Church Planter Says Work Requires Touch of 'Craziness'

LONGMONT, CO (May 12, 2003) - Win Jackson Houwen says she has "an irresistible urge to find God" and she's excited about helping others find God as she begins her newest ministry venture.

The Evangelical Covenant Church approved Houwen for church planting ministry in 2002. She began core group development for a church plant in Colorado last November. She is pastor of LifeHouse Covenant Church of Longmont, which held its first preview service March 9. Houwen and Catherine Gilliard (Commissioned Disciples Covenant Church in Georgia) are two women recently approved for church planting in the Covenant.

Born and raised in Irving, Texas, outside of Dallas, Houwen comes from a non-Christian background. She admits it wasn't the ideal life, but says it helped her gain a passion for reaching the lost. She also considers her versatility in ministry a plus as she ventures into church planting.

"I've been in ministry 23 years and I've been everything from youth pastor to hospital chaplain, college pastor and everything in between," she said as she discussed the intrigue of church planting. "You have to have been knocked around enough in the pastorate that it's no big deal - enough scars to say that I've been through the wars and I'm still here and passionate for lost people.

"Part of the craziness (of church planting) is being crazy in love with God," Houwen continued. "And I think there also has to be an entrepreneurial edge that says, 'I'm going to do what I'm going to do' - rebelliousness channeled by the hand of God. Church planting is a chase. The Lord stays two steps ahead of me; the fun part is in staying in the hunt and watching how he romps through people's lives. If you'd rather have God sit beside you at the still waters, you'd probably not be a good church planter."

Houwen had been a senior pastor for eight years in Lewisville, Texas, near Dallas and later took a staff pastor position at a church in Denver. She became disillusioned with ministry early in 2001 and at age 45 she prayed that God would make the next 45 years different than the previous years.

After leaving her church denomination, Houwen began to get acquainted with the Covenant in January 2002 through teaching a spiritual warfare class at Arvada Covenant Church in Colorado. Not long after, she met a church planting consultant who told her about the Covenant's church planters assessment process. She contacted Midwest Conference Associate Supt. Rick Mylander and began the process of becoming a church planter.

Win, her husband, Steve (a teacher) and their daughter, Jessica (a high school senior), live in Lakewood, a short drive from the site of the church plant in Longmont. Win has envisioned a congregation that is open to creative worship, scriptural teaching, extensive community children's ministry, job and educational training and other service options. She resonates with the biblical analogy of servants as clay pots, so her mind is open to any possibility as she attempts to let God mold her ministry for His purposes.

"Sometimes you have to get so sick of the status quo that the pain of change is less than the pain of remaining the same," she says. "I always did the accepted thing," Houwen said about following God after being disillusioned for a time. "I went to college, went to seminary, got ordained and took a church (position). But I did not recall myself saying, 'What vision to you have for me?' I just followed the guidance of my elders. I got sick of status quo and just sat.

"When I resigned my position, I spent a year and a half doing a little of this and a little of that," Houwen continued. "But the whole time I was asking, 'What did you create me to hold (as God's clay pot)?' I wanted God to give me a vision for ministry. And it's been amazing. For all of that waiting and waiting and listening, it was a rapid succession of doors opening. And I'm still a bit dizzy from the trip."

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