Alberta Bound
I first met Oliver Shane Edwards in the summer of 2007 when I traveled to Surrey, B.C. as part of the Great Canadian Adventure mission supporting the launch of Community of Hope church. Oliver was a part of the team planting the new church.
Our paths crossed again in the summer of 2008 at the FGBC National Conference in Tampa. It was soon after that meeting that I heard Oliver and his wife Cheryl were hoping to plant a church in Alberta.
At the time I heard that news, there was a strange resonance in my spirit; kind of like God ringing a bell to get my attention. I still remember the thought that crossed my mind was something like, "Maybe you should go do that, Bart."
As quickly as that thought entered my mind, I ushered it out. I have never had any plans, dreams or intentions of being a church planter. Not my cup of tea.
I have served as the worship pastor at Grace Community Church since February 2002. I began attending Grace in the early part of 1999 and began leading worship at the church in the summer of 2000. Grace has been my church home for a long time; the only church my sons, Silas and Ephraim, have ever known. And it's the only full-time ministry job that I've ever had. So over the past year or so, as I've had this odd internal struggle, a restlessness, about my future at Grace, I've been very challenged by how to handle it.
For the better part of the last year I have had a sense that my time at Grace was coming to an end, but I really had no clue as to how things were going to write themselves out. I seriously considered leaving full-time ministry and rejoining the secular work force. But after a short time of pondering that idea, I realized that was clearly not what God wanted from me. I mentally entertained the idea of finding another ministry job in another church somewhere else, but it just felt wrong - nothing about it seemed to be God-honoring. After all, I was so invested in the ministry at Grace. And I had been invested in so much by the leaders of Grace and GBCanada.
Then, early in the summer, seemingly out of nowhere the thought popped back into my mind, "Maybe I should go to Alberta and help with this church plant."
Since the initial announcement of plans to plant in Alberta, the Edwards family had determined Medicine Hat to be the city. And subsequently our church, Grace, had sent a team of people out to assist them with some pre-launch activities.
With slight hesitation I mentioned to my wife, Elizabeth, the thought that was in my mind. I asked her what she thought about leaving everything behind here in Ontario and heading west - into the middle of nowhere - to start a new church.
Fully expecting her to balk at the idea, she surprised me by saying that she thought it was perhaps a good idea and worth exploring. So we did just that.
We've spent the last couple of months praying, talking, conferring with the Grace leadership and ultimately travelling to Medicine Hat to see the city and spend face-to-face time with Cheryl and Oliver. The overwhelming sense that we have walked away with is that this is to be the next step in our life mission. Soon - very soon - we are to move to the prairies and plant a new church.
To be continued...
