YANKTON, S.D. (BP) — Jeff Mueller never intended to plant a church. In fact, he was pretty loud in his opposition to its widespread practice while training to be a minister.

But starting in his teens, he had every intention of entering the ministry. Mueller had been a church attender and an active part of his youth group for years. Then one day he realized he was just playing the part, and it came from God speaking directly through His Word.

His youth minister was out for a meeting and someone needed to speak in his place. Mueller admits he may have been the third or fourth option and had never put together a Bible lesson for a student group that regularly drew 40-60 to its meetings.

“I opened up the Gospel of Matthew and it was the first time I had read it like that, to study it,” he said. “God convicted my heart and soul and the Bible was new to me. It was like He was saying to get off the fence or over the fence, but just stop pretending that I was living my life for Him.”

This October will mark 10 years of Mueller’s tenure as the pastor of Restore Church, planted through the North American Mission Board’s (NAMB) Send Network. Echoing his testimony, the church works to be a place for those who don’t have a spiritual home … or may not even realize they’re looking for one.

Mueller and his wife, Brittany, were sweethearts at Yankton High. He later attended Liberty University online, earning a degree in biblical studies and Christian counseling, then lived in a separate apartment prior to their marriage as she attended the University of Minnesota for graduate school toward her degree in occupational therapy. 

Mueller didn’t grow up a Southern Baptist. Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary was a candidate for theological study largely due to its location.

“It was the first one I toured, and I instantly fell in love with it,” he said. “Kansas City is amazing, and the staff there was absolutely incredible.”

He was originally “the anti-church-planting guy.”

“I had this mindset that in my hometown, there were 15,000 people and 30 empty churches, so why should we plant more churches?” he said. “I was pretty pharisaical about it and not very gracious.”

Then one day, he said, he had an experience similar to his salvation story.

“The Lord convicted the living daylights out of me. Like before, this was as close to an audible voice as you can get,” said Mueller. “I heard Him tell me to go home and plant a church.”

He wrestled with it for two weeks. Then a church planting strategist spoke in one of his classes. The people best at planting churches are the ones from that particular area, he pointed out. You need Dakotans, who are already acclimated to the winters and culture, to strengthen a young church’s legs.

Brittany was initially opposed. She had a dream job as a Kansas City-area occupational therapist. But the next morning she told Mueller God had changed her heart.

“You’re right,” she said. “We need to go home and plant a church.”

Another part of Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) culture endeared itself to Mueller.

“My church growing up was healthy in a lot of ways, but in hindsight, there was an us-against-the-world mentality more than one that was kingdom-focused,” he said. “Going to Midwestern taught me who the SBC is, and I learned about the Cooperative Program. I was so moved in my heart by the concept that I literally tell people about it every chance I get. It’s the closest thing to being the kingdom of God. I wanted to be part of that, where churches function together like the body of Christ.”

Restore Church bounced around for meeting space before settling at the Yankton Mall. Nearly empty after COVID, the mall became Restore’s home and has since experienced a revival of its own, now being nearly full of tenants.

Restore strives to be a church for those who may not fit the “churchy” look or have been burned by cultural Christianity. They established a block party that was the largest in town at one point, with outdoor movies, bounce houses, food and prizes. A church, as it closed down, gifted them a building. Restore transformed it into a free indoor kids’ playground, which has proven popular during the winter. Other parts of the building house a pregnancy resource center and closet for providing items to local foster families.

Attendance has grown as well, from approximately 100 in 2021 to 460 last year. Easter last month saw 630 in attendance. A long-term goal is to make 3 million disciples by 2041.

“That’s the dream. I don’t know how we’re going to pull it off, but we have a system where one-on-one discipleship is modeled off first century discipleship. Right now we have 125 people going through it,” Mueller said.

“There’s a lot to be excited about.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Scott Barkley is chief national correspondent for Baptist Press.)