We, the VG’s, have spent the last three months talking to over 30 churches from all over the United States about ministry opportunities. We have been able to connect with world class churches and leaders that are passionate about Jesus and leading and growing people in their relationship with Him. These months have not been easy at times and have been extremely fueling at others. We formed a prayer support team that have been daily in the process with us and we are extremely grateful for their prayers and leadership as we have been on this journey. Through this experience, we as a family have learned many things about us and about the person of Jesus. We have learned that we have the best kids in the world. They are strong with Jesus, they have great discernment, they trust Jesus more than their comfort and preference, they know how to have fun, and I believe Jesus will use them to change the world for Him. I am in awe of how they have been in the prayer, interview, and evaluation process and have diligently looked to Jesus for the answer instead of anything else. My wife, Kris, is the most amazing woman of God I know. She has faithfully worked full time during this process, put up with my home renovation timeline, has consistently been my biggest cheerleader, and been leading people all around her to know Jesus in all circumstances. As a family we have learned that Jesus is faithful, loving enough to let us hurt in our healing and searching, and that He has bigger plans for our lives than we can imagine. Jesus has been extremely personal to us in the process and with Him we have become better, stronger, more envisioned people.
Two months ago, I applied for a high school pastor position at Cornerstone Church in Chandler, Arizona. One of my first conversations was with the lead executive pastor, a person Jesus used to speak to me, who cast vision for a new position. Cornerstone is a 20 year old church of 6500 people in 3 locations in the Phoenix, AZ area. It is a church led by an amazing Lead Pastor, Linn Winters. He is the founding pastor of the church, has a passion to reach the entire Phoenix area for Christ, and is a visionary in how to lead the local church to reach it’s potential. Cornerstone is a church that is strong on systems, order, impacting the community, and clear on the vision that Jesus has given them. This past weekend they baptized 363 people at their weekend services.
As many of you know, I have a clear calling to students and helping them see Jesus and grow in Him. I wanted to stop the conversation with Cornerstone a couple of times because it wasn’t what I wanted to do or felt I should do, but Jesus kept bringing back to the conversation with the executive pastor and then in a clear moment I heard Jesus tell me that I had put the age bracket on the “student” calling and that He wanted to enlarge an offer to me. So, after humbling myself enough to listen and trust Jesus, I started to give Jesus permission to speak to me about a new position. As I heard the staff talking about the position Jesus did something huge in my heart, He broke my heart for a new age group that is a little lost, maybe a little overlooked, but definitely contains the most immediate potential of any age group I know. As time has gone by, my excitement for this new calling has grown to a deep passion.
Last night, I was officially offered the position of Young Professionals Pastor at Cornerstone Church in Chandler, Arizona. The position will be focusing on the post college to 35 year old age group where I will get to lead a team of passionate young people to reach the 10,000’s of 25-35 year olds in the Chandler area. Intel, Apple, and other tech companies are located there or soon will be located there and there is a potential for 1000’s of young professionals to be coming into the area searching for community, belonging, and purpose. This ministry has not existed before at Cornerstone, but it has been anticipated for years and the staff and young professionals are ready to jump into what Jesus has for them. Last night at dinner, our family sat down and decided together to say yes to this position and I officially accepted the offer. We are dealing with a variety of emotions – the sadness of leaving close friends and familiarity in Kentucky to the excitement of joining a church that is impacting the world in an area of the country we have not been to and where the climate is substantially different.
For those of you in Kentucky, we would love to connect with you before we leave and will be announcing shortly an open house we will be having for us to say good-bye to y’all. For those in Arizona, we can’t wait to get there.
We want to thank you all for your prayers and encouragement during this season and if you want to pack something or move something come on over – we have a couple of things to get going. Please pray for the sale of our house in Kentucky and that we find great housing in Chandler in the near future. Please contact us for more information, to help with the move, or to answer any questions.