Northwood/Global Faith Forum Recap

Well, the goal was to write a post every evening after the day’s events were over, but by the time we got back to the hotel room and regained some form of a functioning brain, we were too tired to try to recap. So, for the sake of tiredness and not wanting to bore you with unnecessary detail, I will just mention some of the highlights of the remainder of our time in TX.

1- Met Al Weiss, current president of Walt Disney Parks (including those in other countries). What’s the connection to Al Weiss? He works with Vision 360 on the financial and development side of things. His father was a pastor/church planter and because of that he has two passions in life 1- Disney and 2- Church Planting. This guy is crazy busy and crazy smart, but he took several minutes to talk with each of us church planting couples.

2- Heard from Prince Turki, the youngest son of the deceased King Faisel of Saudi Arabia. He has become a personal friend of Pastor Bob Roberts and he too has a desire to see people of different faiths come together for the common good of humanity. He also extended an invitation to the congregation and us as church planters to visit Saudi Arabia to continue a cooperative movement among different faiths.

3- Heard from Vietnamese Ambassador to the U.S. To be honest, I couldn’t understand much of what he said, but he was there with several other Vietnamese dignitaries also promoting religious cooperation. He too is personal friends with Pastor Bob Roberts. The Northwood Church has been working with the Vietnamese government for 14 years now helping them with any and all areas of need and also hosting kids of Vietnamese dignitaries as exchange students.

4- Ate dinner and had a great discussion with Ray Bakke- Without knowing exactly what he was doing, David somehow got himself into a situation where he and I were eating dinner with Ray Bakke and had him all to ourselves. Ray is a well-known missiologist in the Christian community and has pioneered something called Theology of the City. When he was young, he and his wife moved to a poverty-stricken neighborhood in Chicago for the purpose of reaching the community. I could go into a lot more detail, but just know that this guy has done and helps others do exactly what David and I hope to do- not so much about moving into the poverty-stricken neighborhood. I haven’t felt that call yet, although I don’t put anything past God. But he referred us to an organization called Christian Community Development Association. This is going to be a huge resource for us as we move forward.

5- David’s parents decided to fly in on Saturday to be able to attend the Sunday service at Northwood in which we were commissioned as church planters in front of the Prince of Saudi Arabia and the Vietnamese Ambassador. Pretty cool, huh?

All in all it was a great week and we are so thankful to have had this experience.

Lindsey

Worst Blog Ever!!!

So, I feel like this is turning out to be the worst blog ever and I'm so sorry to all of you who have been checking in on it regularly! I still have a few posts that need to go up from TX which was... ummm... three weeks ago? Seriously pathetic, I know.

I have been so busy lately with all kinds of preparations for baby, finishing up year end photography stuff, starting a new SW position in Columbia, getting ready for Christmas, and then of course all of the regular every day life stuff like grocery shopping, keeping a house clean, etc. I'm not trying to make excuses. I just want you to know where my brain has been.

David has been busy doing what he does... meeting with people, networking, phone calls, emails, helping put together the millions of baby contraptions that we have received : ) Thank you for all of the thoughtful gifts! I think we are more than ready for Emerson to arrive (in terms of equipment that is, not physically, spiritually, emotionally, mentally, or financially : ).

Lately, David and I have both been reading a book called, A Theology As Big As The City by Ray Bakke. This is a gentleman that we had the privelege of eating dinner with one-on-one while we were in TX. God made a serious connection for us when we ate dinner with this guy. He has been doing and continues to do exactly what we hope to do. What do we hope to do you might be wondering... well in a nutshell: We hope to establish a group of people who love Christ personally and passionately and from the overflow of Christ's love comes a love for the city of Columbia in such a way that spiritually transforms people and socially transforms places. This book puts to words things that have been in our hearts and minds. I would highly recommend getting this book and reading through it. OR you can subscribe to his podcasts if you aren't the reading type and would prefer audio.

Happy Friday! We will try to be better about updating this blog!

Lindsey

Day 2 of Modular Training Part 2

Phew! Another day of hearing from some incredible minds and discussing ideas and dreams with other church planters. Personally, I am exhausted and I'm not sure I can go much longer sitting in chairs that clearly weren't made for pregnant people, but it has been worth it! We were up early again this morning and head deep in note taking by about 8:30 a.m. Pastor Bob Roberts shared with us again this morning, this time on the topic of "The Church that Changes Communities." David and I loved this lecture because that is exactly what we want to be. The last thing Columbia, SC needs is another church building that fills itself with white, middle-upper class Christians for two hours every Sunday to do the church thing. We desperately desire to establish a group of people, Christians and non-Christians who are genuinely and primarily concerned with the state of the community we live in. In fact, it might be more appropriate to say that we want to become community developers. Anyways, we loved this lecture.

The remainder of the day was spent hearing from a guy by the name of Todd MicMichen. Todd is a consultant for churches in crisis, but he is also a church planter and currently the lead pastor of The People's Church in Birmingham, AL. Side note- I love Birmingham - end side note. This man is incredibly gifted in decision-making and directing. He is very strategic and pragmatic. We loved hearing from him. David and I are praying that God will connect us with someone with his kind of decisiveness and pragmatism in Columbia as we continue to develop our vision and strategy for this church plant. We could really use this kind of giftedness.

After this, we did a few activities that involved each individual person developing a one page summary of what our church plant will look like in 3 years if everything goes perfectly. David and I presented separately and got some really great and affirming feedback from the group about our strategy. Little did we know that this was actually Northwood's way of having us present our Prospectuses? Prospecti? We had been dreading what we thought was going to be a formal presentation of our Church Planting Prospectus and it turned out to be a 3 minute explanation of a 10 minute sketch... ha!

At the end of the day, we all headed out to dinner at a local restaurant to unwind and relax... no church planting talk!

Day 1 of Modular Training Part 2

The church planting training is broken up into two sections- Modular Training Part 1, which David attended in August, and Modular Training Part 2 which is what we attended today (Tues., Nov. 9th) and will attend Wednesday and Thursday as well.

We loaded up the van this morning along with our 5 new Australian friends... I just love their accents! They all work together at an established church in Melbourne and are looking at leading their church in an effort to begin planting churches both in Australia and other nations- possibly the Philippines or India.

At Northwood, there were about 20-25 of us (church planters or Northwood staff) gathered in a room together for about eight hours of training and discussion. Northwood Pastor, Bob Roberts, started off talking with us about "Starting Right." Basically talking about being a church that focuses on a Sunday event vs. being a church that focuses on transformation of people, cities, and countries. We want to be the latter. He encouraged us as church planters to think of ourselves as community developers instead of church planters. He was fascinating to listen to... totally a unique Christian. He has alot on his plate this week as he prepares for the Global Faith Forum that is taking place over the weekend. Go to the website to learn more about it.

The remainder of the training we discussed small groups that take place in homes, otherwise know as discipleship groups, home groups, cell groups, etc. David and I have both been huge believers in the power and purpose of "small group" meetings and are definitely wanting to see this done, and done well, in the church. After the discussion on small groups, we heard from a guy by the name of Todd McMichen. He talked with us about stewardship and the financial piece of church planting. He was another dynamic and informative speaker. What I liked most about him though was that he lives in Birmingham, AL! He is the pastor of a church plant there called The People's Church at Oak Mountain. Oh how I love Birmingham!!! Finally, after a day of soaking up information, they put us to work with something called Wild Works. This is a series of small group activities centered on brainstorming, problem-solving, and vision-casting. At the end of it all, each person had to take 15 minutes to draw or write out how their church plant would look in three years if everything was perfect and then present it to the group. David and I did ours independent of each other and we both got some great feedback and affirmation from the group. Thankfully, we both had a very similar vision! After this, everyone's brains were fried and stomachs were hungry. So, we went to a fabulous Mexican restaurant to solve one of the problems : ) So far, I think the best part has been being with and talking with other people who are in the same boat as us. It's nice to know that there are other crazy couples who are also raising support, starting families, moving to new cities, and trusting God. It's nice to not feel alone.

Lindsey

Trip To Texas

We've mentioned before about a church called Northwood in Keller, TX. Well, these next few posts you will be getting an earful about them because we have just spent a week in Keller, TX for Part 2 of a church planting training as well as an incredible once in a lifetime event called the Global Faith Forum. We didn't post much about the training and forum leading up to it because we didn't want "weird people" knowing we were going to be out of town for a week. We tried to write a blog post after each day so that the day's events would be fresh in our mind.

Monday was mainly a travel day for us. We left Columbia around 8:30. Dropped our Sugar Baby off at a new kennel for the week and drove up to Charlotte to catch our flight. We have really been looking forward to this trip not just for the training and Global Faith Forum that we would be attending, but also looking at this like our "babymoon" or last little travel adventure for awhile anyways. Of course we would've loved to revisit our honeymoon site of Cancun, Mexico and Hotel Le Blanc but I suppose that will just have to wait.

I have to tell you one story from our flight that day. David and I had just boarded the plane- last I might say because we didn't hear our zones being called, and we sat down in our window and middle seats. There was a woman seated on the aisle seat of our row. David, in a very loud and unfiltered manner says, "What is that smell? It smells like popcorn and butt." What a combination, huh? Disgusting, I know, but that was his description of this smell. As the word "butt" was coming out of his mouth he turns his head and realizes that the lady next to us has just pulled out a small bag of popcorn from her purse. Awesome. Well, I start laughing uncontrollably which leads to tears streaming down my face which then leads to me having to cross my legs tightly so as not to spill my bladder. Its the strangest thing, in the past couple of months of being pregnant I cannot even moderately laugh without crying and then of course their is the bladder issue. So, David is now laughing uncontrollably at me in my ridiculous state and he is crying and we are just a mess. We just can't go anywhere together anymore without causing a scene.

Three hours later we land at DFW airport and Brian Hook of Vision 360 and Northwood is waiting to pick us up to take us to the church. David and Brian have been communicating for some time now and he has been a major source of encouragement and guidance for David. I was glad to finally meet him. He took us to the church where he entrusted to David a 15 passenger van that David was put in charge of to help transport people between the airport, hotel, and church. We also learned that a group of 5 church planters from Australia would be staying at the same hotel as us and we would be transporting them back in forth. David met 3 of them at the Part 1 training and really enjoyed them.

After that, David and I headed over to our hotel for dinner and sleep since we knew it was going to be a busy week ahead.

Mother Teresa and Pumpkin Carving

So far, we've mainly been sharing with you the "serious" and formal side of church planting- the planning, brainstorming, the Prospectus, etc. Well, there is this whole other side of church planting that we have been simultaneously engaging in and yet not sharing with you... apologies!

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS!

One thing David and I are hearing over and over again is, "get out there and meet people." Well, for those of you who don't know, David and I have been living in a very small town for the past three years with a limited number of people our age or people we have anything in common with. God blessed us with a few couples and individuals who we were able to enjoy friendships with (and continue to enjoy friendships with) but most of them were either older than us with children or younger than us- high school and college. Moving to Columbia and getting involved with Crossroads has been alittle bit overwhelming to say the least because of the sheer number of couples and individuals our age who are in the same phase of life as us and enjoy doing alot of the things we enjoy doing. We had to pull our social skills back out and stop being hermits really quickly! It has been an incredible answer to prayer and we have met some amazing people.

Our mentor, John Reeves, talked with us a few weeks ago about setting goals to meet a certain number of new people each week. The purpose being to start new friendships, but to also potentially find people who share passions, desires, and skills that match and complement ours and who would be interested in helping us start this church. For anyone who knows David, you know that this charge is no problem for him. I think his goal for last week was to meet 10 people (I don't just mean introduce yourself, but actually have a genuine conversation and get to know a person). I'm pretty sure he hit this number and then some. For me, this kind of a task is alittle bit more difficult. I'm just not as outgoing and friendly as he is and it takes much more of an effort on my part. But, I am doing it and I am so thankful for the results!

Just last week, David met with people in a cigar store (yes, he is in heaven with a cigar store down the road and the excuse that he has to go there to meet people) and he went to a new men's small group. Friday night, I organized for some couples to come over for a chili and pumpkin carving party (pumpkin carving is an annual Pace tradition). Sunday we met with a group of people who are affiliated with a local church called Radius for a work day in a run down apartment complex. We were there from about 10-3 doing things like planting flowers, patching holes in walls, fixing windows, and making a big lunch/feast. It was really cool to be a part of this. It is something they do twice a month instead of attending a church service. It was obvious that they have already made a huge difference in the community. We also met a modern day Mother Teresa. She introduced herself as the oldest living virgin- ha! She is a feisty, single lady who has invested years into the community and eventually developed a non-profit after school program for the children there. She also has a story identical to the family portrayed in the movie the Blind Side. Sunday night we attended a small group that is affiliated with Crossroads and afterwards I headed out to a late night dinner with another couple while David went to meet with several guys who are definitely expressing interest in doing some of the same things we are interested in doing. Who knows where God will take it, but he is definitely bringing some BIG coincidences into our path lately.

We have been overwhelmed, humbled and just overjoyed by the people we have been meeting and the different opportunities/connections that have come our way. So, I just wanted to share this really fun and exciting side of our life with you since we have been sharing the more daunting, a serious part with you lately.

Here are some pictures from our Chili and Pumpkin Carving Party. I didn't get pics of everyone that was there : ( I'll do better next time.

-Lindsey

unimpressive looking

much more impressive : ) Tiger, a gargoyle thing, ET, and Lightning McQueen

Values

As stated in an earlier post we are working on a Prospectus, which is pretty much a fancy way of saying “coming up with a plan.” One of the first things we’ve been instructed to do is understand our core values. In other words, what are our main beliefs or convictions that determine our behaviors? What is something we would die for? What carries us and gives us energy? We have been discovering these values by really reflecting on our lives- the ups and downs, patterns, strengths, weaknesses and everything in between. The idea is that once we start to understand our own core values we can then establish the core values for the church we will plant. Then we start asking questions like, “what is going to drive our church plant decision making (i.e.: how we spend our money, time and resources)? What issues will we put less emphasis on and what issues will we stand in front of the masses to defend?”

After much soul searching and tweeking, Lindsey and I have established what we believe are our core values and we would like to share them with you. We have been hesitant to post these because it opens us up to being criticized or disagreed with. Some of you might love them and some of you might hate them. We understand that and embrace the fact that not everyone including family members are going to like our core values. On a side note, I would like to encourage everyone to try and figure out what yours core values are. It was at first a really daunting task, but knowing our values definitely helps us to prioritize and be more intentional with our time, words, relationships, etc. Ok, without any further a due:

Our Core Values

Christ-Centered: We desire to make all of our decisions, motivations, and efforts centered in Christ.

One Church: We are only a small part of a global group of Christ-followers and we work alongside any church that is centered in Christ.

Faith Living: We strive to live not by the standards and securities of this world, but by the
standards and securities of Christ.

Christian Community: We encourage Christians to be in relationship with one another for worship, spiritual growth and accountability.

Serve All People: We make no distinction about who we serve and love.

Repeat: We plant churches that develop groups of believers locally, regionally, and globally.

Let me try to break these down for you. Number one is simple and strong- we do everything because, as Christians, we believe Christ should be the center of our lives. Lindsey and I use this language a lot in our own prayers. “Father, be the center of our finances. Be the center of our marriage. Be the center of our hopes and desires.” This is also the value where the Bible comes into play for us although it is not directly mentioned. We believe that the truths that the Bible reveals is what leads a person to a Christ-Centered life. No one can be Christ-Centered without interacting with the Bible. Now, when I mention Bible, I do not want you to think physical book. I want you to think of the biblical truths it contains. Why? Because there are thousands upon thousands of Christians around the world who do not have copies of the Bible. They might have several torn out pages or they might have none at all. BUT, someone has taken the time to share with them biblical truths and those truths are what are leading them to live for Christ in the midst of persecution and hardship.

The second value- One Church may be a different concept to some and a given to others. Coming out of the Baptist world, this has taken some time to get used to because Baptists often build churches that do their own thing and sadly compete with one another and begin to be inward focused and not outward focused. In order to make sure this does not happen to us we plan on partnering with any Christ-Centered church that wants to partner with us. One of the many things we love about Columbia Crossroads (CC) is that there are four other churches meeting and growing out of there buildings right now. These four other churches have no affiliation with CC except the fact that CC lets them use there building. CC is about the kingdom growth not the growth of their own individual church and they are willing to share and at times be inconvenienced to see kingdom growth. So for us the One Church value is big and we are willing to be inconvenienced or suffer for it.

So how will we define who is Christ-Centered church and who is not? With all the doctrinal disputes and styles how do you know? Simple, I have three tests: 1) Is Jesus the Son of God who came in flesh fully man and fully God and died on a cross and three days later rose from the dead? Will He return one day in the flesh? 2) Do they allow the Bible to have authority in the life of their church and individual members? 3) Are they on mission outside of their church walls? If the answer to all three is “yes,” then lets play ball. On all the other little things we can just agree to disagree. I couldn’t care less if you want to sprinkle infants or not, if the Lord’s Supper is more important than the sermon, if you read from a book of prayer every week or lift your hands and stare at screens. All I want to do is love Jesus and partner with anyone else who loves Jesus and wants to see His glory made known.

The third value- Faith Living. I must confess that I really dislike this one. You see, I’d really like to live on fast track to the American dream- have a nice full bank account, drive nice cars that run all the time and don’t have weird paint jobs, live in a nice neighborhood all safe and comfortable. There is only one problem with this. The bible shows us living in quite the opposite way. Jesus certainly did not live like that- safe and comfortable. So, instead of chasing the American dream we are going to chase faith in hopes that we spend our lives for Christ glory and live for the good of others not for the good of ourselves. This might mean that we turn down really good jobs that pay really well, but keep us from being able to serve Christ (which Lindsey has done twice now). This might mean that we move to a place we are not thrilled about or is dangerous because we are trying to be obedient to God. This might mean that we attempt to do things that would be considered humanly impossible because we know that with God, all things are possible. It will mean different things for everyone.

The fourth value- Christian Community. This might be the easiest or the most familiar of all of our values because most churches are already doing this one- or at least trying to. One aspect of Christian Community that I want to really touch on is accountability. We have to start holding each other accountable and I believe this only happens when true Christ followers come together and choose to share there lives with each other- small groups. Jesus did not go after the masses every Sunday. Instead, he choose to invest in a small group of men. Small groups that foster transparent relationships are where real Christian life happens.

The fifth value- Serve All People. We make no distinction about who we serve and love. We will be a church that serves and loves all different walks of life- we will not be selective. We cannot be selective. Christ was not selective. The gospel and the love of Christ is for all people. We will serve Muslims and fat people, small people, black people, undocumented workers, poor people, rich people, people who are gay, people out of prison, people who hate us, people who love us, people who want to blow us up, people with addictions and diseases, people who think Christians are stupid and weak- minded, people who love Jesus, people who want to build a mosque inches away from the twin towers site. WE WANT TO MAKE THIS CLEAR!! WE WILL DO OUR BEST TO SERVE AND LOVE ALL PEOPLE!!! We serve because we are converted. We do not serve to convert. So, if anyone comes to use needing something that we have to give or share, we will do our best to give it regardless of how they will respond. I believe that for too long the church has been overly focused on the outcome of service rather than on the service itself.

The sixth value- Repeat. Last but not least is the idea that this whole thing, this whole model of reaching the world, has to repeat itself. If someone cannot do it again then it is not worth doing in the first place. Hopefully, every three years we will be able to plant a new body of believers either in a new area or even within the same city. It’s not going to be about getting a huge crowd to come to one church on Sunday morning. It’s going to be about growing the kingdom of God and we believe that this will take multiple church sites and groups of believers.

So, these are our values and now with these values we are establishing our purpose, which we will be sharing with you next after some more thought and prayer. If you have made it all the way to the bottom, thanks so much for taking the time to read this and keep up with us. Feel free to leave a comment or send an email letting us know what you think.

-David (edited by Lindsey)

Confessions of a Church Planter – I Trust In Money More Than Christ

When I started thinking about doing this blog, a couple thoughts came to mind more than anything, “Don’t wear a church mask. Don’t fake it. Be as transparent as possible and then even a little more.” In thought this is easy, but when life brings tough stuff my way, it becomes much more difficult to actually do. Truth be told, I worry about people liking me more than I trust Jesus to use my shortcomings to inspire others and create paths for reconciliation to Him. I have tried to be someone who is an open book, but make no mistake about it, I am always careful about which chapter I let people read. If I am going to be faithful I need to let you read a chapter in my life that I wish was not there.

Before I go any further unpacking an event that happened a few evenings ago, I want to say how wonderful my wife is. She is an amazing woman of God. Not only does she seek Jesus with everything she has, but she puts up with me when I am at my worst. I always tell young couples that you actually say “I do” three years into marriage. The wedding service and “I do” at the altar is just practice for a coming event that will be a lot more stressful than any wedding event and making sure everyone is there on time and sober and dressed to impress (but not looking better then the bride J). Well my wife recently had one of those nights when she had to recall saying “I do” to me.

So what happened? Well it has everything to do with money. I don’t know about you, but money makes me feel safe. When I have it it seems like life is a lot easier. As a church planting intern money is tight. We knew it would be, but it really is difficult to live within a tight budget. Now before I go any further, I must confess that we have it good compared to some church planters. I know this, but for some odd reason I can’t get it through my thick head and live contently with what we have. The bible says in Hebrews 13:5, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
"Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you."^{[a] 6}So we say with confidence,
"The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?"^[b]”

The crazy part about this text is that I preached it two Sunday’s ago. You can listen to my sermon by following the link. It is entitled Love Never Quits. Ok, back to the story at hand. How do you know if you love money? Well, I figured that out by looking at what love is according to 1 Corinthians.

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

My Confession:

I am not patient when I don’t have money.

I am not kind when a conversation about money comes and I am faced with the fact that most of the time we spend more than we have.

I do envy everyone who has money (even if I don’t envy their lives).

I like to boast in the things I have that money has purchased.

I am extremely rude and childish when discussing money stuff.

I am too proud to say that I am scared if I don’t have money.

I want to spend money on what I want to spend it on… screw everyone else.

I am very easily angered when it comes to discussions about money and how we will spend it.

I remember wrongs especially when it involves money.

I delight myself in the day dreaming of what life would be like if I had a money tree in my back yard.

I think money protects me,

I trust in a bottom line of a financial statement more than I do in the Cross of Christ. Money gives me hope that if I have it, I can be happy all the time (as if that is even real).

With money, I think I could persevere anything the world throws at me.

As you can see the love of Christ is missing or disappears when the love of money takes over. I guess I need to take “In God We Trust” off my dollars and put “In Money I Trust” on every cross that I have. E. Stanley Jones says that there are two ways to be rich, 1- in the abundance of your possessions or 2- in the fewness of your wants.

Here is the scary part in all this… I can see my sin!!! Most of the time I don’t really notice it. I know its there, but it isn’t hitting me right between the eyes on a regular basis. Well this money thing hit me right between the eyes and it is ugly to see, especially when it hurts the people I love. As a church planter money is not something we have a lot of and this whole idea of budgeting and being tight with money has shined a huge beam of light onto my sin.

Here is the play-by-play event that happened recently. We are going to a church planting training in Texas in November which will cost quite a bit given that we have to get a hotel, plane tickets, food, and the course itself. In other words we are going to have to make some sacrifices to do something that we feel is very important and what God would want us to do. The hotel alone is going to run us about $550. So, Lindsey and I started discussing our choices about where to stay, what to eat and guess what… I acted like a jerk, blew up like a blow fish on speed and took my frustration, fear, anger, worries out on my wife as if it is her fault that we don’t have a bunch of money and can’t do exactly what I want to do or what is most convenient.

To be a Christian is to die to self and live for Christ and for others. Well, I thought I had died to myself, but apparently not in all areas. I should be trusting in the fact that where God leads, He provides. Instead I got angry and yes, I yelled as if that would help. Now I am a person who is trying to plant a church to show the world the love of Christ and I am yelling at my wife who is 6 months pregnant. Something is not right here. Something needs to change and must. So tonight I share all this with you to ask you to pray this simple prayer for me so that I will look more like Him and not like a person who is controlled by money and the things of this world.

“Father, I come to you in the name of Jesus Christ, Your son, and according to James 1:5 I am seeking wisdom for David Pace and his love of money.”

As much as I hated sharing that with you it does give me the chance to say God forgives. Nothing I can do will make him stop loving me and trying to mold me, and I thank God that my wife tries to do the same. In a way I am glad God pointed my money issue out to me. Now I just pray that over time you will be able to see the work of God in this area of my life and in turn that it can possibly create a path for you to follow it to the foot of the cross.

Something tells me I am not the only one out there who struggles with money stuff. I pray that somehow me being open will help you better understand your husband or wife. I pray that together we can overcome this American dream culture and truly put our trust in Christ and not money and the things it provides. Please send me an email or comment on the blog if this post has somehow helped you or moved you to pray for us.

David (edited by Lindsey)

A Walk on the Beach- How This All Started

There is a stretch of beach on the coast of North Carolina that always leads me to the cross. And like so many other times in my life, this morning I find it playing a huge role, and serving as a source of comfort in the midst of these crazy days. That stretch of beach is the last little outcropping of Caswell Beach, NC, otherwise known as Caswell. It’s truly holy ground and I have been to the Holy Land and stood in the most important places of the Bible. But for me and my relationship with God there is nowhere I feel closer to God than when I step on the ground of Caswell. This particular morning was no different.
As I walked from the beach entrance all the way to the conference center it was as if I were home again. With Bald Head Island in the distance, seagulls flying in the clear blue slightly cloudy sky and sand between my toes, you could not wipe the smile off my face. To end the walk, I went up to Vespers. Now for those of you who don’t know about Vespers, you are missing out. It has to be the single most perfect place on earth. Those who know about it, know what I am talking about, and those who don’t, well I am truly sorry. As I sat down on top of Vespers underneath a huge cross I found myself asking a question I never would have imagined asking, “What city do I feel God is leading Lindsey and me to plant in?” What a crazy question!!! I mean really, put yourself in my shoes and think about it for a minute. I am trying to listen to God for clarity about what city He would like me to go to and start a family of believers. I couldn’t help pondering how I came to this point, and I thought you all might be interested in knowing as well.
A couple of months ago I was working at a church in Lancaster, SC – something was just not right. I love the people there so much so I won’t go into details, but just know that there were three senior pastors in three years. They just came and went. As I sat in my office wrestling with some things and trying to figure out the church, I stumbled upon an article online titled, “We don’t do weekends” by Bob Roberts. It was like a magical door was opening for me. I found myself feeling a small sense of restored energy with a future that did not look so bleak. It was only a few clicks of the mouse before the link took me to a church in Texas called Northwood.
After listening to their sermons for a couple of weeks, I found myself on Bob Roberts’ blog where I ordered a book he wrote titled Transformation. Once again I found myself saying, “This is what I have always been thinking. Who is this guy and why is he doing what I have only dreamt of?” I found on his website a link for church planters. Under that link there is a free assessment tool to see if you would be a good church planter, so jokingly I took it. I had never thought about planting a church because I have a huge learning disability (which I am sure I will blog about later), but for some odd reason I took the free assessment and I got a green light to take a $79 assessment. This one was much more in-depth and required some work. So Lindsey and I talked about it and decided why not. After taking it, we learned that we scored an 83%, which to be honest I thought wasn’t good enough to pursue it. It was around this time I got in contact with a true friend by the name of Brian Hook. Brian Hook is connected to the website through North Wood and Vision 360. As I talked to Brian, I began to really feel like I fit with these guys. It wasn’t fake, there where no masks to wear—I could really be myself. After a couple of conversations and trying to figure out if this was God’s will or just something I stumbled upon, Brian suggested that Lindsey and I undergo a true assessment from a real church planting assessment agency called CPAC. By assessment, we’re talking $1,700 plus about 40 pages of questions and a three day in-person assessment where they don’t leave a single stone uncovered. Lindsey and I just didn’t know- that’s a lot of money. So I asked Brian if he knew of anybody in the Southeast that does what they are doing. He put me in touch with a wonderful man of God by the name of Jeff Shipman. Brian told me he lives in Columbia, SC, and I should contact him. So I sent Jeff an email and, before I knew it, I was driving to Columbia to meet a real church planter. I was so nervous but once again when we met I felt reenergized and renewed. Jeff was the real deal, not the fake “church” crap I had seen for so long.
It was around that time Lindsey and I decided to take the assessment. We paid the money and completed the work. And off we went to be grilled in person. It was funny because Lindsey and I totally didn’t think we would be good at this so we did everything in our power to be as honest as possible and open about everything. I mean, what did we have to lose? Plus we just really liked being around young people again. Four years without friends your age is too long. Well at the end of the assessment they gave us the green light go-ahead to be lead church planters. Apparently this is not very common and for the first time I felt like just maybe this church planting thing was for me. Unfortunately, all I’ve ever known was typical “Baptist” ministry and this church planting is everything but that.
When we got back home I met with Jeff again, this time with Lindsey by my side and Jeff with his wife too. We met at a restaurant in Columbia called Californian Dreaming. The meeting went great and we began to really pray about the possibility that God was leading us in this direction. It didn’t take very long for us to realize that if you want to be a church planter you have to be willing to give up just about everything. It’s funny looking back on the timing of it all because Lindsey and I were loving a book by her former pastor David Platt called Radical at that exact time. We knew if we really wanted to do this we were going to have to raise our own support. Now this scared the crap out of both of us!!! Think about it, we have a child on the way and thousands of dollars in school loans—what if the money doesn’t come in? But God gave us a sense of peace and before we knew it, I had resigned from First Baptist Church to raise support and be an intern at Columbia Crossroads, the church where Jeff shipman is the lead pastor. God did an amazing thing and within 4 weeks we had raised $46,000.00.
I will forever remember one of the first days in that four week period. No money was coming in and Lindsey and I started to get worried because we have our first child on the way. I had just quit my job and the thought that maybe we just did something really stupid filled our minds. Literally when we were about to break down and start crying, a very large red truck pulled into our drive way and a good friend stepped out. He came inside and handed us a check for $20,000.00 that he and another amazing friend were giving us. We both were so overwhelmed with emotion. Sometimes the Holy Spirit fills your cup up so much that it just bursts out through your eyeballs. And with that, off to Columbia we went.
Right before we moved, I went to the first of two training sessions at North Wood in Texas. The whole time, I just wanted to meet Bob Roberts and tell him thank you—thank you for writing the article and thank you for writing that book. It wasn’t long before Brian Hook told me to follow him and I found myself sitting at a table at lunch with Bob Roberts himself. This guy is scary- I call him Big Texas because that is what he is. He is huge and loves TEXAS!! We had a two second conversation and he said that he didn’t think I should be a church planter. LOL – my heart sunk. For a split second I thought, “well I knew it would end sooner or later.” Then all of a sudden, I was more convinced than ever that this is what I am supposed to do. Bob just made that question of whether or not I’m cut out for this church planting thing come to the surface sooner.
Once I returned home, we moved to Columbia and I started working at Crossroads. Crossroads is an amazing church with amazing people. I have to pinch myself often just to make sure it isn’t a dream. I have so many people investing in my life thanks to Jeff. I am working with and meeting some of the coolest people who are very successful church planters. After four weeks of working at Crossroads, one thing is clear: we are blessed and God is about to give us a city, which brings me back to why I was at Caswell this morning. I was on my way home after driving to Wilmington, NC, to see if maybe God would speak to me while I was there. Well, He didn’t speak or write a letter in the clouds, but man I sure would love to plant in Wilmington. What a great city. So we’ll see. I can’t wait to see what God is going to do next!!! Pray it’s Wilmington.
On another note we have been amazed at how many people are coming to this blog that we don’t know. People from all over the country are reading it. WHO ARE YOU?? Please send us an email or look us up on facebook. We would love to know who you are and your thoughts about our journey. We are doing this because one day this will be in the history archives of the church. We hope our journey inspires you and encourages you.

Thanks to Lindsey's sister Olivia for editing this post. She is the best, and single!!!

David

Defining Values and Resetting Priorities

To help us navigate these uncharted waters of starting a new church, we are looking to those who are "older and wiser" and have done this thing a few times or two. One of these resources, among several others, is a church called Northwood near the Dallas/Fort Worth area in Tx. David went out there for a training in Aug. (scheduled prior to us having any idea we were going to commit to be church planters and be moving to Columbia) and he and I both will be going out there again in Nov. for follow-up training (which we will elaborate more on later).

One of the tools David brought back with him from the Aug. training is a handbook that helps guide one through the process of thinking through and articulating the foundational components of a future church- aka developing a Church Planting Prospectus. One recent prayer request we've had is clarity in establishing our values. Values is the first component to be established in a Prospectus followed by purpose, vision, strategy, leadership, evaluation, budget, and action plan.

As difficult as it has been, it has also been very much of an awakening kind of experience to actually think through what it is we value (value defined as: a conviction regarding truth that determines behavior). It's been really unbelievable and humbling that as we have defined some of our core values we have also begun to see the ones that are reflected minimally in our overall lifestyle or daily decision-making. On one hand I hate this, but on the other hand I am thankful for this realization because it gives us a chance to make some changes.

One little change we are going to make, that I think will have big implications for us, is canceling our cable. NOTE: Not an easy or fun decision especially for a couple who is obsessed with The Office, among other fabulous TV shows. I know this seems like the simplest change, but what it will do for us is free up about $100 a month in an already tight budget and this financial freedom will allow us to spend time with other people (grabbing a coffee at Starbucks, taking someone out to eat, having a dinner party for people we are interested in getting to know). Why do this? Because one of our core values is that we believe in the importance of building relationships with people and engaging in people's lives and we want our lifestyle and daily decision-making to reflect this as much as it possibly can.

Don't worry- we are not going to turn into weird, culturally disconnected people who don't "believe in" TV- we are just simply taking a little hiatus. Thank God for internet!!! (I'm pretty sure David might be doing a separate post on this whole no-cable-thing and I think his tone might be slightly different from mine : )

Lindsey

Faith

Well, I just got back from running down by the river. I started at the Hwy 1 entrance and ran all the way down to the railroad tracks- walked most of the way back but hey, its better than nothing. Fact: Cigars and running do not go well together. They make it much more difficult to run. Just thought you should know that.

As I was walking/running/spending time with God, or what sometimes feels like an imaginary friend, I began to ask myself the question, “What is Faith?” Now I know what the Bible says about it, but what does faith look like fleshed out in my life. So, I decided I would come up with a list of things I was/am having to trust God for or have faith that he will have to provide. Here is what I came up with:

1) A team of people – Right now it’s just me and my wife and what I hope are some good ideas (these ideas will be discussed in a later blog post after we wrap our own minds around them).
2) A city – I think we are the first church planters in the world not to have a city on our heart and we are trusting that God will show us what city he wants us to plant in.
3) Income in the future – We were able to raise $46,000 in a period of a month and this will provide income until next Sept. After Sept., we have no idea where income will come from and we are having to trust God in that too. Combined, we have about $60,000 in school loans due to both of us getting our master’s. Plus we have our first baby on the way. When the Bible says you can’t serve God and money I didn’t know it meant you can’t serve God and have money J. I just have this huge weight on my shoulders when it comes to income in the future.
4) Some direction on how to put this church together.
5) And then of course there are the thousands of “what ifs” and the biggest being “what if no one comes?”

I guess when it comes down to it faith is trusting God will provide when you have no clue how he is going to. Right now, we really don’t have a clue about a lot of this stuff and we are just trying to live by faith and hoping and praying this was God’s plan and not our stupid idea.

To all of you reading, thank you so much and please keep us in your prayers as you can see we can use them. Before you leave this blog I want you to visit this link and watch this video. Then ask yourself do you love Jesus that much. http://www.vimeo.com/9607938

- David

Prayer Requests

This past week has brought about some HUGE and unexpected changes for the Pace family. Through a series of questioning, reflecting and discussions, David and I have had to articulate what we have been fearful of all along... we ARE church planters. You are probably thinking, "well, I thought you already decided that or isn't that what you told us you were going to Columbia to do in the first place?" Our answer to that is, "well, yes and no." We knew we were coming to Columbia to work with a group of people who start new churches, but we hadn't yet settled into the idea that we ourselves ARE church planters and we ARE going to start a new church.

I think we were both sort of hoping (or at least I was) that we were going to be able to come down here and become new members of an already established church planting team and work alongside them on what they have already started- and we certainly have been presented with that as an option, but through months of prayer and reflection we feel that God has ultimately been revealing to us that he has gifted us with skills and experiences that require us to go out on a limb and try something else.

What exactly that something else is, we aren't yet able to articulate, but we are working right now on establishing it. Are we scared? YES! I don't think either of us realized we were signing up for something like this when we committed ourselves to Christ years ago. Do we have doubts? YES! We have no idea how start a church from scratch.

Whenever I first heard about church planting or starting new churches, I thought to myself, "That is the dumbest idea ever! Why on earth do we need more churches!?! There is one on every corner and they all pretty much do the same thing." Slowly I began to realize that sure there are church buildings on every corner, but there isn't necessarily a Christ presence coming from the people that inhabit those church buildings on every corner. Well, why not just go to a church that is already established and work to rebuild it? Someone recently said to me and I fully agree, "Sometimes we are supposed to create new life rather than raise something from the dead." And this is the place that God has brought us. It is not comfortable. It is overwhelming and daunting. But, we believe it is what God has been preparing us for before we ever knew Him.

SO... we have some serious prayer requests that we beg you to join us in praying!

1- Clarity of values, purpose, vision, and strategy.

2- A TEAM- we cannot do this alone and need people who share our ideas and passions and are willing and able to join us on this journey

3- A Place- most people starting new churches have a specific city in mind. We don't, at least not yet anyways. We think that we should remain within the southeast and we really like Columbia, but we aren't sure if this is the place where God would have us to start.

4- Pray against spiritual warfare or that we would recognize when spiritual warfare is taking place.

Your prayers are coveted,

Lindsey and David

The First of Many

Well, we are officially in the swing of things here. David started work on Sept. 7th and has been running full force since then. I continue to work part-time in dialysis and am also getting my photography up and going in our new area. We have been loving this new group of people that we are working and doing life with. There are so many young people and so much energy that it has been alittle bit overwhelming and is an adjustment for us given our previous situation. We are connecting with a small group that meets twice a month and are participating in services at the downtown church campus.

We are just amazed at the ways in which God has answered so many of the prayers that we have been praying over and over again these past 3 1/2 years. At the time we were praying them, we were looking for immediate answers, but God saw fit to wait and answer them in a 2-for-1 fashion and it has been amazing.

It is our intention that this will be the first of many blog posts that will keep you updated on the different happenings during our first year in the church planting world.

In Christ,

David and Lindsey