by Leo Schuster | Lead Pastor
This year marks 34 years since I became a pastor. And it will be the first time I’ve pastored a church with its own property. Over the years I’ve led congregations in elementary schools, college auditoriums, live music venues, and most recently, a brewery. (Big thanks to Saint Arnold Brewing Company for hosting us in this final season.)
For a long time, I’ve looked forward to the day City Church would have a permanent home. After years of searching and exploring countless possibilities, that day finally began to feel real. I assumed the most difficult hurdle would be fundraising to purchase and renovate the property — I’ve never enjoyed asking people for money. But in a surprising display of generosity, our reNEW campaign exceeded every expectation, and it did so quickly.
I thought the hardest part was behind us.
It wasn’t.
Renovating two older buildings that are historically constrained has proven far more complex and demanding than I ever imagined. Timelines stretched. Problems surfaced. Progress slowed. For an impatient person like me this process has been a crucible.
Left to myself, I prefer momentum, clarity, and quick resolution. Instead, this season has required waiting. And I agree with Tom Petty, “The waiting is the hardest part.”
Yet somewhere in the delays and uncertainties, I began to recognize that this process was doing more than preparing a building. It was shaping me. What I might have labeled obstacles have become instruments of formation — exposing my impatience, loosening my need for control, and inviting a deeper trust in God’s timing.
Through the perseverance of an extraordinarily talented and dedicated team — and through the Lord’s kindness — we now stand on the cusp of entering our new home.
And I’m entering it differently than I would have months ago: more aware of my limits, more grateful for God’s provision, and more attentive to the quiet work he does in us while we wait.