Man Proposes, But God Disposes
by General Superintendent Preston Heath
From Sept/Oct 2007 Messenger Publication

In 2001, a Church Planting Task Force was established to focus on planting churches. You should have been present at some of the meetings, brainstorming sessions full of excitement. We originated the perfect slogan, “Expanding Locally to grow Globally.” No one could or can improve on this slogan. It captures what we must do as a church. But a slogan alone is not sufficient. We needed a simple plan. The task force again through brainstorming found what we believe is the right plan. It is “Bridging the Gap.” Going where we have long distances between Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Churches and planting churches - hence, “Bridging the Gap” between our established churches. We had our target. Between Wilmington, N. C. and Little River, S. C., we would plant churches. Between Chesapeake, Virginia, and northern Virginia we would plant churches. Between Benson, N. C., we would go westward toward Raleigh, N. C., and beyond - planting churches. By now, you are getting the picture. Well, we have planted churches in Mechanicsville, Virginia, Leland, N. C., and at the intersection of Interstate 40 and Highway 42. All of these churches are within the targeted area.

There is a more amazing story of church planting in the PFWB Church than the dream described in the above paragraph. Before I share it, it is important that you know the greatest obstacle we found and face in church planting. It is having an available Church Planter. Jesus knew about this obstacle when He exhorted His disciples to pray that the Lord of the harvest would send forth laborers into the harvest (Matt. 9:38). We didn’t know fully the difficulties that would be encountered in our church planting program. While we knew and realized God must help us, we couldn’t see all that God would do. Man proposes, but God disposes. That is one of the big lessons I have learned in church planting. Well-thought-out plans, while employing holy men and women, does not produce all that is needed in church planting. Why? Church Planting is God’s program. It was Jesus who said, “…I will build my church…” (Matt. 16:18).

Now, the rest of the story. The task force put forth amazing effort and commitment. This denomination can be proud of them. Success has come, but not quite as we expected. God let us face and wrestle with the obstacles while He honored our efforts in ways that we could not foresee. We witnessed things that we would never want for a church or pastor. We saw seated pastors hurt in power struggles. We saw other ministers simply get stirred and moved by the Holy Spirit to plant a church. We saw the sovereignty of God taking control of peoples’ lives. Sometimes He led them; other times circumstances forced them, but one by one Church Planters emerged.

Another important thing we realized is that God can and will plant churches in areas we have not even targeted. Yes, He gave us churches in our targeted areas, but He gave us much more. He multiplied our fishes and loaves. What success do we see? We have ten churches planted, representing 380 people in average attendance. These churches will minister to at least three times the average attendance of the church. This multiplication means the Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church is reaching approximately 1200 people more through church planting than we did prior to 2001.

Earlier I began a paragraph with the words, “Now, the rest of the story.” I’m sorry the rest of the story has not been achieved and thus can’t be reported. Success has come and will continue to come as long as church planting is our primary ministry. God has honored all we have done with His sovereign approval, giving above and beyond all our efforts, dollars, and prayers. To God is all the glory!

Lay Leaders In a New Church Plant
by General Superintendent Preston Heath
From July/August 2007 Messenger Publication

A church planter needs faithful lay leaders that will share the pastor’s vision. Their approach to church involvement must be different.

The new church is launching a ministry. It is powered by a vision with no history and no maintenance of facilities. Indebtedness and budget needs, while important, are not the most pressing priorities but ministry is the overarching, all important priority. In fact there will be no church until a congregation is established and if ministry focus is distracted there will be failure.

The lay leader has to participate in building a congregation. His or her focus has to be on winning people who are lost and influencing people who are not in church to come worship with them. The lay leader in a new church plant must believe in the vision strongly enough to be convincing to all those invited.

More important than representing a vision will be the lay leader’s spiritual life. They are ministers in the community. They are the church. They will soon realize how important it is to represent Christ and not only the church. The felt pain and need of a hurting society will bring out of the lay leader their depth of spiritual strength or weakness. Being part of a lay team in the new church plant will develop spiritual connectivity with the Lord of the church. Serving as a lay leader in a new church plant places Christians on the cutting edge of ministry because of demands faced in a hurting world.

Church planting carries us back to the basics of what church is all about. The church is not about facilities, history, programs, or the accumulation of properties and things. Church is about people. People that are lost, people that hurt, people with problems, people who Christ died to save and help.

The lay leader of a new church plant is forced to look at the real reason for church existence—ministry—raw ministry, the only work that will build His church.

It Takes a Community To Plant a Church
By Jim Wall
From July/August 2007 Messenger Publication

Growing up at the New Light PFWB Church in Bladenboro was a wonderful experience filled with
support and accountability. Dr. Bill Ellis was my pastor. I had committed Sunday School teachers year after year. The church had a youth group that was large, active and fun-filled activities. By the time I had finished high school, I found myself in a Friday night “cottage prayer meeting” led by James Hester, a lay member of the church. Wayne Ellis, J.T. Hammond, and I became particularly close and spent long hours at the New Light altars, praying for the Lord’s direction for our lives.

It was no surprise to anyone when the Lord called all three of us into the ministry. We received support and encouragement when we all decided, in 1971, to become a part of the first class of the newly-founded Heritage Bible College. Our years there were filled with life-changing challenges and learning.

It was at Heritage that I first heard about Paul Yongi Cho and the cell group movement. I thought, at the time, it would be hard work to implement the cell church system; but, that my mentor James Hester’s cottage prayer meeting had played a critical role in my own early development. Then, too, at Heritage I was first challenged to dream. The chapel speaker said, “Close your eyes and ask the Lord to plant an image in your mind of the ministry He has for you in the years ahead.” I imagined myself standing on a platform with a camera looking over my shoulder at a large group of people. They were dressed casually and leaning forward. They were obviously hungry to learn the Word of God. The vision wasn’t any more detailed than that, but it was an image that endured.

In 1979, my final year at Heritage, Dr. Charles Kelly spoke at chapel about church planting. Up to that point I had never heard of that concept. I still had the previous image burning in my mind, but I always assumed it would be lived out in one of the existing PFWB churches. That day was a pivotal point in my life. That day I told my wife, Kim, “We’re going to plant a church.” Her only answer was a series of questions,“When?” to which I replied, “I don’t know.” She then said, “Where?” I said, “I don’t know.” She asked, “What are we going to call it?” I said, “I don’t have a clue.” Then she asked the definitive question, “What do we do now?” I said,“I guess we just wait for the Lord’s direction. But I know that one day, His direction will come.”

Within a few weeks, David Taylor, then PFWB missionary to Venezuela, came to the Miller’s Chapel Church for a mission service. David text’s from Isaiah 6 says, “Here I am, Lord; send me.” It hit me like a sledge hammer when David said, “The modern church has rewritten that verse. We no longer say, “Here am I send me.” We say, “Here’s a need Lord, send somebody.” I had just been made aware of the PFWB need of a missionary in the Philippines. I remember arguing with God as Brother David preached. “God, you don’t want me to go to the Philippines! You’ve called me to plant a church in America someday.” What I didn’t realize was that He wanted both.

With the sacrificial giving and prayer support of the PFWB family, the Lord sent us to the Philippines for two wonderful terms. It was a season of ministry that focused on reopening Harvester’s Bible Academy and–you guessed it—planting churches! It proved to be a training season for what the Lord had in mind all along. We loved living and ministering in the Philippines; but, every now and then, I would find myself praying, “Lord, I don’t understand why I’m here. There are no unchurched American Baby Boomers in this rain forest!”

Then, in 1989 the PFWB mission director, Dr. Herbert Carter, and General Superintendent, Dr. Don Sauls, came to the Philippines. The work had grown from the original nine churches to more than seventy. It also now included two Bible colleges and a K-12 Christian school. More importantly, the Filipino ministers had developed genuine unity under the leadership of Joseph Benigno in the north and Nick Sicat in the south. I was released to return to the States to start what is now Western Branch Community Church.

Again, it took the support of the PFWB family to launch the new church. It was determined that it would be planted in Chesapeake, Virginia. The Congregational and Faith Temple PFWB churches agreed to sponsor a telephone campaign designed to find unchurched families and invite them to the new place of worship. The PFWB Missions Board backed the endeavor with more than $30,000 over the first twelve months. North Carolina churches recruited their own members to come to Virginia and make phone calls. The unity and excitement was a beautiful thing to see!

By September of 1989, we had spoken with 1,905 families who identified themselves as not active in church, but interested in knowing more about our proposed one. On that first Sunday, my mother came from Zoar PFWB church to provide a nursery. Members of the North Haven PFWB church came to provide a kids church program. 165 people showed up! The PFWB family, working together, had planted a new church!

Today, Western Branch Community Church sits on 25 acres of land. The local congregation has built a 40,000 square foot facility. An additional 20,000 square feet is being built presently. The church has more than 2,500 consistent attenders meeting on the property on Sundays and in seventy-five cells groups all over the community during the week. Fifty-nine percent of those attending, report having been unchurched before coming to WBCC.

Every year WBCC sends more money to the PFWB mission program than originally launched the church. The members don’t give because they feel obligated; they do it because they know that it takes a community to plant a church.

Every year WBCC sends more money to the PFWB mission program than originally launched the church. The members don’t give because they feel obligated; they do it because they know that it takes a community to plant a church.

Of course, what God is doing in Chesapeake, Virginia, is just one part of what He is doing throughout the community known as the Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church. Thank God for every person who is responding to His call to be a part of that community! May He expand our territory by planting a vision of what He wants to do through all of us until He comes!

No Suit, No Shoes, No Problem
By Lynn McLaurin
From July/August 2007 Messenger Publication

What are your thoughts on church planting? That was one of the questions in my study course as I prepared for ordination into the PFWB conference back in 2001. Well, to be totally honest, at that time, I considered planting churches a waste of time. My answer was that if we would get busy and work on filling up the churches we have already, then we would have accomplished the job.

Do you know that God can change your mind? In July, 2002, I received ordination as a pastor into the PFWB conference. A member of Oak Grove PFWB Church in Stedman, NC, since 1992, I felt led to continue my service for the Lord there as youth pastor.

In October, 2003, I began to feel God tugging at my heart. I didn’t understand what was going on, but I knew God was stirring my heart. God was blessing the youth ministry I was leading. I didn’t want to leave, but I knew it was God’s will. My thought was God wants me to seek an existing church to pastor. Little did I know that God was getting ready to change my mind.

One night late in October 2003, I had a dream about a building on Highway 13 near Wade. When I woke up, I could not get what I had dreamed out of my mind. Leaving my shop that morning, I could not keep myself from going by the South River Community Building that night. (It was the place I saw in my dreams). When I arrived, what I saw shocked me. Satanic graffiti was painted on the outside walls of the cinder block building, the roof was in total disrepair, the boards were rotten and vines were growing inside the building as well as outside. here was no heat or air conditioning. What a mess!

“God, are you sure this is the place? “was my first thought. Yet, on my way into Fayetteville, my heart burned inside. I knew the man who was in charge of the building, so I drove straight to his place of business. I walked into his garage and asked him if we could get the building to begin a new church. We promised to remodel the building at no charge to him if he would allow
us to have it for five years rent free. When I said we would remodel the building, I meant God and me. He agreed. On November 4, 2003, I stood before one of the greatest challenges of my life.

My daughter Ashley, Scott Blackman, and I began cleaning up and getting ready to make the repairs. I didn’t know where the money would come from; but I knew if this church planting was God’s will, then He would provide. Within one week of beginning, an unknown donor gave $1,000.00. We took that money. Just as soon as we completed an area or ran out of materials, someone else would donate more.

As our efforts continued, interest began to grow in the community and people began to notice. Some questioned, “What are you doing starting a church here, right beside another church that has been here over 100 years?” Some said, “here’s no one here in this community to attend church.”

As it is in beginning any new work for God, there are those who will scoff and make fun, but I knew God was in the midst of what we were doing. Planting a new church is a huge undertaking. Unless God has laid it on someone’s heart, don’t begin. Not everyone will support you, but God will never leave you, if He has called you to do something for Him. He will provide what is needed. In the midst of discouragement, God always brings encouragement.

People I had known since childhood, who would normally never set foot in church, began to tell me, “When you open the church, let me know. I want to come.” From November, 2003, until August, 2004, we worked day and night on the building. On August 16, 2004, we had out initial service with an attendance of forty plus.

I could write a book on all the things that God has done in this small 2,700 foot cinder block building and the community surrounding it. Souls have been saved, thirty plus baptized, and every week there is a testimony of God’s healing someone. We have been truly blessed and favored by God. He has done what I could never do. In less than three years time, God has given us nineteen acres of land on Highway 13, one mile from our current location. He has sent workers to ill every need of the church.

Our motto is “No Suit, No Shoes, No Problem.” Some dress up, some come in work clothes, and some come in shorts, but they continue to come. Most Sunday’s I, myself, wear a suit, but I have yet to see a picture of Jesus wearing one. I am more concerned with how the heart is dressed than how the outside body is dressed. We seek to minister to whom Jesus ministered.
He met them in whatever condition they were regardless of race, social status, past, or present circumstances. hat is just what we seek to do. he doors of this church are open to all those who will come.

At present, we are in the process of building a 13,000 square-foot church which will hold approximately 400 people. We are now averaging eighty plus in attendance, and we are running out of room to seat them. Our estimated cost is over one-half million dollars. We have already raised $234,000. We intend to open the doors debt free. God will continue to provide the rest. Most of our funds have come from people outside the church. In addition, we continue to reach out to those in need in our community, regardless of whether they attend church or not. his past Christmas, we were able to help twenty-two families.

Our onsite plans include an athletic field with an amphitheater, camping retreat with a large pond, a nature area, community garden and orchard area, a skateboard park and playground with basketball and volleyball courts. Who knows maybe one day a Christian school? At the present time, there is no church-sponsored school east of the Cape Fear River in Cumberland County.

The book of Acts does reveal that God loves to plant churches. We offer special thanks to Dock Hobbs, Reynolds Smith, David Taylor, Joe Dabbs, J. P. Morris, Lori Fowler, and all the other churches and people who have supported this ministry. I encourage you as a denomination to support church planting and the pastors who undertake this challenging ministry. Your time and gifts mean so much.

For those considering planting a church, don’t let a door of opportunity pass you by. But be sure that God is the one opening the door. his article is written by someone who said, “I could never plant a church.” Be careful what you say you will or will not do. God can, and may, change your mind. To God be the glory!