God's Timing

Delinquent? Guilty as charged. A lot has changed in the last 6+ months since I've updated this blog. Here's the brief recap. After nearly 8 years at Creech, God has called us away to a new place of ministry. Those last couple of months were some of the most difficult and most touching of the whole 8 years. God allowed Connie and I to fall so deeply in love with Ahoskie and those good folks that leaving was one of the most difficult things I've ever done. One of my hardest decisions came as I approached the weekend when I would come to Oak Grove to preach my trial sermon. Here's the question: do you simply say you're going to be away for the weekend? That way, if they vote 'no', I don't have to come back and repair relationships. On the other hand, if they vote 'yes', there will be those who feel that I was deceptive and was sneaking around on them.

Well, even if Oak Grove would have decided I was not God's man or that it just wasn't His timing, these people mean so much to me that Connie and I felt it was our obligation to just share our hearts with them. On the Wednesday before the trial sermon I tearfully shared with our faithful few that God had laid it on my heart that my time with them had come to an end and that He had been preparing me to move on. I shared with them about the upcoming weekend and asked for their prayers.

The weekend went well. We arrived on Saturday to a full house in the Fellowship Hall. Everything as great except for the 50-75 chairs facing in one direction and 2 ittie bittie chairs facing back at them. Ugh. It was the most excruciating thing I've gone through outside of a dentist chair. I don't recommend it to you pulpit committees (please come up with a kinder solution, even if it is removing the wife from the firing line). :)

Obviously Sunday must have been okay because the vote went our way and we are here! Our home is now Youngsville, NC, and we are thrilled to call Oak Grove Baptist our church home!