Wisdom from spiritual mentor: Part 2

Kristi and Chris Adams

I have been fortunate and blessed to have three tremendous mentors in ministry who have guided me, warned me, coached me, prayed for me, and were selfless enough to even watch me flourish. I would like to tell you about each of these men individually and encourage all of us toward some shared action steps at the end of each article. In this second installment of a 3 part article series, I would like to tell you about Chris Adams.

Chris Adams came into our church office in 2003, looking for churches to partner with him as he relocated his wife, Kristi, and family from the South to Greater Toronto to plant a church in Brampton, Ontario. I eavesdropped as he met with our pastor, Terry Meeks, and immediately thought about taking volunteer teams of teens to serve in his community. What began as a youth pastor looking for a spot on a map to take a summer trip became a missional/church planting pastor pouring his life into me one line of wisdom, explanation, or modeled character trait at a time.

Our first trip to Brampton was in October 2004 — the week the Sox did the unthinkable. We were in Canada for games 1-3; flying back to Georgia as Roberts stole second and Mueller drove him in during game 4; and at home for games 5-7, ecstatic with the Sox winning but also head swimming with ideas of church planting and the Kingdom. And over the next 5 years, Chris and Kristi would shape our thinking and beliefs powerfully.

JD and Chris

Here are just a few of his one-liners and points of influence in our life:

“If you ever plant a church, do it in such a way that if you die in a car accident, it never skips a beat.”

Sharing a life mantra he attributed to Billy Graham, he would say, “It’s God’s job to judge, the Spirit’s job to convict, and my job to love.” This conviction freed him from artificial timelines and expectations we put on people regarding the pace of their sanctification.

“Too often we are giving answers to questions people aren’t yet asking.” This relational approach to evangelism taught me to ask good questions and, as a general rule, to not rush the Gospel out past where someone is in his or her journey. He taught us the Engel scale and to understand that -7s or -5s don’t often come to Christ immediately but that if we can help someone take a step toward Christ in their journey, then that is a win. My wife Natalie remembers Chris saying, “Usually, it takes at least 7 Gospel interactions for someone to trust Christ, so if you are one of those interactions — whether the first, last, or one of the middle ones — that is a Kingdom win.” Game changer.

“If you ever plant a church, do it in such a way that if you die in a car accident, it never skips a beat.” - Chris Adams

He was the first to teach me that a church service is something different than a church and that we often get the cart (a church service) before the horse (the church). He insisted he was called to plant a church, not a service — a lesson I fiercely cling to still today and coach church planters to understand.

Probably the most powerful lesson he taught me was the one he taught me as he handed the fledgling church plant off to the people and returned to the US. As the Great Recession of 2009 hit, partnership dollars shifted, and God closed the door on the Adams family’s time in Canada. Chris grieved but also trusted the movement of the Spirit. Because the church he planted wasn’t “his” and didn’t hinge on his personality, wisdom, resources, or anything else — but was God’s from Day One — he could entrust it to God and to those he had led to faith and discipled. And that’s what healthy church planters do!

As Chris and Kristi ended the church planter phase of their journey, Natalie and I began ours. And they’ve faithfully supported us since then — financially, prayerfully, and with words of encouragement over and over…which isn’t surprising. For them, it was always about Christ, the Kingdom, the mission, and celebrating what God is doing in and through surrendered people. Let’s look to the example of those who’ve mentored us, cheered for us, and chased the Kingdom as we watched; let’s learn from their example; and let’s be those mentors, cheerleaders, and examples for others of Kingdom DNA.

JD Mangrum is the church planting pastor of Christ Church Charlestown in Charlestown, MA.