In mid-January, I announced to
the congregation of South Dayton Presbyterian Church that I would resign as of
February 28. Last night the members who called me 2 years ago granted my
request. Over this past year, God has been directing me towards a refocus.
There have been painful moments in the process, but I have yielded to God’s
leading, and now that I will soon be free from current responsibilities, we
will be in high gear. Celeste is also choosing change, leaving her work as a University
of Dayton adjunct faculty member in the Intensive English Program to come along
and do what she does in another place.
Celeste and I are talking
about our future together and possibilities for ministry after 42+ years of
marriage, and for me, 37 years of ordained ministry in three churches and over
two decades of Air Force ministry.
We will put our Dayton home
of eight years on the market in March and move to Royston, Georgia to a fixer-upper
of a home and outreach project. That property in Royston, which is near our
middle daughter, will become our new ministry base.
Our prayer and plan is to go
to Georgia in April and begin to fix up the home, be available for weekend
preaching opportunities, and continue to apply to PCA churches that will consider
pastors my age. We hope to create a conference/retreat ministry with content
based in reaching people in the cyber culture with the gospel leading to their
discipleship and spiritual formation. We want to bring the gospel to our generation,
Boomers. Our ministry will focus on the gospel of grace and the power of the
Holy Spirit. I envision old fashioned one-on-one personal relationship-building,
evangelism, and discipleship. I want to pray and work with others who have a
passion for revival, a movement of the Holy Spirit—not a replay of some
Christian memory of past, seemingly better days.
Our plan is to form a
non-profit ministry to develop the Royston property’s solidly-constructed barn.
Upstairs we want to create a safe, hospitable space for those wounded in
ministry and their families—one that we can offer for free. Downstairs we want
to create an open space that can be used for group retreats/meetings. The
location is convenient. If we draw a two-hour travel circle around Royston, we
can be north to Ashville, NC and south to the other side of Atlanta. We are
also are a short drive from many colleges and universities. There are two Christian
colleges within a 20-minute drive. The location is less than 20 minutes from
I-85.
How to pray for us:
Pray that each day we would
find our joy and rest in our heavenly Father.
Pray that each day we would
confess our brokenness and sins and receive forgiveness, assurance of pardon
and peace because of the shed blood of the Lamb of God.
Pray that each day we live
in the power of the Holy Spirit in union with Christ as we seek both the
presence and will of our Triune God.
Pray for the sale of our
Dayton home.
Pray for the move to Royston
and the renovation of our new home. It is a foreclosure and has been stripped
and vacant for a year.
Pray for weekend
ministry/preaching opportunities.
Pray for my ministry at
Covenant Presbyterian Church in Auburn, AL this weekend at their Missions
Conference as I speak 3 times. I will look at the book of Acts and use Paul’s
church plant in Ephesus to consider the context of the gospel, confronting
idols, and the local church as community in Christ.
