Resigned from Youth Ministry today ... gulp!

Today I announced that I was leaving University Church of Christ after more than 13 years and was moving to Lubbock (Broadway Church of Christ). Wow! What a day. It is still settling in.

Here's what I said.

In April of 1994 the University Church of Christ embarked upon a new journey with my family and I that has blessed us immensely. It was a move more clearly prompted by God's leading than anything I had ever experienced. That journey has blessed me, my family, and my ministry.

But this fall, along with the changing of the seasons has come a time of change. I have faith God's hand is guiding, again.

Beginning December 1, I will begin the next part of my ministry journey. Terry and I have agreed to accept a position with the Broadway Church of Christ in Lubbock where I will serve as the minister of "church life and outreach". This decision has come slowly. Only after a year and a half of prayerful consideration has it become clear that the Lubbock opportunity was something to which I should give serious consideration. Being a 52 year old youth minister creates an ever-narrowing passageway to other opportunities. I have always known that the end was "out there", somewhere. I remarked over the past several years that I was sure there was a date stamped on my backside, just out of my view that says "best if used by" ... with a date tattooed, indelibly. Neither I nor anyone else can see it, but no one denies its existence. It has always been my plan (or desire) to remove myself from youth ministry at a time BEFORE a group of teens, or elders, or parents, or even my own family decided for me. This demands that I remove myself from Youth Ministry somewhat prematurely, but I want to assure you that my passion for youth ministry remains undiminished. However, my opportunities to continue in this area of ministry, dominated by young men and women half my age, are just by nature of the way our churches do youth ministry, ever-diminishing.

This also points to the opportunity in Lubbock. I believe provides the next natural step for me. It will allow me to use my God-given gifts in areas I feel called in a church setting as well as to teach Youth Ministry classes at Lubbock Christian University. I look forward to mentoring and training those who will step into the paths I have walked. It is a humbling and invigorating thought.

I'd like to say thank you to everyone. Its not practical and it would take longer than the "elder's prayer". So instead of thanking individuals, here, I will say thank you to a few groups of folks. I want to thank the leadership of this church as well as all of those who have worked within the youth ministry (teaching huddles, traveling on mission trips, shuttling students to school after Thursday morning breakfast, those who have worked with LTC, fixed food, mopped up afterwards). Those who have prayed for me. The group of gray-haired saints who have encouraged me. Those who have gently corrected me. Those who have served alongside me. And those who have sharpened be as iron sharpens iron, not fearful to let the sparks fly.

You have loved, and blessed us. You have made it possible for my family and I to call this place home. I have spent half of all my youth ministry years at this church, and nearly half of my entire full time ministry has been here. Leaving is NOT easy. Remembering the goodness and warmth of the people of this church will be much easier. Please pray for my family in this transition and know that we are praying for you. I will pray this prayer:

• May we always be more focused and more concerned about the lost than the saved.

• May we seek the new and emerging stories of faith among the young and allow them to have a place above the accounts of those of us who have become comfortable with our completed stories.

• May our church life and future be driven by a reckless faith in an Almighty God, and nothing else.

• May we always seek to please and honor God, above people.

• May our hope be in the all-surpassing Grace of Jesus, and not in ourselves, our abilities, our past accomplishments, or our future plans.

I will continue to pray for University Church as I always have. For her future. For her health. For her deepening faith. For her leadership. For her ministers. For the body of people who are her arms and legs, and of course her heart. May her heart beat strongly with the rhythm of our Savior. May her course be set by the faith driven dreams of those who seek Christ unabashedly, in a world clamoring to be comfortable. May she be a beacon of hope to the world and to a generation of people who will follow us in this journey of faith.

As Paul said in Philippians 1 - "It is right for me to feel this way about you, because I have you in my heart."