Great Commission Churches

March 2009

 

Dear Sisters,

This school year is almost over for my kids, yet school is never out for those who want to be useful
to Jesus Christ. Neva Whitney has some lessons for wives who have been, or will be, planting new churches with their pastor husbands.

I remember in the late 1980's when the Whitneys were planning to move from Washington, D.C. to help a new church in beautiful Colorado. Rick's heart was "into it" and so then was Neva's. And there they were fruitful-but the Lord had more for them to do once they were grandparents!

The lesson I want to learn from Neva is that of courage. She urges us to courageously serve God in faith-and "astonish" God. Let's follow her example and then find ourselves astonished at God, as we experience His goodness and faithfulness.

In His service,
Sandy Hopler

 

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Lessons from a Church Planter's Wife

By Neva Whitney (Vintage Faith Church, Manhattan, KS)

"May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children. May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us - yes, establish the work of our hands." - Psalm 90:16-17

I didn't realize it at the time, but I married a church planter almost 36 years ago. Not that it mattered. I would probably have married him anyway - my skinny cowboy with his newfound heart for God.

And being a new Christian myself, I did not have a hint of what God had in store for us and the path our lives would take.

Rick and I became Christians while students at Iowa State University during the early '70s. After we graduated we moved to Rick's hometown and worked for a couple of years before moving back and rejoining the Ames church in Iowa.

Shortly after Rick was recognized as a pastor, he teamed up with another young pastor and along with a great, little team - we moved to Gainesville, Florida! Being uprooted from the Midwest and moving so far away should have been my first hint that I might have married someone who loves to start new churches and try new things for God.

After we had been in Gainesville for about five years, Rick was asked, along with some other men, to move to the Washington D.C. area and help organize Great Commission Churches nationally. So we packed up and moved our ever-growing family to Maryland.

While living there for another five years, my husband volunteered for almost every opportunity he could get, to get out of town, and to work with new churches (mostly in the southeastern part of the country). So he traveled a whole lot.

Again, after about five years, Rick decided to help pastor a young church in the Denver area. The church had a few deacons serving there and they were friends of my husband. They strongly implored us to move to Colorado. It really didn't take much asking on their part.

So we packed up our ever-growing family once again, and moved halfway across the country.

This move was different from the others. This was the first time that we bought a house, settled into a neighborhood, and a community for a long time and raised our seven children there--but we kept planting churches.

While living in Colorado we didn't stay with one church for any great length of time. Maybe we should have. Looking back, it's sometimes hard to sort out what we should have done. Maybe we should have stayed with one church a little longer. Many dear men (and their wives) have been pastoring the four Denver churches, been extremely faithful, and have done a tremendous job.

But it seemed like we often tended to move on after a few years to help get another
church going. And I hasten to say, that we never did any of this alone. We were always alongside a wonderful team of sacrificial servants and hard workers.

One nice thing while we were in Colorado was that we didn't move our family each time we got involved in starting a new church. Instead we just committed to drive our van full of kids a lot. Sometimes almost an hour one-way, but we loaded up and traveled in that minivan and had a ball. And our kids were with us every step of the way, learning about God, learning about life, learning about themselves, and learning about planting churches.

After 20 years in Colorado my husband surprised me when he again got the "itch" to do something new for God. We asked our now grown kids, "What should your mom and dad do?"

And they told us! "Go big or go home!" "Get out of the boat!" "Keep it real!" "Do
something for God!"

They recognized that we weren't young pups, but their counsel was, to quote Tennyson, "Though much is taken, much abides; and though we are not now that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; one equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

We sold our home and moved to Manhattan, Kansas, home of K-State.

We have been here for almost nine months and Kansas is starting to feel like home - though when I was flying recently from Texas, after helping with a new grandbaby of a daughter who is planting a church in El Paso, at the airport I kept looking for a gate with the destination Denver and not Kansas.

Being a church planter's wife has taught me much over the years. And I trust that some of these lessons encourage you, dear sister, no matter what your husband's gifting and whether you have done a new church plant or not.

The first lesson is that church planting is not really that big of a deal. Whether we move or not, I do not think that's the biggest pressure on us, ladies. The biggest pressure is faithful service and fulfilling our call in life to be daily followers.

Another lesson that crosses all of lives is that life is never routine on a church plant. It is good to view each day as an adventure. You don't know exactly what God (or your husband) has in store for you. You learn again how hard work is and how hard life is, and just how hard daily life can seem at times, but that's okay. God called us to labor, to work, to pour out our lives, and He will
give us all the grace we need.

We have got to believe this and we show our belief if we are experiencing that strength,
that grace. Grace for even the routine or mundane things.

I am often reminded afresh how important it is for a wife to support her husband and come alongside him in all his adventures, ideas, and schemes. To be excited about what he is excited about. To be his main cheerleader and counselor, not his critic or complainer.

I have learned you should never get too comfortable in your church. Don't rely on others to be out sharing the gospel and inviting people to church activities. Keep these kinds of things high on your priority list and a vital part of your weekly activity.

I have learned to not get strapped down by our possessions. We need "things" to function and be effective in outreach, (a frying pan, for instance) but each time I saw how much "stuff" I had accumulated and needed to part with, to make the moves halfway successful. He has weaned me of things.

I've learned that I am not above anything. When moving here - no one knew me. On campus or around town. Many times I have found myself in rather awkward or uncomfortable situations - whether it's passing out tracts on campus during a break in class or moving into a tiny
old apartment while waiting for our house to sell or traipsing around town in the rain under the cover of a big umbrella handing out flyers for a picnic that evening - and thinking to myself, "I'm above this. I don't need to do this. Do these people know who I am? I'm a national leader's wife. I'm
Mrs. Regional Director. I am the First Lady of this crazy church."

But then God gently whispered to me. "Vanity, my little girl. You are nothing of the kind. You are simply My servant. Follow Me. Trust and obey. Let go of your pride, My daughter."

God in His steady, consistent way has repeatedly said to me, "No, Neva, you are not above doing any job I might ask for you. You are not doing this for anyone else, but for Me. And serving
Me girl, isn't that enough?"

I have learned to answer Him, "Yes."

I like the quote by Margaret Atwood that Rick shared with my daughters and myself one time awhile back. "There are some women who seem to be born without fear. God appears to protect such women, maybe out of astonishment." I have learned, over and over again, that life demands courage. And He has given me courage.

I don't seem to feel any more outward confidence, even as many years go by, but I do experience and know His courage more and more.

Courage has been His faithful gift to me.

- May we, as Great Commission women, continue to always be fearless women.

- May we again and again astonish our God (and our husbands) as we step out in faith and ask God to step in and protect us.

- May we daily come alongside our men and help reach this world for our Lord and Savior Jesus.

If you want to respond to Neva, contact our office at info@gccweb.org to get her email address.