Immovable Objects

Are we willing to move when God says move? Church planting is an endeavor where you really find out what people are made of. Personally, I think it shows how much we're willing to be obedient to God and the call he has to reach people who don't have a personal relationship with him. There's the planter and their family (if they have one) that is given the call. Then of course there is the team of people that the planter tries to gather. Everyone involved has to have a heart totally set on God.

A heart set on God lives in tents not houses. The writer of Hebrews says in the "Hall of Faith" chapter that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all lived in tents. The casual reader would pass over this statement without thinking twice about what this means. The patriarchs of our faith lived in tents. A tent can be torn down just as quickly as it can be set up. Let's call it tent-living. Tent-living means we set up shop where God tells us to. But when he tells us to move, then we can move. Tent-living means that we can uproot ourselves when God calls us to move on. This is one of the reasons why I hold folks who are willing to move across the country to start a church in such high regard. I admire their team members even more. I'm usually their biggest cheerleaders, pom-poms and all!

Tent-living is only metaphorical. Does that mean we shouldn't buy houses? ... NO! We should buy houses. We should attempt to root ourselves in our community. However, we don't get so firmly rooted that we're unwilling to move when God calls us to move. By the way, this includes leaving one church to start another one. In my opinion, this is one of the only few reasons someone should leave their church.

What are your thoughts about tent-living? Are you REALLY willing to move when God says move?