A new ministry, a new beginning

On December 4th of this year, Nicole and I will be in Franlin PA where I will be preaching at the First Baptist Church of Franklin.  After the service the members of the church will be voting on whether or not to call me as their next pastor.  As many of you know, Nicole and I have been looking for a full-time ministry position for several years.  I love my church at Palo, and have had a wonderful ministry experience there, but in the end, I need to be a full-time minister.  For the past nine years I've been teaching alternative education in Porltand, but it is time to move on.  Earlier this year it was hoped that I could become a reserve chaplain in the U.S. Army and stay with my current ministry.  When that fell through, another path was needed.  We've had several churches that I've talked to that seemed to be the proper fit, only to have them choose someone else.  Finally, after speaking with members of the search committee in Franklin, and going down there to preach at a nearby church last weekend, it appears that our prayers (and those of many others to whom I owe a debt of gratitude) have been answered.
It is not a move without its challenges.  It will pain us to leave the family and friends that we've found at First Baptist of Palo, the Cathedral of St. Andrew, and here in Saranac as well.  It will be difficult to be a sizeable distance away from our families, and I will certainly miss the weekly basketball game that has been a part of my life for the past twenty years (that leaves you, Russ, as the only one of us left from those youthful days).  I will be accepting a major responsibility and a significant task in the ministry in Franklin, but for the first time in my life, I will be able to concentrate all of my working time and effort in one place.  For that reason, and many others as well, it is time for me to move on to a new challenge in my calling as a minister of the Word of God.
This blog will continue, as will Nicole's, and we'll continue to return to Michigan on a regular basis for holidays and vacations.  Our hearts will remain here, at least in part.
God bless you all for your support, it has meant so much to me when disappointments have wrecked so many of the plans I had hoped to lay out.  In the end, God is good, he had a plan for us, and we will continue to serve him who saved us from darkness and brought us into his wonderful light.