Church Planting in the Wild West: Student Spotlight
Folks who know me well would know my great passion for reaching the cities of the US. I am grateful for all our strong focus on international missions at SEBTS. I just returned from Thailand myself. Still, my heart breaks for the great cities in America. I have lived in some: Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Indianapolis, and now the Raleigh-Durham area. My son Josh shares that passion (check out his facebook note on cities if you are his friend there).
While I challenge our students who do not head overseas to go to the great cities, I recognize everyone needs Jesus, and God has called and equipped some to go to the remote places in our nation. I just got a facebook message from a former student named Cody. I saw his parents when I spoke at First Jax and they told me about his work as well. With his permission I want to share his story as a young church planter who fits the culture where God placed him:
Hey Doc, Thanks for taking a few minutes out of your schedule to talk to my folks at FBC Jax. I hope all is going well for you in Wake Forest. Things are going great out here in Montana. It has been a great year. I have learned and grown a bunch in that time. We have experienced some pretty high highs and some pretty low lows. In our first month here we had to do a funeral for a 13 year girl, whose parents were part of our core team. She was perfectly healthy one day got sick the next and then spent 12 days in the hospital where she finally died from bacterial meningitis. It was tough. She was the first person I ever watched die. Out of her funeral we were able to preach the Gospel to nearly 400 people, many of whom were influential people in the city because her father is the City Manager. That month really cemented us into the community through all the happened because when something like that happens in a small town everybody knows about it.
On to some of the better things that have happened. We have been highly involved in the rodeo. The Livingston rodeo is a huge event. It brings in over 12,000 people for a week. Our city is only 7,400 people so we more than double in size for a week. Last year we picked up trash at the rodeo. This year we wanted to be more involved so we picked up trash again but also set up a hospitality tent for the cowboys. In all of this process Paul and I were asked to actually join the rodeo association. We of course accepted. We have been a part of the planning of the rodeo. We found out last week that we are being considered for nomination to the Board of Directors of the association. I am sure it is a first for a preacher to be considered for the board. This is a professional rodeo, not just a bunch of good old boys looking for a thrill. Our rodeo placed in the top ten in the nation for the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association(PRCA). The inroads there have been huge! Of course I have been able to do a lot of hunting. I have had some incredible opportunities to minster through this. I have sat 10,000 feet up the side of a mountain elk hunting and sat down to eat lunch with a lost hunting buddy and discuss the Trinity and the importance of the Holy Spirit. This guy has not gotten saved yet but he is moving closer. I have also sat on the banks of the Yellowstone River duck hunting and watching bald eagles fly in the mountains as the sun peaks over the tops of those same mountains. And then I shared my faith with a lost family as we waited on the ducks. We actually did a Father/Son and Daughter praire dog hunt for Father’s Day. It was a huge success and from it a family of six, all of whom are lost, have been coming to church. I could go on and on.
We started a Sunday morning service in June and had 46 people our first Sunday. Our high has been 58. We have been averaging between 30 and 40. The average church in Livingston only runs about 25 people. We are very happy with where we are. We have been able to become a fabric of the community. There is not a single event that happens in the city that our church is not represented in some way. We even wrestled a pig at the county fair. You can see the picture on my profile. The guy standing next to me in the short sleeves, I baptized him the next morning. In Montana, as a pastor I can wrestle pigs with a guy on Saturday night, surrounded by a bunch of drunk folks , and then turn around and baptize that guy on Sunday morning. I love Montana!
I am now a fireman and I am working on getting EMT certification. I became the chaplain for the department and then I was asked to actually join and get training to work alongside the guys. I have helped put out a few fire and been on a lot of ENS calls. It has given some good opportunities.
Thanks for your work as a professor to teach knuckleheads like me. I have been able to use the majority of what you taught me. There are concepts that you taught that I use just about daily. Thank you for all you do. I hope that you know you have had a part in everything that has happened and will happen in a little town in Montana.
When we think contextualization we may be tempted to think of communicating Christ with a young professional at a Starbucks or with an international college student at the quad. But for Cody, this means wrestling a pig and joining up with a rodeo. What would God have you do?