JoshHedger

Freshwater Church has had a crazy ride. In our first 3.5 years as a church we’ve grown from 24-nearly 900 people. We have started 10 churches internationally and 2 in the state of Missouri. We have moved from a living room to a building, from 1 small group to dozens, etc. I could go on and on. It would be easy to write a whole article about all the things going on through the Freshwater family. But there is one thing that fuels the rest. One thing that must remain no matter how busy the ministry gets… Focus.

Freshwater practices a day called Focus. We do it 3-4 times a year. It is simply a day that we set aside as a church for fasting and praying. We ask all of our covenant members to do it with us and we invite others to join in if they wish.

We plan an evening of worship and prayer (usually between 4-6pm). But we lead into this time of worship and prayer and fasting as a church from sun-up until then. It’s amazing how a day of no food and prayer fuels a passionate worship that evening.

We tell our people that fasting is for the purpose of remembering your dependence upon God and being intentional in hearing from him and speaking to him. It takes intentionality to fast. You naturally want to put something into your mouth. Likewise, it takes intentionality to listen to God. We naturally want to put other things into ourselves to guide us and direct us, other than God.

Not eating reminds us that we need food. Our bodies begin craving it and asking for it. Everytime this happens we are to remember that we need God. Our spirits should be craving him and asking for him.

When we come together we pray and worship. This past Sunday we focused our prayer time for our leadership at Freshwater. We’d bring the leadership forward one couple at a time and the church would lays hands on them and pray for them. Some of the prayer is guided and some of it is free. There’s very little as encouraging to a pastor/leader as those who they are leading all praying outloud for them at one time and encouraging them as well.

We also sing songs (which are prayers) to God about God to remind us of his greatness.

We close out the night by celebrating with communion. It is such a special time… this time of communion not only reminds us of what Christ did on the cross, but it also is the breaking of our fast and reminds us that our cravings for God have been met through Christ.

We then dismiss and go out with friends and as LifeGroups for dinner and celebration, remembering the goodness of our God.

When things get crazy in ministry (whether bad or good), it’s always refreshing and stabilizing to return to prayer and fasting together. In doing so, we refocus on God rather than ourselves and we hear him clearly for his direction for our church. There is nothing that make me prouder of my church than seeing them pursue God and follow his leading.

I encourage every pastor to practice this with the church and I encourage every believer to practice this in their life.

Three & a half years ago we were sitting in a living room talking about what it would look like to plant a church in Bolivar, Mo. God had great things planned that we couldn’t even imagine!

We planted Freshwater Church in October 2009 and God began to lay out an unbelievable plan for us. This plan not only led us to plant in Bolivar but to be a church plant that planted churches. Since that day God has continued to blow our minds with his grace in church planting and his favor in partnership along the way. I’d like to share with you just how he has done this…

South Asia: Through a missions partnership we began with 2nd Baptist Springfield (Our Planting Church) we built a relationship in M-City, South Asia. This partnership led us to intentionally partner with a church planter in South Asia whom we’ve been able to give training, support, and encouragement to as he has planted 7 churches in the last 2.5 years! During this time, God also brought North Church, STL along to partner with us there in helping to train this planter and others.

West Africa: Through a missions partnership with the Missouri Baptist Convention and the International Mission Board we were able to become an Engaging Church for a West African people group. This people group in our specific country had no known believers 2.5 years ago. By the grace of God Freshwater people kept wanting to go and share the gospel with them through storying. God gave us favor with them and even provided a great relationship between us and the Imam (who’s house we sleep in). Today we know of nearly 20 believers and 2 churches started among these people! One year ago God brought River Bluff Fellowship (Pastor Scott Watson) into partnership with us for this work! Today, we are in planning for Freshwater to pull out and begin a new partnership and for RiverBluff to carry on the church planting work in WA.

Missouri: There is lostness in Missouri as well. Through relationships and connections God has made clear for us two different church planting endeavors in Missouri. In Sept 2012 we began having LifeGroup meetings in Jefferson City and in Springfield.

We quickly began to see God’s work in both of these and this January we have seen both of these locations hold their first worship gatherings in addition to their LifeGroups. God-willing, we desire to see both of these launch as churches in September 2013.

Jefferson City: I had the joy of sitting in a room with pastors from many different churches as I shared with them our desire and goal to see the unchurched and unreached come to know Jesus. We are passionate about the gospel and want to see as many know Jesus as possible. From that group came many partners in prayer and some in finances as well. (Southridge Baptist Church)
In addition Calvary Lutheran School has become a great partner in this plant by allowing us to meet in their facility each week for worship! They have been incredibly gracious and generous even across denominational lines!

Springfield: Last night I had the joy of being at the first every worship gathering for Freshwater Church, Springfield. I stood in a room with 30ish people worshiping Jesus. I was humbled to watch this and thought about what it was like the first time we had a worship gathering in Bolivar.
The great thing about this worship gathering to me, is not simply that we were in Springfield, but that we were meeting in a room at our partnering church, Hamlin Memorial Baptist Church. Their pastor, Pat Findley, took our planting pastor, JT Patton, around to every room in the church and said, “Whatever is ours is yours”. That is the heart of a pastor and a church that desires to see the gospel advanced and God glorified!

What I love about each of these situations is that God called different churches to partner together for his glory and the advancement of his gospel! We aren’t all in the same town, we don’t all worship in the same style, we might not even be from the same denomination… yet what we have in common is a call by Jesus to take the gospel to those who don’t have it and through partnering together we are able to do this!

So allow me to simply ask you this… who are you partnering with today to glorify God and advance the gospel? May God give you vision and may God grant you favor as you step out in faithful obedience.

Last night I had the opportunity to drive to Jefferson City, Mo with Kevin Stratton (Pastor of Worship at Freshwater Church) for the first ever worship gathering for Freshwater JeffCity!

It was just over 3 years ago that I sat in a side room, full of nervous excitement as I waited for Freshwater Bolivar to have it’s first worship gathering. We hadn’t officially started yet. We were just a group of people who wanted to see Jesus made much of in Bolivar and around the world and we gathered for some worship and teaching. We didn’t even know if a church would really be birthed out of it. That was the plan, that was the hope, but what if no one comes, what if no one buys-in, what if no one catches the vision and helps us take the gospel to our community?

I didn’t expect to be in that same place last night. But there I was, in the commons area of a Lutheran school in the middle of a community traditionally Catholic, and we were waiting on people to show up to worship and learn together. Will they come? If they come, will they buy in? If they buy in, will others respond? In a neighborhood of 16,000 people with no evangelical church, the hopes seem small that one would suddenly spring up. Yet everything seems to be pointing to God’s planting of a church in that very location.

I don’t know why I’m amazed over and over again. You’d think I would eventually just know that God is amazing and expect it. But partly due to my sin and faithlessness, and partly due to the truth that we can never reach the full measure of understanding God’s greatness, I am constantly blown away.

Last night we saw a great group of people join together from various walks of life and backgrounds. Singles, marrieds, barely 20 and over 60… all coming together to worship Jesus, hear Truth preached, and pray for God to move in a mighty way in their community and world.

It is going to happen. A church is being planted in Jefferson City called Freshwater. God is going to change many lives and call many people to follow him. Why? Because he’s just that good. Because he loves the people of Jefferson City. Because he is adamant about the fame of his name in that community.

Please join me in praying for Freshwater JeffCity today. If you are interested in learning more about FCjc, supporting it, joining it, etc then let us know. We’d love to get you plugged in with what God is doing!

Tish and I have always believed that we should frequent the same places for the purpose of building relationships with people. For example, we have always practiced going to the same person to cut our hair rather than switching around every time we need a haircut. Another example would be going to the same restaurant at the same time, every week to be served by the same server. We do this with intentionality. We make it a consistent practice so that we can show kindness in hopes of God’s grace changing lives.

Obviously, we don’t tell those whom we are going to that this is our plan. “Hey, I think I’m going to intentionally and consistently come to see you so that I can show you kindness in hopes of God’s grace colliding with your life. Is that ok?” That would not be the way to start this relationship. You just start it.

Yesterday we were at church and between our 1st and 2nd service my wife, Tish, comes up to me and says, “Josh, Karen (name changed for privacy) is here. She randomly showed up today.”

Karen doesn’t live in Bolivar. She doesn’t even live in Missouri. Karen cut mine and Tish’s hair for two years. For two years we went to her, and talked to her, and listened to her, and prayed for her, and talked about God’s activity in our lives in front of her. Then we moved. We moved over three years ago. It’s been more than three years since we talked to her or saw her. Now she is randomly at our churches worship gathering.

She sat next to Tish through the service, very attentive as we worshiped and then preached from Nehemiah 7. Yes, Nehemiah 7. At the end of the service Tish talked with her…

Karen had reached rock-bottom. Things in life were crazy and on Saturday night she cried out to God in desperation for God to do something. She woke up on Sunday morning very early and Tish and I came to her mind. She remembered us coming in, the way we talked with her, our kindness, the way treated her, etc.
I’m not sure how she found us, but she drove 3+ hours from her home to worship with our church that day. It was the first time she had been in church since she was 16 years old (probably 15+ years). That day, as she talked to Tish following the service, Karen decided to respond to God by becoming a follower of Jesus!

Our God led us to spend time with karen once a month for two years. Our God, who has watched her every moment of her life and even knew her before she was created, placed us on her mind when she was at the bottom. Our God then compelled her to drive 3+ hours to our city to worship with a church for the first time since she was 16. Our God then used a message out of Nehemiah 7 to convince her of her need to respond to him. Our God then used a conversation between my wife and her to talk through what that looked liked. Our God then flexed his amazing grace and saved Karen from herself and her sin.

My God is intentional. My God is consistent. My God is Kind. And My God is full of Amazing Grace.

I have been thinking a lot lately about ministry through our local churches, specifically ministry through the local church that I am part of – Freshwater Church.  As I do every year at this time, I begin to evaluate everything that we are doing and why we are doing it as well as what we are not doing and why we are not doing it.  Every pastor should evaluate their churches as should every leader evaluate the organizations they lead.  I do it to make sure we are still on track with our vision… with our purpose.

A leader cannot lead if they don’t know where they are going.  Evaluation has to start with knowing what your vision and purpose is and where you are going.  Where you are going should dictate all that you do rather than all that you do dictating where you are going.

As a church, the danger is always that what we do will dictate where we go.  For decades the church has done things for Christians.  We have created programs designed to build up Christians.  We’ve created studies designed to teach more cognitive information for Christians.  We’ve spent our money making Christians happy and comfortable.  Obviously, I don’t believe that there is anything wrong with serving Christians, teaching Christians, and loving Christians. But I’m afraid that if we focus majority or all that we do on this purpose, we may lose touch with what the church is called to be… the light to the world, a city on a hill.  We are called to advance the gospel to those who don’t know the gospel.

I am not saying that we should not focus on spiritual growth and maturity for believers.  Unfortunately, many Christians have been spoon fed over the years and if we stop spoon feeding them and tell them to go out and do something to serve others instead then they feel as if we don’t care about their spiritual growth.  I’ve had a lot of these conversations.

That is simply not the truth.  If you study the church in the Bible then spiritual maturity was not based on the amount of knowledge you had but about the amount of love you lived.  Spiritual maturity was not about the amount of time you spent in the church building but the amount of time you spent with the hurting.  Jesus made disciples by saying, “Come follow me” and then he led them as he served and loved people.  They grew in their faith by serving people with him.  The secret of their spiritual growth was that they were outward focused – gospel advancement focused.

One of the things I have loved about Freshwater is that we have been gospel-advancement focused.  Our goal was never to reach church people but to reach unchurched and those far off.  We have designed what we do for this purpose.  Our LifeGroups are designed to be places where non-church people want to be because of real community and genuine love and care.  Our worship services preach the full gospel boldly and yet relevantly for those who are unchurched.  Our focus is outward (serve the community, plant churches, advance the gospel).  This changes how we staff, how we invest in people, how we equip the church, and how we program.

Can I be honest with you, the only people who ever have a problem with this are church people.  It never fails that the unchurched LOVE the realness of the outward focus and church people often struggle to adjust to it.

It is our commitment that we will be a church for the unchurched. We will be a church for those far off.  We hope that church people will see the benefit to what is happening and desire to be a part of it, but we will not allow ourselves to cater to the wants of the already saved when there are millions in need of the gospel.  

Jen Hatmaker recently spoke on “Killing Missional Community”.  You can listen to her on www.thevergenetwork.org.  I want to leave you with something she said that is incredibly powerful on this topic:

 If we develop a church built on serving the saved, then the already blessed people will come wanting more blessings. It’s just that simple. You will draw the type of people who crave what you’re offering. Only Christians want forty Christian programs to chose from…

If we’re positioned to reached Christians then Christians we will reach.

Not that there is anything inherently wrong with programs, but the church has a very limited amount of resources, both human and financial. So, if we consume them all for saved people, then we cannot expect our folks to live on mission else where, because they have already spent all of there expendable time and energy on the church campus. So if we’re drowning in a sea of Christian consumers, we better take a hard look at the scaffolding we have built.

“Rest is spiritual.”  That’s what Tish told me yesterday.  She is right.

Saturday night I went to bed.  I was awakened at 2:00 in the morning (details not necessary) and didn’t fall back to sleep until around 4:00, only then to wake back up to my alarm at 5:00 to prepare for Sunday.  This was following a marathon week and I was exhausted.  It was one of those exhaustions where I had to ask our church to pray for my mind to be clear while I preached.

That afternoon we had a house full of women for a meeting hosted by Tish.  So I headed to the basement and hid out for a while, taking a short nap.  I was cranky.  Later that night Tish said, “You are cranky today.  I know you are exhausted, let’s go to bed.”  That is when I began a 10.5 hour period of pure, spiritual, renewal.  I did not set an alarm.  I turned our phones on silent.  I opened the windows (it was going to be a cold night!) and got into bed.  As I laid down and pulled the blankets up a smile came across my face and my heart felt as if it was going to leap with joy… but it was too tired to do so.  Tish and I turned off the light and went to sleep.

That night I slept for 10.5 hours!  Now, you have to realize, I’m a 6-7 hours of sleep a night guy.  So this was crazy!  I woke up with NOTHING on my mind.  I left my phone off.  I refused to check email, Facebook, messages, etc.  I just rested. I ate a good breakfast. I watched some news.  I read, and I stared out my big front pane windows and just rested.  Then Tish and I went to Springfield where we were blessed to buy each other gifts for our anniversary this month and eat some good food together.  We laughed and talked, and had a great day.  Today, I feel like a new man.

Rest is Spiritual.  This is why we are told to take sabbaths.  This is why Jesus said in Mark 2:27 that the sabbath was made for man.  It’s for our good that we rest.  It’s for our spiritual, physical, mental, and relational good.  It reminds us that we aren’t the savior, we can take breaks and the world and the gospel keep moving on.  It reminds us that we are mortal and our bodies need breaks if they are to keep moving on.  It reminds us that our minds tire out and that clearer thinking and even the spiritual discipline of “taking every thought captive” comes when our minds are rested.  It reminds us that our relationships matter and that when tired, we miss out on the joy of relationship and focus on the trouble of relationship.

In Mark 6:31 Jesus said, “‘Come away to a desolate place and rest.’ For many were coming and going and they didn’t even have time to eat.”

Pastor, leader, Christ-follower… I challenge you and urge you to take time to rest.  For your good, for your families good, and for your ministries good… rest.  Because after all – Rest is Spiritual.