I have decided to start a new church at age 53. Actually, I feel God has led me to do this. This call has been affirmed by people as crazy as I am. We all believe that God is not through with us and there is a need for a church like ours in Northwest Houston.
Did you ever see the movie "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button?" The movie is based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The plot is strange and complex. Benjamin Button is born as a baby that looks like a decrepit old man with many maladies. As he ages he grows younger.
In some ways I feel like Benjamin Button. Starting a church at 53 seems counter intuitive. A pastor told me at a golf tournament recently, "starting a church is young man's work."
What happens when your career trajectory goes backwards?
The problem might be with how we define success in ministry. For the first 30 years of ministry, I was always on an upward trajectory numerically. Even when I left the pastorate, I ended up on a church staff that averages 7,000 in attendance.
Last week I preached to thirty people. I can't remember having a better time. We had prayer requests shared out loud. You could never do that at a large church. We had youth serve communion. We stayed and enjoyed breakfast snacks and were not in a hurry to get home.
Go figure.
What would people say if Nick Saban left Alabama and went to coach high school football? What would people think if Yo Yo Ma left his career behind and began to teach personal lessons to under privileged kids in Brooklyn, New York?
We might wonder what happened, or if a screw was loose.
I am not sure that what I am doing makes sense. I just know we had church last Sunday. I believe that there are people who want to go to a church like ours. I believe that people want to get past all of the glitz and glamor of 21st century church and remember what it is like to be at a place where people know your name.
We know we are not a church for everybody. But, maybe we are the kind of church you are looking for. Ed Hogan
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