The Birth Story of RiverOaks Church

Prelude: I was recently asked to write down the birth story of RiverOaks Church, the church I founded in Wentzville, Missouri. The following is what made it down on paper, and presumably will be used in their ongoing membership class. God has powerfully affirmed my call elsewhere, but I do miss my brothers and sisters there. I pray someone will be greatly blessed by this God-story.

The Birth Story of RiverOaks Church

(A Brief Synopsis)

By: Mark Ford, Founding Pastor

 A Comfortable Position

We were serving at a church in Southern Missouri when God first led us to plant a church.  I say “us,” because the calling came to both me and my wife, Kristy.  The funny thing is that we were happy right where we were.  I had finished seminary and was doing what I wanted to do in a wonderful, growing, vibrant church.  In fact, during my time there, the church had doubled in size.  The people loved us dearly, and we loved them.  I was the worship pastor.  Things were going great.  We were very comfortable.

An Unwanted Yearning

That’s when it hit: an unwanted yearning for more, or for something different.  We couldn’t explain it.  Both of us felt it.  Suddenly, we weren’t okay with doing what we were doing for the rest of our lives.  God wasn’t okay with us doing what we were doing for the rest of our lives.  But why?  We were doing what God had called us to do.  I was doing what I had been trained to do and what I had always dreamed of doing, and God was blessing my efforts.  Why did we have to start wanting more?  We believe this yearning came from God.

We began to talk about vision.  At the time, we didn’t know we were talking about vision.  We just found ourselves having these passionate conversations about what the church could or should be like, and we began to realize that this new vision (seemingly out of nowhere) was not going to fit in with where we were serving.  What could this mean?  I wasn’t even the Lead Pastor.  Who was I to have vision?  Who was my wife to have a vision for the church?  Still, a vision developed in us both. 

We were incredibly restless.  What was God trying to say?  We had no idea whatsoever.  We decided to stop talking about it, and start seeking God about it.  We agreed to pray and seek the Lord for two weeks and then to reconvene.  After two weeks that included fasting and praying and studying the Scripture, we came back to compare notes.  Our conversation went something like this: 

“I think I know what God is saying.” 

“Me, too.” 

“There is a passage of Scripture that I keep coming back to, and it’s like part of it just jumps off the page and screams at me.” 

“Me, too.” 

“The passage God is using is Isaiah 61:1-3.” 

“Me, too.” (Yes, really.)

“I think God wants us to plant a church!” 

“Me, too!!!”

A Preliminary Vision

Of course, the conversation was more complex than that, but the point is that we had both independently come to the same passage out of the whole Bible, and we both interpreted it to mean that God wanted us to plant a church.  We had never considered planting a church, nor had we discussed it, nor did we even really understand what church planting was.  God spoke to us totally out of the blue.  And that wasn’t all He had shown us.  He had given us at least a partial vision for what this church would be like.

The passage God used to lead my wife and me to plant a church ends with this sentence: “They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor” Isaiah 61:3 (NIV).  Not only did we have part of the name for our church plant, but we had a preliminary vision as well.  This thing was going to be different.

                                                                         

The Call Accepted

We got on our knees beside our couch right then and there, and through many tears, together, we said “Yes” to God.  We didn’t even know what we were saying yes to (and we knew we didn’t know), but we said yes anyway.  After that, we kind of just walked around in awe and wonder for awhile, like Mary, “pondering these things in our hearts.”  We were clueless, but we were called.  We had said yes to God.  Now what?

Others Called

           

That weekend, we traveled a few hours to visit with my parents.  I needed to see what they thought.  I was nervous.  Our kids were only about four and six.  Did I mention we were in a comfortable position?  Well-paid and well-taken care of, we were about to take a leap of faith into the unknown.  I wasn’t sure how my parents would react.  I just wasn’t sure what they would think or what they would say.  It isn’t always easy to let your children take risks, after all.  As we walked in the door of their house, I noticed a printout on their refrigerator door.  It was Isaiah 61:3 typed out.  Yes, really. 

We sat down and began to share and it wasn’t long until their eyes were wet with tears.  I don’t remember who said what, but the gist of it was that Dad was about to retire, and they had recently decided they wanted to be a part of a church plant.  Right then and there, with no further deliberation, they told us they would be along for the ride.  They said they would move to wherever we were to plant and join the team.  I can’t possibly communicate how affirming that was.  Tears still come to my eyes.

Hurry Up and Wait

After that, God put us through some tests.  The biggest test was the fact that He gave us no further direction at that point.  When?  Where?  Who with?  How?  Silence.  No further instructions.  And then something very strange happened.  God led us to another church.  We began to assume church planting must be down the road a ways for us. We never wavered that God wanted us to plant a church, but with no further direction, we simply put it on the back burner.

The Hazelwood Connection

We moved to Hazelwood, Missouri, where I served as Worship Pastor in a larger church for the next two years.  I learned so much there and even had the opportunity to preach a few times.  Those two years would prove to be critical as God prepared me for church planting.  Also, at Hazelwood we met a couple of families who would later help us get our church plant up and running.

While we were at Hazelwood, my parents retired and moved to Wentzville.  We would make the 45-minute journey to see them regularly, and that’s when something happened.  God began to answer the “where” question.  Over a period of months, God led us to plant our church in Wentzville, and the back burner became the front burner.

The Return of the Call

I shared with the Senior Pastor of Hazelwood that we were feeling led to plant a church in Wentzville.  He was very supportive.  Things that don’t matter anymore got a little weird after that, but God had a plan in it all, and in the end, together with my parents and two other families, we committed to planting a church in Wentzville.  We had some of the most incredibly powerful times of prayer I’ve ever had in my life.  Desperation fuels powerful prayer, and we knew we were desperate.

Our first meeting with our tiny core group happened on September 18 of 2001.  My Mom (designated church historian) still considers that the beginning of the church, and in many ways I guess she’s right.  That night, we named the church, and in the following weeks we hashed out our vision, core values and bylaws, among other things.

Leap of Faith

I resigned from the church in Hazelwood effective January 1, 2002, officially beginning my tenure as pastor of RiverOaks Church (all four families) on January 15.  I had no guaranteed funding of any kind.  We sold our house and planned to live on savings and maybe a second job, but God took care of us with the tithes of those families and some other funding that came along.  There was a time when we didn’t know if the next paycheck would come, but God and His people always came through.

Core Provided

God quickly began to bring us other families who wanted to be a part of such a venture, and our group grew from three families to about 30 people total.  With those families (and that included several children) we met for a period of about nine months.  We met in homes, just like the early church, with programs planned for the children as the adults met, and we prepared to launch our church out into the community.  We held various outreach events and did everything we could to get out the word that a new church was about to begin. 

Launch

On September 8, 2002, RiverOaks Church held its first public service.  A mobile church at that time, we met in the Timberland High School Cafeteria.  Children’s ministries were held in the gymnasium.  Even though we had done much to get the word out about our new church, we had no way of knowing if anyone other than our tiny core group would actually show up.  I was informed enough to know that if that were to happen, we’d be done before we started.  Instead, our prayers were answered, and 119 men, women and children, most of whom we had never seen before, and who did not know each other, walked through the front door.  Worship was powerful and that morning, two individuals trusted Christ as Savior for the first time.  We knew all we needed to know:  God was with us.

That was only the beginning.  That was the birth.  The next 11 plus years were the ride of my life, but I’ll save that story for the next installment.  RiverOaks Church has a new pastor now, and is still going strong for the Kingdom.  I’m so fulfilled to have founded a church that God has used and is still using to change so many lives.  May the Lord Jesus Christ continue to be glorified through the ongoing work of RiverOaks Church.  Soli Deo Gloria!

ADDENDUM
I'd like to add here the names of that original group. The original four families (besides my own) consisted of Gordon and Elaine Beachy and kids, Bill and Janet Bridgeforth, and Russell and Barbara Ford (my parents).  Eric and Jen Peterson (and baby Amber) joined us very early as well.  Huge thanks to them all for believing in our God-given dream.