10 Years In Church Planting- Olivia Jackson

When I opened my phone a few days ago, a picture of my son Jordan in his bright orange cast popped up from 10 years ago. We were in our last few months at our sending church and had begun having informational meetings about the church plant we hoped to launch the coming September. A few families had committed and momentum was building, but our own family was in shambles. 

Within a couple of weeks not only had Jordan broken his arm at the park (requiring emergency surgery), Josh also needed surgery to put in his third set of ear tubes and to remove his adenoids, I was diagnosed with placenta previa with Camille and put on bed rest, and our seminary house in Florida that we’d rented to a tenant, flooded twice. I remember looking at Corey through tears telling him that we had to call the elders to lay hands on us and pray. Why would anyone want to follow us to plant a church?

In those days I believed leadership looked like being the one making meals for others and being the strong and encouraging friend, but in this new phase of life, we had little to give. Daily life was overwhelming and I wondered how on earth God could use us to plant a church.

Over the next few months, the Lord blew my mind as many families from Peace surrounded us and cared for us in our struggle. We received so many meals from the church that I began trying to hide from the meal lady at Peace on Sundays after the service. We had more than enough casseroles and wonderful care from many. And in amazement, I watched as God called some of those families who faithfully cared for us to be a part of the core group of Trinity Park Church.

As I sat at Corey’s ordination service shortly before the launch of our church, I listened to Dr. Frank Barker preach on Zechariah 4:6. “Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit, says the Lord.” It began to sink in. This church would be about God showing up in our weakest moments and using us when we felt like we had nothing to give. 

These ten years have been about teamwork, conflict, and seeing God mend wounds. They’ve been about God growing his church through set up and tear down in a blue gym. And about learning to love the neighbors and nations of our community and breaking bread with refugees. They’ve been about teaching kids about faith sitting on the floor of a school cafeteria. And about prayers on our knees when we weren’t sure we had what it would take. And mostly these ten years have been about God’s provision time and time again when all seemed lost. 

Ten years of church planting have refined me in ways I couldn’t have imagined. Daily I’ve learned to depend and believe that indeed it is Christ who builds His church. 

I remember laughing in the early days of Trinity Park when one of our members said one day after a service, “The cool thing about Trinity Park Church is that we are not cool.” I’m laughing a bit to myself tonight thinking about this statement as we gear up to celebrate the 10th anniversary of our church in a parking lot, next to a loud cracker factory, during a pandemic. Maybe “cool” is not the right word to describe us. But dependent, yes! And that is something that I hope never changes.     
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Olivia Jackson lives in Cary with her family.