For Joe Lindsey and his wife Stephanie, faith was more of a side note than the center of their lives. But in the summer of 2014, everything changed; God gripped their lives in a way they couldn’t ignore. Joe didn’t yet know what God was calling him to do, only that God was calling. Joe prayed, “If you really want us to do this, I don’t want to just follow the same path as everyone else.” After finishing his bachelor’s degree later that year, Joe and Stephanie began asking God to show them what was next.

That year, Joe had the opportunity to hear Matt Chandler preach in Oklahoma City. At first, his goal was simple—see if this man was the real deal. But after attending Matt’s session and a breakout that presented the statistics on the need for church planting, Joe’s heart was broken. He came home and told his wife, “I don’t know where, but we are called to plant a church. And I know we’re supposed to do this with Acts 29.”

From that point on, the people of Acts 29 poured into him—taking his calls, giving him time, encouraging him. Joe knew he had found his place.

But the road was not easy. There were still years of preparation, waiting, and trusting God’s timing. But in 2023, the waiting gave way to planting.

In November of that year, Joe and his team soft-launched The Orchard in Owasso, just outside Tulsa—and God began to move.

They prayed for one new believer; God gave them three. When their first rental location fell through, God provided a better space within four days, complete with age-appropriate rooms and equipment. When they started hearing “no” from potential members, people began unexpectedly showing up to ask to be part of the church. Again and again, Joe saw the same theme: God’s plan is always better than what we have in mind.

Now, two years in, the church is alive with stories of transformation. A client from Joe’s real estate business started attending and wrestling with the gospel. Men are fighting for their marriages, families are being restored, discipleship is deepening, and people once wounded by church hurt are finding healing in Christ. After initiating a deep discipleship push early this year, a separated couple has reconciled, and two of their children have come to faith. The mom recently said to Joe, “If you had just planted this church for our family, it was worth it.”

Every morning, Joe begins the day by writing a letter of gratitude to the Lord—a practice that keeps his eyes fixed on what God is doing, not what he lacks or on what the church has accomplished. Looking back, he knows the failed first assessment wasn’t the end of his story. It was the beginning of God shaping him into the kind of man who could plant a church that would last and would faithfully confront the darkness in a little corner of Oklahoma, just north of Tulsa.

Nearly a decade later, Joe sees that God answered that prayer—calling him not to an easy path, but to a faithful one.