So, March 1st marked 6 months that I've been at Lifepoint Church as Assistant Pastor. The time has just flown by! The church that I left, Pathway of Hope, was an amazing group of folks that I led as Senior Pastor for over 3 years, and I was an Assistant Pastor there for almost 4 years before that. We moved here to Tucson from California to help plant that church, along with about 10 other families. Planting Pathway of Hope was an amazing experience that I don't ever want to do again...
During my time as Senior Pastor, we watched the church attendance on Sundays drop from around 80 to under 30. A lot of that was my fault - I was working another full-time job during that entire period and didn't have the time or energy to pour into every person who needed my attention and follow-up. I became more of a "preach on Sunday" pastor who didn't form those strong relationships with anyone except my core team. This was out of necessity, because of my job situation like I said, but I'm still sorry that it had to be that way.
When God opened up the door for me to move over to Lifepoint Church as an Assistant Pastor, I wanted to be sure that it was where God wanted me. I wanted to be sure that my old congregation was left in good hands, and that the new church would be a good fit for me and my family. The first concern was addressed when my Assistant Pastor at the time, Karen Kelly, agreed to become the Senior Pastor. She has done an amazing job, and I don't think the church has lost a single person since I left (which is really unheard of during a pastoral transition like that). She has really taken the bull by the horns and grown a whole lot in her ministry and leadership!
The second concern, fitting into Lifepoint, has not been a problem either. My kids have blended in seamlessly into the children's ministries, and Jackie and I have a lot of good friends. It helped that we knew about 10 people right out of the gate who used to go to Pathway, so we weren't starting from scratch. My weakness, though, has always been names, so trying to learn the other 190 people's names all at the same time has been a big challenge!
I love both Pathway and Lifepoint, and I'm praying that God blesses both churches. What's most exciting about the whole situation for me, is that we have had two opportunities already to get our churches together for prayer and worship nights. We're all one family, no matter where we worship on Sundays, as long as we're worshiping the same God!
There are two things that I've learned through this experience of changing churches. First, anywhere that God's people are trying to make a difference and shine a light in the darkness for the Kingdom, Satan will attack and try to knock them down. I watched spiritual attacks come from both internal and external sources at both churches, and nothing surprises me anymore. The Devil is one sneaky dude, and once he gets in your head it's hard to refocus back onto where God wants our vision to be.
Secondly, I've learned that God has planted amazing people all over. I left some incredible warriors of the faith behind at Pathway of Hope, and I've met some new fellow soldiers at Lifepoint Church. Wherever you are, whatever you're into right now, find a church and plug in. Locate those people who are solid in their faith. They're there, they're in every church. Grab hold of them. Watch how they live, how they act, how they persevere, how they react to opposition. Then do the same.
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