Stepping back into the river

The Greeks have a saying, "No one steps into the same river twice."

I stepped back twenty years last Sunday. February 22, 1987 was the first service of the first church Michelle and I planted. We left three years later to plant again.

Last Sunday Knox Baptist Community Church invited me back for their annivesary.

Twenty years ago there was no selection process for a church planter. Coaching was something they did in sports. If there were books available on church planting I didn't know about them.

For training I had four Peter Wagner tapes and four Rick Warren tapes. I wore those tapes out listening to them again and again and again. I'd never heard of Bob Logan.

The reality was I didn't know what I was doing. We just knew we were called to do it.

Twenty years later what stands out?

The story of couple whose baby was born with a terrible medical condition that would threaten her chances of a normal life—if not her life itself. The church gathered around supported them and prayed. God answered and today baby was the beautiful young woman who stood up in the service to give thanks to God and his people.

Her story was one of the many stories of lives changed because of the ministry of this church.

Twenty years on, that story, and others like it, made it all worthwhile for me.

You can't step into the same river twice. It's constantly changing. But it's still the same river. The important things never change.