A WORD FROM THE CHBC ELDERS
To our CHBC family,
On behalf of the elder council, let me express how excited we are to share with you what the elders have been working towards for much of 2022. We spent a good part of our past year praying and thinking about the vision to plant a church. As the year progressed, Curtis had some preliminary discussions with Micah Brookhart (that in truth built off of previous conversations they’d had over the years) about this idea.
This led to us meeting with the Brookhart’s several times over the year to discuss both their heart for a church plant in PG, and what it could look like if we were to partner with them. During those discussions, we were impressed with how prepared Micah and Rebecca were for this work—it’s clear God has had this on their hearts for some time. We then dedicated a portion of 2022 to researching the role of a sending church and completed a sending church master class (30+ sessions) to prepare for this possible direction.
In truth, this idea has been in place long before the past year. When CHBC was planted 50 years ago by Fort George Baptist, the idea was always to plant again once the doors were full. Over the decades, the idea was revisited by various boards and elder councils, but something always seemed to impede making this a reality. But we believe that we’re in a time of flourishing and welcoming so many new people into our church family.
The time feels right to us to take this step of faith.
Ask any church planting organization what the hardest part of starting a new church is and they’ll tell you: it’s finding the right planter. We are blessed in this regard. Some of us have known Micah since he was a teen in the CHBC youth group. We’ve been able to watch him come to faith, grow in his walk, and observe from afar his heart and skills as he pastored his church in Entwistle. We watched him marry Rebecca and find a partner to walk alongside and faithfully serve with him.
And it is our belief that they will make excellent, fruitful church planters.
Along with all of that, we’re blessed to have financial backing from the NAB for this kind of endeavour. Knowing that we will not have to bear the full financial load for this effort only settled our hearts that God has a plan and has been working out the details to bring it forward.
We hope you’ll prayerfully consider whether CHBC should join Him in this work.
Elder chair,
– Chris Bowler
THE CALLING OF THE BROOKHARTS
The decision for us (the Brookhart’s) to move forward into church planting comes from a desire to follow God. We long to follow God wherever He leads and we recognize that life with God involves risk, movement, growth, change, and our obedience. As we discern what is next for us in God’s plan we believe God is calling us to church planting. Our journey in seeking God’s calling in church planting has been one of desire, gifting, confirmation, and opportunity. Desire to church plant began when I (Micah) first became a Christian. Another desire to church plant came after completing my graduate studies. Yet, God told us to wait and led us to a pastoral position. The desire has rekindled in this last year and we believe God is now giving us the confirmation and opportunity to move forward in faith.
Although it seems strange to step away from pastoring a healthy and thriving church and to leave an established adjunct faculty position – both with stable salaries – it is our sense of what God desires from us in this next season of life. This sense has been confirmed in many ways throughout our journey which we believe has led us to this meeting.
The statement of Ephesians 3:20-21 – Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen – is so true! Throughout the past, as God’s power has worked through us, we have seen God’s glory in so many ways. God is continually making Himself known and we want to continue to join Him in that mission. We believe the mission God desires us to join in next is in Prince George.
As we long to join God in His Mission we realize there is a cost to consider. There is a relational cost of leaving friends and family. There is a financial cost as we leave reliable pay checks. There is a cost of security as we step into the unknown. There is a cost of comfort as we take on something we have never done before. There is a cost of vulnerability as we leave our established support systems. There is a cost of countless other things. However, we truly believe Jesus is worth abandoning everything for. A life of discipleship must be one where we do not fear risk and can courageously follow Jesus into the unknown and uncertain. As God calls us, we recognize, it is into a dynamic and adventurous life of faith.
David Platt’s words in Radical speak to this: “Do we really believe He (Jesus) is worth abandoning everything for? Do you and I really believe that Jesus is so good, so satisfying, and so rewarding that we will leave all we have and all we own and all we are in order to find our fullness in Him? Do you and I believe Him enough to obey him and to follow him wherever he leads…?”
We do believe Jesus is worth abandoning everything for – wherever He leads.