Deeper Water

Okay, okay… so I promised I would try to write somewhat daily. I suppose a hiatus of almost two weeks is inexcusable. I assure you, this is not one of those cases where I stopped writing because nothing was going on… in fact, the main reason has been because I knew I needed to write the next step in the “My Journey” series, and I have still been processing it all. I am not sure I have processed it all yet, and this post may not ever see the light of day. Why don’t I just get started and see where we end up?

When I last posted about my journey, the date was April 2004 and I had just taken a position with a church plant as an associate pastor of sorts. I was originally given the title of “Relationships Pastor,” but after several months, we changed that to “Connections Pastor.” The responsibilities were the same, only the title changed.

The Church at Silver Springs is a wonderful group of people who love God passionately and truly want to impact the greater Montgomery area for Christ. The church was originally planted in the Prattville area in the late summer of 2003, but in the spring of 2005, the church moved to Montgomery to meet at the Rave Theater. The church is a part of a church planting network, the Association of Related Churches.

When I went on board, the staff all possessed a variety of backgrounds. The lead pastor and the worship guy are both from an Assemblies of God background. The youth guy is from a Methodist background, and I am a mutt. (I grew up Southern Baptist, went to a Methodist church in high school, was ordained as a Baptist minister, and I have embraced reformed theology.) Over the past year and a half, we have had two more men join us… one is another AG guy, and the other is a bigger mutt than I am.

My responsibilities have never been very well defined. I have been able to preach on several occasions (look for links here soon), and I always enjoy those opportunities. I have also lead a small group since the end of last summer, which has truly been a great thing as the group has been able to build an incredible sense of community. I have tried to be a connecting point between the pastoral staff and the body, because I truly have a heart that desires open, honest, transparent community, and I think that these types of relationships are absolutely essential to the life of a church.

Over the past several months, God has been calling me to step away from my current position. This has been a frustrating time for me, because my heart’s cry has gone unanswered. For months now, I have prayed, “If not this, then what? If not here, then where?” After this prayer went consistently unanswered, I decided maybe I was asking the wrong question, so I changed my prayer.

My bride and I both felt that we needed to step away; however, since there was no clear guidance as to where, we began to pray for the”How?” If we weren’t to know the “where,” perhaps we could at least know the “How?” Even in my leaving, I wanted to love these people. My love and commitment to them had not changed, even if God was calling us to make a change.

So tomorrow will be the two-week anniversary (an anniversary I haven’t celebrated since junior high romances) of my departure from the Church at Silver Springs. I love the people and staff deeply, and I pray God’s blessings for them. I also pray that God will continue to clarify the burdens and passions that He has given me. I pray that He will continue to prepare me for the next place… and continue preparing the next place for me as well.

This post has been started and then walked away from numerous times. Because I had been putting off any other posts until I faced this one, I have been ignoring DeeperWater.com completely. I am back in the saddle, fearless readers… and ready to write with a vengeance.