Dr. Roger W. Thomas, Preaching Minister
First Christian Church, Vandalia, MO
Out of Our Comfort Zones
Matthew 14:22-33
Hold that text in the back of your mind. We will come back to it later.
Old time evangelist Vance Havner used to tell the story of an old fisherman. Ol’ Clem amazed everyone with his success. It didn’t matter what the weather was like or how productive other fishermen were. Clem always caught his limit. But no matter how many times they asked, Clem refused to tell his buddies how he did it.
Finally the game warden grew suspicious. One morning he showed up just as Clem was putting his old boat in the water. “I’m coming with you today,” the warden insisted. Clem protested to no avail. Finally the old fisherman shrugged his shoulders and said, "Okay, suit yourself."
The two climbed into the boat and motored over to a secluded cove on the lake. Clem sat there pondering his situation for the longest time. Finally, he said, "Well, I guess it’s time to fish." He opened his tackle box and pulled out a stick of dynamite. Before the game warden could say a word, Clem lit the dynamite and tossed it in the lake. The explosion blasted a huge fountain fifty feet in the air. Dozens of stunned fish bobbed to the surface. Clem calmly got out his net and started scooping up his catch.
At first the game warden sat there as stunned as one of the fish. Finally, he came to his senses and shouted, "Clem! You can’t do that. It’s illegal!" Clem didn’t say a word. He reached into his tackle box and picked up another stick of dynamite. He lit it. He tossed it in the game warden’s lap and said, "Are you gonna’ fish or are you gonna’ just sit there?"
That’s the question the leaders at First Christian Church of Vandalia faced. The church had been a strong, faithful church for generations. It had left a mark on ministries inside and outside of its community. The Vandalia Church had also been instrumental in helping lots of other churches get started. In 2004 the leaders confronted the issue of whether to start a new church themselves in nearby Bowling Green-Pike County or continue business as usual.
We could see many reasons to take on the project.
1. We already had many Pike County people who were driving to Vandalia for church.
2. More importantly, Pike County had no independent Christian Church. Not one!
3. We also knew from personal experience and the research that we were able to compile that a large part of the county had no church affiliation. Well over fifty percent of the population was unchurched.
4. We also knew that the area was expected to experience considerable growth in the future as the suburban sprawl spilled over from Lincoln County into neighboring Pike County.
We also knew there were some reasons for starting a new church that we wanted no part of. I spelled these reasons out and talked about them often with our folk. I wanted no misunderstandings about this.
1. We were not starting a new church in order to move Bowling Green people out of the Vandalia church!!
2. We weren’t doing it to make church more convenient for BG people driving to churches in other communities.
3. Our goal wasn’t to compete with the various denominational churches that already exist in Bowling Green. Honestly, there were a few churches that I wouldn’t mind competing with. There were also good churches who were do a decent job of serving the community.
4. The new church could not be an effort to reproduce a church in Bowling Green just like the church in Vandalia. Despite the fact that Vandalia was a good church with a good history. The communities were different. The new church needed the freedom to do what was needed to reach the new community.
5. We were not starting a church where people from Bowling Green who are going to church in other communities can do things their way. Frankly, a perennial problem for new church plants is the way a new work can draw frustrated church people who are looking for an opportunity to be a big fish in a smaller pond.
We had good reasons to do it. We knew there were reasons we wanted no part of. But it still was not an easy decision. We had some pretty good reasons not to do it.
1. We knew we would lose some members and leaders to the new work. No church looks forward to that.
2. The project would cost money. We were not a big church. We did OK financially, but we were a long way from rich.
3. The new church could siphon off valuable resources and energy from work that still needed to be done in Vandalia. We are small rural community. But there are still lots of people who need the Lord and lots of young people who need directed in the ways of the Lord. We had not intentions of giving up on our home base.
4. In the back of our minds was another big issue. The plans might not succeed. Like or not, failure was a possibility! Bowling Green was a small town in the grand scheme of things. Most new churches plants take place in much bigger places or fast growing suburbs. None of that was true of Pike County, at least not yet.
The leaders talked and prayed about the idea for a year or more. Some were enthusiastic from the beginning. A few weren’t so sure. Finally, they all agreed, it was time fish!
What finally tipped the scales for the church’s leaders was the celebration of their church’s 125th Anniversary in the spring of 2004. They researched the beginnings of its own congregation shortly after the founding of the new community of Vandalia in the late 1800’s. It suddenly dawned on them that all churches start somewhere, even theirs. The Vandalia congregation started when a group of faithful disciples decided Vandalia needed a church committed to preaching simple, non-denominational, New Testament Christianity. A handful of folk began to meet for Bible study and then for worship in the local school, the town depot, and later in the facilities of other churches. Finally, they started a full fledged church of their own. Several years later, they purchased property and erected a church building near downtown Vandalia. The congregation grew and prospered, eventually built larger facilities, and developed into a strong, vibrant community church. The rest is history.
Once the Vandalia leaders realized how their church started, it became easier to imagine starting a new church in Bowling Green. They became committed to the principle that churches start churches. Other groups can help, but ultimately new churches are born when established churches decide to do for another community or neighborhood what somebody did for them.
The process for starting what would become known as Cornerstone Christian Church took nearly two years. The work moved through several phases along the way.
1. Interested persons gathered to talk about the idea. Gradually, more and more folk agreed that starting a church was a good idea and that they were willing to help.
2. The Vandalia church began to talk and pray openly about the project. This began long before solid plans or dates were established for the effort.
3. Eventually word spread to other nearby churches. After about a year, a core group of interested people from Vandalia and other places began to meet monthly to get acquainted and to lay the groundwork for the new church.
4. A plan was put together. Estimates of the needed resources to accomplish the task were assembled. Individuals assumed leadership for different parts of the plan.
5. Contacts were made with churches and individuals who might be interested in joining the project. Some began attending the monthly core group meetings. Others agreed to support the new church with financial and prayer support.
6. The community was surveyed. Demographic information was compiled. A vision of what was needed began to come into focus.
7. As 2005 began, a local Bible study started. The core group began to meet more frequently for business and planning. As all of this was taking place, the Vandalia church leaders continued to reaffirm their commitment to the process. Several of their leaders became involved in the core group. A few planned on being part of the new church.
8. Finally a date was set to begin the worship services—October 2005. That meant a location had to be found, equipment located, and needed financial resourced gathered. Gradually over the next months, the pieces fell into place. A name was chosen. Financial commitments were made. Meeting facilities were arranged.
9. Throughout the summer of 2005, a community awareness strategy was implemented. Mailings were sent to every home in the area. Newspaper ads were placed. The core group manned booths at local fairs and festivals. Neighbors spread the word. Other Bowling Green churches were informed.
10. Staff for the new church was assembled. It was decided that the church would begin as an extension of the Vandalia church. Its preacher and youth minister would fill the key roles on the staff. Students from Central Christian College were recruited to perform other important duties with the work. This would enable to new congregation to start without the huge financial expenses (often hundreds of thousands of dollars in start-up costs) that many suburban congregations need to begin.
11. Finally, after months of prayer and hard work, the first public worship services were held in the Bowling Green High School auditorium on October 2, 2005.
Cornerstone Christian Church is a reality. That doesn’t mean the hard work and maybe even some hard times are over. The big challenge of building a small new church into a strong local congregation is a work in process. Only the Lord knows what the future holds. The leaders of the Vandalia church are still working and praying. The church has already given and sacrificed much for the work. We have no intention of stopping now.
Remember that text we started with.
Like, Ol’ Clem, Peter was a fisherman. He used nets rather than dynamite. But he was a fisherman! He knew normal men didn’t calm storms or walk on the water. He had fished and swam in these very waters many times before. He wasn’t a dummy. He wasn’t as gullible as many might thought him to have been. When he saw Jesus standing on the water, he knew he was in the presence of a miracle. He knew he had been in the presence of a miracle ever since he left his fishing nets to become one of Jesus’ disciples.
I don’t know what was going through his head or why he said what he did. I doubt if Peter even knew why he did it. But all of the sudden Peter hears this familiar voice shouting, "Lord, let me do it too. Let me come to you on the water.” It was his voice saying those words. I wonder if he thought for a moment about taking them back. “Just kidding, Lord. You know me, always saying things I don’t mean.” But if he thought about taking those words back, he didn’t have a chance. The Lord takes him up on his offer.
I don’t think anyone in that boat was any more surprised than Peter when the Lord said, “Come!” Now what do you do? You offer to take your ten-year-old sister on the monster roller coaster, knowing full well she won’t go, and she says yes. You dare your buddy to jump in the ice cold lake. If he does you will. You know he won’t, but he does. You make what you know is an impossible offer and the other person takes you up on it. What now?
I suspect Peter thinks long and hard. In a fraction of a second that seemed to him like an eternity, he ponders his options. There are big risks. He could step over the side and sink. With the high waves, he might even be swept from the boat and drown. Worse yet, his buddies in the boat would never let him live it down. “You walk on water. What were you thinking, Peter? That is the dumbest thing you ever did and we’ve seen you do some dumb things!”
But he did it. First one foot and then the other. He accepted Jesus call. And at first, it happened. He stood on the water. First one step and then another. But just then a gust of wind blew and he looked at the storm. In the time that it took to look away, he could feel himself sinking. Before he knew it, he was thrashing in the water. At that moment, Jesus reached down, lifted him from the waves, and set him back safely in the boat. This wasn’t the first time or the last time that Jesus rescued Peter.
At first I suspect Peter was a bit embarrassed. In the presence of the Master, the others probably didn’t say much. They toss Peter a towel and help him dry off. The sheepish grins and chuckles were enough to let Peter know that he was in for the ribbing of his life later.
Here is where study gives way to speculation. I suspect those other disciples weren’t nearly as hard on Peter as they planned. The more they thought about what had happened the more they realized that Peter didn’t look nearly as foolish as they thought. They especially didn’t give him the hard time they had planned after breakfast around the campfire that morning. As they sat around reminiscing on the night, Peter starts telling his version. Sure he had spoken before he thought. Sure he had begun to sink in the water. And sure Jesus had to rescue him. But to hear Peter tell it, he had walked clear across the lake. It had been only a few steps but he had done it. They hadn’t!
For the rest of their lives, they will have to listen to Peter tell of his baby steps on the water. When their laughter gives way to reflection, they soon realize that was something they would likely never experience. They had the same opportunity Peter had. He spoke up, stood up, and stepped out. They sat there. Now while Peter will spend the rest of his life talking about his step of faith, they will spend the rest of their lives thinking about what might have been. They will forever wonder what it felt like, what it would have been like. They will wonder if they could have . . . if only!
This story illustrates some lessons worth remembering.
First, some times in life you have to get out of the boat. You will never know what you miss if never leave your comfort zone. If you always take the path of least resistance in life, the easy way out, some day you will be left wondering what might have been. What are your comfort zones? Personally? Your church? This group? Staying in the boat may not be the best choice.
Secondly, there is something worse in life than failing. Being paralyzed by doubt and fear, not even trying, is a far worse fate than trying and failing. The best days of our lives often begin outside our comfort zone, when we step out of the boat and into the center of God’s will.
There is a third lesson. The safest place in the world is in the center of the Lord’s call, wherever that is. The most dangerous place is any place other than with Him!
***Dr. Roger W. Thomas is the preaching minister at First Christian Church, 205 W. Park St., Vandalia, MO 63382 and an adjunct professor of Bible and Preaching at Central Christian College of the Bible, 911 E. Urbandale, Moberly, MO. He is a graduate of Lincoln Christian College (BA) and Lincoln Christian Seminary (MA, MDiv), and Northern Baptist Theological Seminary (DMin).
