SIDE BY SIDE
Church Planting Heads South Pastor Zach Fallon talks about his journey to the next church plant pastor.
Share with us your story of faith. I saw my need for Christ and trusted in him alone the summer after my freshman year of college. I had heard the message of the gospel many times before that, but in the end the Spirit brought life to my heart through the conviction of the word, and God gave me the gift of repentance and faith. What followed was a major shift in lifestyle and in my relational circles. I really, truly never looked back and Philippians 3:7-8 became my reality, that the worth of knowing Christ far exceeded any other gain I had at that point in my life. One of the first things the Lord convicted me of when I finally knew Christ personally was to tell others who were in my circle about him. I had a lot of one-on-one conversations with people about the gospel and even had some conversations to try and reconcile with some people I had wronged. The reality of who Christ is had become so apparent to me that I wanted others to taste and see him as well. Tell us about your ministry in Montana. In what ways did the Lord teach you about being a minister of the gospel and his Word? With your growing desire for church planting, did you begin to pursue opportunities in Montana? Christine and I lived on campus at Montana Wilderness School of the Bible, a one-year Bible school. And we had a very relational ministry that was focused on discipleship. Over the course of five years, we had the chance to get to know about 300 college-aged students. We had students in our home almost every day, which really taught us how to have a ministry of hospitality in discipleship relationships. We quickly realized that we needed more training in how to minister the Word faithfully, so I enrolled in seminary and took seminary classes our entire time out there. I also had the chance to teach Bible classes for the first time and that's when I began to sense God was calling me to teach and preach his Word. When we were transitioning from Montana, we were looking at a few different options, and one of those was a church planting training program. Looking back, we can see it was not God's timing for us to pursue that, but instead he led us to College Church!
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So, how did you end up at College Church? We know it was because of the pastoral residency but remind us of how that happened. I met Todd Augustine (a former College Church pastor) and we really hit it off, plus I was excited about the pastoral residency program at College Church. The idea of coming back to Wheaton was compelling for us (Zach graduated from Wheaton College). Chad and Mindy Rynbrandt were involved in some of our premarital counseling when we were undergraduate students, and that was another special connection for us. A few months into the residency, Todd transitioned into a role at another church and that's when we had the "great pastoral shift" of 2016 where six pastors moved into new roles all at the same time. Why a church plant now and not earlier in your ministry? It has been a privilege to serve as high school pastor here for almost five years, and we clearly see the Lord's hand as we waited on his good and perfect timing to call us to this new kind of ministry. Just as we hope we have served our high school students and their families well with the gospel these last few years, so, too, God has been growing us and transforming us by the power of the gospel. This has been a much-needed time for us to grow in our knowledge of the Scriptures, in our heart and desire for God's people to know him more deeply, and in our pastoral skills in knowing how to be fruitful and effective in ministry. God's providence in the way that he uses the timing of things in our lives is often difficult to discern and understand, which is why we continue to pray without ceasing in order to seek his will. I see God's hand in the timing of this opportunity in several ways. First, I see the Lord at work in the people of College Church hungering to see the advancement of the gospel and to play a part in that. Second, I see a need in the coming generation for a clarity on the message of the gospel. As culture shifts towards a post-Christian one, people will use religious lingo of previous generations, but with a lack of clear definition of who Jesus is according to his Word, what it means to believe in him, what the power of God's grace is, what it means for the Scriptures to be sufficient, and what it looks like to live in all things to the glory of God. Finally, I feel uniquely prepared and called to have a