My 4 Take Aways From the A29 Pastors Retreat

Every year Vermon and I get to join the other lead Acts 29 pastors and their spouses from all over the country for a retreat. This year it was TRULY a retreat for me....lots of down time, beautiful weather, a great time of rest.  Here are my 4 take-aways from the A29 retreat:

(#1) Arizona has a great network of churches.

By far my favorite part of the retreat (if I don’t count all the refreshing, wonderful time I got with my husband) was talking with Arizona A29 pastors and their wives.

Growing up in churches and around pastors and their families, it was not uncommon for me to think that competition between churches was normal. As I came into my own faith and became an adult I always felt uncomfortable being around pastor x, y, or z while they shared their jealous feelings of pastor a, b, and c.  I always wondered why churches wasted so many resources competing against each other instead of working together. 

It has been refreshing the last 2 or 3 years to be a part of what is going on in Arizona among all sorts of churches.  I have been able to be a part of the Surge school, which brings together hundreds of people from many different churches (not just A29 guys, but includes A29) in the valley to train and equip believers for leadership. I really appreciate that this includes equipping women along with men and I have enjoyed making connections to churches all over the valley.

It has been so great to see churches partner together to put conferences on, to support events that other churches are doing, to pray for each other. I love when I hear a visitor tell my husband that they are driving from Tempe to go to Roosevelt and he encourages them to check out another one of our sister churches that is much closer to where they live. This feels so much closer to the body of Christ that God has called us to be…no competition, no self-promoting, just glorifying Jesus and begging God to change our city.

(#2) God is doing something with Arizona & Orphan Care

    The other extremely exciting thing that is happening among Arizona A29 churches is orphan care. 40% of the A29 Arizona pastors are adopting, fostering, or beginning the process.  This is unreal! As I heard story after story from couples who shared why they began this process I was moved beyond words. This isn’t a bunch of people who think adoption is the new tattoo or black-rimed glasses.  These couples aren’t fostering, adopting, or trying to walk along side birth families because it is the newest and latest way to be a hipster. These are couples who understand and GET what God has done for us through the Holy Spirit in Jesus. These are couples who want to walk alongside parents, caseworkers, and children and share the good news of Jesus Christ with them and intersect the gospel with their desperate situation.

   I’m not sure what to make of it all yet, but it is by not an accident that God has called and led SO MANY pastors within our Arizona network to adopt or foster. I am hopeful that this is another way that we can partner and make a great impact in our city.

(#3)  Its great that Matt Chandler is now president of the A29 network.

I can’t say how thankful I am for this leadership move.  I am prayerfully hopeful for the vision he has laid out and the 4 markers that he wants the network to be known for.  Which are:  (1) Plant churches that plant churches that plant churches (2) walk in humility (3) work hard and diligently to be diverse ethnically and (4) to be known for evangelism and conversions.  

I grew up in diverse churches. I have an AOG background and for the most part, worshiped in a diverse environment. When I began looking for a church that was more theologically aligned with what I was discovering in God’s word…I came across Roosevelt. Roosevelt is a wonderfully diverse church that had a really cute black pastor that I fell in love with and married.

Roosevelt & that cute pastor opened me up to the A29, PCA, Bible Church, Community Church world.  As I began to go to these conferences, visit their mega-church web sites,  check out the big name guys sermons, and look at their staff list…I was really shocked to see that it was almost 100% white. My first few A29 retreats were incredibly uncomfortable and awkward.  I know it was probably more so for my husband.  It just isn’t comfortable to be one of 6 black guys out of 400 pastors. It isn’t fun when well-intentioned white pastors imply that this reason is because black guys aren’t "there" theologically, or don’t have the education, etc, etc. A few other denominations/networks do it, Universities around our country do it…. goodness, McDonalds, Disneyland, and Starbucks figured out how to draw in all sorts of people into their leadership—why shouldn’t Christian networks and denominations?

Thankfully, again, the Arizona region has been good about this specific issue and I feel like this is something they have been talking about for a few years now.  I really had to fight back tears to hear Chandler say that this is the new direction. Just acknowledging it as a need is a big first step. I think it will take a lot of hard and painful work for them to get there, I am proud that our church is diverse and pray we can plant diverse churches, and I will be praying diligently for wisdom and humility as the A29 leadership seek to diversity their own churches and the A29 network. 

(#4) It is a gift to spend time uninterrupted with Vermon.

The best part of the retreat was just time with Vermon. These last six weeks of transitioning baby Vanessa to her forever home has been really hard physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I came to Orange County completely exaughsted and almost unable to finish my sentences. It was so special to have time to talk with Vermon, time to read, time to write, time to sleep…. I am so thankful for this life God has given me.