At 48, I can look back and recognize something I didn’t always see clearly: God was working in my life long before I was aware of it. During my teenage years, I never imagined I would serve in ministry. In those years, God was someone in my thoughts, but not a close reality. I knew certain things about Him, but I still didn’t understand what it meant to walk with Him, to depend on Him, and to see Him work in the midst of life’s ordinary circumstances.
Over time, the Lord transformed my heart. Looking back, I see how He used very different people, experiences, and seasons to prepare me for something that was never part of my plan. Today I understand that church planting didn’t begin when we were sent out. It began long before, when God started shaping the character of a man who still had much to learn.
And that’s perhaps the first lesson I’d like to share: planting a church was never God’s primary goal for my life. His goal was to form Christ in me while allowing me to participate in His work.
Discovering the Value of the Local Church
When I was invited to join a church planting team with my family, I served in the youth ministry. I was passionate about teaching God’s Word and sharing the gospel truths that were transforming my own life. I didn’t have all the answers or a perfectly defined strategy. What I did have was a deep desire to serve the Lord and proclaim Christ to those who didn’t yet know Him.
Over time, God began to teach me something I now consider fundamental: the local church occupies a central place in His plan.
I confess that at times I was tempted to think that ministry consisted of organizing activities, maintaining programs, or achieving certain visible results. However, reality showed me something else. The church is not a calendar full of meetings. The church is real people, with real struggles, whom God is transforming through the gospel and the local church.
One of the challenges I continue to face is preventing the church from becoming a routine. It’s possible to meet every week, develop ministries, and even grow numerically, while losing sight of the reason we exist. I’ve seen how easy it is for a congregation to become content with attending, participating, and serving, but forget that it was called to make disciples.
That’s why one of my deepest convictions today is that the local church must remain focused on its mission: to evangelize, disciple, equip, and send. When it loses sight of that purpose, it begins to resemble an organization more than a spiritual family.
When Leadership Becomes a Test of Humility
If I’m completely honest, one of the hardest challenges I faced during my early years was my own need to prove myself capable.
I remember times when I felt I had to prove I was ready to lead. I worried that others would see my limitations. On more than one occasion, I tried to gain confidence through my performance, thinking I had to demonstrate competence to be respected.
Over time, I realized I was fighting the wrong battle.
God used many circumstances to show me that Christian leadership isn’t based on personal ability, but on dependence on Christ. What people needed from me wasn’t a picture of perfection, but an example of someone who was also learning to walk with God.
I still remember seasons when I wondered if I was really the right person for the job. Like Moses, I often looked at my own limitations before God’s sufficiency. However, the Lord was patient with me. He taught me that He hadn’t called me because I was enough, but because He is enough.
Today I can say that the seasons that helped me grow the most weren’t those in which I felt strong, but those in which I felt completely dependent on God.
The hardest lesson: I need a team.
If there’s one lesson I wish I had learned sooner, it’s this: no church planter was designed to walk alone.
For years, I struggled to recognize how much I needed other men by my side. There were times I carried responsibilities that I should never have carried alone. Other times, I thought asking for help was a sign of weakness. I even came to believe that I had to solve every problem myself.
Now I see how wrong I was.
The loneliness of ministry is real. There are times when you wonder if you’re doing the right thing. There are days when the weight of decisions, people’s needs, and the responsibilities of ministry seem overwhelming.
It was precisely in those moments that God showed me the importance of shared leadership.
I learned that I need godly men walking beside me. I need people who encourage me, challenge me when necessary, and remind me of what I sometimes forget. I need accountability. I need to hear other perspectives. I need a team.
Today I am convinced that shared leadership is not simply an efficient strategy; it is a necessity for the health of the ministry. God never intended His servants to walk alone.
Discovering that Programs Don’t Make Disciples
Another important lesson emerged from observing how a church truly grows.
In the beginning, it’s easy to think that the advancement of the ministry depends on developing more activities, more meetings, or more programs. However, over the years I discovered that programs don’t transform people.
People transform people.
One of my mistakes was not starting to develop leaders as early as I should have. Looking back, I would have invested more time from the beginning in walking alongside other men, discipling them, and preparing them to serve.
For years I focused too much on immediate needs and not enough on multiplying leaders.
God taught me that discipleship happens primarily in relationships. It happens when we share life with other believers. It happens when we teach, correct, encourage, and walk alongside someone in their spiritual growth.
I also learned that making disciples requires patience. In our culture, many people are willing to attend church, but few are willing to commit to a deep process of spiritual growth. That can be discouraging. However, true growth is almost always slower than we would like.
Today, I constantly strive to remember that the success of a church is not measured solely by how many people attend each Sunday, but by how many are being transformed into the image of Christ.
The biggest challenge wasn’t planting a church
When people ask me what the biggest challenges of ministry have been, they might expect me to talk about a lack of resources, financial uncertainty, or the inherent difficulties of planting a church.
And certainly, those challenges have existed.
I have faced times of financial worry. I have seen bills seem to exceed available resources. I’ve had to learn to raise funds and depend on God’s provision in ways I never imagined.
I’ve also faced the discouragement that comes after sharing the gospel many times without seeing visible results. I’ve waited for people who promised to attend and never showed up. I’ve experienced moments of ministerial loneliness and seasons of uncertainty.
But, if I’m honest, none of those have been the biggest challenge.
The biggest challenge has been remaining in Christ.
It’s been hard to maintain the right priorities. It’s been hard to protect my devotional life. It’s been hard to remember that my first ministry is my relationship with God, followed by my wife and children.
I’ve often found myself more concerned with producing than with remaining.
Yet, time and again, the Lord has reminded me of Jesus’ words: apart from me you can do nothing.
Church planting became a means of sanctification. God used every challenge to show me areas of my life that still needed to be transformed. He used every difficulty to lead me back to depending on Him.
And that remains the most important lesson I continue to learn.
A word for those planting churches
If I could sit down and talk with a young church planter, I wouldn’t start by talking about strategies. I would probably talk about faithfulness.
I would tell them to love Christ more than the ministry.
I would tell them to invest in people before programs.
I would tell them to develop leaders from the beginning.
I would tell them to care for their family with the same passion they care for the church.
I would tell them not to try to walk alone.
And I would remind them of something God has had to teach me time and time again: the church belongs to Jesus Christ.
We plant, disciple, serve, and mentor others, but it is Christ who gives growth.
After years of ministry in Cuenca, I can look back with gratitude and acknowledge that God’s faithfulness has been greater than every obstacle encountered along the way. Church planting is full of challenges, but it is also one of the greatest privileges the Lord bestows upon His servants.
Because in the end, God wasn’t just planting a church.
He was also training a servant. And that continues to be His work to this day.
