Astin Kahnk 
Lexi Eller
Launching a church and leading a ministry within a new church plant is an incredible blessing and calling. With that, there can also be overwhelming tension and fatigue with troubleshooting and navigating unknowns. Being a woman in this role can also offer different challenges. For any church planter out there, the encouragement and insight offered below is timely and helpful.
Worship Ministry – Lexi Eller, Citylight Bennington
| What are a few highlights you have celebrated this past year? We have had to rely on the provision of the Lord constantly over the past year since we launched. It’s one thing when you have everything you need at your disposal, it’s another thing entirely when you have no idea how you’re going to get from Point A to Point B, and to come before the Lord depending on Him to get you there. It has been such an absolute joy learning to walk this path of dependence and faithful prayer, in placing our needs before the Father with expectancy and watching Him come through in marvelous, abundant ways. Another highlight has been participating in the spiritual family of Citylight Bennington. We moved to Bennington knowing no one except the pastors we were planting with, and even then had only met them a few times! And yet the people on our core team quickly became our family. Where my parents live out-of-state, older couples “adopted” our children as their grandchildren. We’ve experienced a deep connection and relationship with others in our church like we’ve never had before, and that’s been established through the hard work, sweat, and tears of laboring alongside one another in planting a church together. What are the top lessons, skills, strengths you have either learned or have grown because of what God has done through you? We read “Emotionally Healthy Leader” as a team when we first started out, and that has been absolutely life-changing for our staff. To start out with emotionally healthy rhythms and boundaries in place has benefited our team beyond what I can describe.I’ve learned how to better improvise, since with planting a church you sort of have to just “make things work” at times! Being a perfectionist, this was a tough one for me, but I’ve gotten better at letting things be, giving up worrying about things that don’t matter, and doing the best I can with what I have.The beauty of planting a church is that there are no established processes or systems in place, so you really can shape things to be however you want. It was amazing to build from the ground up by combining my strengths with those of my teammates and pastors, and finding what works best for us and building the culture that we wanted to see in our church. How would you encourage other church planters, and specifically women, knowing what you know now? The task ahead seems daunting. There’s a good reason for that – there’s a lot of work ahead! But keep this in mind: the Lord has called YOU to this task for a reason. There is nothing that you must do out of your own strength. He will always be faithful to provide for all of your needs. Philippians 4:19 says “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” That means that every day that you don’t feel up to the task, you don’t have the strength or the know-how or the resources to accomplish something, bring it to Him…He always makes a way. As a woman, the Lord has created You to be a nurturer, so embrace how He has wired you, and allow Him to use your unique wiring to shape and minister to His people. What was one thing you wish you knew, or had more training in, a year ago? The one area where I felt severely under-resourced was with tech. As the Worship Director, it fell to me to get all our tech equipment ordered, up, and running, and having very little previous experience with tech in the past, this seemed overwhelming. Citylight Omaha was incredibly generous with allowing us to borrow some equipment for the initial months of our launch, and resourced us with help when asked, which was amazing! It would be incredibly helpful moving forward to perhaps have a process already in place to resource worship directors of new church plants with tech specs, or even connect them with a tech dealer who can help with getting those needs covered right out of the gate. |
Serving/Volunteer Ministry – Astin Kahnk, Citylight Bennington
| What are a few highlights you have celebrated being a church planter? There have been many highlights being a church planter but If I had to choose one, it would be to see the culture of our church form. We have so many people who are truly hungry to be Jesus- centered and spirit led. They also LOVE to be in community. The people who are on serving teams at our church truly love to serve! They love to meet new people and share how their faith has grown through serving. What are the top lessons, skills, strengths you have either learned or have grown because of what God has done through you? I would say the top lesson I have learned becoming a church planter is to continually check in to see if I am being emotionally healthy. In the early days of our church staff, we read the book “Emotionally Healthy Leader”. This book has been a lifesaver because it makes me check daily & weekly on how I am doing as a leader; is my “ doing” for God outweighing my “being” with God. I would also say another lesson I have learned is that God’s plans will always be better than my own and to rely on him when I don’t know which direction to go. In the early days of planting CL Benny, I felt absolutely clueless as to how to do my job; but through prayer and discerning God has led me every step of the way. How would you encourage other church planters, and specifically women, knowing what you know now? I would say find balance and find a mentor that you can check in with weekly or bi-weekly. Ministry is hard but it is so rewarding. So you definitely need to have someone you trust to talk to about how things are going or to give you an encouraging word. What was one thing you wish you knew, or had more training in, a year ago? I wish I would have been partnered up with a mentor through Citylight starting on day 1, specifically in the same role as me. Someone who could have helped me get things set up and shown me how to use certain programs Everything I have done, I have had to learn on my own and that is very overwhelming. Luckily, I was able to reach out to some amazing women at other churches and they were able to give me great resources. |