It's pretty much public now... with the exception of various pockets of people here at St. Peters Wesleyan. I've already sent an email out to various people but I know that some people check my blog and I don't have their email address... so I thought I'd make it public in this forum too. The rest of this post will be snippets from an email update I sent out last week:
Dear Friends and Family:
There has been some really significant developments within the life of my family that I wanted to let everybody “in” on.
Since last summer, I have been feeling like God was getting close to leading me into a Lead/Solo pastor position. Due to circumstances in my current church, that ‘leading’ became a reality much sooner than I was expecting. (Very long story.) In November, I heard about a church in my home district (Illinois) that was looking for a pastor. After much consideration and discussion with Melissa and our parents, I decided to send my resume to the District Superintendent of Illinois, Dr. Ray Barnwell. After speaking with me and checking my references, he sent my resume on to Wheaton Wesleyan Church… located in the Chicago-land area.
I met with the Wheaton Wesleyan search committee a couple of times. Each time I met with them, I became more and more interested in the position. At one point, I was called up to ‘unofficially’ candidate for the search committee members. I preached at Broadview Wesleyan (my father in law is the pastor there)… while the search committee attended to evaluate and observe. After that weekend, the search committee met and unanimously recommended that the church’s Board of Administration to candidate me. The LBA met on a Tuesday night, unanimously voted to officially candidate me for the following Sunday.
On March 17/18, my family went up to candidate. It went better than I could have ever asked for. The congregation was excited… Melissa and I were excited… and more than anything… we really felt God’s leading and anointing through the entire process. One week later, the congregation met to vote on the decision to extend a pastoral call to me. It was an overwhelmingly positive vote: 72 Yes, 1 No. We were stunned and amazed and excited. We accepted the position immediately.
We will be moving from St. Peters, Missouri to Wheaton, Illinois in late May/early June. I’m not sure how I could get more excited about this opportunity. For instance: I will be moving back into my home district… both of our Fathers are pastors on this district. I already know many of the pastors on the district and I don’t think I could have gone to any other district and had a better support system. Judging from my conversations with the District Superintendent, I feel like we will get along really well as he seems excited to take me under his wing… and I am excited to learn. We will be living in the parsonage to start… and this will allow Melissa to stay at home with Aaron without needing to work at all. (If she works, it will be completely optional… unlike this year where she has been forced to run a daycare in our home to make ends meet.) We already have some solid relationships built within the Wheaton church… two families actually attended our wedding. I will have the opportunity to go back to school and finish up a master’s degree at some point in the future. Emily starts kindergarten next year and her elementary school property literally touches the church property. It’s within walking distance! The Wheaton church facility is awesome and it’s a church that has seen past success… and from every indication I get… it’s a church that is hungry to make a difference in their community and God’s kingdom.
I certainly know that not everything will be perfect… but God is faithful and I will be clinging to Him and relying on Him to grant me with the things I need. Please keep my family in your prayers over the next several months as we try to sell our house here, move to Wheaton, and get settled into a new location and a new role in ministry.
