One would assume that if you were to start a new church enterprise, you might pick someone other than Lazarus to name it after. But for Pastor Mark Pulliam and his wife Laura, herself a LCMS DCE, Lazarus seemed like a logical name for a missionary church. Courting a population of primarily un-churched and de-churched worshippers, the Pulliams are building a vibrant, living ministry in Northeast Houston. Join host Pastor David Schultz as he welcomes Pastor Pulliam to the Engaging Truth microphone to discuss the challenges of launching a new church plant in the 2020s.

The following program is sponsored by evangelical life

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Welcome to engaging truth. This is Dave Schultz. You're a host for this evenings program, and I have a special guest that's been with us before, but we want to him this evening to talk about mission work, starting missions. And, um, so welcome to the mic. Um, mark Pullum.

Thank you so much, Dave, really appreciate the opportunity to converse about this topic.

Let's just begin with who is mark and who is who Laura?

Ah, great question. So, uh, we we're a, a church planting team working in the north Houston area. We're a, a married couple, uh, my wife, Laura and I have been married for good on 12 years now. And, uh, we discovered pretty early on in our relationship that group projects. We're just a lot more fun when we were working on them together and that's been, uh, so that we've, uh, seen play out in home renovations in our parenting of our two sweet boys, uh, Flint and Wade, and also in the church planting world. So, uh, when I came and was called by the harvest partnership to start a new mission outpost here in north Houston, uh, they gave me the freedom to, to fundraise as well, to be able to bring a part-time staff person. So I did that and called Laura to serve as our director of Christian education. That's her training, her background. And, uh, she brings to the team really, uh, so much more than that, more than a, uh, really I think, any, any part-time employee, cuz she is just, uh, so skilled in so many areas where I am not. So I'm just thankful for the opportunity to have a teammate who's gifted and uh, to allow her to, uh, really shine in the areas where God has blessed her. How'd

You get to Houston?

Great question. So the harvest partnership started meeting some five OT years ago in our area. They were actually meeting at crust pizza down the street at Rayford road and they were praying over this community specific because they saw a lot of housetops and not a lot of steeples. And, uh, they, they said, you know, it seems like there could be more churches here. There's a lot of people in this growing area where the grand Parkway had just recently been completed. And uh, and as a result of that prayer, uh, one of our friends called us said, Hey, there's an opportunity that's coming up. We, we think you maybe should take a look at it. Uh, a few interviews later and, uh, an assessment and we were on our way.

Let's talk a little bit about the name. Uh, I, I guess most of us churchy people on inside people understand what Lazarus is all about. How did you come up with that for a church name?

Great question. Great question. Uh, there's there's two pieces to it. Uh, one we've always just loved the story of Lazarus. That Lazarus is I, if you know the story from John chapter 11 called back to life by Jesus, and what's so fascinating, that story is that LAER does absolutely nothing. He's, he's lying there, dead in the ground and Jesus comes and calls him to life. And I, I cannot think of, uh, a more accurate picture of what it's like for us in our lives. Uh, being broken, being, uh, trapped in our sins, being spiritually dead and having Jesus us come along and call us out of our grave to the new life that he has for us. And, uh, we, we see in, in the community around us, a lot of people who are kind of going through life in kind of this, you know, dead, but not dead way. Uh, they're going through the motions of life without actually engaging in the deeper purpose. The true calling that Jesus has for them. So our hope is through Lazarus church, people are connected to Jesus, his church and his kingdom calling for their lives, that deeper purpose that he has in mind for all of us as, uh, one small part in this grand design, this grand kingdom that he's building.

One of the things that, uh, we learned long time ago about KKA HT, the station that broadcasts, uh, each week, these particular broadcasts. And that is that, um, 40% of the listening audience during this time of evening. Um, 40% are dechurched people. Awesome. Talk about a disconnected people. Well, what's the difference?

Sure, sure. Great question. It's it's really a, a partly a matter of just semantics, uh, somebody who's unchurched, maybe doesn't like the fact that we're talking about them as somebody who's unchurched, uh, as though there's something lacking, uh, disconnected though is as I think a much more common experience, uh, for us humans, uh, we, we understand what disconnect action is, especially coming out of the last year that we all have, uh, being, feeling disconnected from one another being separated, socially distanced, having this, uh, mask that's on our faces between us and the ones that we love. And, uh, that, that disconnection is something that Jesus came to remedy that Jesus comes to call us back to a connection with God, our maker who loves and can cares for us and who has called us to, uh, also connect people to him. And, uh, it ties into that, you know, mission mantra that we have trying to connect, disconnected people to Jesus, his church, his kingdom calling for their lives, cuz we believe that life is really better when it's lived out in that connection.

And uh, you know, Dave, we, we, we see this in, in the scriptures to, and, and for those who are listening that, uh, you know, 40% who are maybe tuning in, I I'd love to just kind of speak to you for a moment listener and uh, and encourage you, uh, what have you got to lose by giving Jesus a chance to speak for himself? What, what do you have to lose by giving Jesus the chance to speak for himself? And let me just draw your attention to a couple of examples of the way that Jesus connected, disconnected people in, uh, the scriptures in, in the Bible. Uh, we, we see this in, in John chapter four, right? There's the, the woman at the well in Samaria and she comes to him and she's separated it from the society. She's, uh, a woman with a, a very kind of colored past a very, uh, uh, negative experience that she's come out of.

And, uh, she engages Jesus at the well Jesus, uh, wants to, to engage with her in a deeper way. Uh, somebody who is separated from the people around her and he calls her into a, a better relat ship with God, a better relationship with their neighbors. Uh, same with, uh, one of my favorites, the, the, uh, story from mark chapter five, the naked non-Jewish demon possessed guy who liked to hang out at the graveyard with pigs. And if you really wanna know what that story's about, check it out in mark five, but Jesus approaches this guy who's hostile, hostile to the whole idea of, of Jesus coming in and Jesus comes and, and helps this man. And he actually turns around and becomes the kind of person who connects his, uh, disconnected neighbors back to Jesus. When, when Jesus goes back to that place later in the gospel of mark, people are, are coming up to him in droves.

Cuz they've heard the story of this guy who was told to go back and tell his friends, his family, what the Lord had done for him. It, you know, Jesus actually summarizes it himself probably best in, in Luke chapter 19 verse 10, he says, uh, after Sherry Emil was Theus another disconnected guy, Jesus sums up that whole encounter, that whole story saying for the son of man, speaking of himself, that's one of the titles Jesus had for himself, uh, for the son of man I, myself, Jesus speaking came, seek and save the lost. That's how Jesus frames, his whole experience is about seeking out those people who are disconnected from him, those who have lost their way and connecting them to the God who loves them and the purpose he has for them.

There are really, as I, I hear you talking about the disconnect. There are really two types of disconnect for first of all, people who have once been connected and there are other people who have never been connected. So you're, you're going out and seeking both of those. How do you do this? Especially with, um, with the people who have never had a relationship with God, uh they're Ambi, uh, but there must be something that they, that you spot that they need. How do you do this?

Great question, Dave, uh, this, this actually ties into something that I, uh, have found to be, uh, and it could just be part of, of, of church planning. You're, you're trying to kind of think outside the box, but that really is the question, right, for people who are this connected from Jesus who have not, uh, experienced any, any form of, of Christianity or, uh, perhaps, uh, even more challenging, those who've had a negative experience with the church and they don't wanna have anything to do with it. What is the thing that connects with that person that, uh, allows us to have a conversation about, uh, more than just meets the eye, you know, more than just the surface level stuff, asking questions about how's the weather, you know, how how's, uh, work going, those, those sort of general questions. We, we wanna get a little deeper with people and that's where the spiritual conversation can comes in.

I've I've found, um, in, in kind of exploring and having some freedom to, to try some new things as a part of a, a new church start that evangelistic prayer walking works well for me. And I, I wanna add a, a caveat there. This is, this is not necessarily for, for everybody. So for those, uh, disconnected folks, uh, I'm gonna give you the chance to, to kind of see, hi, the curtain here for, for those of you who maybe are listening in. And, uh, you're, you're a Christian, uh, you know, that there's a, a calling that we have a calling by Jesus to share the good news about him, with the people around us. The challenge we face is that it's, it's just so awkward. It's so challenging to speak about that with somebody in a way that allows the, to move forward. And, and I think that prayer is actually the Christian's most underused Evangel evangelistic tool.

Uh, prayer is the Christian's most underused evangelistic tool. Uh, and I, I think it's a great way to present the gospel, the good news about Jesus to somebody without being weird. Here's, here's how it plays out. So I, I do evangelistic prayer walking through the businesses in our community. Uh, we have a, a very, um, high Mormon population in our area and, uh, some Jehovah's witness folks as well. And so, uh, the people in our community, they've got people coming to their door, knocking, uh, waking up their kids who are napping, that sort of stuff. We didn't wanna, uh, be doing the same kind of things that, uh, already have that kind of negative connotation in our, in our community. Uh, so I started going, uh, to the different businesses and, uh, and as I go in I'm, I'm asking the employees who greet me, how's how's things going here.

I'm a local pastor. We have a heart for the local community. Uh, I'd love to hear what's what's going on with you. How are, how, how are you doing how's the business? And is there anything that I can pray about for you? And, uh, and that, that question asking, is there anything that I can pray about for you as, uh, one, one that by and large is pretty well received? Um, most of the time people are, are, uh, open up about the things that are going on. They, they wanna talk to somebody about the, the deeper issues of life. Uh, but, but they're not, uh, we don't have enough practice as a people, as, as humans going deep with somebody in, in that sort of sense. So, uh, that question, is there something I can pray about for you opens doors, at least in, in my experience.

And like I mentioned, this, this isn't necessarily for everybody. I, I mentioned my wife, Laura is very gifted in organization and put things together, uh, bringing order out of chaos. She's exactly the kind of person that I, I need on my team. Uh, and she came with me on a prayer walk one time and afterwards she said, oh my goodness, I've never been so nervous in my whole life. It's, uh, it's, it requires, you know, a little bit of, um, a, a little bit of willingness to put yourself out there, uh, but it can open some cool, uh, cool opportunities. Uh, just two of them I'll mention, um, there's a, a local children's dentists office that I visited pretty regularly, uh, in the months leading up to the pandemic and then connecting, uh, after the pan, uh, you know, AF afterwards, after things start open, back up again as well.

And I walk in this one time and I I'm greeting one of the, the ladies who's at the front desk at the front of front of house. And, uh, we're revisiting a little bit and she says, you know, I'd really love to introduce you to, uh, the dentist back here. You know, we know you, we've gotten to hang out with you, uh, let me go get them. And so she goes back and she brings, uh, forward the, the proprietor of, of this business. And she says, Hey, I, I wanted to introduce you. This is our pastor. Uh, so there was a relationship that she had that she, uh, desired, uh, to, to continue to have. And, uh, it was just from having those conversations popping by their office, uh, asking how things were going, asking if there's anything I could pray about for them. And it, uh, it became a connection point where they're starting to connect to the church, connect to Jesus through, uh, somebody like me walking through the front door and asking, Hey, is there anything I could be praying about for you?

You know, I I'm with you mark. I, I really believe that prayer is that, that wonderful tool that God has given us to, um, make the, the playing field very level very quickly. And in my years in ministry, even starting missions as I did, um, when you introduce people, just like you said, and what is there that I can pray for you about there's hardly ever a refusal and what a blessed way to, to, to just carve open the, a little place where you can insert the gospel, you know, uh, that precious gospel that you alone, um, uh, uh, can share. So let's just talk about prayer for a little bit. How, how do you see that decide just a tool? I mean, how do you look at prayer as being, uh, more than a tool for you in that ministry that you're doing, uh, at Lazarus?

Absolutely. Well, great, great question, Dave. It, uh, prayer connects us to the God who makes things happen. Uh, you know, the, the Bible teaches that, uh, none of us can by our own reason or, or strength believe in Jesus. It, it has to be this supernatural thing where, uh, God, the holy spirit is working in our hearts to draw us to know and believe in God. And, uh, and so for, for, for us, uh, having a conversation with somebody where they move one step closer to Jesus, that's not something I can do on my own. Uh, I mean, and I'm, I'm a, I'm a prayed professional. You know, I, I get, make my living by, uh, by, uh, connecting people to Jesus by, by speaking, by, by, uh, offering, uh, spiritual direction. Uh, and I am completely powerless to do any of this. I, it is only possible through, uh, God and through what he does through his people.

And, and thank God that he does. Um, you know, there was one pastor. I don't remember who, uh, he said, you know, it's always surprising to me that God uses, uh, broken people to accomplish his purposes. Uh, but if you look around the truth is that that's, that's all there is. So God go had to choose is to work through broken people, cuz that's the only kind of people there are broken people. And those of us who know who Jesus is have this incredible opportunity to invite the people who, uh, are disconnected from him to also experience the healing, the forgiveness, the true life that we have through him. And, uh, and so for me, prayer connects me to the God who can make things happen, the God who can open doors in a conversation, uh, the God who, uh, to, to be quite honest, knows much more of the story of the people that I'm having a conversation with than I ever will.

Um, I believe it was the director of the, um, of, of, of alpha course I believe was in the midst of an interview and she was talking about evangelism and she used this analogy, this, this kind of picture that evangelism is really joining the holy spirit at a conversation that he's already having with somebody else. Uh, so if you could imagine our disconnected friend, our disconnected neighbor, that person who, uh, is, is, is not living their, their fullest potential to has in store for them. God's already having a conversation with them. The holy Spirit's already sitting at the table with them and they've, uh, been on this journey so far. Uh, me as a believer, we, as, as believers in Jesus, have this opportunity to, to in invitation really by God to join the table first time. And to be a part that conversation, the holy spirit is having to ask questions with, with humility and to say, you know, I I'd love to hear more of your story. Can you, uh, help me understand these things a little bit more? It, to be honest, quite it takes, uh, quite a lot of the pressure off of us that we put on ourselves for thinking, oh, evangelism. I have to have all the answers that that's simply not the case we never will, but God does. And prayer connects us to him.

I'm gonna pause for just a moment to tuck it just a minute or so about evangelical life ministry and engaging truth programming. Uh, this is heard every Sunday night on KK HT and, um, our, our employees, the people who work with us, the guests who do the interviewing all this, all do this as, as volunteers. And so what you may do to help us truly help us is to pray for us to pray for the ministry and to ask God to open the doors for people's for people's lives to receive the message of grace truth in and eternal light. And secondly, contribute to what we do go to Elm houston.org, uh, the website, and find ways to, to support what we do with your dollars. Or you can just mail, uh, a letter of Thanksgiving with a check through Elm Houston post office box 5 68, Cypress, Texas 77, 400. And that would be well received. And we would thank you for that. Mark. Another question that I've got on my mind right now, I'm a, I'm a, a broken person, never been in church in my life. Chaos has happened in my life and someone told me somewhere to go to that little mission church and they'll help me. I'm walking through the door. What do you do with me?

Great question. Great question. The, uh, what I, what I love about, uh, Lazos church is that it's, uh, that extension of, of, of me and, and Laura just as, as you know, every organization tends to kind of, uh, look a little bit like the, uh, the people who are, who are in charge. Uh, but so much of the church that I have the privilege of being a part of and the privilege of serving and, and leading, uh, alongside of some incredible people is, is that there are just so many incredible, wonderful people there. So as, as you walk through the front doors at Lazos church, uh, you're, you're greeted by somebody out front saying, Hey, we're so glad that you're here. Uh, we, we make sure that we have the kind of setup where somebody who's walking through the front doors for the first time can see pretty clearly, okay.

That's where I'm going there. There's a big sign said start here. Um, and they, they, they have the chance to go up. There's a little bit of information on a, a table, uh, a name tag and, uh, somebody else, uh, there to, to visit with you a little bit more here, uh, a little bit more of your story here. What brought you here this morning? Uh, they, they might encourage you if you've got kids with you to, uh, check out and visit with, uh, our, uh, kids ministry folks who do just a wonderful job of, uh, sharing the story that we're gonna be talking about in the main service with the kids at an appropriate age level for them. Uh, and then they'll invite you to come over and have a cup of coffee. And, uh, you know, I, I don't know about you, Dave, but I've been to a lot of churches, uh, that have really bad coffee.

And it's just a bummer. I, uh, so frustrated by, you know, this, uh, it's either some, some sort of like weak thing that pours out of the thing, or it's this like sludge, we, we, we don't do that. We, we believe that Jesus has invited us into his family, so we wanna serve good coffee. We wanna give you the good stuff, because he's given us the good stuff. So, uh, we grab a cup of coffee. We have donuts after worship, and then you invited to, uh, participate in, in the worship service in whatever capacity you feel, uh, led to, if you wanna sing along with the songs that are up there, they might be ones that you've heard before. Uh, there's the opportunity to do that. If you wanna just kind of sit and let the words sink in, that's completely okay too. Uh, we invite, uh, participation, but we also give people the freedom to, uh, sit and absorb whatever it is that, uh, they would like to, to kind of process a little more as we don't expect that everybody coming off the streets is gonna, uh, know what's going on.

Uh, so we do our best to, uh, connect every part of the service, uh, to an explanation, uh, some sort of brief, uh, pointing out of where this comes from, why we're doing this, uh, and, and always, it, it, we point it back to God's word to, uh, the Bible that reveals who Jesus is and his love for us. And, and that's what we, uh, try to do with those, the whole service from start to finish quite honestly, is to point back to the source, to point back to the God who loves us and to direct you to, if you've got, you know, more, more questions you wanna know more about this, uh, we'll be happy to walk alongside you, but you don't have to take our word for it. You can go straight to the source, you can go straight to God's word, and we'll be happy to, to set you up with a Bible, set your kids up with a, a kids and, uh, and, uh, start, or, or, or be a part of this process of discovery with you, uh, inviting you to walk with us as we walk with Jesus.

There's an interesting author years ago that, um, that just caught my attention, uh, talking about evangelistic outreach. She said, when Jesus walked the, the dusty roads of Samari and the hillsides of Judea, he met people where they were, and when he met them, where they were, he felt along the rim of their life until he found the crack. And when he found the crack, he filled it with the bomb of Gilead. That kinda sounds like what you're doing.

Absolutely. It's, uh, uh, we, we have, I think a, uh, I, I gotta be careful how I, how I phrase this. We, we have an opportunity, uh, to, to engage with people. Jesus has called us to be a part of his mission in the world of connecting people to him. And, uh, and we all come with our brokenness, right. And, uh, and I think for, uh, many people who are disconnected from the church, they've, they've got their reasons for it. And, uh, and so I don't want to, uh, presume anything about the, the person who's, who's walking in. Who's joining us. I, I want for them to be able to tell their story and to know that we're, we're gonna be able to hear that, and we're gonna be able to, uh, not be shocked or surprised by that, but you know what, Jesus, isn't either, uh, he's walked alongside all of us in our brokenness and he provides the healing just as you mentioned, he provides the healing that all of us, so desperately need

Getting very close to the end of our program, but I just am really excited about what you're doing and knowing that, uh, people are, are disconnected, are now being reconnected to the, the majesty of grace and that's in Jesus Christ. Um, how can people get ahold of you mark? Oh,

Great question. Uh, if you go to our website, LAER church.com, we've got, uh, all the information there. If you wanna check out the church and the things that are going on, uh, you can certainly connect with us through the website, but we'd love to, to have you come for a, uh, a worship service and, uh, start connecting there. Uh, when you do, you're gonna encounter people whose story probably is somewhat similar to yours. And, uh, it's another one of the things I just love about our team is that on a Sunday morning, you could run into Corey, uh, who went to church, uh, Christmas and Easter had, uh, had his own background of, of kind of being in the church, but then stepping away for, uh, a short time being a little bit more inactive. Uh, he's one of the guys that we can't do Sunday morning without, uh, Bruce, who was in a similar position, the Olson family.

So many others who, uh, are just integrals to what's going on at Lazos church, who, uh, not, but a, a short time ago were disconnected from the church in some way. So, uh, lots of opportunities to connect. Uh, you're not gonna be, uh, somebody who's stepping in, um, to something that has existed for a long, long time. And everybody knows what they're doing. The, the fun thing about a church plant is Elvis are new to this, that there's lots of opportunities to connect lots of opportunities, and you're not gonna be stepping on anybody's toes by jumping in goodnight,

Come back to engaging truth next week. Thank you for listening to this broadcast of engaging truth. Be sure to join us each week at this time, to help support our ministry, contact evangelical life ministries, post office box for 68, Cypress, Texas 77, 400, or visit our website Elm houston.org, or find us on Facebook evangelical life ministries. You.