Tag Archives: prayer

Why We Are Moving To Montana

In a few days, my wife and I will pack up our three small children and move to Ennis, Montana, where I will serve as the Pastor of Madison Valley Baptist Church. For the first time in my life, other than when I moved to college a few miles south of the Alabama border in Florida, I will be moving outside of Alabama. As we shared this news, many people asked, “Why?” On the surface, their question makes a great deal of sense. Why would we pack up our family to move to the other side of the continent, away from family and friends to an area that is as cold as it is remote? The simple answer is that we know God has called us to this ministry. However, I wanted to take some time to provide a long-form answer on why we are moving to Montana and how you can get involved.

So Why Montana?

The Calling:

    Dietrich Bonhoeffer is famously quoted as saying, “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.” The calling to follow Christ is a call to serve Him and surrender our lives to His perfect, providential plan, even if that plan is hard for us to understand. In January of 2024, I was happily pastoring in Gadsden, Alabama. I served alongside a great staff, had a very comfortable home, loved our community, and had zero intention of ever leaving. After returning from an anniversary trip with my wife in late January 2024, it became almost immediately apparent that we would have to leave due to serious ministry challenges and disagreements beyond my control. Suffice it to say that my resignation as Senior Pastor was one of my life’s most difficult days and came with much pain and confusion. On that day in March 2024, everything changed. The staff I loved working with was gone, the home we loved was on the market, I had no idea where the Lord would call me to serve next, and on top of it all, on the same day I resigned, Roselyn informed me that she was pregnant with our third child. Our lives had been turned upside down almost instantly.

    Today, exactly a year after my resignation, we are preparing to move across the country to begin a new ministry. But the year in between was challenging, sanctifying, and clarifying in many ways. To begin, the question of where we would serve next was wide open. Of course, the church would need to share critical convictions (more on that later), but the size, shape, and location of the church were things that we were open to exploring. We talked with churches all over the country, big churches, small churches, urban churches, rural churches, and everything in-between. However, the Lord kept closing doors. All the while, we moved in with family in Huntsville, Alabama, to plug into Providence Baptist Church, a healthy, Gospel-preaching church. I cannot express enough how thankful we are to our Providence Baptist family. God used the church as a balm for our soul in a critical time. Their prayerful support and kindness have been a tremendous grace to us.

    Throughout this time, Roselyn and I prayed more than ever. We cried more than ever. Yet, God’s grace to us shone brighter than ever. He faithfully provided for our every need, including providing a buyer for our home and the safe delivery of our third child, Josiah. Through every heartbreaking moment we waited, we knew that the Lord had a perfect plan for us. The Lord used that year to refine our desires regarding the type of church, ministry, and community we wanted to serve. Throughout the year, Roselyn and I repeatedly returned to the topic of Montana and the idea of serving the Lord there in some capacity, whether through church planting or established church ministry. The one thing we knew for sure was that God had called me into pastoral ministry. This calling drives me. The call to preach the Gospel sometimes means moving your family across the country. But with that calling, comes the reminder that God’s perfect plan is just that, perfect. So we are excitedly trusting and walking in faith in God’s gracious plan for us to Montana.

    The Convictions:

    As I mentioned earlier, for fruitful ministry, churches must be convictionally aligned. Between leaving my previous church, plugging into a healthy church, and moving to a new ministry, I became convicted of the importance of convictional alignment. The concept of theological triage is beneficial in understanding the degrees and needs of doctrinal alignment for churches. Naturally, our new place of ministry would need to agree on the nature of the Gospel as being by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. We must agree on the nature of God, the inerrancy, authority, and sufficiency of the Bible, and the importance of missions and evangelism.

    However, one of the critical areas for me as we sought a new church to serve was ecclesiology and specifically, elder-led congregationalism. God desires churches to do things “decently and in order.” (1 Cor. 14:40). I am also convicted that God desires for churches to be led by a plurality of elders. This article is not a defense of elder-led congregationalism, although I am happy to do so and many others have done an exceptional job showing the veracity of this argument from Scripture. This is simply to say, that I was seeking out elder-led churches who shared critical convictions and desired to grow in the Word. Furthermore, I am a convictional proponent of expository preaching, God-honoring congregational worship, and doctrinal discipleship. I was seeking a church that embraced these convictions and was excited about a pastor who would lead in this direction.  

    The Church:

    I have a calling to preach the Gospel. I was seeking a place to do that in which I could honestly live out my convictions. When I saw the listing for Madison Valley Baptist Church, I was immediately intrigued. MVBC is an elder-led SBC church nestled in the Madison Valley of Southwest Montana. The church is a unique combination of people who have relocated from elsewhere around the United States and people whose families have been in Montana for generations. The church has a profound love for the Word, an attitude of quickness to prayer, and a deep desire to see the people of the Madison Valley come to know Christ.

    Upon our first conversation with the search committee, Roselyn and I knew that the Lord was moving in this direction. The Lord had knit our hearts together with the people on the committee in a very quick and real way. He had given us a profound love for the church and its community that can only be described as a supernatural leading. What we found was that the church shared convictions with us on things even beyond those in my earlier list. We had similar convictions on philosophy of children’s ministry, parenting, and education. We shared lifestyle views and political views. On top of that, the people were among some of the most genuinely friendly and welcoming people I’ve ever been around. All of this is to say that the Lord gave us the desires of our heart in allowing us to serve Him at Madison Valley Baptist Church. We believe the church and its context in Montana (more in a moment) uniquely position us to be effective and fruitful in ministry there for a long time.

    The Context:

    The context of Ennis, Montana is an interesting thing in and of itself. For personal context, Roselyn and I had both been on mission trips to Montana to support church planting there alongside my friend, Darryl Brunson, the founding pastor of Expedition Church in Livingston, Montana. Through our work with Darryl, the Lord gave me a tremendous burden for the people of Montana. One of the tasks Darryl gave us was to do site assessments, prayer, and evangelism for prospective church plant locations. The more we drove around the state and met people, the more we saw the pervasive lostness and the need for healthy churches. According to the Montana Southern Baptist Convention:

    “Montana is considered a new work state, meaning that it is a largely unreached mission field. Southern Baptists in Montana represent less than 1% of the population and Evangelicals number less than 10%. The geography itself is one of our greatest challenges as many communities, churches and pastors and their wives are isolated and are often measured by the hours it takes to travel to the closest Walmart. The climate is also challenging with temperatures as low as 35 below in the winter and exceeding 100 degrees in the summer.”

    In short, there is a critical need for healthy churches that preach the Gospel. While Montana is politically conservative, their conservatism is largely separated from Christ. Furthermore, the rugged individualism of the Rocky Mountain West allows for a “pull myself up by my bootstraps mentality,” that when applied to spiritual matters is dangerously close to a works-based gospel. Finally, with the abundance of natural beauty in Montana, many people are tempted to follow in the footsteps of those in Romans 1 who exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped the creation rather than the Creator.

    There is tremendous need for healthy church work throughout the state. This need makes serving a church like Madison Valley even more appealing because we are helping to meet that need and prayerfully becoming a launching point for further Gospel ministry in Southwest Montana. Rural ministry in this setting is particularly attractive to me because of the importance of relationships and shepherding. It is my desire to know my congregation on an intimate level and truly come alongside them to shepherd them in the Word. To summarize, Montana is a largely unreached and lost state. We need more Gospel ministry in the state. When presented with this opportunity, we had no choice but to say, “Here we are Lord, send us.”

    How You Can Get Involved:

    If you are reading this, I covet your prayers. This will be a big transition for my family and a big undertaking for MVBC as we seek to faithfully live for Christ and see the Gospel advance in the Madison Valley and to the ends of the Earth. Many people have reached out asking how they can come alongside us to see the Gospel go forward in Montana and how they can be involved. If you are interested in getting involved, here are some ways you can help:

    Pray

    As my grandmother used to say, “Prayer is something we can do for each other that doesn’t cost us a thing.” We covet your prayers in many ways. First, you can pray for a smooth moving process as we will drive cross-country with our stuff and three children, ages three and under. Second, you can pray for an easy transition as we settle into Montana culture, new ministry and life rhythms, and in building new relationships with our congregation and the community. Third, you can pray for the Gospel ministry of MVBC. My prayer for the church comes from Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian church in Ephesians 1:18-19. I pray that the church would know “the hope to which He has called” us, “the riches of His glorious inheritance,” and “the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe.” If we know these promises and the nature of God, we will be bold and zealous in evangelism, grow in deeper discipleship, and grow in conformity with God’s Word and will for our church. Furthermore, you can pray that God would raise up faithful, qualified men to serve as elders at MVBC. Above all else, pray that the Lord’s will be done at MVBC and that everything we do would glorify Him.

    Come Help

    The Lord used mission trips to Montana to prepare us for His calling to serve in full-time ministry there. While He may not be calling you to move to Montana, you and your church can definitely impact the Treasure State for the Gospel by partnering with faithful churches in Montana to do short-term mission trips or financial partnership. We would love to connect you with opportunities to come to Montana and come alongside faithful churches in cooperative Gospel ministry. However, like us, some of you may be future Montanans. You may be wondering how you can serve the Lord. Maybe you are retired, you can work remotely, or you are interested in moving to see the beauty of the Gospel proclaimed in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Montana needs faithful Christians willing to boldly live their lives for Christ. This is not just for pastors or church planters, but also for faithful lay elders, deacons, church members and volunteers. Whether through short-term trips, relocating, or even praying or giving, there are so many opportunities for you and your church to impact Montana for the Gospel. I would challenge you to prayerfully consider how the Lord might be leading you in this regard.

    In closing, we are moving to Montana to faithfully proclaim the Gospel by God’s grace at a church that shares our convictions and desires to see the glory of God displayed in Montana. . you are interested in following along with our journey and ministry in Montana keep your eyes open and check back here for an upcoming newsletter sign-up.

    Isaiah 6:8 (LSB): “Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

    Praying for the Preacher

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    Nicknamed the “Prince of Preachers,” Charles Spurgeon is frequently recognized as one of the greatest preachers in history. When asked about the secret to his successful ministry, Spurgeon responded that his people prayed for him. Spurgeon went so far as to call the prayer gathering of the Metropolitan Tabernacle the “power plant” or “boiler room” of his church. There was no doubting the connection between prayer and successful ministry in the mind of Charles Spurgeon.

    One of the great needs of the modern church is men and women who fervently pray for the faithfulness of the church. The church’s faithfulness is most often seen in the content of the preaching that flows from its pulpit. Therefore, church members should spend time praying over the preaching of the Word. In the letter to the Colossian church, Paul instructs the believers there to be in prayer for him and those working alongside him as they preach the Word.

    Colossians 4:2-4 (ESV) says, “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison – that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.” These instructions on praying for preaching inform the way we pray for those preaching the Gospel today in a few specific ways:

    1. We Pray for Open Doors for the Word

    Paul tells the Colossian church to pray for the Lord to open a door for the Word. Naturally, this means we should pray for opportunities for the Gospel to be proclaimed. Furthermore, we should pray that the Lord would open hearts, minds, and ears to hear and understand the Gospel as it is preached. Just as God must open the door to preach, He must open the heart to hear the preaching.

    Over the last year, the Lord has reminded me never to take a preaching opportunity for granted. Each door the Lord opens is part of God’s providential plan to carry the Gospel to the nations and redeem His people. Thus, we pray for preaching opportunities for faithful preachers not to build the preacher’s fame and platform or to stroke his sinful ego but that the kingdom of God may be built up through the clear preaching of the Gospel and the fruits of conversion. We pray this prayer not only for our own preacher at our local church but also for those preaching the Gospel on the mission field. We pray that God would give faithful Gospel witnesses the opportunity to speak and proclaim the Word of God into the lives of those around them.

    2. We Pray for the Gospel to be Preached.

    This seems like an elementary thing that should go without saying. And yet, it must be said. An unfortunate element of our sin nature is that there is no shortage of temptations for preachers to preach ineffective things such as self, opinion, works, prosperity, pragmatism, pleasure, or politics. Rather, we must pray for our preacher to stand firmly on the side of biblical faithfulness by God’s grace and proclaim the mystery of Christ, which is the Gospel.

    We must pray that our preacher be a Gospel preacher determined to know nothing except Christ and Him crucified. (1 Cor. 2:2) We pray that our pastors have the courage to preach the Gospel even when it may cost them prison and death as it did Paul. We pray that our pastor dares to preach the Gospel even when it is unpopular. We need the pure preaching of the Gospel, that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ. Rather than preaching the poverty of man’s wisdom or preaching for self-glorification, pray that the preacher will preach the riches of Christ and for the glory of God.

    3. We Pray that the Gospel is Clear

    Paul concludes his exhortation to prayer by asking the Colossians to pray that he would make the Gospel clear as he ought to speak. We should pray that every sermon is clear. In Nehemiah 8:8, we read, “They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.” This should be the goal of the faithful expositor: to give the sense of the Scriptures in a clear way so that the hearers understand the meaning of the text. The aim is not to impress academics, entertain audiences, or insult the ignorant. The aim is to clearly communicate the plain meaning of the text. Therefore, we should pray that the preacher would have clarity of mind and speech by God’s grace so that they may communicate clearly.

    Naturally, there are innumerable things we should be praying over regarding our pastors. However, when it comes to their preaching, we must pray that the Lord opens the doors, the preaching is Gospel saturated, and the preaching is clear.