Earlier this week I let my church family at First Baptist Church in Evergreen, CO know that I was making a change. I have received and accepted a call to pastor Graefenburg Baptist Church in Waddy, KY (west Frankfort). Like many important decisions we make throughout the course of a lifetime, this one brings a tremendous amount of excitement and expectation coupled with some sadness about leaving Colorado.
Irony envelops this decision. On the one hand, this opportunity could not have come at a worse time. My wife is expecting our third child any day and traveling across the country with three children 3 yrs and under, one of whom is a newborn, is not exactly lighting up the top ten list of things people want to do before they die. On the other hand, this opportunity is timed absolutely perfectly because God is never late or early. God does that a lot – he allows the worst and best to occupy the same space. And the best eventually always wins. For the most obvious example of this, think of the cross.
There is much I have learned during my tenure at FBCE and I am thankful to the good folks I have had the pleasure to be with for the last few years. Andi and I have made some good friends, some of which I really believe will last a lifetime. My hope is that families and students at FBCE have gleaned two simple things from me – that God is bigger than they think and that nothing compares to Holy Scripture.
As for my new place of service, me and my family are making the move with a peace unlike we have ever had and with an outlook that God can do limitless things in middle KY. I am thankful for the pastors with whom I have served under and for their mentoring me, both in their strengths and their weaknesses, and feel that moving into this position has been some time coming, and yet it was well worth the wait. I just can’t think of another church I would want to align my ministry and my family with than GBC, and now I get the blessed opportunity to do just that. It won’t be a walk in the park. I will get knocked down time and again. I will show my imperfections time and again. But I also have faith that God will do His work time and again, and that GBC will continue to be a light in a world of darkness.
Big things are on the way my friends. I can’t wait.
Congrats and God Bless!!
I heard we were looking for a new pastor when I was home for R&R, and shortly after getting back over here to Afghanistan, the parents told me you would be coming back to Graefenburg. Looking forward to seeing you again and hearing you preach once I’m back home.