I am confident that in just a short time, our best stories will be about God transforming lives of people who are becoming devoted to Jesus and growing in community as they share Christ with others around them! For now, the best stories are of how God is opening doors, choosing which people and when we begin those relationships. This one’s about a guy I’ll call Memo (I’ve changed his name).

After I broke my ankle, I was really depressed. A big part of that was wondering why God had allowed a huge STOP sign to enter into the stream of relationship-building that I had been involved in with ferocity. Not only did it stop me from going out every day and visiting or doing things with other moms in the neighborhood, but it prevented Phil from having the time to commit to the people he had been getting to know because he had to be home much of the time to care for me and the boys. We felt frustrated because we couldn’t be working to form and build relationships like we wanted. No “street-work” was getting done…or so we thought!

One evening (about 11:00 at night) I was lying in bed feeling useless. Phil was working in the other room on some long overdue emails and administrative work. All of a sudden we heard gunshots ring out on the street outside, with a car screeching away down our block right afterward. Then I heard Phil’s feet pounding down the stairs and the door slam behind him as he ran out to investigate.

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“What has been the biggest surprise so far in church planting?”
This was the second question my friend Gena asked me and three other female church planters to answer at the Pepperdine Bible Lectures, during a panel on Church Planting for Women. I wish I could remember word for word the responses of the other three women. They were amazing. Here is my response (as of today):

Aside from God cleaning up my mess (see my last entry), one of the biggest surprises has been the duality of spiritual forces battling it out in our lives and in the lives of our neighbors.

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When people ask me to tell them about our mission in East Hollywood, they usually want to hear stories of what God is doing (through us and despite us) in the lives of other people. I love sharing those stories. But recently my friend Gena Granberg asked me to share (in a panel format at the Pepperdine Bible Lectures) my response to an equally important question, “What is God doing in you through this church planting experience?” For those of you who are interested in church planting as a woman, here was the essence of my reply:

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