The rolling land of lakes and farms scattered with small towns seemed an unlikely place to start our major step into church planting. God seemed to have opened some obvious doors for us to spend 5 weeks in South Dakota but as we loaded up the vehicles and trekked to the tiny towns surrounding Sioux Falls I honestly had some doubts. We departed the busy city life where fast food and grocery stores were minutes away and traveled to a little town that had one gas station that closed at 8pm. The closest grocery store was a 30 minute drive. For Stefanie and I this was a dramatic change but for a brief time in our lives this crew of 5 was in need of change. I needed to slow down, needed to rest, and needed to spend more time and evenings with Stefanie and the kids.
The constant demands and needs, the many nights gone at meetings, and the never-ending feeling there was more to be done…it just stopped.
And guess what?
The Kingdom continued to grow, people’s needs were met, and life went on without a pause and without me. This is a good thing! As we began to slow down and enjoy the evening sunsets I found myself in a season of abiding in the Vine. I would spend the next five weeks hanging out with four different church plants, spending a lot of time with Chris Gorman (pastor, spiritual coach, and friend), and focusing my reading and study on Biblical doctrine and the book of Romans. The load was light and highly relational and God knew it was what I needed at the onset of a new journey.
The first few weeks in South Dakota were especially difficult for Stefanie because all the kids battled multiple sicknesses. I don’t think I heard one real complaint out of her the entire time. I often thought of her as one of those poor pioneer wives slowly enduring the long trip out west over the prairies. Those first few weeks I kept seeing Satan attack Stefanie rather than me, but little did he know he had staged his greatest attack against our strongest unit. The sicknesses faded and Stefanie and the kids really enjoyed the last three weeks in South Dakota in our cool little lake house basement apartment. We have made some true friends in South Dakota and no doubt will look back on this time in the future and once again see God’s continued hand of provision as well as His never ending faithfulness.
Pray with us:
1. Pray this week for the work God is doing in South Dakota and that He would continue to use these churches to glorify Himself. (Central Valley Community Church, Christ Fellowship, River Community Church, and Zao Community Church)
2. We will be focusing our prayer efforts on the city of Gladstone so please pray God would open doors for the gospel in Gladstone!
3. Financial Support and a vehicle
Aiming to please God,
Chris Borkert
Church Plant Journey 