Discerning the Lord's Leading

Here is the thought process the Lord took us on in this transition. This was written probably 6-8 months ago

RATIONALE – WHY I AM RAISING SUPPORT TO PASTOR AT NORTH CHURCH
On February 12, 2000 at a high school youth conference, the Lord called me into full-time vocation ministry. The very next day, February 13, the Lord gave me the person who would be my biggest partner, supporter and encourager - the one who would be called to walk beside me in ministry - my wife – Danielle. Since Danielle was a teenager, she always knew the Lord was calling her to be the wife of a pastor, and here we are 9 years later, seeking to walk out what the Lord started so long ago.

Why not continue my ministry at North County Christian School?
I am finishing my 5th year at NCCS. It has been an incredible ministry to say the least. The Lord has used this opportunity to shape my gifts of leadership and teaching. When I began teaching in the Fall of 2005, I was terrified. I really had no clue what I was doing. I wasn’t sure if this was for me. When the Lord called me into full-time vocational ministry, my mind immediately went to the local Church – for that was true ministry, I thought. I really had no clue, not only about what ministry was all about, but even about how to go about doing it. True ministry can only be defined as being faithful wherever the Lord has me, and for the last 5 years that has been NCCS.

I have really grown to love that place. The relationships I have built with the students and staff over the years, and continue to build, have been nothing short of a blessing. There are very few days that I don’t get in my car at the end of the day saying “I love my job!” Working at NCCS is absolutely a dream job. There are so many rewards in being a Christian school teacher, especially teaching the Bible.

But what I can’t get past is what the Lord is doing in my heart. There are numerous reasons I could list for why I would never want to leave NCCS, but none of them trump obedience. I have come to a place in my ministry here that is very comfortable. Not to say there aren’t challenges that present themselves everyday, because there are definitely days I don’t think I’m gonna get through. But on a whole, my job does not present the challenges it once did. If I’m not careful, I could easily coast through each day failing to beg for God’s help. When I started, that was all I knew to do.

The Lord is calling me to a place of greater dependence upon Him. He has more for me and wants to stretch my leadership in a scary way. What I can’t deny is the incredible burden he has given me for his Church. Yes I have come to love Christian school education, but even more my heart beats for the Church.

Why North Church?
Danielle and I began attending North Church in 2007, just a few months after its inception. There was some great excitement about branching out from the church I was born in, to being a part of something new, brand new. The early stages were difficult to say the least. From trying to build new relationships to trying to figure out how to do church, there were many days I thought we made a mistake. Ministry just didn’t look the same as I always knew and I didn’t like that. I wanted to run. Little did I know that it was all apart of the process in what God wanted to transform in my own heart. He wanted to bring me back to a Christ-centered, gospel-centered reality. He wanted to rid me of myself – my pride, my legalism, my fear, ultimately my sin.
I am currently serving as a pastor/elder at North Church. I lead a community group and preach pretty consistently. As the only other elder with Rik Maxedon, the planting pastor, I am helping cast the vision and direction for our church, as well as seeking to shepherd our people. I have come to love our community at North Church. Since I came to this church, the Lord has revealed the pastor’s heart he put within me. Everyday my longing to lead and shepherd our people grows more and more. I am currently torn between my ministry at NCCS and my ministry at North Church. Because of the commitment and demands of NCCS, I am able to give little time to pastoring at North Church. This is very difficult considering where we are as a church.
We are currently a small, young church that has a ton of potential but needs a ton of leadership. Rik, is not able to carry the load by himself. Because we are a small church, we are not at a place of financial self-sufficiency. The church isn’t even at a place of offering full support to Rik, which requires him to raise support and work part time. This greatly limits the time he can give to the church, demanding for more of my time.

North Church is a community driven, gospel-centered church. We are a broken people, leaning on Christ alone as our sufficiency and significance. We long to continually allow the gospel to impact us as we seek to impact our community with that gospel. Our church is located in North St. Louis, an area that seems to have very few churches seeking to reach out to the unchurched 20 and 30 year olds.

In seeking to raise support to pastor full-time at North Church, it would allow our leadership to assess each others gifting and determine our roles and responsibilities as leaders. Danielle and I have grown to love the Maxedon family. We desire more than anything to help them grow what God has started with their family. They have made many sacrifices to start this church, and we believed the Lord is calling us to come along side them and help them continue to move forward in being the Church and doing Church in North St. Louis.

A New Chapter in our Life and Ministry

We are excited to announce, as many of you probably already know, that the Lord is taking us on a new journey. After 5 amazing years teaching the Bible at North County Christian School, the Lord is leading us away. It's a very bitter sweet things for us right now. The Lord has been so faithful and allowed us to be a part of some amazing kingdom things there. We are truly blessed for the ministry the Lord allowed us to have at NCCS.

The Next Step
For almost 3 years now, we have been a part of a new church plant in St. Louis called North Church. You can check it out at www.northchurchstl.com. Within the last year or two, I have moved into the position of an elder at the church and now am coming on as a co-pastor with the guy who planted the church, Rik Maxedon. I am working part time for my parents at Subway to help pay the bills and insurance as well as raising financial support to pastor and continue the planting process at North Church.

How you can support us
Some of you may be interested in knowing how you can specifically pray for us or ever support us financially. You can contact me at dave.kuntz@sbcglobal.net if you want more information. We are also in the process of setting up online options for fundraising and will post them when they are available. We plan to use this blog to keep you up to date with what's going on. We are not consistent bloggers so I would recommend setting up the "follow" this blog option or signing up to receive an email when we update it (you can do that on the right side of the blog as you scroll down to the bottom.) Also follow me on twitter @davekuntz or on facebook and I will post when we have updated our blog.

We covet much prayer in this process. Thanks for all your support!

In Him,
Dave

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Content from a sermon I preached at North Church a few months back:

:: Seeing the Gospel through North Church ::

My journey from our first day at North Church until now has been one filled with many ups and downs. The joys and excitements of being a part of a new church came with its share of incredible personal and spiritual warfare, so much was new, so much was different. I knew one church model for 26 years of my life. I knew nothing of what it meant to live a missional life.

The past 2 ½ years have been nothing short of life changing. Although it’s included many difficulties, coming to North Church has brought so much freedom and clarity to the Christian life. Raised in aspects of legalism, so much of my pursuit of Jesus was a pursuit of my own self-righteous standing before God. I understood very little of my acceptance before a Holy God as based on the finished work of Christ alone. I obviously didn’t know it at the time, but I placed a ton of stock on how much of a good boy I was and in sin judged others for how bad they were. I hadn’t fully come to grips with all that the gospel meant for my life. And I am still trying to come to grips with

Is. 64:6 (NIV)

⁶ All our righteous acts are like filthy rags.

Col. 1:22 (NIV)

²² He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.

I knew the gospel message really well, but only as a means of justification. I viewed it as the ABC’s of Christianity, not the central reality and hope of all that we are in Him, through Him and for Him. The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin is the beginning and end of all things.

Romans 11:36 (ESV)

³⁶ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Not just a means to justification, but also sanctification and glorification.

Colossians 2:6 (ESV)

⁶ Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.

And this will be central to all that we are and all that we do as a church.

:: Pastor’s Heart ::

Having graduated with a Biblical studies degree, I always knew that I would serve the Lord in vocation ministry. I just never fully knew the context in which it would happen. For the past 5 years, the context has been teaching the Bible and directing spiritual development at a Christian school. However, for the past several years the Lord has given me a special passion for the Church, and that passion has continually increased.

I always thought the idea of being a pastor sounded cool (as if that matters at all!), but there were aspects of it I wanted nothing to do with. Growing up under the senior pastor/youth pastor model, I was always at a loss – I wanted, in part, to be used by the Lord in pastoral ministry, but I wanted nothing to do with either one of those positions. I watched incredible men lead out in those positions, but never desired the responsibilities they carried.

Well part of what led us away from Chatham was a pursuit of colligate ministry at UMSL. Little did we know that this wasn’t at all what the Lord had for us. On April 26, 2008, the Lord revealed himself in a powerful way! Late at night, in my office at NCCS, He revealed to me the depth of the pastor’s heart he had given me. Since that night, his work in my life has been profound. I’ve begun to eagerly desire the gift of pastor and the very aspects of it that I wanted to run from. Since that night, my view of this place (North Church) has never been the same. I can’t deny what the Lord is doing in my heart for this place. The potential and vision of what this place we call North Church can be through the gospel and for the gospel is incredibly exciting. For me it’s more of a matter of obedience than anything else. As Rik mentioned last week, he and I have had many long and difficult conversations. But what’s been incredibly clarifying in the discussion of this transition has been Danielle. Her support and willingness to follow in this is huge. She challenges me in every way. We do not think alike at all. And every step of the way, when I would bring these discussion to here about us pastoring at North Church, she continually said, “It makes so much sense.”

Updates coming!!!

With all the new things ahead for us, we will begin to keep people in the loop with our blog. It's been a while since we've posted anything, but updates and new posts are coming soon...so stay tuned.

Thoughts on Freedom in Christ from Romans 14

Freedom in Christ does not allow us to live however we want, but brings us to a place of allowing our freedom to be an expression of our faith in Christ.

*14:1-12—Both “strong” and “weak” Christians need to stop condemning each other because it is the Lord, and he alone, who has the right to access the believer’s status and conduct. (by Douglas Moo)

If our convictions are lead by the Spirit and are a means to our ultimate worship of Christ, that is what matters. In the end I will give an account for my lift not the life of the person next to me (14:12).

Rom 14:6
6 The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.

*14:13-23—The “strong” Christians must be careful not to cause the “weak” Christians to suffer spiritual harm by their insistence on exercising their liberty on disputed matters. For such instance violates the essence of the kingdom, which is to manifest love and concern for one another. (by Douglas Moo)

We get so caught up on insignificant matters of life that we make ultimate, things that were never intended to be such.

Rom 14:17
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

We so often fail at walking in the power of the Spirit (Rom 8) that it’s no wonder we pursue and fight for the things that have such little significance. Are these things such idols in our lives that we can’t set them aside for a time? Yet we are driven by the material, rather than by the eternal. We have made the Kingdom to be about food and drink rather than about the gospel. Are we more concerned with fighting for our freedom that we neglect dying to ourselves (Luke 9:23) and “pursuing what makes for peach and for mutual upbuilding” (v.19) for that time. How true is verse 20, that for the sake of “food” we so often destroy the work of God.” The gospel is not a matter of mere behavior modification, but a heart that is changed by the cross, that is filled with the Spirit, and that leads us to live differently in light of those things. Our purpose then becomes Christ and Christ alone. The freedoms that I have don’t govern and drive my life, but it’s Christ that governs and drives my freedoms.

So the gut-checking question comes out of verse 23. Is the exercise of your freedom birthed out of a faith in the gospel, a faith that knows its free acceptance in the cross of Christ alone, not your behavior (for that would be salvation by works)? Or is the exercise of your freedom rooted in simply an attempt to show that you’re free, absent of any expression of faith or life that has been changed by the power of the gospel.

The amazing thing about the gospel is that is totally changes the motivation and purpose of how we live. The gospel say -- I am more sinful and depraved than I ever thought possible, yet I am more accepted and loved than I ever dared believe. And this reality brings us to a place of putting no weight in our spiritual performance (or lack thereof) as a means of being accepted by God. In the same way, there is nothing Mikail (my daughter) can do to gain or lose my love--She will always have my absolute love and affection as my daughter. When we understand the gospel in this way, it will revolutionize our motivation for living. It will change how we view our sin and God’s grace. It will change how we view our freedom. Our response, then, to a cross-centered gospel will be a faith-centered life. As it says in Col 2:6 – “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.” I came to Christ by the power of God birthing faith in my heart. I live for Christ, by the power of God continually birthing faith in my heart; and his Spirit living in out through me as I live my life on a mission to show the world the gospel. This will restore and revitalize how we view freedom.

1 Cor 10:31
31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.


Would love to hear your thoughts!!! Please comment! Hopefully more to come from Romans 15.

She's gonna be a runner!

 

Super Summer

For the past 2 weeks, I had the opportunity to be a Team Leader at Super Summer (Summer camp for Baptist kids). It was an incredible time watching the Lord do some amazing things in the lives of students, but also in the lives of leaders. My responsibility was teaching and leadership over the 9th graders (10th if you ask them). I was given 7 college students as small group leaders that I would directly pour into as they built more personal relationships with the students. I love hanging out with college student and pouring the gospel into them. It was awesome to see God work in their lives too. We saw a number of students surrender their lives to Christ and I wanted to share one specific story that I personally was involved in. This student, Jake, attended an evangelism seminar by Bob Caldwell to learn to share his faith. Bob gave an invitation to receive Christ (how ironic is that) and Jake expressed that he had never put his faith in Christ. I talk with him about it over dinner and he had a ton of questions. It was awesome to see his eagerness to get answers. He actually told me, "I don't have enough time to sit around and not find answers to my questions." I thought that we incredible. He told me that at one dark point in his life he tried to commit suicide but looked at himself in the mirror and realize that there was a greater purpose for his life (He didn’t know at the time that it was Jesus :) ). That night during an invitation to receive Christ, Jake stood up and went with the youth pastor he came with and received council. He was still seeking, still with some doubt but another step closer to having his soul saved. The next night he came forward to get prayer and I went off with him and we spend 20 minutes looking at the Scriptures and the meaning of the cross. The whole time he was literally shaking. He told me he had felt weird ever since he came to super summer, just something inside him wasn’t right. I told him it was the Spirit of God drawing Jake to Himself. That night Jake surrendered his life to Jesus. It was amazing! I’m blown away that the Lord allows us to be apart of the power of His gospel bringing a person from death to Life. Later on I received a letter from Jake that I want to share:

Dave, thank you so much for everything. I don’t think I can ever repay you for all you’ve done. Never have I shed so many tears and questioned so much and in the end give all that up. There is a song from Flyleaf called “All Around Me” and it’s about the feelings I was having and before this camp it was just a song and the lyrics were cool, but now that I’ve had that feeling it means so much to me. And every time I hear that song I’ll think of that night when I was standing there at the worship and the power of God called me. It was a rush of indescribable emotions. And I’ll think of sitting in that hallway, crying, shaking, and listening, and giving myself to Him with your help. So I want you to find that song and listen to it. I’ll keep you in my prayers. Thank you! Jake, Finally unleashed and free!

Praise God!!! I am blown away every time I read that! The power of God in a person’s life is unstoppable. John 6:44 says, “Anyone who comes to the Father must first be drawn by Him.” How true is that in Jake’s life!! I immediately purchased the song on iTunes and WOW. What a cool story and words that describe it so well. I never want to stop being around God’s activity in the world. His gospel is supreme and his changing lives. How foolish are we to sit around and not be a part of it. God has called every one of his Children to live lives on mission for his Name and renown. Might in the end our prayer be 2 Cor 4:5, “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.”

The perfect gift for a perfectionist is LIBERATION!

In order to keep my "go-getting", intense, and (for the lack of a better word) perfectionist husband sane, I am always on the lookout for stress relieving gifts for him. Well I hit the jackpot this year...A JOURNAL THAT GOES AGAINST EVERY "RULE" HE IMPLEMENTS UPON HIMSELF CONCERNING JOURNALING. I have to admit, his first glance at his gift wasn't exactly what I had in mind..."you want me to do what with this.".
Like I said, this goes against every journaling experience he has ever had. But since then, we have had so much fun!!! Here are a sample of some of the pages he has already "journaled" in.

NOTE: "Dedicated to perfectionists all over the world"

I think this one was my absolute favorite to watch so far. He had to think about it for a minute.





He did it!

"burn this page"--this one wasn't hard at all for him- pyro!





That is a handprint of A1 sauce that he had to smear all over the page.


So...


what's Dave's next adventure with his journal.....




Sorry, there will be no pictures of this one!