02/06/06 :: Church planting across town
West Orlando, FL >> The Larsen family from Winter Garden, Florida, talks about life at Metro Life Church (Orlando) and a new church plant closer to home: Grace Church, which begins Sunday meetings in February.
We live in Winter Garden, where the new church plant will start. We came to Metro Life Church in 1993 when they were still meeting downtown. My husband’s sister, who attends Sovereign Grace Church of Daytona Beach, had told us about it. At the time, my husband was living in California with work. I had just returned with our 1-year-old and was expecting. I visited Metro Life with my child and my neighbor’s kids and was struck by the message Danny Jones spoke about relationships they wanted to portray to visitors and by the magazine about anger (the mom story) I received in the visitor’s packet. I took the time to introduce myself to Danny Jones and Mike Gilland. Later when I got home, I phoned my husband in California and told him I was convinced I had found our church.
At the time we lived in Ocoee, and there was a home group meeting not far from us at Dan and Cherie Gracey’s house. I attended and was asked to share how I came to be there. After reading the magazine article about the mothers coming down front due to their struggle with anger, I shared my own struggle and began to be knit in to the group.
Over the years, Metro Life invested in countless ways into our marriage. Trevor and I had been brought up in a denominational church, and I can remember my grandmother saying, “Don’t hang your dirty laundry out in public.” It was kind of like, “Put on a good face.” We couldn’t. We needed help and we needed to talk to someone about it. Metro Life was there. The folks were genuine and real. They were there every step of the way to encourage and support us.
Well, after years of investment and growth in maturity, our cup was full. We felt the goodness of God pouring over. We had moved to Winter Garden and we wanted to make an impact. It was a new neighborhood and a great opportunity to reach out. We had open houses at Christmas so we could share the good news and at Easter we had neighborhood Easter egg hunts so we good tell the gospel story. We wanted to give what we had so richly received. Metro Life Church was in the process of moving too. Well, every time we did an event to reach out, there were people who wanted to know where we went to church. When they would hear that our church was in Casselberry, their jaws would drop! It wasn’t exactly the local church.
We continued on for years with our Easter party. We had great success, but there came a point where we realized that there were people who were hungry for what we had but it wasn’t feasible for them. At the time our family had grown to four boys, full time home-schooling, and hosting a home group. We were just one couple and we alone couldn’t invest in the number of those interested on a regular basis. They wanted someone who could. We began to pray for a west-side church. There were many times Metro Life would have an important announcement and we would cling to the edge of our seats, hoping it was our announcement.
Our focus on outreach changed a little as the time passed. We would still do our Easter party, but we wanted to put good books in the hands of our neighbors. We offered what we could and what we had. I think our desire for a west-side church would fluctuate like the tide, with highs and lows. At times we considered switching to something closer to be able to reach out to our community, but it wasn’t Metro Life. What we had with Metro was unique!
I remember being called and given a juicy morsel about a big announcement I couldn’t miss. We were headed to Daytona Beach for our niece’s high school graduation and to spend time with our extended family. We were going to attend Sovereign Grace Church of Daytona Beach. Well, we received a couple more calls urging us to come home on Sunday for the service. Trevor was going to drive over alone, but after another call we all decided to get up early and return Sunday morning.
With an RV in tow, we pulled into Metro Life excited to hear...Metro Life Church will be planting a church on the west side. I think we were the only ones whooping and hollering. It seemed quite inappropriate considering the silence as others realized what that meant. Tears trickled down with joy. Trevor and I never really considered the loss. We had always believed we would one day live with a local church. Our dream was coming true. We would be able to offer not only ourselves but a remnant as well of Metro Life to our community. Hallelujah!
In all the years we have attended Metro Life, we have always driven at least 30 minutes and as much as 55 minutes. We have always been involved as greeters, home group leaders, children’s Sunday school teachers, and just plain old members. The truth is...once you’ve tasted of the goodness you wouldn’t settle for anything less. We wouldn’t be the people we are today if we hadn’t made that drive.
For others who struggle with the driving, I would encourage you to make the most of it. We would sing worship songs, listen to the Bible, prepare our hearts to receive, and occasionally help an individual along the way. It’s part of the sacrifice and surrendering that is pleasing to God. For us it was the narrow and less traveled path.
We never thought we would be a part of a church plant. This is unique! We are excited to see what God has in store for us and our community. God is good, and as CJ says, “We are receiving better than what we deserve!”
Photo: Trevor and Madie Larsen with their family