What God is Doing!
Hello everyone! This is Willie O’Burke and I’m a new Vinia missionary. Dave asked me to share a little bit about what God is doing in & through our ministry here at Commission Church in Colorado, so here goes.
I’ve been part of the Missionary Church, and specifically the Western Region, for about 25 years now. In that time my wife Lisa and I have raised 3 sons, planted 3 churches, seen lots of people born again in Jesus, and witnessed God’s Kingdom grow in wonderful ways. It’s not that the years have been without trials and troubles—we’ve experienced some of the most profound hurts of our lives in ministry. But God has redeemed every tear we’ve shed and turned every trial we’ve experienced into good.
After 16 years of full-time pastoral ministry, the Lord transitioned me to vocational ministry. While we were recovering over the closing of a church in 2017, He planted another one under our noses in our home that same year. Since then, that church (Commission Church, named after the Great Commission) has been used by God in tremendous ways. We outgrew our living room and moved into a local coffeeshop in 2019, where we still gather for prayer and worship on Sunday’s.
From 2017 to the middle of 2022, I was “tri-vocational,” working 2 part-time jobs while pastoring Commission Church. In August of 2022 I was given a grant by a church in Peoria, AZ, that would allow me to focus on ministry full-time for 16 months. When they asked me what I would do if I were freed up to minister full-time, I asked the Lord what He would have me do. This is what He put on my heart:
- Make prayer top priority in the church, not just our church body, but in as many other local churches in our area.
- Start a school of ministry teaming up with other local church pastors and Christian churches to help equip them in God’s Word.
- Start a ministry leadership training program that will equip future ministry leaders, pastors and church planters in the ministries to which they are called.
- Help establish a local community service program with local churches teaming up to help people in need in Northern Colorado.
Though there is a lot on this list and it would appear that any single one of these goals would take all of my attention, all four of these things have been accomplished. Pastors and believers in our community are regularly gathering to pray together. The local school of ministry (called “Know the Bible”) classes just finished its third semester after completing and Old Testament Survey, a New Testament Survey, and a Christian Doctrine Survey. Our ministry leadership training class just finished its third semester. And churches are teaming up to help serve the needs of our community.
God is the one who has done/is doing all of this. We asked Him what we should do, He told us, and we simply said yes to Him and made ourselves available to Him. He is working and providing (God always pays for what He orders) and He is saving people (11 baptisms in Harrison, AR this past summer), and He is continuing to connect people spiritually and relationally…not just here, but in several other states across the country.
My wife and I believe that the Lord wants us to continue to minister in much the same way in 2024 and beyond. Once again, we’ve asked Him to disclose His will for us, for Commission Church, and for the growing number of people throughout the country that we are connected with relationally at some level. What we believe the Lord wants to do is to create a relationally connected, gospel-centered network of spiritual communities and churches. We’re calling it “Commission Network Ministries.”
Since the summer of 2022, we have seen the Lord use me to facilitate His missional work in both Windsor, Colorado, and Harrison, Arkansas. And there are several other places He has connected me with (as well as others in our church body) where He is planting seeds for more Christian communities to be born, such as Greeley, CO; Casper, WY; Faribault, MN; Sanger, TX; Central Iowa; and Nogales, Mexico. The Lord is casting a wide net of souls across many different areas in North America.
My role would be to serve as a “connectional leader” in these communities—one who functions as a teaching leader and facilitator among these local groups of Christians, helping to get the ministries started and the infrastructure established. I will also endeavor to grow and maintain the ministries that God has started this past year in Colorado.
The specific areas that I will focus on moving forward are:
- Leadership Training – helping to appoint and train leaders for these Christian communities.
- Ministry Training – helping to create and facilitate vision for each of these new Christian communities, each with their own God-ordained mission for their particular communities.
- Spiritual Community Start Up’s – identifying people and places where spiritual community can start.
- Relational Connection – helping these disciple-making communities, which are spread apart geographically, to be relationally connected as we seek to build God’s Kingdom in similar ways.
- Spiritual Community Teamwork – helping to facilitate a teamwork mentality and good will among other pastors and church leaders in each of these communities, so that we can serve the larger spiritual needs of people in a particular city, town or region.
- Financial Partnership – developing relationship with potential supporters of this ministry.
I have been approved and accepted as a Vinia missionary, which will help keep me accountable to the Lord and coach me in this connectional leader role. A big vision like this will require lots of funding and resources as we move forward, but I am confident that as the Lord leads, He provides.
You can see our Vinia missionary page here. This is the page where you can give to the
ministry if the Lord prompts your heart to do so.
We have experienced so much support, training, and encouragement over the years from the people of MCUSA and Vinia.
I praise God for each of you and count it a privilege to be a part of the Missionary Church team!
Willie O’Burke
[email protected]