Four years ago my husband Richard and I moved back to Wisconsin where he had just accepted a job as a facility engineer in Madison. I had loved my work as a pastor and youth camp director, but I, too, was eager to be near family and to stay home with our children, the first of which was growing inside me. We thought the move was perfect timing—and it was—in more ways than we realized.
We planned to be involved in ministry however we could at the Madison Community Church, a young and vibrant church where Richard had come to know Christ some years before. So, we were surprised when we both felt God had something more, something different, for us to do. What it was we didn’t know, so we began to pray.
At camp meeting that year I was listening to a speaker, my baby boy asleep in my arms, when the Lord seemed to say, “Lisa, I want you to start a Bible study in your neighborhood.” Immediately, before I could say a thing, Richard said, “Lisa, I know now what it is we need to do! We need to start a Bible study in our home.” So we did.
Two months later we received a call from an excited pastor, asking us to be part of a church plant in Monroe, Wisconsin, only 16 miles from our home. The wild, God-led ride of the last four years has taught me a lot and cemented my passion for church planting.
Until recently, the trend was to dwell on church planting in the cities to the exclusion of smaller communities. Paul Oliver, Neillsville Company leader, believes the harvest is ripe in smaller communities, too. We didn’t know all the things you were supposed to do to start a church. We just said, "Dear Lord, we want a church." And we went out there and started picking fruit! At the beginning of 2004, their membership stood at 25. Their goal and prayer was to have 50 members by the end of the year.
At a recent seminar I asked those currently planting a church to share stories of what God has been doing. Paul raised his hand and said, “Well, we had eight baptisms.” I interrupted, “That’s wonderful! Eight baptisms last year!” (Which, by the way, would have been an amazing 32% increase.) His response brought tears to my eyes, “No. We had eight baptisms last month!” And this was in a town of just 2,731.
Kathy Herwick, church planter in Hudson, says, “Some people have the idea that people really aren’t interested. They’ve held evangelistic meetings and the results were discouraging. We find people saying, ‘give us more, give us more!’ All of our new people are coming Wednesday nights in addition to Sabbath. They’re eager to learn. And they are sharing what they are learning!”
Kathy and Dan Herwick drive 104 miles, round-trip, several times each week to plant a church in Hudson. “As tired as you are, you always come home feeling more invigorated than when you started out. Each time you gather new strength. If you could just get people to taste church planting—they would catch the vision,” says Kathy. “I just really feel that church planting's a revival all in it’s own.”
After I lifted Martha out of the baptismal waters, I looked out in the congregation and saw Don, tears glistening on his cheeks. You see, Don had been baptized only two years before at our church’s first baptism. So many times I’ve heard him say, “This church, they go right from the Bible. And you won’t find a more loving group of people anywhere.”
Don, retired from the telephone company, wanted to share what he was learning. He wasn’t yet ready to give in-home Bible studies, nor even pray out loud with someone, but he lit up when I talked to him about delivering video Bible studies. “I could do that,” he said. Don would report every week or so, “I’m bringing them to Martha. She’s the nicest lady. Her husband is such a good guy too.” Then later, “I’m bringing Martha two videos at a time, she’s enjoying them so much!” Still later, “Martha’s sharing the videos with her college-age daughter who lives a couple hours north of here.”
One evening Martha showed up at our mid-week Bible study, she jumped right in with questions and comments, and was there the following Sabbath. Martha herself says, “I was so ready for this. I’m just like a sponge—soaking it all up!”
Artie Hamann, teacher for the mid-week service, has said various times, “I think we shouldn’t be surprised when God brings in people like Martha, who embrace truth wholeheartedly, and start teaching us things!" It wasn’t long before Martha told me how her daughter Jennifer had said, “Mom, you’ve got to quit smoking because I want to be baptized with you!” Martha, a beautician at a salon in Monroe, knew this wasn’t going to be easy. “I’ve been smoking since high school, and unlike many other people, I liked my first cigarette.” A couple days before Jennifer’s birthday Martha quit cold-turkey, saying, “I'm doing this for you and for Jesus.”
In December they, along with five other beautiful people, were baptized. Today, less than a year later, Martha is our head deacon/deaconess. Like Don, both Martha and Jennifer are sharing their newfound peace and joy in Jesus.
The Monroe Company was gearing up for its second evangelistic series. I had asked my Dad, a seasoned evangelist, to come hold a series of meetings in Fall 2003. We’d budgeted evangelistic costs for $6,100, determined to reach the surrounding community with a gospel invitation. As we visited the people who were attending, one woman shared how she had decided to come to the meetings. She knew she needed to go back to church, but she wondered which church to attend. She knew she didn’t want to go back to the church of her childhood, and she dreaded the thought of having to check out the various churches in town.
Not long after realizing she must do something, she received a brochure in the mail advertising a series of Bible studies in a town 15 miles away. She decided she and her 11-year-old daughter would check them out. They arrived opening night and kept coming.
Even when her employer started calling people back for second-shift work, she made sure she could be there night after night. We rejoiced when they both decided to be baptized.
I was visiting one afternoon when a newly-baptized member asked if I would do something for her. She went on to explain, “I recently received a lump sum of retirement money. I have already paid taxes and used some of it to pay off medical bills. I planned to use the remaining amount for a down payment on a house. I want to return tithe on the whole amount and thankfully I still have the money to do that. But I don’t want to hand it in at church. Can I give it to you to turn in?” I said that was fine and she came back with a bank envelope stuffed thick with bills. I opened it and realized it wasn’t thick with tens or twenties. It was full of $100 dollar bills. Sixty of them to be exact—yes, $6,000 total.
God has ways of which we don’t yet have a clue. The Clear Lake youth voted their annual missionary project would raise money for the new church plant in their district. They sold sweet corn and found other ways to raise over $1,000 for the Hudson Church plant.
In Monroe, we could write a whole article on how God has provided financially. Our current miracle is that we are renting a church from a beautiful group of Christians. They are thankful that their building, which seats 300, can be used more often to spread the gospel and appreciate our help in maintaining the facility. They’ve split the bulletin boards down the middle, let us advertise, as well as let us leave our children’s programs set up. When you call the church, you hear, “This is Believer’s Fellowship and the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Press one for Believer’s Fellowship; press two for the Seventh-day Adventist church.” All this for less than $175 a month!
Planting churches requires an initial investment—sometimes a substantial one. But let’s not forget new members love their Lord wholeheartedly and are eager to share their time and resources. We shouldn’t be surprised at the miracles God will do—He’s more than ready to fulfill His promises.
Study God’s passion for lost people. Cultivate this passion in your own life. Intentionally develop relationships with lost people. Start a prayer “hit list” of friends and relatives who don’t know Jesus. Pray regularly for them. Find ways to reach out in love and friendship to them. Ask God to help you lead them one step closer to Jesus. Talk to church planters in your area or conference. Attend a church-planting seminar or conference. (The annual SEEDS conference at Andrews is incredible. Call (800) 255-7568 for more information.) Watch God work ... and work... and work!
Lisa Isensee is the Wisconsin Conference church planting coordinator and Monroe Company pastor.
