The Big Announcement

Well, today in church Pastor Steve announced to the congregation that Jess and I are going to be leaving to pursue a new position as Worship Director at a young church in Valencia, CA. It had been kind of an awkward week, after discussing with both he and Pastor Greg our plans to leave, I kind of had to sit on the news until Steve had sent an email out to my worship team members, and announced it in service. My last week won't be until the end of September, but Steve wanted to give the congregation time to process the information.

After he dismissed the congregation, I turned away to put my guitar on the stand, and as I turn back, I see my dear friend Beth (Bethy) Smith (yes, she knows her name is probably THE most bland of names in the history of names ;) ) approaching the stage with her big eyes all red and teary. That darn near broke my heart, and made me want to call it all off and stay, but I hugged her and told her we'd still be friends, and that she'd be OK, and I think I finally got her to believe me.

Now I've known Bethy a long time, and I might even say I would have expected she might cry a little at the shock, but I don't think I expected her husband Conor to react in an outwardly emotional way, not to mention bawl his eyes out as he comes and gives me a bear hug which if I hadn't already wanted to cry, would've squeezed at least a tear or two out of me!

All that to say, it was an emotional morning, and it was a little strange coming at the end of a great worship service. I turned to Steve after he'd annouced it, and told him "Dude, way to kill a great mood man!" to which he responded "Man, I know, I feel like I just said something like 'hey everyone, great worship service, let's kill a puppy now!'"

We went out to lunch with everyone (Beth and Conor, Jon and Chesed, Greg and Laura [and Matthew!], Steve and Spring, Tim and Leah [with Micah!] and even Geralyn, Francie, and Tony Reed!) to Chipotle, which was delicious as usual. It was good to hang out with all the gang.

So the countdown is on, just a couple more weeks, and we'll be starting at Crossroads (http://www.lifeatcrossroads.com/) and building their worship ministry from the ground up! Their pastor is a spectacular guy, and I am very much looking forward to working with him, and sitting under his leadership. He lives with such perspective to God's sovereignty, which is always encouraging and convicting. Just the other day, he told me that he had some "good news in the form of bad news" and that the building they had been hoping to move into more permanently was no longer an available option, but that it was good news because God has a plan, and he made the next step in his plan very clear by completely shutting that door.

Anyways, now that the news is out, we'll look ahead to what God has for us in the coming weeks. As we part ways with San Gabriel, we do so with lots of treasured relationships that we know will endure for the long haul, even when we eventually relocate out to the Santa Clarita area. So we'll pray that God would be preparing us for our new calling, and that he would lead us so clearly, and lead San Gabriel as well in what their next step in all of this should be. We'd appreciate everyone's prayers for those same things, and any words of encouragement would be welcome.

-Paul