Plant Oak Trees, Not Dandelions

Despite aborted attempts in 2008 and 2013, my family and I tried a third time to plant a church in northwest Detroit. In hindsight, I believe our first two attempts to plant failed because we lacked both a strong nucleus of people and financial resources. But the greatest deficiencies were in me. I believe God sovereignly and graciously held back our planting for me to continue to grow and mature as a man and pastor.  

When I was a new Christian, and before I preached my first sermon in 2001, I felt strongly compelled to plant a church in northwest Detroit. Being born and raised there, I’m intimately acquainted with her beauty and bruises. While my community boasts a strong local culture and scenic locations, northwest Detroit is also plagued with what ails many urban communities: broken structures, families and social and economic systems. In light of the pervasive brokenness, we planted Cornerstone Church Detroit, to see broken lives, families and blocks rebuilt with Jesus as the cornerstone. 

Our story is not sensational, awe-inspiring or glamorous. We did not move across the country and parachute into Detroit. We did not gather hundreds of people with a massive launch Sunday; it was honestly a modest turnout and less than I expected. We did not have a renowned sending church or pastor, a six-figure budget or a beautiful facility. Our first meeting location was two combined classrooms in a defunct school. While people are coming to Christ, growing and being transformed, we don’t baptize dozens of people a year, and I’ve performed more funerals than weddings by three times. 

Cornerstone Church Detroit began in my tiny living room with my large family of seven in 2016. While we initially lacked the prescribed essentials to plant a church, we had a small core group that was fiercely committed to serving Christ, one another and our community. By God’s grace, the Spirit quickly drew people to us, and we are still seeing Him “do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us” (Eph 3:20). 

So, why church planting in 2024 and beyond? This was a question I was asked dozens of times in 2015. I even had four local church pastors tell me that our church was not wanted or needed. So, why? Here’s my hypothesis: I believe church planting is still vital, effective and a primary method of advancing the Great Commission––because biblical, gospel-centered church plants bring a concreted focus on evangelism, discipleship and leadership development to communities.   

Look at Paul’s church planting ministry in Iconium as a prototype: sharing the gospel (evangelism), instilling and re-enforcing the gospel (discipleship) and reproducing the gospel (leadership development) gave birth to a flourishing gospel ministry (see Acts 14).   

If these three areas (evangelism, discipleship and leadership development) are missing, there is no church. An existing church may be able to continue to exist and maintain the status quo while being weak in these three areas. But if a new church plant is not reaching people, making disciples and raising leaders, it will likely cease to exist. 

When we first planted and in the first few years, I remember feeling like I must constantly be sharing the gospel with people I encountered in my community and attempting to build relationships. I felt compelled to gather people for spiritual formation and discipleship, as well as create leadership pathways for leaders and pastors in training. I believed that if I didn’t personally engage in these components, as well as create a culture of these three pillars, Cornerstone would cease to exist like many other church plants before and after us in Detroit.  

Of course, ultimately the Lord Jesus builds His Church, and minus divine intervention, “the laborer labors in vain” (Psalm 127:1-2). We need Christ, because without Him as the source, we can bear no fruit (John 15:5). Now, by God’s grace, many of the people leading and serving in our church came to faith and were discipled at Cornerstone. When the Lord is at work through the efforts of His people, church plants are fueled by a tangible urgency. 

Three pillars over pragmatism 

Before I connected with the EFCA, I was assessed for church planting by a different organization. At this church planting assessment, I was tasked with presenting my ministry philosophy and strategy before a panel. In retrospect, this experience felt more like “Shark Tank” or “American Idol.”  

A would-be planter would give their “pitch,” and the panel would either pick it mildly apart, rip it to shreds or give their approval. I remember giving my straightforward strategy, which included my three pillars of a healthy, gospel-centered, church plant. However, I was promptly told it was not “enough" by a skeptical local pastor, the “Simon Cowell” of the esteemed panel. He kept telling me I was missing “a draw.” In his view, I was missing something innovative, flashy or catchy to draw people to our church plant. 

Sadly, I’ve seen this pragmatic approach to church planting be stressed, ultimately to the demise of many new churches and communities. In my last eight years of leading our church, I’ve seen more gospel dandelions come and go than oak trees take root in Detroit. Instead of planting your church on the three pillars (evangelism, discipleship and leadership development), many think they must reinvent the “gospel wheel” to be relevant or pragmatic. 

By no means am I rejecting or belittling strategy, planning and innovation, but I learned very early that replacing a firm gospel foundation with pragmatism, smoke, mirrors and ploys to attract people doesn’t translate into gospel ministry. I definitely felt the temptation to drive toward a pragmatic approach to draw people, but we should be aiming to glorify Christ, reach the lost and trust Him to give the increase (1 Cor 3:7). 

Also, a hyper focus on evangelism, discipleship and leadership development has benefited our people in their spiritual journeys and helped leaders be identified, prepared and equipped. In the very early stages, we lacked mature, experienced leaders and couldn’t afford to hire them. So, if we were to have a kid’s director, youth leaders, deacons and groups leaders, they came from within, and we’d have to develop them from scratch. Now this has become a part of our church’s culture, and all primary leaders are home-grown. 

Certain uncertainty 

I often describe my church planting journey in Detroit as “certain uncertainty.” In the last ten years, the consistent elements have been God’s grace and provision, uncertainty and difficulty. Since I began a pastoral residency in 2014, and we launched in 2016, my family and church family have experienced extreme highs and gut-wrenching lows. Our church has seen countless come alive in Christ, grow leaps and bounds and be baptized, and we’ve even planted another church in Detroit.  

We have seen God’s repeated provision, meeting our needs in jaw-dropping ways. Despite our limited resources, we were able to raise $42,000 during COVID in 2020 to bless over family units in our city. In just eight years, we have seen the Lord do amazing things in our church for His Glory. 

But, along with mountaintop moments, we’ve experienced many ministry valleys. At the tail end of 2019 and heading into 2020, while we were finally beginning to grow numerically and in ministry depth, we were abruptly displaced from our meeting location, exhorted financially by our landlords and sucker punched by a global pandemic.   

In 2021, after being displaced again, we met outdoors (or online if weather was inclement) for seven months, until the Lord provided our current location. Many normal church planting struggles are compounded when the ministry context is one of violence, crime and high poverty. The last two years, I experienced occasional depression, largely because it felt like a cloud of death hovered over our church, as unexpected losses have occurred again and again. 

Along with deaths in the local church, I’m occasionally asked to counsel families and bury children and young people who were victims of senseless violence in our community. Along with constant losses, we minister to people in the grips of crippling addiction and mental health struggles and paralyzing poverty.   

Now, currently, as a small local church squarely rooted in inner-city Detroit, we continue to navigate financial instability and insufficiency, while our church continues to grow and seek to plant more churches. While our certain uncertainty brings me much anxiety, fear, doubt and stress, I always return to the certainty found in our Savior.  

My main sources of strength and encouragement comes from meditating on the gospel. Our Lord, who took our sin to Calvary’s cross promised He would rise again, send His Spirit and establish His Kingdom through His Church. Before laying down His sinless life and conquering the grave for three days, Jesus assured His disciples the very gates of hell would not withstand the advance of His Kingdom (Matt. 16:18). I encourage you to trust in our sure Savior, even in uncertain times.