05/24/06 :: Worth it all
Gaithersburg, MD >> Fred and Jackie Catoe and their family are leaving an established church, moving to another city, and joining a small, brand-new church in Frederick, Maryland, with few established ministries. Why? Fred explains why the local church—and church planting—is his family’s way of life.
I joined Covenant Life Church (then called Gathering of Believers) in April 1977. I found out about the church through the high-school ministry of TAG (Take and Give). When I came to Covenant Life, I was a baby Christian as well as a “basket case” requiring much help. At Covenant Life, I learned about God and his amazing grace toward a sinner like me. I experienced worship and learned that worship was more than what we do on Sunday; it involved our entire lives. I learned sound biblical doctrine, as well as how to study God’s word for myself. Covenant Life was the place that I received care and input from others, the place where I was regularly challenged by both the messages and the examples of the people around me.
It became my home, the most wondrous place on earth. In 1984, Bill Patton, who led the Philadelphia church plant (later known as Covenant Fellowship Church), asked me to pray about going to Philly. I had been in discipleship groups with Bill in the past, and Bill was the one who initially invited me to Covenant Life. Prior to being asked by Bill, from the moment that the Philly church plant was announced, God had stirred my spirit to want to go. I wanted to serve God. I wanted to do whatever I could to help bring the God-centered, grace-filled, community life that I had experienced to others. What I had tasted at Covenant Life was too good to keep to myself. I wanted others to experience what I had experienced.
In 1984, about five couples and four singles from Covenant Life Church moved to the suburbs of Philly. The singles played key roles in serving within the church and reaching out to the newcomers. We did whatever we could, whether it meant setting up the chairs, serving in children’s ministry, moving equipment, running the sound, manning the book table, greeting, counting the offering, etc. While we served in Philly, God’s grace met us again and again.
And while we were away in Philly, unbeknown to my friend Martin Stanley and me, God prepared wonderful wives for us back at Covenant Life Church. Jackie Weaver joined Covenant Life a few months after I left for Philly. Within two years of leaving Covenant Life to be part of a church-planting team, I married Jackie, a wife that I don't deserve.
Through the providence of God, Jackie and I returned to Covenant Life in June 1991 with two small children. Again, we experienced wonderful church life in Gaithersburg. In 1995, Dave Harvey, senior pastor of Covenant Fellowship, asked us to pray about joining the church-planting venture to Chester, Pennsylvania. Arie Mangrum led the Chester team.
We knew Dave and Arie from our time in Philly. Although we were excited about the idea of Sovereign Grace reaching out more to minorities and the poor, we were not keen on the idea of going to Chester. As we prayed for a few weeks, God changed our hearts and caused us to be thrilled with the thought of serving in the inner city. Though things did not go as well as we would have hoped in terms of church growth, my children, especially my older boys, were deeply affected and impacted by our little church. Much of their love for the church, their passion for God, and their strong desire to serve was birthed in Chester as we served together as a family.
We returned to Covenant Life Church in September 2001 as a family of six. Again, our whole family thrived at Covenant Life. In August of 2005, Covenant Life Church and its members supported us in our adoption of three Panamanian siblings. With the help of God’s grace and the support of the church, our family has bonded quickly.
For a long time, Covenant Life talked about a church plant in Frederick, but I had no inclination to go. I loved it here, and although we thought God might have another church plant for us in a few years, we did not believe this one would be it. My older children were either in or nearing involvement in the youth ministry—the best youth ministry I know in the most wondrous church I know. We were beginning to get comfortable here and were ready to stay here for a long time, thinking maybe God was going to send our sons on a church plant and not us.
That changed when Chris Silard announced that he would be leading the Frederick church plant to a group of his youth small-group leaders in October 2005, and my heart was stirred. By sending Chris, Covenant Life made a strong statement about the importance of this venture and of its commitment to see it succeed. Within a short time of seeking God through prayer, counsel, fasting, and family discussions, my wife and four older children could not wait to go.
We have had the opportunity to taste and see God through this local church. We look forward to helping others experience what we so often take for granted. Much of my children’s love for God and love for the church is due to their wonderful experience here and at other Sovereign Grace churches. Most of what my family and I know about God, and any good fruit that is in our lives, is due to God’s grace at work within us, and a primary means of God’s grace has been the local church leadership and its members. The Catoes are eternally grateful for all that we have experienced. Though we will have to once again say goodbye to friends we love, pack up our house again, and leave behind an established church with lots of great ministries which we will not have in our new church for a while, we go taking a piece of it with us (other team members). And we know that God’s grace will enable our new home to be just as dear to us in the days ahead. We go with great excitement and anticipation for the great things He will do.