What Do You REALLY Want?
Bob Hyatt
Jun 29, 2010

An interesting thing happened to me on the way to church planting.

I got offered a 70k a year job out of the blue.

Before we felt drawn (or pushed… pushed probably fits better!) to plant a new community here in Portland, I had been sending out a lot of resumes. I knew it was time to get out of the media job I had been doing and back into pastoral ministry, and to that end I was putting out the feelers far and wide. But… I kept being number 2. It came down time and again to me and someone else, and yet in the end- always someone else.

At about that time, God really grabbed my attention. I was told my media job would be ending, and I’d have 3 months to figure out what came next. We had just bought a house, gotten pregnant… mild panic began to set in.

I woke up one morning, and was laying in bed, resolving to redouble my efforts at resume-sending, when my beautiful wife opened her eyes and the first words out of her mouth were, “Well, we could sell the car, sell the house…”

“Don’t worry,” I said, “I don’t think it will get that bad. I’m sure we’ll find something.”

“No,” she said, “I mean, so we can plant a church! It’s what you’ve always said you wanted to do.”

Always said, and never really had the nerve to do.

Until that day. That was the first of many conversations that day which God used to move me from “I need to send resumes out” to “We need to plant a church.” October 27th, 2003. It was a big day.

About a week later, I got a call, though. It was someone offering me a job. No thanks, I told him. We’re going to plant a church. 70k? Uh… no, no… we’re going to plant a church. Over the next couple of weeks I kept getting the same call, from the same guy. It was as though my resolve to plant just triggered something in him- “That’s EXACTLY the kind of person we want for this position!” he told me repeatedly.

I’ll confess- there were a few moments where I looked at my pregnant wife and thought- really? Wouldn’t the wise thing be to take this job?

As I prayed it through, I felt God pretty clearly putting the question to me: Do you really want to plant a church? All this stuff you have been saying about the people who are missing from the standard evangelical churches in Portland, all this about My kingdom, about presenting the Good News of Jesus in ways that people who aren’t part of the church world can grab ahold of… Did you mean it? Because here’s a simple way out if you didn’t.”

I meant it. We turned down the offer, stepped out and planted a church community. But I’ve since seen that scenario played out time and again with new church planters. It seems to be something of a motif in the way God often (not always, but often) works.

And I saw it again today in a very similar question I heard. This morning, to be exact.

We’re now in year 7 of our community, the year I’ve been told marks something of a speed bump for church planters/new communities. The year it gets hard. The year you either endure or fold.

For us, it looks like a general season of churn, hard conversations, an uphill battle to flag some lagging enthusiasm, a need to refocus on mission… And lots of fun conversations about finances.

Oh yes.

We’ve never missed a paycheck in 7 years or been unable to pay another of our pastors. We all either do work on the side or raise support, so none of us look to the community for 100% of our income, and yet- it’s still the majority and very much needed. Last month, when we saw the trend we realized- we may not be able to make payroll. Further, our treasurer, the only one with a real detailed view into who gives (someone’s gotta do those tax statements!) let us know- so far this year, only 56% of Evergreeners had given anything at all. The conversation that came out of us letting the community know both of those facts was hard, but very good. In the end, people stepped up and we were actually OVER what we ask for from the community for the first time this year.

All good? Not exactly- Maybe everyone just moved their giving from this month back a couple weeks and gave early? In any case, we’re severely under budget again. And worse, it seems only about 15% of our community pitched in financially this month .

That number is disheartening on a number of levels. Besides the fact that I needed to let my wife know we may not get a full paycheck this month (our other staff will- I’ll make sure of that), it’s discouraging enough to make someone legitimately ask “Are we really all in this together? Do we care? Or are we just playing church?”

I woke up this morning with a heavy heart, thinking about all of this- wondering what the answers to those questions were. As I lay there, I started praying “God, please… I want this thing we started to continue, to live on…”

And that’s when I heard the familiar Voice: “Really? Why ?”

God was asking me- is this about building a church? An institution? Or is it about something, or Someone, else? All this stuff you have been saying about the people who are missing from the standard evangelical churches in Portland, all this about My kingdom, about presenting the Good News of Jesus in ways that people who aren’t part of the church world can grab ahold of… Do you mean it?

And that’s when I realized God had brought me full circle.

Here in year seven, I feel God pretty clearly asking me- What do you want? What’s it about for you?

I believe in church- but church isn’t an end to itself. I want a paycheck this month, but I’m not going to start looking at the pastor porn of Ministry Job Boards and dreaming about other places where things might be more predictable. For me, Evergreen is a means to an end, and the end is Jesus.

Here’s what I really want: I want Jesus. I know church comes with Him (it is His body and bride after all), but first and foremost, I want Jesus. I want Evergreen to go on, not for my sake, but for His – and for the sake of those He is loving into the kingdom through our community . And that means I never get to pastor the fully committed, already mature and stable community that, in my weaker moments I daydream about. I’ll always, to one extent or another, be dealing with questions like this, because I’ll always be working to move hearts and minds (including my own) from places of immaturity towards growth and greater depth of commitment to Jesus and one another.

So I’ll ride this one out however long this “speedbump” time lasts. Where else would I go? What else would I do? For as long as God allows me, I’m on this ride, helping to lead this community, pointing our church towards loving each other, loving the city of Portland and loving Jesus… because it’s the best way I know, given my gifts and callings, and until I hear otherwise, to serve Him.

Bob Hyatt is the lead pastor of the evergreen community , a church community in Portland, OR. More importantly he is the husband of Amy and the father of Jack, Jane and Josie.

How It Is Now Is Not How It Will Always Be

By Bob Hyatt • 20 Mar, 2024
One of the main tricks in life, I believe, is not to extrapolate current conditions and circumstances off into the future. However, that’s exactly the tendency we have as humans, and especially, I’ve discovered, as ministry leaders. We look at things now and think they will always be that way. We long to see landmarks in the road, mileposts that tell us either we have now reached the pinnacle, the place we always dreamed of being (even if that place is only “stability”), or conversely, the bottom has fallen out and now is the time to bail out. But the mileposts are merely markers on the journey, telling us where we are now, promising nothing of the journey ahead. And so, when things are good, we see nothing but success and good times stretching out in front of us. In the depths of despair, during the most challenging times of life and ministry we feel as though the darkness has become the new normal. The reality is much more complex: there are always better times ahead, and worse ones as well. During those dark times, when ministry becomes more of a weight than a joy, I tell myself, “whatever is happening now will not keep happening forever.” Those words have kept me through relational breaks in our staff that seemed unfixable, through budget woes when we didn’t think we were going to meet payroll, even a time when our community lost a third of its members because we had let a beloved pastor go. In this way I have found hope. In the same way, during the successful times when we were growing, budget was bigger than ever, and when new people were engaging with the church seemingly every week I continued to tell myself, “what is happening now will not keep happening forever.” In this way I have found a measure of humility. There’s another way to read this mantra as well, one that encourages us not to miss what is happening right now as we overly focus on where we’d like to be or what we’d like to see happen. The challenge of ministry, like the challenge of life in general, is to be present to what’s happening now . Too many single people miss the joys of singleness longing to be married. Too many young married couples miss the joys of the early years without children because they long to be parents. Too many parents of young children miss the joys of the infant years, longing for the days when their children are more independent, less dependent on them for everything. And on it goes. In the same way we in ministry can miss the joys of a small, close community by looking at larger communities and wishing we had their resources and influence. We can miss the inherent learning and even joy of being shoulder to shoulder in community with others through challenging times because the difficulties and pain we are experiencing mask the ways in which we are being brought together, the ways in which we are being formed and the invaluable things we are learning. In life, and in ministry, remember: How it is now is not how it will always be. Learn to appreciate how things are now, but also take comfort in the fact that if things are difficult, there are better days ahead. Stay humble because no success is forever. Stay hopeful because, in Christ, no failure is permanent.

Exciting Announcement- Ecclesia is Joining Ascent!

By Chris Backert • 19 Feb, 2024
I’m writing to share some exciting and important news with you that we believe will be significant for Ecclesia in the days ahead! For the last few years, I have been engaged with other church and network leaders across the US and Canada about forming a new “connection” for the church in North America. The heart of the effort is around unifying, amplifying, and multiplying the kind of Christian witness that Ecclesia represents, for the sake of the gospel, over the next few decades. This new effort is called The Ascent Movement, and within the last 12 months, its momentum has picked up increasing speed. A few months ago, I was asked by the council of Ascent if I would help spearhead the development of the network in its next phase. I agreed to accept that task. One of the core goals of Ascent is to connect, coordinate, and collaborate with groups like Ecclesia so that we can do more together than we could in isolation. In many ways, it will function as a “network of networks” like Ecclesia functions as a “network of churches”. In addition to ministries like Ecclesia, there are also seminaries, mission agencies, and other ministry support organizations that are joining Ascent in these early days. For the last several months the Ecclesia board has been discerning whether or not Ecclesia would officially enter into a partnership affiliation with Ascent. We unanimously affirmed that decision at our recent board meeting. Since Ascent is in its early phases of formation, more information on the benefits and opportunities of this new partnership will be ongoing. However, we are happy to share some of the aspects of this new affiliation that we find compelling and will not only bless Ecclesia, but also all of the churches within Ecclesia. First, given the size of Ecclesia, there have always been areas of ministry that we believe are important, but toward which we have not had the scale to accomplish or contribute. Among these are concrete efforts around - increasing the witness of the Hispanic church in North America - supporting mission expansion to less-resourced parts of North America - increasing opportunities for disaster relief and response - and mobilizing prayer networks. Further, there are also specific and tangible benefits that are made possible through this partnership for any Ecclesia Churches. Some of these include things like - discounted tuition costs to Truett Seminary for any Ecclesia leader or member serving an Ecclesia Church. - discounted rate in utilizing the services of Chemistry Staffing for future hiring - access to a church-based missionary sending ministry for those Ecclesia Churches engaged globally, and more! Lastly, there is a specific aspect to this partnership affiliation that is particularly helpful to Ecclesia. Ascent has agreed to partner with Ecclesia over the next year to expand our church planting and multiplication reach in a way that benefits both Ecclesia and Ascent. Practically, this looks like Ascent investing a little over $1,000/month into Ecclesia over this next year and together working toward a set of mutually beneficial goals. As I think about this opportunity within the current moment of our network, it seems right for multiple reasons beyond the purely practical. At our Ecclesia board meeting in late 2022, we established a path for individual affiliation within Ecclesia to make concrete space for leaders who are outside ministry contexts that allow for our core congregational affiliation. The heart of this decision was a desire to increase the kinds of relationships that Ecclesia has within our scope of ministry. The decision to affiliate with Ascent is similar. Also, as I shared at our Ecclesia Gathering in January, this decision fits within the Core DNA of Ecclesia. When I look back at the founding of our network, three aspects were central then and have carried forward. First, our desire to extend the gospel to increasingly post-Christian, or more challenging, settings and groups of people. Second, a desire to exemplify a Christian witness aligned with the theological and missiological direction of affirmations like the Capetown Commitment. Third, our desire to provide a relationally rich journey of friendship for the churches and leaders who are part of our family. When I consider the affiliation with Ascent, we share in common those first two Core DNA. As for the 3rd foundational aspect of our network, I believe the time has come where Ecclesia itself needs “friends for the journey” in the same way that Ecclesia has provided a context of friendship for those within our community. On the other side of COVID, it’s clear that ministry in the days ahead is more exciting, while also more challenging and complex. We believe we need a greater community to be the most faithful to the gospel that we can. You can go to www.ascentmovement.org to get a quick glimpse of its vision. The current website is a placeholder for a more thorough site coming later this Spring. Ecclesia, of course, will have a seat at the table in its formation. We have also provided a one-page overview of Ascent on the attached document. We will keep you updated on this exciting development. Please feel free to reach out with any questions. - Chris
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