Church Planter or Pastor?

So when does a church planter turn into a pastor?

This weekend we traveled to the Springfield area for one last motorcycle trip before the weather turns cold. We rode into Arkansas on Saturday and ended up in Ozark, Missouri for the night. I wanted to attend church on Sunday, so prior to the trip I looked up a church planter’s website for Springfield to see if there was a new church that we could attend. There happened to be a church adjacent to the hotel that was listed as a new church on the church planter’s website. So that was the church we attended.

The service was good, the music was good, the preaching was good and there were a significantly higher percentage of friendly people at the service as compared to a ‘normal’ church. This church has been in existence for three years, they have their own building, two services on Sundays and they are in the process of paying off a loan for land they are planning on moving to someday. Since I am thinking that someday I will be planting a church, I noticed many things that I liked about the church that I liked and I have filed them away in memory

Is this a new church? I guess the answer would be yes if you count it in years. But this church is mature in what they do. They are apparently healthy and progressing as a church. They did not seem to be in survival mode at all, they looked prosperous. I say the leader of the church as moved from being a church planter to being a pastor. It appears the listing of this pastor as a church planter on the church planting website represents a much broader definition of what a church planter than I hold. A few reasons could be the website that does not get updated or the owners of the website like to have as many church planters listed as possible. In any case, I would like to understand their definition of a church planter. Is it someone who has planted a church sometime in his life? Or is there an expiration date for church planters, a time when they turn into pastors. Is this false advertising on the part of the church planter’s website?

Dexter and His New Motorcycle

Yesterday I found out about a friend from my previous church who was involved in a motorcycle accident. Dexter was traveling on his new Honda Goldwing with his wife. They were on a four lane road when the tire blew out on a SUV that was nearby. The driver of the SUV lost control and swerved into Dexter. They both ended up in the median of the highway. The driver of the SUV died at the site after being ejected from the vehicle. Dexter and Susie survived the accident and were life flighted to the hospital in KC.

My first thoughts were thankfulness to God for sparing the life of my friends. Dexter is still in the hospital and Suzie has gone home after a week in the hospital. They will have a long recovery ahead of them. It is interesting that in this case those doing the dangerous act of riding a motorcycle survived the accident when the driver of the SUV died. Another thought is the randomness of this event. If there is any fault, which will be difficult to justify, it is to the woman or whoever was responsible for the maintenance of the SUV. Possibly the tire blowout could have been prevented by checking the condition of the tire, but maybe not.

Another thought, which is minor compared to the life and death issues already discussed, is the loss of a dream. Dexter and Susie just purchased this motorcycle. Based on this bike being one of the best touring bikes available, I assume they were planning on taking the bike on long trips. This dream was lost when that tire failed. I mourn the loss of this dream. As people get older, the possibility to achieve a dream diminishes, sometimes to the point of impossibility. Is this a case of another dead dream?

This is a story of contrast. I mourn for the lost of the driver, of the dream of touring the country on a motorcycle, but I thank God for the preservation of my friend’s life.