ABOUT ME, MY BLOG, MY CHURCH - Stone The Preacher

Confirming My Call (“Moving On!” Pt. 6)

Jul 17, 2013Steve Sanchez5 CommentsABOUT ME, MY BLOG, MY CHURCH

Nope, never wanted to plant a church. Wasn’t my gift or calling. Had lunch with a friend that got me to thinking. Made a list, checked it twice. Then I made the decision to leave everything I knew— all my security—and move to Texas. Then God confirmed it. Here’s how. Am I nuts? You decide….

Counting the Call’s Cost (“Moving On,” Pt.5)

Jul 14, 2013Steve Sanchez17 CommentsABOUT ME, MY BLOG, MY CHURCH

My family’s moving to Texas to plant a church soon. It started with a conversation at Sizzler with a friend. Though I never, EVER, wanted to start a church, God was urging me on. But first, I had to count the cost. (Start the series by clicking here.) “Steve, you have been trained for fifteen

Did God Speak? (“Moving On!,” Part 4)

Jul 9, 2013Steve Sanchez8 CommentsABOUT ME, MY BLOG, MY CHURCH

My plans are to move to Texas with my family in the next few months to plant a church. I never, ever, ever—Never!—wanted to do this. What changed my mind? A conversation with a friend at Sizzler on June 21, a Friday afternoon…. (Read the beginning of this story by clicking here.)

I sat down to lunch with our former Hope Chapel CPA, a gifted man, not given to flights of fancy or whimsical notions, and listened as he explained why he suddenly moved to the Austin area of Texas.

Here’s what he said:

“Around the end of last year I felt that God was telling me to move Austin. I didn’t know why but I told him that he would have to change my wife’s heart first. When we married, she said that she was born in L. A. and was going to die in L. A. A few months later, she felt that she should quit her job to stay home with the kids now that they were of high school age. So, I gave a couple month’s notice that I was leaving Hope Chapel, but didn’t know what I was going to do yet.

Hope Chapel, Hill Country? (“Moving On,” Pt. 3)

Jul 8, 2013Steve Sanchez10 CommentsABOUT ME, MY BLOG, MY CHURCH

I just got back from a week-long trip with my wife to spy out the land of Dripping Springs, Texas, where I believe I am called to plant my church in the near future. (Click here to start at part 1.) Dripping Springs is twenty-five miles from Austin, has a population of 1,800 and…

“I’m never leaving California!” (Moving On!, Pt. 2)

Jun 28, 2013Steve Sanchez31 CommentsABOUT ME, MY BLOG, MY CHURCH

“I’m staying here forever.” Whenever the subject of church planting was brought up, either by my pastor or others, I would cringe inside and quickly try to change the subject or quietly move away to another part of the room. I am not interested in church planting; I don’t have a heart for it; there