The Sparkman family has moved from Texas to Whitefish, Montana in hopes of planting a new church there.
Tell us about your family.
My wife, Michele, and I have been married for 21 years and have four kids ages 16, 13, 11, and 7 (two boys and two girls). We love to be outside adventuring whether that is ultra trail running, floating and fishing on the river, or hiking in a new place. I have been on pastoral staff at 2 churches over the last 17 years with the past 11 years being in Georgetown, TX. We have already seen the Lord do a work in all our kid’s lives during this move as He has confirmed in each of them the purpose and calling to come to Montana.
Share your church planting story with us.
I always said I would never be a church planter. But the Lord has used Proverbs 16:9 in my life many times. “In his heart a man plans his course; but the Lord determines his steps.” This season has been no different. We believed the Lord was beginning to do something different a year and a half ago and began to seek Him for what He wanted. What we thought was the most obvious answer was not compelling to me or Michele. So we began to seek the Lord for what He might want instead of what we thought was most logical.
We had been to this part of Montana previously and love the area, but that would never be compelling enough alone for us to move our family across the country. We came last summer to spend time with family, as my wife’s brother lives here. As we were driving around Flathead lake Michele began to tear up. She said, “It’s like the Spirit prompted and said ‘you love the place, but do you love the people? I want you to love the people.'” So we began to pray for a heart to love the people. Still not expecting the Lord to move us here.
When we returned from our trip we could not get it out of our hearts and minds that the Lord might be doing something. So I called the SEND representative for Montana and we talked about what the Lord is doing in Montana and specifically in Whitefish and the north Kalispell area. It was in that conversation that the Lord began to raise a heart and calling for the people in the Flathead Valley.
We had many objections. Our kids are getting older and we don’t want to move them at such critical moments, it is incredibly expensive to live here, and on and on went our objections. But the Lord continued to call. Michele and I sat down with our lead pastor and his wife and walked through all the things the Lord had done and all of our objections and asked them what they thought. Their first response with tears in their eyes was to say, “We see you’re going to Montana.” Then our lead pastor made a statement that changed the way we approached this potential calling. He said, “It seems like you’re willing to go but your ‘no’ is on the table. How about you put your ‘yes’ on the table and let the Lord close the door if He wants to.” We agreed and in that moment put our ‘yes’ on the table. The next 48 hours were a whirlwind of the Lord flinging doors wide open and bringing confirmation after confirmation of what He was calling us to.
Even the responses of our kids over the weeks after that confirmed and amazed us how the Lord was at work. All four of our kids expressed an immediate openness to what the Lord was doing and a willingness to follow the Lord to a new place with new people. We are incredibly grateful for the Lord’s work in their lives. It is playing out in the ways He has already showed them what He’s doing here in their lives and for their good in the first six weeks after we moved.
What most excites you about planting a new church in Whitefish?
Whitefish intimidated us. We did not want to plant in Whitefish. We heard about the a the difficulties and challenges of the area. Yet Michele and I woke up one morning and told each other, to our surprise, that we felt like the Lord was calling us to Whitefish and not the other potential places we had been thinking. It was during that conversation that one of my buddies who is a pastor in Kalispell called and immediately said that he had been talking to another pastor in the area and they would like to plant a church in Whitefish. He asked if we thought that was a possibility for us. It was an encouraging confirmation and quite sobering.
But now, I am incredibly excited about the opportunities in Whitefish. It feels like everywhere we go, people tell us how “bad” Whitefish is. My first haircut, the repairman that came to our house, at the pediatrician’s office, and even other believers from Kalispell all told us how terrible and hard Whitefish is to reach. They spoke about it like it was hopeless and that we shouldn’t put our kids at risk. It has been in these conversations the Lord has built an excitement and resolve. The people of Whitefish are made in God’s image just like everyone else. They are loved by the Lord and His calling for us to love them as well is undeniable. We know the road ahead is difficult and there is no guarantee how it will turn out. But we have great confidence in that we are right where the Lord wants us to be.
What is one of the most important things God has taught you to prepare you for this church planting journey?
Ultimately that this move and the new church itself are not about me. He has given the gift of clarity that He was at work in Whitefish long before we got here and He will be at work here long after I’m in heaven. So the weight of being “successful” is in His hands and not mine. Success for me is following Him and investing all I have into knowing Him and making Him known and entrusting the results to Him. This gives me great clarity for how I spend my time and it frees me from so many of the burdens I want to carry.
How can our MTSBC churches pray for you?
- People to come to know Jesus.
- 5 people from Whitefish to become key catalysts to help us plant the church
- 40 core team members by February 1st
- Relationships and favor with people in Whitefish
- For our kids as they start school that each one would find a friend
Thank you for praying for us and welcoming us into the MTSBC family! We are excited to get to know as many of you as we can and to learn from you along the way as we travel this new adventure.
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