Starting a church is many things. It’s exciting and exhausting, humbling and rewarding, daunting and wonderful – often all at once. Oh, and it’s one more thing: unpredictable.
The lead-up to our launch service felt less like following a carefully planned timeline and more like learning to keep our footing as the waves kept coming. That’s oddly fitting, considering our church is planted in a beach town.
For those unfamiliar with the process, here’s some context: veteran church planters recommend holding a “preview service” in each of the three months before your launch service. Think of it as a way to find your footing before the big day. But because of several major delays, our first preview service didn’t happen until November 16, 2025 . . . just four weeks before our December 14 launch.
Suddenly, the pace changed. We were about to do three months’ worth of work in four weeks.
The unpredictability showed up from the start. Our portable church equipment hadn’t arrived yet due to delays, so our first preview service included a borrowed sound system, a folding table for an altar, and worshipers sitting at cafeteria tables. Why not chairs, you ask? Because we discovered that morning we didn’t have a key to the chair closet. Still, we gathered, and God was there with us.
The weeks that followed were fluid and full of improv. On November 30, we walked into a cafeteria in need of some serious cleaning, so we added “full-blown sweep and mop” to our list of set-up duties. And again, we gathered, this time for a communion service.
December 6 was a big day—our church equipment finally arrived! We spent five hours discovering how to turn our cafeteria into a sanctuary. There was a lot to learn, but even more excitement.
We came back four days later to set back up for a midweek Advent service, only to find the after-school program didn’t get the memo that we’d be there. So, we had an audience of two dozen elementary school students watching as we transformed their cafeteria into our church. Mid-service, our brand-new sound system suddenly went silent. Uh oh. I used my “big boy” voice to finish the service and later discovered the problem: a dead battery. Whew! Could have been worse.
The day before our launch service, we came in to set everything up. Setup took a total of three hours. We handled (and I think this number is accurate) about 976 last-minute details, deep-cleaned the cafeteria, and, yes, made sure there were fresh batteries in the microphone. We had to be Martha that day so we could be Mary the next.
December 14 arrived quickly. Too quickly, but that’s how it goes. Despite the limited rehearsal time, despite months of delays, and despite a season marked by constant adjustment, the launch service went beautifully. About 60 people attended, including over 2 dozen guests—even the city’s mayor. After three months’ worth of preparation condensed into a fluid, fast-moving few weeks, we could finally breathe in the beauty of it all.
And here’s the most remarkable part: God used our humble, imperfect, continually pivoting efforts to proclaim sin and grace to 60 people that day. Those 60 people heard forgiveness pronounced and salvation proclaimed. They heard about Jesus, their Savior and anchor for their souls. Now we have the privilege of bringing that good news to this community every week.
So yes, starting a church can be unpredictable. It can feel like standing in the surf: never fully in control, constantly adjusting, surrendering just enough to stay upright.
Turns out, that’s where God does some of his best work.
Written by Evan Chartrand, home missionary at Anchor Lutheran Church in Panama City Beach, Fla.
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