- April 26, 2024
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Tomoka Christian Church Pastor Joe Putting is celebrating the first anniversary of his book, “We Said Yes” this month.
Putting decided to become a pastor shortly after graduating from St. Louis Christian College in 1986. He has been a pastor for 38 years, the last 32 of which he's spent with Tomoka Christian Church in Ormond Beach.
“I went to church growing up and have always loved God," Putting said.
His book, he said, is a story of growth and teamwork.
"The book is really the story of me growing up here at the church — how the leadership and I worked together on the mission leadership, the eldership, the church itself, how we all work together to take on this mission mindset, where we wouldn't just think about ourselves, but we would think about planting churches, building pregnancy crisis centers, and global outreach in other countries as well," Putting said.
Putting recently spoke with the Ormond Beach Observer about his book and what he hopes readers take away from it.
What is the central message of “We Said Yes”?
“We Said Yes” talks about our vision as a church, to plant churches all over the United States and all over the world. And we made a commitment 30 years ago that we would do our best to try to accomplish that. This book is our story of how we did that. In Matthew 28:18-20, where Jesus says, “Go into all the world and make disciples of every nation." As we looked at that, we realized it wasn't a blanket statement that was given to the disciples and that each of us is actually responsible for that statement. So, we started praying that God would give us an opportunity to plant a church in every country in the world.
The whole point of the book is to celebrate what Tomoka Christian Church has been able to do working together over a long-term commitment. And then secondly, that this is doable for other churches, if they'll just get started. That's why I wrote the book, to help other churches.
What was the writing process like?
The book was actually written by Mark Atterbury. We went through it put it together as a team. We would do a chapter every two weeks. He would interview me, and we would talk about what went into that chapter. He'd write it, we'd edit it. And then he'd interview me on the next topic for the next week, and we would go again. It took us around six months. It was quite the process.
Is there a meaning behind the title?
Actually, yes, it came from Pastor Cord [Bear]. We went to college together; we've been friends 40-plus years. But he said, one day out of the blue, "Most churches have a default setting." When somebody says something, churches just say no. He said that Tomoka’s default setting is yes. And that's where the title came from. I do talk in the book about when to say no as well, but that's where the title came from.
What has been your biggest accomplishment?
That we've kept Tomoka Christian Church to stay true to God's word. We've stayed true to this mission. We've stayed true to Jesus’ mission, and we've stayed true to the Bible. I think the rest of it is fluff because when we're faithful, God is going to make the rest of it work. I'm surrounded by an incredible team of staff and other pastors it's just such an incredible, fun team to work with. That's how all this happens, I don’t do this by myself.
What do you want readers to take away from your book?
The whole point of the book is that you can do this too. That's the subtitle on the book — How you can do it too. When we started this, the church ran less than 200 and we had about a $12,000 a year budget, so it's not like we started where we are today. We started with nothing and started praying; took on one church, one church plan and it's been 32 years later. The whole point of the book is saying “Hey, get started where you're at and take this seriously. Your church can do the same thing.”
