“I was in the fourth or fifth week of Planted when I realized something about me was different. I absolutely knew for the first time in my life that God loves me. He loved me enough to die for me and He loved me enough to get me to heaven. But, I discovered God cares for me right now! He wants to be a part of every mundane thing I do. He wants me to talk to Him and to listen to Him. That one thing has changed everything about me.”
It’s exciting to hear different Planted graduates talk about the program. Each one has at least one moment of self-discovery. Growing closer in their walk with God is a common theme.
“Going through the section on spiritual warfare hit me from two different sides. I wasn’t utilizing the armor of God. I learned what the tools are and how to use them in my daily life. The second thing I learned is I have experiences in my past and habits I’ve created to deal with those experiences. I’ve identified my bad habits and I’m learning to redirect how I deal with things in a positive more biblical manner.”
Each section of Planted builds on the last section and moves the participant through a guided prayerful journey. Coming out the other side is a more confident person.
“I didn’t know anyone at church until I signed up for Planted. People were honest with me and each other. I learned to trust them with some of my darkest secrets. They loved me anyway. We prayed together. We called each other. We sit together at church now. Worshiping God with people who know you and are rooting for you is awesome!”
Creating a loving network of support is a goal of Planted. We want everyone to have the opportunity to have a team who prays with them and believes in them. Everyone needs someone to call.
“I’ve never prayed for an hour before, so when they talked about an entire meeting centered on praying, I was scared. But when we did it, I couldn’t believe how fast the time went. People cried. People made breakthroughs. I’m ready to do it again!”
Learning to talk to God is important but so is listening to God. When our groups meet to pray, we have spent a week learning about prayer and what to do. The leaders give instructions before they start and do a debrief afterwards. And it usually ends in prayer!
“I’ve never volunteered for anything before. Yeah, I’d greet people who came into the service I go to, but I’ve never served a meal to homeless or tutored kids or helped out at a battered women’s shelter. I wasn’t too involved in picking what we did because I didn’t think I’d care. But then we went together as a group and met the nicest people. It meant more to me than it did to the people we helped that day. I’ve been back once a week ever since.”
Most of the Planted groups serve at least once during their journey. Some end up doing it as a group on a regular basis. Every group is free to choose from the list of ministries supported by the church and they fill up fast. Rarely do we have anyone back out. They also come back to me requesting more assignments.
Come join Planted! Signups are now happening for the next groups!
