Changes
Well. To say I have a bit of an announcement to make would be a little bit of an understatement.
I could try to say a bunch of things and allude to what I’m talking about without actually saying what I’m talking about, but the reality is most people I see in the day-to-day these days already know this. So I might as well just let it out.
After 16 years of being on staff at Central Baptist Church, I have officially resigned!
On March 31, I had the opportunity to go around to each of our services and communicate with our community here. I’ll attach a video below from that, but here are a few quick thoughts.
First, we’re feeling good about this. We have peace. We are confident that this is the way Jesus is leading. Although at this point we are not certain what comes next for us, we have peace in saying that we are coming to an end of this season.
Next, of course we feel significant amounts of sadness! This has been our life for 16 years! We truly love the people we get to share life with! Any thoughts of not being in the same place with the same people stir deep sadness and a true sense of loss.
All that said, at the end of the day, our hope is that we can walk in obedience to the things that Jesus puts in front of us. When we say that Jesus is LORD and that His ways are better than our ways, we don’t want that to just be some religious bumper sticker.
We are deeply convinced that Jesus is near, He is Present. He is not far off and removed, leaving us to sort out life on our own. And we are equally convinced that He has plans for us to walk in. He is a good Father who loves and leads His children! He also invites His children to be a part of what He is doing! All the time, every day. Not for a second do I believe that I have to be a pastor to be a part of what He is doing!
In this season, it seems that He is inviting our family into trusting Him in new ways. We really have taken a step of faith, trusting that He will lead us into what is next.
It doesn’t end here though. I recently heard someone say that a step of faith can be a heretical thought - we aren’t called to take a step of faith, we are called to walk by faith.
So we walk. Trying to seek Jesus. Resting in His peace, often sensing fear and anxiety close at hand, but resting in the confidence that He is good and He leads.
Like I said, I’ve posted the video below. Feel free to check it out.
We aren’t going anywhere in too much of a hurry. I’ll be on staff at Central until the end of June and at this point don’t even know if we’d be leaving the city - only Jesus knows at this point!
For our Central and Edmonton community, let’s connect! You are family. We invite you to join us in ending this season well!
For the praying type, we’d love for you to be praying with us! Praying that as Jesus leads, we will hear His voice and we will be bold enough to follow Him, however he leads.
We look forward to continuing this conversation with many of you!
