top of page
  • Black Facebook Icon
  • Black Instagram Icon
  • Black Twitter Icon
  • Black Pinterest Icon
Search

My Side of the Story Part 2

Writer's picture: Pastor BrandonPastor Brandon

I left Lynchburg, VA and headed back to NOVA. I was excited and nervous about what I knew I had to do. I remember taking 2 of my mentors out to lunch that Sunday after church. They were a married couple with 30 years of experience in ministry. I told them that I thought God was calling me to plant a church. They didn't flinch. "Absolutely," they said. Then, I told them I was going to pursue Ellen for marriage. "HA," the husband said. "I think she would like that," said the wife. This was a common response. Most people thought I was way out of my league and that "God telling me" was the ONLY way I would get her to say yes.


So many things were happening in my life at this time. I had a lot of questions. How do you plant a church? How do you ask someone to marry you? How do you leave a church you are pastoring well? And most importantly, What if this all goes wrong?


I took up running. I usually don't run unless someone is chasing me... with a gun! I was living by myself at the time in a big townhouse. I would come home from a 12 hour day of leading a church and discipling middle and high school students and try to go to sleep. My mind would race with fears, questions and excitement. So, I would get up, put on shoes and just run around my neighborhood until I couldn't breathe anymore. My conversations with God went between asking Him to keep me alive up that hill and to just start shutting doors if He didn't want me to walk through them.


I had pretty much reconciled that God was going to lead me to plant a church. I didn't know what that meant, but I was on track with that calling. Getting married on the other hand, was going to take a lot of faith. Ellen was totally in my "ministry box." In order to protect my heart, I worked really hard at putting girls my age at our church in that box. It had been just me and God for years. And there was this feeling that it was all about to change.


After a couple of weeks of seeking Godly counsel and praying, I couldn't handle the suspense anymore. I called one of our denominational leaders and told them I was ready to plant a church and to point me in the direction of someone who could help me. I also knew that Wednesday night was coming. This was when Ellen and I spent the most time together. She helped me get ready for youth group and usually spent time with me and students afterwards. We went to Chick-Fil-A with the whole youth group after church. I was working the whole restaurant, occasionally looking over at her to see if she was impressed by all my jokes and interactions with students. I'm pretty sure she was. In the South, we call this "wing-dingin'." That's pretty much how we operate still today. I'm working a room, meeting everyone, and she's in the corner of the room having a deep conversation with 2-3 people.


After everyone left, I texted her to see if I could stop by her house and hang out. I tried to play it cool, but I'm pretty sure she knew I had motives. We sat on the back porch on a swing, listening to the bugs and debriefing life. Every time I took a breath, I just couldn't get the words out. I knew what I was about to do was going to change my life. I waited too long. Her roommate came out. And that was that. We talked to her roommate for a solid hour, before I volunteered to go home. And then I heard the magic words... "I'll walk with you to your car." Score. As we walked, I wanted to chicken out. It didn't go as planned, it was getting late and I don't think she sees this coming were all excuses floating around in my head. As she was about to tell me goodnight, I said, "hey, there's something I want to talk to you about." She turned and looked at me and from the look in her eyes, I knew that she knew what was about the happen. It's one of those images I will hold on to forever, because it told me that she had been praying too and maybe, just maybe, God told her the same thing He told me.


"God is calling me to plant a church that will plant many other churches in D.C.," I told her. "Good for you," was her response. "Yeah, and I'd like to pursue you for marriage," I casually dropped right after that. I was so relieved when she asked me if we could sit down and talk about that before I left.


So, we talked all night. Neither of us knew exactly what we were getting ourselves into, but we knew it was from The Lord and we were willing to take the step of faith to pursue it.


Ellen never disrespect my leadership. She was one of my chief encouragers in ministry. Girls flocked to her to be discipled, and Ellen took full advantage of that for Jesus' sake! I saw the way she handled losing all of her plans and dreams for the sake of The Gospel, and I noticed God doing what only He could do. Her shyness and sense of humor were incredibly attractive to me. She showed great intelligence in things I was interested in and had a maturity that made me see her as an equal, not just another church member I was discipling.


We took a month to pray, seek Godly counsel from our mentors and asked friends/family to pray along with us. I asked Ellen to be my girlfriend at the end of August. After a firm high-five, she told me yes. I was sort of hoping for a first kiss, but I guess being a pastor, Ellen thought going up top would be more appropriate. By September, we were dreaming of marriage, and in October, church planting became a fast reality. The mission God was calling me to wasn't a year or two away. It was happening. By November, we had a date, and the church I was pastoring GAVE us a wedding and a commissioning to the mission field on Sunday, December 18, 2011. We've been living the dream since!




158 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page