Before he became a lead pastor and church planter, there were two things Scott Obremski prayed: that he would never become a lead pastor and that God wouldn’t call him to plant a church.

Obremski laughs about it now. The lead pastor of Summit Park Church (Assemblies of God) in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, says God has a way of delivering unexpected blessings.

“I didn’t have a lifelong dream of leading a church,” Obremski says. “I just wanted to be obedient. It’s been a rocket ship of a ride in a lot of ways. And there’s been a grace from God that I don’t know how to explain.”

Obremski was formerly the worship pastor at James River Church in Ozark, Missouri. He had served on staff for 12 years and loved the church, the people and the community. But during a Florida vacation with his family, he visited a church and heard the pastor recount the congregation’s beginnings as a church plant.

“I felt like God was saying, ‘This is what I want you to do,’” Obremski says. “I remember thinking, No, not a church plant. We knew how daunting of a task planting a church could be.”

“What thrills us is seeing individual lives changed, one after another.”                              — Scott Obremski

Obremski and his wife, Jen, nevertheless made it a matter of prayer, and concluded God was calling them to plant a church in the Kansas City suburbs — an unchurched area paradoxically situated on the edge of the nation’s Bible Belt.

James River got behind the vision, providing prayer, generous financial support and other resources. More than 40 people from James River relocated to Lee’s Summit to help launch the church in fall 2013.

Summit Park Church started in a community center, with more than 300 people in attendance the first Sunday. It now has a permanent facility and a weekly attendance of 1,300. Last year, more than 500 people accepted Christ.

“What thrills us is seeing individual lives changed, one after another,” Obremski says. “These people who were away from God have found a faith. They’re excited about what God is doing in their lives.”

Looking back, Obremski is thankful God didn’t answer his prayer to keep him from the work of church planting.

“As great as our ministry experience was, I didn’t know we could experience God in this way,” Obremski says. “I just feel like God’s hand has been on this from the very beginning.”

This article originally appeared in the August/September 2017 edition of Influence magazine.