Tuesday, October 16, 2012

BREAKING NEWS Especially For Our NEW YORK FRIENDS

Adriana and my daughters left me yesterday. They boarded a plane bound for the chilly fall weather New York. I was left here in the desert heat and sunshine.
Before you start freaking out ... no, Adriana and I are not separating. Not permanently, anyways. We will be reunited again in two weeks. In two weeks I plan to be pulling into New York with our dogs, bird, and, hopefully, with a moving truck not far behind.

WHAT?!!!

Yep, it's true. We've been covertly planning our move for about 3 weeks. We went off the Facebook grid to avoid any leak of the news to our New York friends. So, here's the scoop ...

A month ago, with mixed emotions, I resigned my position as middle school pastor at Southwest Community Church. Several months ago I was contacted by some good friends on Long Island and asked to interview for a youth pastor position. After much agonizing in prayer, conversations, and counsel we decided it was in the best interest of our family to accept the invitation to join the staff of Shelter Rock Church on Long Island.

We were very blessed to be working at Southwest and were greatly encouraged by the momentum and growth the middle school ministry was experiencing. We saw so many students come to know Christ in the past year-and-a-half, and I had the joy of baptizing almost 60 middle school students! Families were loving what we were doing, and we were really experiencing the favor of the Lord. So why leave?

In the end it came down to the realization that New York was home. For years we had been considering the idea of going west, and God afforded us that opportunity at Southwest and allowed us to make some wonderful friends and have some great experiences. Being in the desert, however really clarified for us that God has indeed wired us and given us a love and burden for Long Island. While we are sad to leave such an exciting church and friends, we are thrilled for the journey that lies ahead - in particular, the joy of reuniting with old friends and making new ones.

1 comment:

Sommeso's said...

i saw an email from shelter rock and was like what?!! See you soon!