Spiritual leap year.

The year 2000 was a leap year, so I did.

I leapt from a 28-year life in Lynchburg, Virginia to a 30 month old church plant in Paulding County, Georgia. For the last eight years I served as a small groups pastor and an executive pastor. I have served with a great pastor, on a powerful team, and in an amazing work of God. I have learned a lifetime of lessons about grace, God’s love for the outcasts, the power of God, and much more.

Paulding County has remained in the Top Ten Fastest Growing Counties in America for the past 15 years. When I arrived, Paulding County was 92% unchurched. Today, it is 88% unchurched. I would like to selfishly think that God has used West Ridge and her church plants to bring people into the fold.

I cannot explain to you how deeply I have learned to love the West Ridge team, my journey group, the flock of this church, and the people of this community.

But the year is 2008, another leap year, and so I will leap again.

I am going to join the team at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia.

When the leaders at the church called me a few months ago, my first response was “God, please don’t upset my apple cart! I love it here, I don’t want to move.” But immediately I felt another response well up in my soul – “God, whatever You ask me to do, the answer is YES.”

I prayed specifically that God would show me the leader He wanted me to serve with and the team He wanted me to serve on. I prayed that God would use me to make an impact for His kingdom. Mostly, I prayed that God would lead me to take a step that would provide the greatest spiritual benefit for my family.

After weeks of wrestling and praying, God made it clear we are to move to Virginia. I am going to a 52 year old church that is in the middle of a rebirth. I am being given the privilege of working with another great leader, team, and church. I will be serving as Pastor of Leadership Development, working with the staff and volunteers of the church.

I’m learning many lessons in the midst of this transition. But the first and most important is about obedience. My whole family has grieved over the letting go of friends, church, and lifestyle of the past eight years. What God is telling me, I am trying to communicate to them. He was the one who uprooted us from our enjoyable life in Lynchburg eight years ago and brought us to a new place. If we had not been obedient to step out of the boat then, we would not be clinging to a life that has become so dear here. And when God is leading again, we cannot say, “no thanks, I’m switching off my obedience so I can enjoy the ride here!”

You cannot be selective with your obedience. Either you obey or you don’t. Part-time obedience doesn’t pay anything.

We love God, He’s our master, and so we will obey.