Crucible of Change

01/04/2010

The past few months have been a kind of crucible of change for us. At one point, it looked like we were moving to Seattle. It was during this time that we in Atlanta experienced the Great Flood of 2009 and in the middle of that we wound up having to put down our Jack Russell Terrier (and my best friend), Mikey. In anticipation of preparing for our move, I left my job. And at the last moment, God changed everything!

I’ve felt called into fulltime ministry my whole Christian life. It began when I was just a teenager. I preached my first sermon in a church when I was just 13 (I bet that Pastor never asked a teenager if they wanted to preach again) and taught a Bible study for a while at our high school. Then in the late 70s and early 80s I got involved in Contemporary Christian Music and traveled all over the USA and Canada playing (back when it was all about ministry and money and record contracts had nothing to do with it). But I fell away from the faith in my later years and spent over 20 years as an agnostic. But God in His mercy finally disciplined, broke, and restored me. Once restored, I felt the tug of the call into ministry once again. But the answer I kept getting from God was “wait.” The waiting is over.

At my pastor’s request, and with clear Biblical precedent, and in obedience to the call of the Holy Spirit, I have assumed the role of Pastor at Calvary Chapel Fayette (http://www.ccfayette.com) . We’ll still be under Calvary Chapel Cobb’s authority and guidance, but I’ll be the fulltime Pastor at Fayette. It’s exciting, humbling, and a little frightening because I am completely inadequate to the task. But I am resting in God’s provision and the faithfulness of His promises…as our Lord said to Paul the Apostle, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

So I covet your prayers and intercession for me, my wife, and Calvary Chapel Fayette. This may be the last post for www.cyshift.com, since I will be pouring all of my time and energy into my church. But you can always reach me via email. And you can listen to my teaching (as well as Pastor Paul’s) by either going to the above-referenced website or (if you’re an “iPod” person) by going to iTunes and subscribing for free to the Calvary Chapel Cobb podcast (a separate Calvary Chapel Fayette podcast will be available soon).

God bless!

2 Peter 3:18 Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.