Jeff Leake is writing a series of posts this week that have me strolling down memory lane:)
I was a third year student at Central Bible College when Jesus wore through my fear and convinced me to start a church right after graduation. I still remember the moment I surrendered. It was hole number number three at Payne Stewart Golf Course. Yep. Jesus does talk to men on golf courses:)
Right from the conception of that call an idea started forming in my mind to plant a reproducing church. It was an idea to focus on one city by planting a church in a central location that would fill the rest of the city with more church plants. The idea excited me. It even made a little bit of sense. But I had never seen it before.
That's when Jesus gave me some inspiration. I was attending a banquet sponsored by the US Mission's arm of the Assemblies of God. Jeff Leake was the featured speaker. I didn't know who he was but my heart started beating faster and faster as he spoke. He told a story about how Jesus led his church to mother five churches in five years. I felt like he was reading my dream. More importantly, his story affirmed my call.
Today we're still in the early stages of our church planting dreams for Metro Detroit. But I'm grateful to Pastor Jeff for inspiring me in the really early stages when the dream was just a seed. His obedience in 1996 will keep bearing fruit in Metro Detroit for as long as Jesus allows our church to keep filling it with missional church plants.
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