...But Without The Jet Plane

On February 1st as things stand now I will be unemployed.

On Monday October 24th 2011 I tendered my resignation at West End Baptist Church. On Sunday October 30th the congregation was made aware of this. Today my role has shifted from Associate Pastor to Exiting Associate Pastor.

As Meghan and I begin the journey from West End to whatever God has in store for us I want to take a moment to put on 'paper' what I said from the pulpit at West End yesterday.

First I will continue to pastor at West End until the end of January. Until that happens I will fulfill everything asked of me to the best of my ability. My goals for the next few months are to make sure all of the ministries I oversee are either successfully transitioned into the hands of other leaders or gracefully concluded.

Second we are not leaving angry or hurt. At this point we believe that we are being called by God to move on even if we are not sure where we are moving on to. While not to the same degree by any stretch of the imagination we feel that we are walking a path similar to Abraham. Abram was called away from his homeland by God, and he obeyed. He didn't really know what was in store for him or where he was going. We feel the same. Right now we are simply trusting God that he has a good plan for both our family and West End.

Third, we are leaving THIS ministry but we have no plans to leave THE ministry. As we came to the decision to leave our conviction of being called into vocational ministry never faltered. I know of no other career that I could possible pursue. Put simply I am not very good at much else.

However I Suspect I Will Not Do So On A Jet Plane

As we get ready to leave we want to make sure we leave well. There are so many people we love and respect at West End and we want to make sure we give you our best. It is our hope that those relationships will continue for a great many years to come. I know for our son (2 1/2) 'church' means getting to see Cameron, 'The Bean' and their parents. That is one of the many things we will miss quite a lot.

I also want to take a moment to express my gratitude and admiration for Rev. Nolan Lee my senior pastor, Dr Jim Drummond, and Rev Dr David Watt. I have enjoyed working with you Nolan a great deal, and I feel I have learned a lot in the three years we have worked together. Jim you have been a great mentor for me for as long as I have known you. It would be difficult to express in compact sentences everything you've done for me and what it has meant, so instead I will simply say thank you. David you are the most selfless person I know. You have been a great ministry mentor over the past 5 years.

It is my intention over the next few months to blog highlights of my 5 1/2 years of  ministry at West End. I look forward to sharing them with you.