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The Value of Veteran Church Planters (Acts 29)

July 29, 2018 by Alyssa Poblete Leave a Comment

The Value of Veteran Church Planters (Acts 29)

“Please Mommy! I promise I won’t get sick. I just want a couple.”

My three-year-old daughter peered at me with longing eyes as she gripped the box of cookies in her hand. We had just gotten home from a birthday party where she indulged in enough sugary treats to put her father to shame (and that’s difficult to do).

At that moment, I knew that this was going to end badly for her if I allowed it. I knew that there would come the point of no return when her stomach would begin to reject the copious amounts of unhealthy food, and regret would eventually set in. I knew because I had been there myself. Experience had allowed me to see what my daughter was blinded to: too much sugar can eventually lead to an awful tummy ache.

Parenting is filled with these types of conversations. Having a few more years of living under my belt has allowed me to see things that my daughter, with her limited experience, is still figuring out.

In the same way my children need me to help them see the world through my eyes of experience, church planters need those who have gone before them to do the same.

Veteran church planters play a vital role in the pioneering effort of church planting because they have trodden the same paths, worked with similar soil, and waged war against the same enemy. Their years of pioneering work have allowed them to see through the eyes of experience what the new church planter cannot. So when my husband and I began the process of starting a new gospel work in our community, we knew we needed the involvement of men and women like this.

There are three areas that veteran church planters know to explore in a pioneer church planter: the hands, the head, and the heart.

 

This article was previously posted at Acts 29 West. To read the full article click here.

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Haddon took me on a date this morning. He bought m Haddon took me on a date this morning. He bought me a vanilla latte from my favorite coffee shop, took me to the petting zoo, humored me with endless rounds of “Would You Rather,” and talked about his goals for the summer (which include convincing @chrispoblete and I to get him a hamster 🤦🏻‍♀️🙅🏻‍♀️😬). The entire time he kept saying, “I just want to do what you want to do mom. It’s your day.” He’s going to make one amazing husband someday, but for now I’m soaking him up all for myself. 😍
Parenthood requires a whole lot of grit and grace Parenthood requires a whole lot of grit and grace these days. It is hard work and even our best efforts leave us face to face with our lack at the end of the day. We have weeks where the physical and emotional demands mean that we hardly get a chance to exchange a few intelligible words to one another. But we do get a whole lot of time to observe each other and I’ve never gotten a better picture of your character than I do now.
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I catch you laughing at our kid’s corny jokes and jumping in whenever they throw an impromptu dance party. Scratch that, I see you initiating impromptu dance parties even on the days you’re exhausted. I see you taking time to stop and answer every “why” question even though it would be so much easier to say “because I said so.” I see you working late into the night just so you can join us for family dinner, even though I try to insist you get your work done so you can get a good night’s sleep. I love watching you teach our kids about Jesus and how you take the time to explain even the hard things that would be so much easier to bypass for some other day when they’re older. You are unflinching in your resolve to be a present parent and show up even when it requires so much sacrifice to do so.
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The hard parts of parenting are often unseen and unapplauded but I see you and I couldn’t be more grateful and more in awe of you than I am today. I love you so much Chris Poblete. Happy Father’s Day!
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👆Wrote this two years ago but I’ve seen this fleshed out on a million more occasions and it feels more fitting today than it even did back then.
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@chrispoblete
A stomach virus hit our home this week. It took us A stomach virus hit our home this week. It took us all by storm. Our schedules were cleared, our laundry pile turned into an avalanche (I’m not kidding it toppled out of all the  hampers as we used up every towel and switched out soiled outfits every couple hours), and we spent our days doing the dance between caretaker and patient depending on who was feeling worst. When I was at my weakest I had the best caretakers in the world, including little Haddon serenading me in bed. There is nothing better. 😍😭💛
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Sickness has a way of reminding us of our utter fragility. We are far more vulnerable than we care to admit. When our bodies break down, it thrusts us into the great reality that every ordinary day that our body functions as it should, it is an act of abundant mercy.
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Anyways, the Poblete family is sobered by the reality that our bodies, as intricate and incredible as they are, may not always serve us in the ways we hope in the days ahead and we are rejoicing in the gift of health we have today. 🙌💛
If you would have told me a few years ago that I’d be homeschooling my kids for the 2020/2021 school year, I would have shuddered. Nothing sounded less appealing to me.

But when it became plain that this move was the next right thing for us, there was grace there for the work ahead. 

What began as a duty quickly became one of my deepest delights.

We spent this last year learning how to read books and solve math equations. We wondered at God’s handiwork in the water cycle and our galaxy. We took countless nature hikes and trips to the zoo with friends. We prayed a whole lot and rehearsed phrases like “Pobletes do hard things” and “practice makes progress” over and over again. 

It was a good good year filled with grace and new expressions of dependence, and there is no one more shocked about it than me. #gracealone

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Homegoing is the online home of Alyssa Poblete, a writer in Southern California.

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