I’ve not written in several weeks because my life has been a bit busy. Since early May, I’ve been in conversation with a pastor search committee from Wilkesboro Baptist Church. On Sunday July 26, they voted to call me as their Senior Pastor, and I have accepted their call. It is exciting and sad. Mud Creek Baptist Church has been home to our family. It’s the only church my boys know, and its the church where I grew up and learned to be a pastor. We will miss the friendships, experiences, and blessings of Mud Creek Baptist Church.

While the last several weeks of interviews, conversations, preaching, house selling and buying have been busy, this move has been a much longer process. I remember more than four years ago walking into Dr. Greg Mathis’ office (my pastor, mentor, and friend) and sharing with him my sense that God was leading me to become a Senior Pastor. Since that first conversation, I’ve had opportunities and disappointments, but I’ve always had wise counsel and support from Pastor Greg. I will forever be thankful for his influence, friendship, and encouragement.

From the first conversation with the search committee at Wilkesboro and onward, there was something special, something right, something clear. I’ve come to believe with certainty that God has called me to be their Senior Pastor. God has affirmed this for me in more ways than I could possibly recount here. Here are just a few affirmations:

1. The search committee has been equally as generous, kind, and considerate of my wife and boys as they have been of me. (Affirmation: One of my prayers from the beginning of my sense of calling to be a Senior Pastor has been a place not just for me, but for my family to thrive).
2. Wilkesboro Baptist has a long history of mission-mindedness, loving their pastor, and caring for their congregation. (Affirmation: Another of my prayers has been for a church where we could pray and work together to accomplish God’s purposes and mission, and they have a history of doing that).
3. God orchestrated our house in Zirconia going under contract the weekend of my trial sermon, along with orchestrating a house in Wilkesboro for our family. (Affirmation: The pastor search committee specifically prayed that God would send a buyer for our house, which occurred before we were able to get it on the market). In truth, God has been at work in the details and conversations through this entire process.

I am deeply grateful to Pastor Greg and Mud Creek Baptist Church. I am grateful for this new opportunity in my life and ministry to use the gifts God has given me and fulfill the calling he has placed on my life. Would you continue to pray for my family and me during the next weeks of transition? My first Sunday at Wilkesboro will be August 23.