‘GO’ students get up-close look at planting

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Students from all over Illinois –from Chicago to Harrisburg – participated in the inaugural ChicaGO project July 13-18 Using Judson University in Elgin as a home base, they went out from there every day to different work sites Over five days, they rotated around the locations, working with planters in the city and the suburbs on a variety of projects: a Bible camp for kids, Vacation Bible School promotion, prayer walking, community clean-up, and this landscaping endeavor in the north side neighborhood of Avondale

The different locations and projects were designed to give students a “broad overview” of planting, said Dennis Conner, IBSA’s church planting director in northeast Illinois

“Church planting in Garfield Park is very different than church planting in Ravenswood, or church planting in a suburban – or really ‘exurban’ – community like South Chicago Heights,” Conner said, naming a few of the communities where the GO-ers worked during the week

In Avondale, Andreson calls the landscaping project a “Gospel doorknob,” something that clears the way for people to hear about and respond to Jesus. The phrase is his way of explaining what the apostle Paul meant in 1 Corinthians 16:9, when he said he was going to stay in Ephesus because God had given him a “wide door to ministry ”

The courtyards and common areas at Carl Von Linne Elementary haven’t been touched for three years because cleared by lunch These students share a name with Andreson’s church they are part of Resurrection House Baptist Church, 25 miles south of here They also share a church planting connection: RHBC was planted in 2009 by Pastor Marcus Randle.

“I’m still on a mission to make sure that we don’t get too far away from church plant life and missions,” Randle says “We’re five years old We remember what it feels like to just start out ”

Projects like this may help develop future leaders, Randle notes on the walk to the school from Andreson’s home, where the team met for orientation “Maybe in 10, 15 more years, we’ll have a young group of church planters and missions-minded people, 20-somethings, 30-somethings, with that as their focus ”

‘What are you good at?’

IBSA Executive Director Nate Adams challenged the students with a church planting themed-devotion each morning

“You are coming alongside some entrepreneurial, sacrificial, young men and women who are seeking to establish a new church in a place where it is dark, and where most people around them are lost,” he said on day one

In the devos, Adams answered five basic questions (why, where, who, how and when) using examples from his own experience as part of a planting team several years ago in St community, impacting a community, building relationships and that happens in different ways ”

And through all different kinds of people Ken Schultz introduced students to the lighter side of church planting during an evening worship service The professional juggler (with the stage name “The Flying Fool”) made balloon animals, rode a unicycle, and threw sharp knives into the air All while telling his audience how he and co-pastor John Stillman (a nuclear engineer) came to plant Crosswinds Church in Plainfield

“What are you good at?” Schultz asked the students “Can God use that to build his church?

“He can You just need to give it to him ”

Only the beginning

Sixteen-year-old Kayla Washington sits on the jungle gym as she lunches on a sandwich made by Kirsten Andreson She and her friends from Resurrection House talked last night about what the kids who go to this school will think when they come back in the fall

“They might not even recognize that this is the same school, if it comes out like we plan for it to come out,” Washington said of disagreements about who’s responsible for outside upkeep Andreson and his wife, Kirsten, and their kids live just half a mile from the school For three years, they’ve been praying about how to engage people in Chicago with the Gospel through their new church Resurrection City

The Andresons’ church planting team is small Not wanting to damage the relationships they’re building in the community, they’re wary of overpromising or over-committing The landscaping project would be impossible without help

But the team of teenagers from the other side of Chicago have the flowerbeds in this courtyard mostly

Charles, Ill His voice broke as he talked about Tom and Alice, a couple who came to know Christ because they were invited to the new church that met at their daughter ’s elementary school

Remembering how Tom and Alice prayed to receive Christ one evening in their living room, Adams said, “That happens because a bunch of people worked hard months in advance to put a new church close to people who were far from God That is the hard work of church planting that we do even today ”

“It’s not just, ‘Put up a sign and start preaching and people come,’” said Dennis Conner “It’s about serving a

As she and her teammates worked in the courtyard, a few members of the school staff came out to admire their progress They weren’t the only ones to take notice

Andreson is continuing to talk to the principal about how Resurrection City Church can help her school With volunteers from around Illinois, the church is providing hundreds of backpacks full of school supplies, and just last weekend, more volunteers worked on behalf of Resurrection City to do landscaping at the school

God gave his church “beyond a wide door” for ministry during ChicaGO Week, Andreson said

“We believe He kicked the door wide open ”