Thursday, May 27, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Officially resigned
I took the big plunge earlier this month and officially gave my resignation as the Children's and Family Pastor at Forward Baptist. I am reading a statement to the the church on Sunday. Here is my statement (in blue):
A year and half ago my wife and I had come to a place in our former church where we were spiritually, physically and emotionally exhausted. One could even say “burnt out.” We both felt a change of scenery would be a tremendous help for us. At first it was. We felt a burst of energy and a rush of adrenaline as we came and jumped in with a flurry of activity and some pretty big changes too.
Then we both hit a wall sometime last fall. At about the same time Patsy and I both said we didn’t want to be a pastor/pastor’s wife anymore. We prayed about it and prayed about it and spoke with family and friends. I even spent some time with a pastoral counsellor. We also spoke with our pastor Steve Adams, so that he was in the loop as to what was going inside of our hearts. Thank-you Pastor Steve for your gracious attitude and prayerful support.
We also shared with a couple of ministry friends what was going on in our hearts and asked for prayer and guidance. One friend asked us what we would be doing if we could do anything we wanted. I know this sounds crazy to some of you, but we said we wanted to take a couple of years and travel around North America helping and encouraging churches and seeing the continent while calling an RV our home. This friend is the founder and director of a prominent non-profit ministry. He got excited about that idea and wanted to partner with us if we decided to go that route.
After another season of prayer and seeking advice, we both felt we did not have the passion and emotional energy to give to the position of Children’s Pastor at Forward. On May 11th, I offered my resignation to Pastor Steve. This was done with both great sadness for such a short stay at Forward but with tremendous relief in our hearts, feeling we can have a time of recharging and looking forward to a different adventure. After 18 years of being a pastor, this will be an entirely new experience for us, but we are trusting God to guide and lead and provide for both our family and Forward Baptist Church.
A year and half ago my wife and I had come to a place in our former church where we were spiritually, physically and emotionally exhausted. One could even say “burnt out.” We both felt a change of scenery would be a tremendous help for us. At first it was. We felt a burst of energy and a rush of adrenaline as we came and jumped in with a flurry of activity and some pretty big changes too.
Then we both hit a wall sometime last fall. At about the same time Patsy and I both said we didn’t want to be a pastor/pastor’s wife anymore. We prayed about it and prayed about it and spoke with family and friends. I even spent some time with a pastoral counsellor. We also spoke with our pastor Steve Adams, so that he was in the loop as to what was going inside of our hearts. Thank-you Pastor Steve for your gracious attitude and prayerful support.
We also shared with a couple of ministry friends what was going on in our hearts and asked for prayer and guidance. One friend asked us what we would be doing if we could do anything we wanted. I know this sounds crazy to some of you, but we said we wanted to take a couple of years and travel around North America helping and encouraging churches and seeing the continent while calling an RV our home. This friend is the founder and director of a prominent non-profit ministry. He got excited about that idea and wanted to partner with us if we decided to go that route.
After another season of prayer and seeking advice, we both felt we did not have the passion and emotional energy to give to the position of Children’s Pastor at Forward. On May 11th, I offered my resignation to Pastor Steve. This was done with both great sadness for such a short stay at Forward but with tremendous relief in our hearts, feeling we can have a time of recharging and looking forward to a different adventure. After 18 years of being a pastor, this will be an entirely new experience for us, but we are trusting God to guide and lead and provide for both our family and Forward Baptist Church.
My last official day will be June 30th. We are then going to go and live at my sister's vacant house (her family is are living on military bases right now - my brother-in-law is a chaplain in the army) for a couple of months to regroup and strategize and buy an RV!
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Mercedes
This is a skit we did at a kids winter retreat we spoke at in February of 2010. Mercedes is one of our regular recurring characters. We would love to come and do training at your church on creating memorable characters and/or do a kid's service for the children of your church and community!
Monday, May 10, 2010
Back from vacation and developments
Sorry I haven't written a bunch. we just went on a two week vacation highlighted by 8 days in Walt Disney World. We had a blast. I love every minute with my fam. You can read more about it on my other blog http://kidkove.blogspot.com/ .
The big news for the trip is that we have nailed down the non-profit ministry we will be partnering with while on the trip doing children's ministry training with. I cant say who it is yet, big announcement will be coming in July! Patsy has also started blogging for a site called Kirace. You can check it out for yourself - it is called French Fries Under the Seat! Once we get on the road, this blog will be her perspective of life with a family of seven on the road.
This new life awaiting us is still hush hush because of my job. We are making it official at the church this week with my senior pastor, but it will still be some time before the church as a whole knows, so for now it is still a secret but for a few of you!
The big news for the trip is that we have nailed down the non-profit ministry we will be partnering with while on the trip doing children's ministry training with. I cant say who it is yet, big announcement will be coming in July! Patsy has also started blogging for a site called Kirace. You can check it out for yourself - it is called French Fries Under the Seat! Once we get on the road, this blog will be her perspective of life with a family of seven on the road.
This new life awaiting us is still hush hush because of my job. We are making it official at the church this week with my senior pastor, but it will still be some time before the church as a whole knows, so for now it is still a secret but for a few of you!
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