Planting The Life Church provided me a rude awakening to the day to day reality of planting an Assembly of God church in the Northern California & Nevada. District. I expected that it would be hard and it is! I expected spiritual resistance and there is! I expected my faith to be stretched and it is daily! I expected to grow and I have. I’ve got the spiritual stretch marks to prove it! I expected the God Factor and I’ve seen it! I expected miracles and I’ve witnessed more than I can list here. What I did not expect though was the amount of loneliness and isolation that I have felt as a new church planter. I am two years into this adventure and have received three phone calls from my covering district. The calls were not calls of encouragement but calls concerning administrative issues. In all honesty a call from someone in leadership who has walked in my shoes and understands the emotional challenges I face daily would have carried a lot of weight. I have learned as of late to shift my expectations, doing so eliminates frustration and a sense of let down. I will give credit where it is do. The AGNCN District has provided me a covering that has allowed me to see my dream of planting The Life Church become a reality. If we are going to continue as a movement we must become more intentionally relational and connected with our current church plants and planters. Because of my experience I regularly call those that I lead for no other reason than to encourage.