I wanted this book to be raw--to just tell the stories of these churches.  And in that spirit, with Chris' permission, I'm sharing his continued story here.

Sun, 13 Oct 2002 20:30:34 EDT

Hey Jim,

I hope all is well for you and you are enjoying the harvest from your very well written and engaging book. I must say everyone I have given it to has found it very interesting and enlightening.  You can argue against and discount a person's personal opinion I suppose, but you can't argue against or discount a person's story.  And in part, because of the great stories that are told, I think your book has incredible power!

Anyhow, I also want to and feel it neccessary to share with you some sad news.   As you well know, Quest419 was started 2 years ago on a wing and a prayer. And though the ministry grew quickly from just a few, reaching many many people, and we displayed great faith at every pass, Quest419 faced many challenges, some that were just a part of the dynamics of starting a Church with basically no funding, no core group, and virtually no place to meet. 

When we left the double-wide student building behind the Baptist Church (the place we officially got started in) the warehouse type building we moved into was very expensive and very run down, we didn't even have running water for several months. But of course, we were determined to make do, especially since that was the only place available we could meet.  As the months passed, we grew to having 75-85 people at our Friday night services and for the most part, we were doing well, paying the bills and progressing. It was during this time, or shortly before, that you called with interest in Quest419 and what we were up to. We had just moved in and were getting our feet on the ground. 

During that time, I was focused on developing leaders and growing a core group as we went (Not an easy task when you are made up of 90% unchurched folks). And as you know, moving people into spiritual maturity and leadership just takes time.  But I wanted to see that happen, and knew the growth of our ministry would depend on it.

Over the next several months, I raised up two women small group leaders, one men's small group leader, 3 male and one woman worship leaders, one woman youth minister, a woman financial assistant, and a woman children's ministry director. Things seemed to be going good as each leader grew and developed. 

About 4 months ago I decided to take some much needed vacation time, while I was away, a conflict arose over the role of women in ministry.  When I arrived home from vacation, I was flooded by several 
e-mails from women saying that if women could not be elders or pastors in our Church, they and their families would be leaving.  After some counsel from my mentor, Pastor Michael Hailey of Crosstown Community Church, I crafted a written policy regarding the role of women at Quest419 and had it approved by both Crosstown and the Tampa Bay Baptist Association.  With that written document, I approached the people who had concerns and expressed my desire to meet with them personally and talk this issue through, but also requested they look over the policy document first so that we have something from which to guide our conversation. (I wanted to present them something in writing so that for both them and those others in the Church that would hear about this charged issue, there would be clarity and consistency. I hoped that this document would aslo help to minimize misunderstanding and miscommunication and people spinning the issue to favor their own stance.)

Well, unfortunately, though I tried my best to help people work through this issue, we lost a total of 25-30 people because we stood firm to what we believed to be the Biblical model for the role of women in the Church.  For us it was not a matter of having or encouraging women to be in leadership, as a matter of fact,  75% of our leaders were women in the first place. I personally, think women have some of the greatest gifts to offer to the Church, but also believe that as the Bible dictates, the office of Pastor and Elder in the Church are to filled by qualified men only.  I mean, we had women in visible leadership everywhere, but yet, these 25-30 people decided that we were sexist pigs and that we wanted an all male-powered Church. Well, I think you know my heart enough to know that's the farthest thing from the 
truth. 

Anyhow, when those people left, that hit us hard. Real hard. Two families that left were our top givers, and when they stopped coming, the reality of our financial destruction was coming closer with every week.  Not to mention the people who were remaining were hurt, frustrated, and not very committed themselves like the other 25-30 people had been.

With that reality, we looked everywhere for another place to meet, for additional sources of funding without any luck.  Amy and I had already taken out an $18,000 business loan and sent her to work teaching school to fund the start of this Church.  And it was becoming more and more clear that we were crossing the line of dying FOR our dreams to dying WITH our dreams.  Even if we were able to find another place to meet, we knew there would be no way for us to financially be able to start over and rebuild again from the beginning. 

SO after much prayer, tears, and counsel, we decided to close the Church. We had our last service about two weeks ago.  And though we were all very sad, it was a great celebration of our very successful and significant two year ministry!  To say the least, this has been very hard for us, but suprisingly, Amy and I feel more strongly about seeing this kind of ministry succeeed than ever before because we have seen the way it has succeeded with Quest419. And so in a sense, we have not given up on the dream or the vision, but just realize God has closed this chapter of it to open up a new chapter of it in the future.  Of course, what that is, we don't have a clue right now. 

I feel very bad about this because of your including Quest419 in your book. Yes, I know, the majority of what was being told was about my radical conversion and ministry transition, and not as much about Quest419 per se, but I still feel very, very bad about all this.

But I have been praying that you and others see Quest419 not as a failure, because at so many levels, Quest419 succeeded in many vital ways many Churches don't, because of Quest419, many many people have a better future, not just tomorrow, but they also have an eternal future with God, and in my mind, if Quest419 was just for the eternal future of one, it was worth it.  But also, many other people's lives will be impacted for the future through the continued ministry of those who once came to Quest419 and now are getting connected elsewhere. 

I guess I hope if you decide to tell others about what has taken place with Quest419, people will see that the value of "The Future Church" is not based on it's longevity on earth, but on it's impact on the longevity of people's lives for eternity. The value of the Future Church is not in its ability to stay in the comfort of safe harbor, but to risk going off shore, out of sight of land and risking to save the shipwrecked, drowning lives in our cultural ocean, even if the rescue mission lasts for a short while because their boat was terminally damaged in heavy seas.  I believe the future of God's Church is in the hearts of people (great spiritual seawomen and seamen) who are willing to go on these rescue missions, whether long or short, presitigious or unpopular, safe or secure, to rescue those who have been deemed too far off shore and out of reach. And though my ship has been capsized, this sea-men still believes in going off shore, doing what it takes to reach people, and is ready and waiting for my captain's orders.

So, though some might say, how could Quest419 be a future Church when it doesn't have a future anymore?  I say, perhaps Christianity has a much brighter future than ever before because there are Churches like Quest419 who are willing to give up their own future for the future of others and the absolute truth of Jesus Christ and His Word. 

God's blessings,

Chris Kratzer