In August of 2002, David and I were both feeling waves of morning sickness sweep over us as we flew home to Illinois from our trip to Vacaville, California. We already had three kids (now 14, 10 and 8 ) but we had just finished church planter’s assessment and they had spoken about the church within each of us waiting to be born. We had all the excitement of a newly pregnant couple, plus all the fear.

In October of 2003 our church in Bakersfield, California was born.  Today, we are toddling along after surviving all the perils of a church plant infancy. We have lots of baby church stories to tell, all of which are God stories.I love church planting. It is the hardest thing I have ever done but also the adventure that has brought me closest to God. And I am not a stranger to adventure. Two of my favorite sports are rock climbing and caving. I love meeting God on the heights of a sheer rock face and also in the dark wet depths of the earth! These extremes typify the extremes of church planting too. We can be on top of the world one day and in the  cold wet bowels of despair the next. I hope that my stories, words, or listening ear can be of encouragement to you along the sometimes perilous journey of church planting.

To contact Jan directly send an email to jan(at)womeninchurchplanting(dot)net.