Egypt is in the middle of a transitional government. Not only that, they are facing social unrest each and every day. Within the storm of the political and social unrest I saw the church standing firm with resolve to spread the gospel of Jesus! In America, we have multiple conferences, books, and seminars on numerous topics. One of those is church planting. We began the process of asking the pastor about his church planting strategy. His response was not what we expected. He had not heard the verbage, "church planting!" It was ironic to hear that the Pastor had already began 10 churches in Egypt. He did not have all of the "jargon" down but he was fulfilling his mission to start churches. In America, we place a huge emphasis upon environments, strategies, and meetings. I agree that they are all important in leadership but simple obedience to God is even better. The vision that the pastor told us was to start a church in every city in Egypt! Talk about a vision! He did not have all the charts, graphs and strategies perfectly laid out but he was starting churches. His vision was to start churches, develop young pastors and help build them up. But, he did not have a "strategy of church planting" book, just a passion to lead the church to multiply! The church should be strategic in all things but never at the cost of putting methodology above the message. The gospel is more important than our strategies, conferences and personal preferences.

Jesus said, "I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it."

I'm thankful that God does not base his love for us based on our knowledge or strategies. I'm thankful that God uses us even when we do not have all of the answers. God has begun to show me that His plans are greater than my plans.

Are we relying more on our strategies than simple obedience to God's Word? Are we following the Holy Spirit or our own preferences?