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Note: A video of this story is available here.
Darrin and I were friends from college and always had similar dreams for what the church could be, a place where people could genuinely love God and love people and see a city changed. We had no clue then that The Journey would have the influence it has today. It’s been unbelievable to see God change the lives of so many people, including my own. I have never loved a city, or a church like I have loved St. Louis and The Journey.
Over the last couple years though I have wrestled internally with God regarding two things: planting a church, and a call back to the city I grew up in, Kansas City. I have never had clarity for either of those two, but I also haven’t been able to escape them. Specifically this past May I remember praying, “God if you are calling me back to Kansas City, you need to change my wife’s heart. She wants no part of it, and I’m not taking my wife somewhere she doesn’t want to be.”
So I would periodically mention to Elizabeth the idea of planting a church in Kansas City. She would promptly crush the idea. But through a series of events this fall, I asked her about planting a church here in St. Louis to which she responded, “If we’re going to do that, we should do it in Kansas City.” I couldn’t believe it! She was open and we began to pray and talk about what God might be doing. One of my prayers became, “God, I don’t want to just look for another thing to do. I want this to be something to where I’m disobeying You if I don’t go.” Then the signs to go only increased. A few of them were:
- My 5 year-old daughter, Alissa, tells Elizabeth out of the blue, “I wish we could go live in Kansas City.”
- A good friend tells me, “I had a dream about you that you were excited about where The Journey was going, but you were convinced you weren’t supposed to be part of it.”
- I shared my thoughts with Darrin and he said, “I’ve always wondered if you were gonna go back to Kansas City. I have a peace about this.”
- I was reading Jonah as he ran from Nineveh, and it hit me, “Kansas City is my Nineveh.”
I left Kansas City 12 years ago saying I’d never go back. But God has changed my heart (and my wife’s heart) and we are now excited to go back and see the Gospel go forward. I have contacted Kevin Cawley, an Acts 29 church planter in KC. Their church, Redeemer Fellowship, is about 1 ½ years old and is already over 800 people, and facing many of the same challenges The Journey faced years ago.
Through a series of conversations and much prayer with leaders at The Journey and Redeemer, I believe God is calling me to join Redeemer’s leadership team as we explore together what transforming Kansas City with the gospel could look like.
Elizabeth and I want to learn more of what God is up to in Kansas City and see how we can have the greatest impact for His kingdom. I believe God is the only one who knows the future, so it’s best if I hold it with an open hand and trust in His goodness. That may mean we plant a church, that may mean we help Redeemer launch into the world of multi-site, that may mean I continue to pastor at Redeemer in KC for many years. It may mean all of those things! I don’t have that clarity yet. I do have clarity that God is calling us to go to Kansas City and seek it’s redemption in Christ. How that plays out, well, that’s up to God.
So while we are excited about this next step, I must say that we are also very sad to leave so many people that we love & have been on mission with. We have poured out our heart and soul for this place and to leave is painful. But we rest in the fact that God’s mission still goes forth here at The Journey and in St. Louis. And we know that because of our years of laboring together and our partnership in our network, and because we serve a gracious God, we will stay connected for years to come.
Humbly,
Pastor Steve
