2 Pillars Church | Lincoln, NE

• Todd Bumgarner
• Mar 14, 2011
• Series: Church Profiles
• Categories: Church Planting Articles, Latest News

Briefly describe your story of your call to plant a church

After working my dream job at Boeing as an electronics design engineer for about 5 years, God began to call me away from engineering and to church planting. Slowly the call went from something that felt like it was what God wanted me to do until eventually it grew to something that I could not NOT do.

Church planting was never something that I was seeking out or looking for. It was not a career aspiration, it was a calling from God.

How did you build up your core? What advice would you give to guys in the core-stage?

I spent our last 6 months while living in St. Louis traveling to Lincoln once or twice a month to meet with anyone and everyone that would meet with me and talk about church, God, and/or the city of Lincoln. When we moved up here, we then spent four more months doing that and also hosting what we called the "Whiteboard Sessions" which was a progressive unpacking of the vision of 2 Pillars.

What were the biggest challenges you faced in planting your church (and/or currently facing)?

Financial self-sufficiency and the need to counsel and help people apply the gospel to their lives and issues as it rips them open and reveals their sinfulness.

Beyond that, one of the biggest things has just been pastoring and leading my family through the transition.

How did you become involved with Acts 29? What have been the biggest benefits of being in the network?

I was introduced to A29 through the quarterly events in St. Louis, then started networking with all the guys in Missouri and building friendships with them.

Brotherhood, coaching, and practical/tangible help are the biggest benefits.

What advice do you have for men who are wrestling with the decision to plant? 

If you can do anything else, do that instead. Planting a church is the hardest thing I've ever done. I used to hear that when I was discerning my call and think, "whatever dude, I'm Superman." ...As it turns out, this is the hardest thing I've ever done by a factor of ten.

What’s the most important thing you’d want to share with a new church planter?   

Surround yourself with some guys who are in the trenches.

How do you pastor your family?

Planned and unplanned. We read the Bible together and pray together at night, around the breakfast and dinner table. We also memorize Scripture together.

Unplanned comes during times of discipline and encouragement.

Outside of the Bible, what is the most helpful book you have read for church planting?

Stetzer's "Planting Missional Churches"

Church Profile: 2 Pillars Church
Launch Date: September 2010
Location: Lincoln, NE

Mission, Vision, Values of Church 

To reach the unreached for Christ and transform the city of Lincoln by loving God and loving people.

Our three core values are cross, grace, and kingdom. By cross, we focus on who God is and what He's done. By grace, we focus on who we are because of who God is and what He's done. By kingdom, we continually ask the question, 'how then shall we live' in light of the first two values.

What are some examples of God's grace that you have seen in your life and/or the life of your church?

Preserving my marriage and growing my wife and I closer together through the intense struggles of the early days of planting.

In the church: God slaying open hearts with his gospel.

How can we pray for you?

For protection from our enemy for my marriage and family; for good sleep patterns; for God to raise the average age of our church.