials. Think of this website as the “landing page” for all things Replant Wife. In addition to Audrea, Darlene, and Barb, there are also resources from Kathy Addis (wife of Andy Addis), Jeanette Pugh (wife of Colin Pugh), and Joyce Jackson (wife of David Jackson), each of whom bring their own stories of ministry mountains and valleys.
In addition to the incredible resources the three women have cultivated, they also have links to NAMB’s replanting resources. NAMB is consistently looking for ways to support and care for pastors in ministry and one of those focuses has to be the pastor’s family. In a replant/revitalization, where there are potentials for seasons of change and conflict, this is even more important. A pastor does not weather the conflict alone– his family will feel it, too. His wife will need support and encouragement, and she can find it within those resources.
But I think the best resource the women leading this effort have cultivated is their podcast. This podcast seeks to be a refuge for the replant wife to be equipped and encouraged for the work God has called her to do. Listening to it, you feel like you’re sitting around with three friends discussing Jesus, the bible, ministry, and families. There, the three women discuss their blogs and talk about important topics in church renewal. They take the time to really dive into scripture and give biblical, practical advice. They remind the listener that she is not alone in this work. But they also remind her that this work is God’s glorious calling.
For every replant pastor, there is a replant wife who needs to know she is not alone. We are here foryou and we want to hear fromyou! The Lord has called us to bring dying churches back to life– that’s an amazing honor!
A few weeks ago, my husband Will and I attended the AMS Lab from NAMB in Atlanta, Georgia. Hundreds of pastors and AMS leaders from across the country gathered together to learn more about partnerships and collaboration in revitalizing dying churches. We listened to several leaders discuss ways their associations and churches had worked cohesively for the spread of the Gospel and each other’s benefit. We heard testimonies of how these collaborations bore the fruit of faithfulness, health, repentance, and revival. The message was clear: There is power in partnership.
In Genesis 2:18, we read that God formed Man and then came to an important realization: “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Now, we know that God then formed Woman and declared it “verygood.” But the main idea was not merely for man and woman to be in partnership together– the main thought is that it is not good for man to be alone. Over and over in God’s Word, He reminds us that collaboration is better than alienation.
We often remind our congregations that God has formed our church like a body, quoting from 1 Corinthians and Ephesians. We tell them that we all need each other, we all have different gifts, and that we all benefit from our unity. And yet when it comes to churches partnering with other churches, many pastors neglect to foster and encourage partnership in their ministries.
On a recent episode of the Replant Bootcamp podcast, Jimbo talked with Mark Hallock, author and Lead Pastor of the Calvary Family of Churches in Colorado, and Brandon Moore, Replant Specialist at NAMB, about the benefits of radical collaboration. When we partner together, ministries flourish, churches come back from the dead, and pastors are strengthened. On His way to the cross, Jesus prayed that the church’s unity and partnership would display God’s plan and His love for the world to see (John 17:23).
God’s Command to Partner
Here is the truth of the matter. Pastors who neglect to partner with other churches are working against God’s plan for the Gospel. You might not realize it, but God desires us to be in close collaboration with other churches– not competition. Too often, we get wrapped up in the human desire to grow our personal kingdom and not God’s.
Of course, that’s not the language we use. Pastors would never say they desire their kingdom to grow over God’s. But when we hoard our resources for our gain, when we disparage the church across town (especially from the pulpit), and when we isolate ourselves from other pastors, we’ve created a “my church, my growth” mindset instead of a “God’s church, His kingdom” mindset.
God commands us to work in unity with other churches. Our passion must be for God’s Kingdom to grow, because His plan is to reach the lost world through people– not only your church but mine, too. His plan is for all of us to cooperate so that His name is magnified throughout the nations.
Where do I start?
At the AMS Lab, one of the phrases we heard from pastors and AMS Leaders was, “Partnership sounds great, but we don’t have that mindset in our association. No one seems to want to share or to cooperate.” What a missed opportunity!
When pastors alienate themselves and build walls around their ministry, it typically signifies an area of personal weakness. Maybe they’ve been hurt by other pastors in the past and they are hesitant to be vulnerable again. Perhaps they are afraid to be transparent or admit that something isn’t working. Or maybe it’s just good, old-fashioned pride that makes them feel like they don’t have anything to learn from someone else. Regardless of the root issue, a pastor who “Lone Rangers” his ministry may need to evaluate his behavior and repent.
Often, one of the first steps toward collaboration is one of embracing humility. It’s one thing to agree we need pastoral friendships for encouragement, but it’s quite another to be willing to share resources like money, time, and leadership with fellow pastors. It’s one thing to say, “I’m willing to help the church down the street,” but it’s different to say, “I don’t care who gets the credit, I just want to see God’s Kingdom grow.” Humility offers us a chance to let go of our ego and step out of the picture, and it allows God to step in and do radically transformative work in both our congregation and in the other church. Laying down our pride for the Gospel reaps fruit we can’t even begin to imagine.
Once we’ve embraced the command to partner with fellow pastors and churches, and we’ve repented of any pride or fear standing in our way, it’s time to lean in and pursue partnership. Now I wish this was as easy as simply passing a note to another pastor at the next Association meeting that says, “Do you want to partner with me in ministry? Check yes or no.” Unfortunately, radical collaboration takes a little more time and effort!
To start with, you need to actually attend association meetings. Those meetings aren’t merely to give you information and discuss everyone’s budget and church attendance numbers. Those meetings are opportunities for networking with other pastors and for encouraging each other! You have something to learn from them. The Holy Spirit indwells them just as He indwells you! God has given them unique perspectives, experiences, and giftings that can benefit you, even if they are different than yours.
Being a good partner in ministry means being a good friend. When you’re at the meetings, ask good questions of your fellow pastors. Pray over their churches. Have someone from your church send them a card to encourage them. Some of our best partnerships have come from having close friends in ministry. Last year when we were gone on a mission trip, we needed help with our worship service– we were short a pastor and a worship leader. We were able to call our best friends in ministry and ask for their help– and they sent a worship team over to lead our service, even though it meant their church struggled a little that morning. Why? Because we aren’t in competition, we’re in cooperation.
Maybe not everyone will understand your desire for partnership. That’s ok. Start with a few guys who do. Plan a night of worship and combine your campuses. Look for ways your church can help with their VBS (or vice versa). Do you have a couple of talented musicians while their church struggles to have live music? Ask one of your people to serve there a couple of weeks a month. Not because you don’t love your church and your people, but because you’ve taught your church to love other churches. And before you know it, a funny thing happens when other people see radical partnership thriving… they’ll want to join, too. That’s where you see the culture change. That’s where the goal of “church growth” becomes “Kingdom growth.”
The Superpower of Partnership
Hopefully, by now you’ve realized that we need to partner with fellow churches for one very good reason: God commands us to! But partnership isn’t merely a rule to follow. Radical collaboration is a superpower. Once we tap into it, the benefits to our ministry and our personal walk with Jesus are huge!
One of the main benefits of partnership? We are better together! Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 reminds us, “Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.” There will always be times when ministry is a struggle. I have a friend who swears her husband quits ministry every Monday morning. Discouragement, disappointment, and feelings of frustration with church members or church politics can feel overwhelming. But partnerships with other churches mean your problems aren’t just your own to solve. You have helpers to pick you up and raise your arms, as Aaron and Hur did for Moses (Exodus 17).
Another benefit? Faithfulness in the ministry. A recent Barna study found that 65% of pastors reported feeling isolated or alone in 2022… that’s up from only 42% feeling that way in 2015. It seems many pastors are feeling like Johnny Cash when he sang, “I’ve got no one to tell my troubles to, no one to care to call my own. It seems that I must always be alone.” And when pastors feel isolated, they are more susceptible to temptation, hip-shot decisions, and leaving the ministry altogether. When you partner with other pastors, you have built-in encouragement, but you also have built-in accountability. Your partners are also pastors who can tell you, in humility and love, where you might be going off-track.
Lastly, there is the benefit of having a cohort to help you navigate the complexities in the culture and society we face today. We are dealing with aspects of culture that society has not wrestled with before and in our digital and technologically advanced society, these complex questions do not stop at the church’s front door. Increasingly, these cultural issues are encouraging pastors to take a new look at their by-laws, their polity, and even their own personal beliefs. Having other pastors beside you as you walk through these decisions gives you a plurality of educated leaders that you may not yet have access to within your own congregation.
The Superhero of Partnership
I hope that you now see the superpower of partnership and the ways collaboration benefits your ministry. Now, allow me to introduce a superhero who can help you in your quest for partnership– your local AMS.
Hopefully, the local AMS at your association has been there long enough to have the one gift you need– the power of connection. The AMS has an acute knowledge of not only the churches in his association, but of each pastor, and each congregation. When you need ministry partners, there is no better place to start than your AMS. Have a music/worship need? He knows of a local cohort of worship leaders you can join. He also knows which churches have large choirs and an abundance of musicians who may be able to join you for a while. Have a question about polity? He knows which church recently rewrote their bylaws, and what roadblocks they ran into, and he knows who you need to call at the state level for assistance. Need help with VBS? He knows the church doing theirs weeks before yours, and he’s happy to put you in touch with them so you can borrow their decorations when they’re done.
If you’re interested in hearing more ways your AMS and your local association can assist you in radical collaboration, the Replant Bootcamp has a podcast and blog on the partnership between pastors and Associations.
Opportunities to Partner with Us
When we talk about partnerships between pastors and associations, there is no better place to explore that than at the Replant Bootcamp events. We have several coming up, from two Am I a Replanter labs in April, the Revive Summit in May and September, and of course, through our website and archives.
Don’t forget to let us know how much your ministry partners have helped you by suggesting them as future guests using the “Suggest a Guest” button! We would love to hear your stories!
This week the guys offer some insights on how you might actually find a church to Replant. In addition to finding out that Bob bailed on being a High School Teacher and JimBo a Professor you’ll gain some key insights into the practical steps you can take in finding a church to Replant.
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Show Notes: want to read along while the show plays? Check out this episodes show notes below delivered by: Descript
JimBo: All right, back with the replant bootcamp, excited to be jumping back in. As a matter of fact, I’m excited in just a few days, I will be seeing you in person.
Bob: Yes.
JimBo: And so the next episode will be an episode recorded with us, in the same place. probably in a hotel I imagine.
And I’m excited that we’ll get to do that together. We’ll be at the North American Mission Board Replant Summit in somewhere Missouri. I can’t remember where
Bob: Greenwood
JimBo: Greenwood, Missouri.
Bob: South of Lee’s Summit, Missouri.
JimBo: Okay. none of that means anything to me
Bob: Kansas city Metro area.
JimBo: there we go, Kansas city Metro area.
Bob: Yes. And the burning question in your mind. About the location is do the people there have teeth.
JimBo: Yes. Yes. This has gotta be better than the last hotel we stayed at in Missouri.
Bob: Jackson. Yeah, I think we got some hate email about that one. I’m not sure. No, man. I’m excited. We’ve got over a hundred folks who have responded to attend and we have made a lot of preparations to socially distance and keep everybody safe. And so pray for us that everyone stays safe. We’re gonna encourage replanters and encourage those who work with replanters.
And I’m super pumped about this years summit methods and models of [00:02:00] replanting, and it’s gonna be great. And I can’t wait to see you again, face to face. It’s been awhile. I’m trying to remember the last time. but, we’re gonna, have a couple of podcasts together, so pretty pumped about that.
JimBo: The last time I think we saw each other was in March, right before everything really escalated, at the AMS training, in Atlanta.
Bob: Yeah.
JimBo: Yea h , actually, if you can make it happen, there is still time to register, I believe. And you can, meet us up there.
We’d love to see you.
Bob: Absolutely.
JimBo: so one of the things that I believe we’re going to see an increased need for on the other side of all of this COVID stuff is more replanters. I believe we have already had a pretty huge need for that, but I believe a lot of churches are going to be in a position where they’re going to need a replant revitalization pastor.
So we have this survey that we worked on published through NAMB. That we hope you’ve already taken. If you haven’t, we’ll have a link in the show notes for you, or you can just go to churchreplanters.com. Click ‘Am I a Replanter?’ And then click ‘Take The Survey‘ and you can do the survey will take you about 10 minutes.
It’ll give you a whole awesome customized PDF report on there. Then on the very last page, there’s an article that you need to read that Bob wrote talking about. Okay. So you took the survey, that you have the characteristics and qualities of a Replanter, but how do you find a place to replant?
I had a phone call just this week with a guy. From all the way across the country who has planted a church and is considering being a Replanter and him and his wife were open to it being pretty much anywhere in the country. And, And so we had a long conversation about what that might look like for him.
So I know there are going to be more guys as they take the survey or whether it take the survey or not, or maybe they had to resign from it church, as we’ve talked about that even basically, and [00:04:00] now they’re looking for a place where they can lead. Not only did I have a phone call yesterday with a guy, I just had coffee with a guy today who was talking about, Hey, I am convinced that this is what I’m called to.
He took the survey and said, The survey affirmed for me that this is my calling. It showed me a couple of areas that maybe I could grow in, but it affirmed for me that this is my calling and this is what I need to do. So we talked through some options today at, having a cup of coffee. So talk us through Bob. if you didn’t have any red flags shining, you feel confident. This is your calling. If you’re married and your spouse says, yes, I affirmed this. This is where we’re going. You’ve talked with wise counselors in your life that know you. And they say, yes, I would affirm this calling in your life. How do you go about becoming an actual Replanter?
Bob: man. I would love to say that there’s this app, that’s like a tinder for replants and Replanters.
JimBo: left swipe.
Bob: Yes, but there ain’t. that’s the more, the number one questions we get is how do, how does the church we’ll ask it’s? How do I find the planters and the Replanters say, how do I find a church? So the first thing I wanted to say JimBo is, and this might especially be true for the guys that are not currently engaged in ministry, but the seminary guys who has been in the process of preparing for full time ministry, they may be in a larger church, a more contemporary church, a healthier church, A church that has some size to it.
One of the things I would want to say is confirm your call by going and serving a struggling church right now. don’t wait, do it right now. Here’s true story. I changed my major about four times in college. first I went, and, wanted to be a, like a basketball coach and education guy.
So I love science. I won first place in the state science fair. so that’s pretty awesome. And we had a [00:06:00] great basketball team. So I thought, Hey, this has been great. I want to go be a science teacher and then they have this class, your sophomore year where you go and actually visit in a high school or a second middle school.
And you actually get to sit in there and take notes while the teacher’s teaching. And JimBo, you know what that did for me, it confirmed that I was not called to be a teacher. Sorry. What am I thinking?
JimBo: Yeah. Yeah. I had a similar experience when I thought maybe I needed to be a bi-vocational pastor and a professor at a college. And I got an opportunity to do a little bit of guest teaching in a few classes in a confirm for me. I do not want to be a college professor
Bob: Yeah, there’s nothing better than finding a struggling church and taking your wife. And if you have a couple of kids and going and being part of that church right now, right? You don’t go from like the big church with all the programs and all of the, Great staff and the multiple staff and, great restrooms and great bulletins and all that kind of stuff.
That’s not an easy transition from that to a replant. So my encouragement, especially if you not connected with a local church, if you’re in seminary, even if you’re like a person who’s evaluating the call to ministry, go check out the churches in your local area. Talk to the association leader. And say where’s the churches that struggling that I need to, that I could go and just be a part of, that’d be a good number and help, and then come alongside the pastor and don’t look to preach, but just look to help that church as the lay person and serve them.
And one, the pastor will be super glad that you’re there, but two you’ll really confirm your recall.
JimBo: Yeah, I want, you could even take that a step further if the opportunities are there. You could find a church in process of revitalization or replanting and ask that [00:08:00] pastor, if you would lead you in a residency process. And even if he so listen, even if he has no idea how to we’ll do that, if he’s open to the idea, then contact us or have that pastor contact us and we can help equip him on a way to.
Kind of create a residency process for you, where you could go and experience all sorts of things at a smaller church where you would serve for a little bit children’s and youth and senior adults, whatever you get exposed to those things, there’d be a reading list and it would help you become more exposed and equipped with what replanting is.
And so you might come out on the other side of that. with a much better understanding and equipping for that. There’s a guy that we did a residency with because very qualified guy master’s degree in church planting, but he had only experienced very large churches. And so he had no idea what it was like to be [00:09:00] in a.
Under-resourced or limited, much more limited resource church where you can have a huge idea, but man, you better figure out how to off because we don’t have the budget. the people for it, everybody’s already serving in seven different ways. and so you can, can’t just go, Hey, we’ve got this great new initiative.
Let’s build team, have a budget, do it. And he did a 10 month residency with us and just answered in view of a call two weeks ago at a church revitalization and has already called me and said, Man. I’m so glad I did. Yeah. 10 month residency. Cause it helped prepare me for things already that I’m walking into.
And so there could be a great value in just getting that exposure and equipping. But if you can’t find a residency or a pastor that feels ready to do that, just being a part of that church and a good member and serving and worshiping there, and having your family there will help either confirm or let you know that you’re not supposed to be a Replanter.
Bob: Absolutely. I would say to Mark hallux, starting an online residency, there are residency programs going along. So you got 40 weeks of training. Even if the pastor can’t train you or doesn’t want to train you, or is intimidated about training, you could do your own self paced training with Mark House.
We’ll put the residency link in the show notes. And you could just go through the corporate work by yourself, or there might still be time for you to sign up because I think it was going to begin in September. So that’ll be the first thing is, go be a part of a dying and declining church right now.
Second thing that I would say is consider context. And location. So context, urban, suburban County counties seat, rural. Those are your contexts, right? So some of us are urban guys or suburban guys. So most are rural guys. And here’s what I would really say are good buddies, Matt Hensley and Kyle Beerman have written a book called, replanting rural churches.
And if you’re a rural guy, grab that book and read, and think about it. But you might ask yourself a question, where did I grow [00:11:00] up or where am I? It was one of the live, like what kind of pace of life do I want? What, where are we as a family right now? Do we have a young kids, little kids do we need a Walmart or a K-Mart or, or Popeye’s chicken?
Are we okay with just a diner? that sort of thing, you just got to know your context and then you think about geographic location, where might God send us? I would think one of the things that is typically true. Is, we tend to stay within a geographical region, Jen, of where we grew up most often.
We might move three or four States away, but it’s okay. Very rare for me just to pick up and move all the way across the country, because it’s a completely different location, a different kind of life, a different kind of attitude, all those things. It does happen. I’m not saying it doesn’t, but it often doesn’t.
And so think about that with your spouse. You’re married. Think about your history, where your family is, where they’re from. if you have kids you’re going to want to be maybe within driving distance of your grandparents, of their grandparents, of your folks, of some other relatives you want to think about holidays, all those sorts of things, or you may just think, man, I have always had a passion for, The frontier areas.
And so you think men will want to go out to Montana or Idaho or Wyoming or something like that. but let God speak into that. Do a lot of research, think about the places where you might want to go. I remember I was a youth pastor JimBo and had some connections with some guys that were, went to a larger church and knew some other guys that went to larger churches.
And so I had a pretty extensive understanding of what a large church. Youth ministry was like, particularly in the South. And so that was back in the glory days. When, you gave, pizza feeds and concerts, give bikes away and all that kind of stuff. I got a call because I had grown up in a large church, youth ministry and an intern there.
I got a call from a pastor in Anchorage, Alaska [00:13:00] who wanted us to come and interview Alaska. Okay. So I’m not a Hunter. I like to fish. those sorts of things. But I remember he sent us a book about Alaska and we look at Barb and I started looking through that book and I remember very clearly, Barbara said, I am not moving to Alaska.
So guess what? We didn’t move to Alaska. But context is important. So you gotta think about that.
JimBo: Yeah, my wife said she wanted to be in any state in the Southeast, other than Florida
Bob: And look at you now.
JimBo: here we are for Liberty ans. okay. So one of the things I think it would be helpful when you, if you haven’t taken a survey already, when you take the survey. the very last question that we have on there says, is there anything else you would like us to know? it’s an optional one. You don’t have to fill it out, but if you have a particular context that you’re going to just ask whatever questions you have there.
You could say. Are there any Replants or who would I say, who would I talk to about finding a replant in st. Louis, Missouri, and if that’s where you want to be. And if you’ll put that in there, when we see that I’ll do everything I can to connect you to the right people. Now, I don’t know what replant opportunities are out there all across the country, but between me and Bob and others on the neon replant team, we can.
Probably connects you to the right denominational work. That’s going to know what opportunities are out there for you. And so if you can put that in there on that final question or anything like that you want help connecting with the right people, then I can’t promise you anything, but we can gladly try to help connect you with the right people.
Bob: That’s a great segue to the next point, JimBo with, if you’re looking for a replant, you [00:15:00] need to connect with local partners. So you’ve identified the context. Maybe you discerned the locale. There are so associational leaders, state, convention leaders, even some seminary professors, folks that are in particular locations that’s really key for you.
So nobody knows better what churches are in need of pastors and Replanters than the associational missional strategist. And so if you can get in contact with them and you can reach out, there’s some ways to do that. but find the association leaders, one of the easiest things you might just go to the state convention and the state that you’re considering, and you might contact the revitalization leader and simply say, Hey, I know you have connections across the state, or maybe there’s several regional guys that work with the state.
And you simply say, are there some churches in this particular area of your state, or if you get in [00:16:00] contact with the association, Hey association leader. Are there any churches in your local association that need to be replanted? They’ll absolutely have some in mind. I guarantee it. The great thing is if you’ve taken this survey and you’re able to share that with them, they’re able to understand and see where your strong areas are and where areas of growth are.
And in many ways, in many times we’ve worked with these guys to help them understand how to have a think about. Helping Replanters acclimate to a new position. We’ve equipped them to work with the local church to get it set up for a week planter. And so we’ve got a lot of partners across all of North America and even some into Canada who understand what replanting is more so than when I was replanting.
So I’m super pumped. So the good news is, we can help you make some connections. Now that connection is an introduction. It’s not a placement. And so you still have to understand that this is an opportunity for you to [00:17:00] introduce yourself to the association leader or the state convention leader, and begin a longer conversation.
And, I think if you can do that and connect with local partners, that’s really gonna help you.
JimBo: Yeah, I think one of the hardest parts about trying to find your way into a replant. Where it really vary so differently from being a church planter and feeling called to plant a church. If I feel called to plant a church in a particular community, man, I can literally start today. if I feel called to plant a church in st.
Louis, Missouri, and I live in st. Louis, Missouri, like you, then it’s as simple, as far as starting today as. Starting to prayer walk, go in and meet and people sharing the gospel, starting a small group and seeing where God takes it. But I know for me, We felt called to replant. We didn’t know that word yet, but we knew we, my wife and I both [00:18:00] felt affirmed that God was calling us to go to a dying church in an urban area, in a transitioning community.
And. It be under the foster care of a larger church for a season and see God do mighty things through the gospel. That’s what we knew. We knew that clearly that’s what God was calling us to, but Bob, it was over a year. Before we were given that opportunity and I put my resume. I didn’t put my resume out for a while.
I really just wanted God to give it to me on a silver platter. And for me not to put my resume out and I didn’t.
Bob: mysterious phone call or email. Hey. Yeah.
JimBo: Honestly, I didn’t, here’s what it was. I did not want the opportunity to make the wrong choice. I didn’t, I did not want, I want to choose to go to the wrong church. I wanted it to be abundantly clear that God was calling us there.
And in my [00:19:00] mind, that was the way to do it was just to pray and ask God to just deliver it. And for some people that may happen. But it did not happen for us. And so some mentors and people who love me, challenged me and said, Hey, I, we affirm that God is putting this calling on your life. We think you need to take the step of faith of putting your resume out there and seeing what happens.
Now, some people may feel differently about that. I know people who feel like you should never put your resume out, and I know people who feel like you should always put your resume out. and so wherever you feel on your conscience, you follow what the Holy spirit is telling you to do, but we felt called to put our resume out.
And so I literally just sent my resume to the state convention. A very Southeast state and even some outside of the Southeast. Cause I did ask my wife, how do you feel about that? She was not real comfortable getting outside of the Southeast. because of, culturally you get outside of the Southeast, it’s just a different culture and both of us grew up in the Southeast [00:20:00] and we just didn’t know what that would mean.
we did put some feelers out there and some other States as well, and I did it. I get a lot of kind of random calls from random churches. But none of them were specifically what we knew. God was calling us to, into an urban context with transitioning church. And honestly, Bob here’s one of the things that I dealt with was I wanted to control it.
And finally I felt. Like I just needed to release it and I just needed to forget it and just let God do what he is going to do. And so I let go, and it was a couple of months later that I got a phone call from Hybris about his church in Fleming Island. And they described exactly what we knew God was calling us to and in an urban area, transitioning community, we would be fostered by them.
And so we came down and man. Through a whole long story. I could tell you, God just confirmed that this is exactly where he was calling us. [00:21:00] And I’m so glad that he confirmed it in that way, because when it was very difficult, it was good to know that this is where God called us, but you gotta be patient because this is not probably going to be a quick process.
Bob: Yeah, you’re right. That’s the last point. And you just got to commit to patiently wait and prayerfully, wait, your story, the way you told it is one that I see over and over again is people who are pursuing a good thing and desiring a good thing. And wanting that to be delivered to them bright now.
And if you look at how God prepares somebody for ministry, there’s usually a desert or wilderness or preparation process, Moses went to the desert, Jesus apprenticed in wood shop, there’s this preparation that takes place, Timothy traveled with Paul for awhile, And You’ve just got to understand that the waiting time is not wasted time.
And so here’s what I would [00:22:00] say to the person who is waiting to find that next ministry location, particularly that replant do everything you can do to get yourself healthy, physically, mentally, spiritually relationally, and make sure that’s solid because he’s a, we know that you and I both know. Is just the first three years of replant will attack you on each of those dimensions. Like you are going to get nailed, right? You’re going to get nailed. You’re going to gain weight. Your marriage is going to be strained. You’re going to think that you’ve made the worst mistake of your life. You’re going to be stressed and depressed and all those sorts of things. So this is it’s like training for a tough Mudder.
Alright. That never ends that’s you gotta be in shape, bro. Like you and your everybody’s gotta be in shape and you gotta be clear and ready to roll and it’s going to be a long slog. So I just want to tell you, don’t waste your [00:23:00] waiting time. And enjoy it and then particularly enjoy this enjoy every Saturday night that you just have.
Free without that sermon hanging over you and then all of the responsibilities of Sunday, and then Monday coming back around and you realize that Monday that you got to ride in another sermon and you got to lead for another week at the church. Cause that’s a grind. And so don’t despise your downtime, your waiting time.
You use it to be prepared, prepare in every way possible that you can. And then just realize, I think like you did. You guys had a pretty clear picture about what you felt the Lord was calling you to, and here’s the reality that church wasn’t ready for you when you were ready to be a Replanter. And so that’s your, God’s doing a work on that church and he’s doing a work in you. And then when it’s the right time he brings you together. And I know that no, that sounds super spiritual in a sentence kind of mystical and all of those sorts of things, but it’s really true. and you just got to trust in the sovereignty of God and that he’s faithful.
And he’s gonna, he’s going to take you where he wants you to go and start. I just wanna encourage you read planner. If you’re out there, just struggling can think of man nobody’s ever going to call. I’m just resting in God’s timing in that and trust him in that. And I guarantee it he’s going to be faithful to you.
JimBo: excellent. Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this episode. Do us a favor. If you did go to whatever service you listen to this on and leave us a review that helps us get the word out and let other people know. that we have this podcast and like it, share it on your social media, help us get the word out.
Also let us know what questions you have. We’d love to make sure that we’re answering the questions you want answered. Maybe even bring you onto the podcast with us. Hope you guys have a great day. See you again soon.
Episode #6 - Preparing for The Call to Replant - Boots on The Ground Highlight w/ Evan Skelton
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The guys welcomed Replant Pastor Evan Skelton to the Bootcamp to talk about preparing for the call to Replant a local church, Replant Residencies and failed Youth Internships. Buckle up, grab a snack and settle in for this slightly longer (than usual) but super important episode.
