OKWUeagle.com

Church Planting Takes Root for OKWU Graduates

by Micah Jenner
OKWUeagle.com Staff Writer

Many students expect their lives to follow a predictable pattern.

A graduating college student often expects the pattern of graduating from college, getting married, having a “real job,” and eventually settling down to have kids.

But, when life throws a curve ball, it can be uncertain what the future holds.

This past summer, students from Oklahoma Wesleyan University lived in the unexpected – learning to fully rely on the Lord and his timing. Church plant ministry teams were formed and dispersed across the country to equip churches with support and extra help.

Church planting teams from OKWU are composed of three-to-five students who worked with pastors trying to continue work in newly formed churches. The ministry team duties ranged from clerical work to youth ministry to street ministry, depending on the location and needs of their church body.

The summer working actively in ministry proved to be a blessing for Becky Dunn and Chelsea Rovenstine. Both graduated in May and intended to use their final summer as students to assist the church plant, Ransom, in Sioux Falls, SD.

Dunn, majored in Communication Arts and Rovenstine majored in Pastoral Ministries. Individually they had to make the decision to leave the church plant or stay in Sioux Falls to continue the work that had captured their hearts over the summer.

They discovered they could not leave their summer jobs behind.

Ignoring their previous plans of stability and income after college, both felt Sioux Falls was where the Lord had called them; their only option was to trust that He would be faithful.

“This felt more like free-falling from a plane with no chute, praying to God that this was actually the plan that He had and that He would catch you,” Rovenstine said. “Sometimes it still feels that way.”

The OKWUeagle was given an opportunity to ask Rovenstine and Dunn about how their lives have changed since they first began their church plant. Both gave insight as to what their time at these church plants looked like.

OKWUeagle: What made you decide to do church planting?

Dunn: I decided to do church planting because every time I heard it talked about I felt a tug on my heart. I had decided before I even heard that the school was sending out teams that church planting was something I wanted to be involved in.

My family has been a part of two church plants and this instilled in me a passion for it and desire to be an intricate part of one someday.

I had no intentions of trying out for the team the school was sending out.

I wanted a more permanent place in a church plant so the idea of going for the summer and leaving didn’t appeal to me. However as the deadline approached to turn in applications I felt like God was telling me that this was what He wanted me to do, in fact as graduation got nearer and nearer it was the only direction I had from Him about my future.

It was really scary but I went into the summer having no idea what I would do when August came around. All I knew was that this was what I was supposed to do with my summer and I trusted that God would lead me further when the time came.

It was a big step of faith, but it has been so rewarding.

OKWUeagle: How were you involved in the operations of the church?

Rovenstine: It’s hard to answer the question “how were you involved?” because we did so much.

We went to planning meetings and set up all the stuff necessary for church from a trailer. We volunteered at a local compassion ministry and handed out Gatorade downtown. We entered visitor’s information into the computer system and gave away gas at the local Get-n-Go.

We made movies, printed out childrens’ bulletins, designed fliers, made weekly shopping trips to Wal-Mart, did research for Sunday sermons, and attended Life Groups.

Our main job was to get all the menial tasks done so that the pastors could focus on what they did best.

OKWUeagle: What aspect of this summer was the most challenging?

Dunn: In the beginning of the summer it was difficult because I didn’t know what God had in store once the summer was over. Sometimes, it was hard to just enjoy what I was doing because when I thought about the future I got a little freaked out.

After just a couple weeks of being here though I had this feeling that I wouldn’t leave. As the summer went on that feeling became stronger and stronger and by half way through I knew I wasn’t going to leave.

Then came the problem of finding a job here that would enable me to stay. I didn’t find a job until after I had left to go home for a couple weeks and signed a lease on an apartment.

It sounds really foolish I know, but I knew this was where God wanted me and I never doubted that it would all work out.

I didn’t find out that I had a job until two days before I moved back. God worked everything out in perfect timing and in the mean time taught me to have faith and lots of patience.

OKWUeagle: What has been your greatest challenge?

Rovenstine: My biggest challenge has been figuring out what God wants next. I’m working two jobs just to pay the bills when all I really want to do is quit and volunteer at the church.

It’s been a challenge to transition from the sprint that was this summer to the marathon that living here is. During the summer it was all about doing as much as I could in the time that I could. Now it’s all about taking the time to look around and see what God has next.

When you do something long-term it takes more than simple willingness. It takes passion.

It’s hard for me to admit that I may not be good at something, or passionate enough for it but that’s just what is happening now. The pastors and I are trying to figure out where I fit. I am passionate about what the Ransom is doing as a whole, but unlike when I was an intern, I can’t just continue doing a little bit of everything.

It takes time to figure out where God wants you exactly and I just get so impatient.

OKWUeagle: What has been the most rewarding?

Rovenstine: Seeing people who hated God be broken and ask for His forgiveness and then seeing them catch a passion for serving God and others, that’s what this church is about. Everything that we do is simply an attempt to help people get to that point.

OKWUeagle: Why did you decide to stay?

Rovenstine: Deciding to stay was hard for me. It meant leaving behind lots of things I thought I wanted for myself and plunging into this unknown journey. It took lots of time, lots of questioning myself and God and lots of thought.

I spent lots of time lying awake at night and zoning out at the office to think. It required time to job search and apartment search and humility to tell people I’d changed my mind—or rather that God changed my mind.

I think that from the time that I decided to stay, Becky [Dunn] and I had two weeks to find an apartment and two weeks for me to find a job. We signed the papers for an apartment three days before we left and I left not knowing what I would do for a job.

I should have never been afraid because I’ve seen time and time again that God provides for those who follow Him, but I was.

People talk about a leap of faith. They never talk about how frightening it is. I always imagined a leap of faith being a long jump from one place to another, at least that way you can see the goal.

This felt more like free-falling from a plane with no chute, praying to God that this was actually the plan that He had and that He would catch you. Sometimes it still feels that way.

OKWUeagle: What sacrifices have you had to make in order to stay there?

Dunn: I would have to say the biggest sacrifice in moving here was my job. I just graduated with a degree in Communications and although it’s not certain that wherever else I had gone had I not moved here that I would be working in my field, being set on moving here narrowed my options a lot.

I currently have a rather boring job at Wells Fargo bank and am waiting to hear back about a position as a Web and Social Media Director at a local business.

However, I did not move here to have an awesome job, I moved here to serve at The Ransom and I’m doing that and loving every moment of it.

OKWUeagle: How long do you plan to stay?

Dunn: I have no idea!

Whenever I picture the future I picture myself in Sioux Falls, but I think that’s partially because I don’t know what I would do if I left here. I’m open to whatever God has in store. Maybe I’ll be here for a year, maybe 20, who knows?

OKWUeagle: What has been the most rewarding for you?

Rovenstine: The most rewarding experience I’ve had is to realize that it is possible to live your life and not be bored. To realize that even if your part seems small, you can truly be a part of something that is changing the world.

You can do a thousand different things in a day, be stressed to the max, and still be bored out of your mind. You can also have one thing that you really truly care about and that’s all you do and you can live a life that actually has purpose.

I’d much rather live that second life and my experience here is teaching me that just a little bit. To see lives changed, really truly changed, to see people who were lost and confused and bored and they didn’t even know it and then to see them come totally alive. That’s the most rewarding thing about being here.

OKWU will be sending church planting teams to various locations this coming summer as well. If you would like to learn more about this opportunity, contact Ben Rotz, Assistant Vice President for Student Development, at brotz@okwu.edu.