It’s been a while – A Pastoral Update

As I sit here in the early hours of the morning reading, thinking, and praying, I find myself wondering; Lord, what will the next years hold?  As Mandy and I enter a new season, our children are growing up, Joshua has moved out, Daniel is now married to a wonderful lady, Amy and they will move into their new home over the next few months.  Annah our daughter is finding her feet and trying to figure out her next steps after taking this year as a gap year. Mandy has struggled with the recovery from a knee replacement which required a second surgery, she is on the mend, but constant pain is debilitating, we continue to pray and trust the Lord for complete healing and restoration for a pain-free future. My health has taken a turn and I have been in hospital for tests with the specialists suspecting I have developed a heart arrhythmia, I am resting and taking it easy until we get the exact diagnosis and treatment.  When the Lord reminds you, do pray for us.  Life on this side of the curtain is certainly interesting.

At the end of October, we will be handing over leadership to Tyronne, my successor at Willow Hill Vineyard.  The church we planted twenty-three years ago and have replanted in three different venues over the years.  The community of faith at Willow Hill is an incredible family that has walked with us, prayed for us, and supported us as we served over the years.

Reflecting on the last years, it has been, to say the least, an interesting journey.  That is what happens when you say yes to Jesus.  There has been pain, joy, happiness, sadness, little, and much.  We have seen people come and go, and we have seen deep relationships develop with incredible people who have stuck it out with us, year after year (even when I have not done well).  I have no doubt that Tyronne supported by our amazing leadership team is the guy to take the Willow family into the future and an incredible kingdom future it will be.  It is still hard to move on from such an amazing family, but we know that it is what the Lord has in store for us for this next season of our lives.  Parting is sweet sorrow, it is hard to move on from the Willow family (who will always be family), but we look forward to the new season the Lord has in store for us at Centurion Vineyard.

Change is hard, but the one constant in life is that change is inevitable.  And when the Lord leads us into that change it is into His good, pleasing, and perfect plan for our lives.  Let’s call it His preferred future, not ours.  We would prefer to be comfortable, but comfort is the enemy of kingdom advancement, and kingdom advancement is what we are called to.

It has been a full year in terms of ministry and travel.  I graduated with my MAML from Trinity Bible College and Graduate School in North Dakota. Leading at Willow Hill, and having ministry engagements in Durban, Gqeberha, Mauritius, Cape Town, Zimbabwe, Nepal, and more, a full year to say the least.  On the twenty-ninth of October, we will hand over team leadership at Willow to Tyronne with many National Vineyard leaders like Costa Mitchell, Quintin Howitt and others present on this significant day.  The week after on the 5^th of November, I will take the team leader role at Centurion Vineyard’s fortieth birthday celebration which will also be attended by some Vineyard National leaders.

In closing this pastoral update, let me encourage you with some thoughts about change.  There is a guarantee in life that change will happen, change is something that we lean toward fearing and becoming anxious about because we do not feel in control.  The good news is that God has a plan for our lives. There may be some hesitancy about the change that is looming in our lives but Isaiah 43:19 says, “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” If our hand is in the Lord’s, our ears tuned into His voice, and our eyes on the path He is lighting, we can be secure that we are in His will.  His will keeps us secure, remember His words in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” He knows us better than we know ourselves and has a plan for our lives.  As the writer of Hebrews encourages us, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” (6:19) Our anchor is in Him, the only absolute, the only constant, the only perfect One, in our lives.  Let us be secure in Jesus friends, because, “The LORD is our rock, our fortress and our deliverer; our God is our rock, in whom we can take refuge, our shield and the horn of our salvation, our stronghold.” (My paraphrase of Psalm 18:2) 

Since this is the case, perhaps in the change we are facing we should heed Paul’s words to the church in Rome when he said to them and to us, “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it…” (Romans 12:1-2 MSG) 

In the change and turmoil of life let us live in response to God, recognizing what he wants from us, and engaging with that in His missio dei (Mission of God).