I Believe It's Time For Me To Fly!

Well were off! Finally the time has come for the dreaded traditional church board meeting resignation thing. And it was just as crummy as I expected. All the unhealthy relationships, transferring and old wounds inflicted by a dozen other pastors and church members came out. Tears, anger, accusations and the old, “I know you are following God but why?” What higher praise for a minister than to be spoken to as if God were not in the equation when making a life changing decision for he and his family! The one I liked best was being accused of being “misleading”, why? Because new people were attached to me and might leave now. I guess being kind and encouraging church attendance was the wrong approach, I suppose I should have been rude and nasty to people so they would not become attached to me. Just another example of the twisted thinking that infects so many institutional churches. I was very thankful when a PK board member stated very simply, "I am not surprised, I could tell this was coming from the direction of your sermons and ministry. And you have to go where God leads you". Thank God some folks see things through lenses of faith!

On the positive side we begin the new journey that has been incubating in our hearts for two years now. This is a real leap of faith as we don’t have a home picked and, though there are lots of possibilities for employment where we are going (East Tennessee), I do not have a definite source of income at present. Woohooo, jump on God’s roller coaster! We are not taking a church or have any intention of re-entering the traditional/institutional church environment (thank you, Lord!). Our last Sunday is Easter Sunday and we head out the following week. We covet the prayers of all our family and friends who will be keeping up with us. It is our deepest desire that our children along with their parents will truly experience God’s power and provision in their lives. We may not have much (and we do live within our means...poor), but we want to learn to be thankful and rich in provision from the hand of God. It won’t be easy leaving this middle class life on a below-poverty level income. And we can’t think of anything more exciting!