Thoughts from a Veteran Church Planter.

Several weeks ago I contacted one of the church planters supported by our church.  His name is B.J. Nordgren, he is commissioned out of Anchor Baptist Church, Salt Lake City, UT. Brother Nordgren was used of the Lord to plant the Chigagoland Baptist Church in Lansing, Illinois in 2010. Once the church was planted both he and his home church felt it was the Lord's will for him to return home and await God's direction for the next church plant. The Lord has led and they are currently working in Heber City, UT to establish the Lighthouse Baptist Church. We thank the Lord for men who practice what is taught in Acts 13. We see that Barnabas and Saul were sent out by their local church. We asked Bro. Norgren to share any things he has learned and about his new church plant  the following is his response:

"With respect to Church Planting a key aim is reaching and discipling a faithful man or faithful men. These men come really as a blessing of the Lord. Over the years we have seen God bring men that were teachable and trainable. They are willing to go house to house, visit widows, do Bible Studies, whatever you as the preacher/ missionary are doing they are hungry to be a part of it. These men become very fitted for the work of the ministry where God put them.

'It is easy to overlook these men when they first come to us. Many times we are too focused on other areas of ministry that we do not commit the time and effort required to disciple these men.

'The Lord so definitely impressed me a while back with this verse:
2Ti 2:2  And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

'A few thoughts from this passage that have been a help:
"Commit"- The precious truthes and practices of the faith must be "commited" and only those who are "teachable" will we be able to "commit" them to. One can not "commit" something to a person only nominally interested. Nor would we want to "commmit" a thing to someone that was not obviously very eager to receive the thing. They must be "teachable". They must also be "faithful" to have the doctrines and practices "committed" to them over a length of time. "A faithful man who can find?" The Lord can! (Prov 20:6) And He will bring that faithful man to stabilize and forward His ministry (Jn 15:16).

'So this is, I think, a great need in Church Planting-teachable and faithful men.

'You asked about our ministry and how it started. We are presently evangelizing and holding Bible Studies here in Utah. Thankfully, we have 2 committed men (and their families) that the Lord has brought. Both have opened their homes to have our Bible Studies so far they are faithful, teachable and have a heart for souls. One of them was saved out of Mormonism and has a heart for Mormons and is really very fitted to reach them. He understands the great cost and the difficulty we will face in establishing a church in a Mormon dominated area. .... By God's grace we want to keep building them up as well as whoever the Lord brings. We are preparing to begin holding services in June. Our website is www.lighthousebaptistutah.com"