Church Celebration

The long weekend marked our church's 40th anniversary. It was a weekend filled with reminiscing, food, worship, and of course lots of visiting. On the Saturday evening, we had a feast of a dinner, and then moved upstairs for a service where all the associate pastors shared. Some shared funny stories and memories, others talked about highlights in their ministry, some shared touching stories that made many of us cry.

The next morning, all the former lead pastors shared. Talk about a risk, having 7 pastors get up to share in 5-7 minutes. But most held their time limit and had lots of great things to share. Asha was especially squirmy and I was really hoping that she would last until Carl got up to speak. I was proud of Joel and Kezia that they sat relatively still for over an hour. I have to admit, I was really looking forward to Carl speaking. Sure, it was only for a few minutes, but I have really missed hearing him speak up at the front. I may be biased, but he is in my top 5 of best preachers I've ever heard. And this particular morning he made me proud. He spoke about how the church took a step of faith first accepting him as a young intern, then as a young associate pastor, and then a young lead pastor.

He spoke about how our church allows the young people to exercise their gifts within the congregation, even if the end result isn't perfect. And then I realized how blessed we were to be lead pastors in that church. We were given so much room to grow and develop, so much grace when we made mistakes. During our 8 years, I don't remember a time when we felt like things were going sour. It made me teary eyed to think that our time in leadership in this church has passed. It's like moving out of the house when you graduate from high school. Sure, you could stay longer, but eventually the time will come to move on and let someone else take your coveted bedroom in the house. We finished our time as lead pastors last year to move out to Fresno and start another chapter of our lives. We grew and changed and the doors opened for us to now move on to Bolivia with MCC. A part of me wondered what life would be like now if we hadn't gone last year at all. Would we be glad that we stayed? Would we be burned out from ministry? What would the church look like with us still in leadership?

And so after the lunch, after all the visiting, I was glad to go home and have a long nap. So many people and so much talking and so much food makes one very tired! I think I was also tired from thinking about our time in ministry and reflecting on how it impacted our lives. I have to say it was one of the richest times in our lives, for both Carl and I, and especially for our kids. Sure, there were days where I was fed up with what we were doing, but in the end, I look back and thank God for the opportunity to serve in that capacity. We grew a lot, and we made some amazing friends. And the best part of us moving on with MCC is that we still have all those friends in our church who will be praying for us and supporting us. Though we are gone for a time, we don't have to say goodbye, they are still our church family. And that's one good reason to celebrate.