by Rev. Jason Waeber
Foothills BP Mission, Adams County, OH
the Missions Banner, Aug/Sep 2025

My own call to the ministry of church planting is always difficult to write about, not least because it was not a call that I actively sought out. In fact, I tried for roughly a decade to avoid the call to go into ministry and find some other path that might be satisfying to me. Blessedly, despite my attempts to avoid him, the Lord was far stronger and more persistent than I was.

Even after accepting that the Lord wanted me to be a minister in his church, I was not at all set on the task of church planting. Given my personality, which was more academic than practical, I assumed that he would settle me in an established church where I could spend more time teaching established saints than trying to bring in those unfamiliar with the Christian faith (or at least with the Reformed faith).

Having been involved with church planting now for several years, I can say with confidence that the Lord knew how I needed most to grow in order to serve his church usefully, and he placed me in circumstances where I was forced to improve in areas where I was weak. If I struggled with affection for His sheep, he demanded that I care for those who were difficult to love. If I preferred to talk about difficult, abstract theology, he gave me folks who had very practical, down-to-earth needs and little appetite for theology. All these experiences forced me to recognize failings in myself I did not even know were there, but through them, the Lord was accomplishing his work.

A divine calling is not fitting someone for a job interview. The Lord is often far more interested in putting you through the fire than affirming your preferences. If you are considering ministry, you ought to be braced for the fact that he is likely to put you through similar fires before your feet end up back on the ground again.