Here's What's Up

So last night at our Lord's Supper, we had a little family time with the 140 or so who came out to celebrate what Jesus has done for us and is doing in our lives.  I love hearing stories of how God is answering prayers, encouragement of what is going on in people's lives, and stories of how God is moving and leading people to follow God into unexpected places.  Davey has one of those stories.

About a month ago, Davey started feeling like God might be telling him to resign from Discovery.  He thought maybe he just needed some time off - after all, he and his fiance' Janelle were planning on getting married and were looking for a house here and we were working out the details for getting Davey on with Discovery full-time as the worship leader.  He took a few days but during his "God time only" later that week he was sure it was God.  A few other things confirmed it (including my message at church the Sunday he told me).  So with no real plan for what's next, Davey resigned and figured he'd move back to Wilmington and live with his parents until he got married.

Less than a week later, Janelle, his fiance', got a call and an invite to become a resident coordinator for the University of South Florida (we're finally sending one back).  It would provide a place for them to live, a salary, AND full payment for grad school for Janelle.  The paperwork isn't all finished and it's not finalized yet, but it appears that Davey's willingness to follow God BEFORE he knew where, has freed him up to be able to follow God anywhere.  That's why we'll miss Davey most - he hears from God and listens.

In the mean time, we were about to be without a worship leader (although not without a great worship team - Davey's done a great job of building that up).  Another couple was having a conversation about what they'd do if the husband was offered a job where he could follow his calling and lead worship - would they be able to leave the church that they loved?  They decided that they'd have to if that's what it took to follow God.

So when I sat down to talk to Randy Strickland about considering leaving his job and coming on with Discovery full-time, it was like an answer to prayer for them - and way sooner than they'd dreamed.  Randy's been working with Davey and helping to lead worship for the past couple years.  He's had a few jobs since moving here, but wasn't really content....and now he knows why.  He was made for this.

Yes, we'll miss Davey and I can't tell you how much we appreciate all that he's done.  At the same time, I'm excited to welcome Randy to the team - especially now that we don't have to compete for his time with funky schedules and his two other jobs.  Both Discovery and Randy are taking a step of faith and trusting that God will be able to provide, but we're convinced it's really a God thing so that shouldn't be a problem.  So welcome Randy (and Laci).

Along with Randy coming on board, we've done some realignment with the whole staff.  Randy's main responsibilities will of course be the whole worship side, but he's also going to be helping to create different environments where people can connect with the church and other people (I like to call them "easy on-ramps").  Randy's a people person and very creative so it plays to his strengths.  Claude will continue to work with the children and will shift from family pastor to focus on just students (K-12 at this point - which is still a LOT) but now that he's also full-time and not bi-vocational he'll also be responsible for creative development (themes, staging, graphic design, etc) and systems development (making sure our ministries and activities function efficiently).  And I'll still be responsible for the overall vision and direction of the church, but I'm taking over the parent/adult side of the family ministry to focus on couples specifically in three areas - finances, communication and parenting.

That's the big change.  And for those who were hoping that maybe we were going to be given the Boys and Girls Club, or that we were buying 100 acres or something else of ginormous proportion, let me remind you that following God is always something huge - anybody can choose to ignore him and "play it safe" but here we are, a church that's two years old, running almost 200 people every week and we've got 3 people on full-time staff.  That's not normal.  But it is what God's called us to do at this point, and things will never be the same.