God Closes a Door

We heard from First Baptist Church of Clovis today. They've decided to go in a different direction with regard to their staffing plans (which I took to mean they're not going to add a full time associate pastor right now). They didn't elaborate beyond that which is probably just as well.

As you might expect we're feeling kind of disappointed right now. We were pretty excited about this possibility the church was healthy and growing, the position sounded like a great fit for Matthew, it was close to family and as a bonus we already had good friends at the church. We've been praying that if God had something different in mind for us that he would close this door so that is how we're trying to look at this decision but we're still a little bummed out for now.

Please keep praying for our job search. We've got some conversations started with a few other churches but nothing is very far along. We're continuing to look around for other possibilities as well. Thanks for all of your prayers and words of encouragement.

Our Trip to Clovis

Here’s a quick overview of our visit to First Baptist Church or Clovis (FBCC) this past weekend. We had a really good visit. The church treated us like royalty not only flying us down but renting us a car, putting us up in a nice hotel, feeding us tons of wonderful food and on and on.

Matthew flew down Thursday afternoon and spent the evening hanging out with his friend Nick (the youth pastor at FBCC) and a bunch of high school students who come over for Bible Study every Thursday night. Friday morning he got a chance to tour the church and get to know most of the staff in an informal setting and over lunch. Friday afternoon Emily flew down and that night the Sr. Pastor and his wife took us both out to dinner where we had a chance to get to know each other a bit.

The folks at FBCC were thoughtful enough to keep most of our Saturday free so we could have some time for ourselves. We took advantage of the opportunity to meet Emily's immediate family in Turlock (halfway between Roseville and Clovis) for lunch and a short visit. Then Saturday night we had pizza with the staff and some of the church board members and had a chance to answer questions on a whole range of topics.

Sunday we got to church early enough for Emily to get a quick tour and then attended the first service. Between services we met briefly with a couple board members who couldn't make it Saturday so we could answer their questions and then we got to hear our friend Nick speak at the youth service which runs concurrently with the second main Sunday service. After all of that the Sr. Pastor took us out for one last fabulous meal and we all had a chance to ask a few more questions and offer some impressions in a kind of debriefing session.

We don't expect to hear anything for at least a couple of weeks which gives us plenty of time to continue to process our experience and get whatever insight we can about this decision from people that we know and trust. Of course we don't even know if we will have a decision to make, there is no guarantee they will make us an offer but so far we're feeling pretty positive about the possibility of joining this church if they do. It is a healthy and growing church and seems to have some needs that fit Matthew's skills and interests. We continue to appreciate your prayers for wisdom for both us and the leaders of FBCC in considering this possibility.

FBCC Visit

This weekend Emily and I will be visiting First Baptist Church of Clovis (FBCC) near Fresno, CA to discuss the possability of my joining their pastoral staff. I will be flying down Thursday afternoon and Emily join me on Friday. We will stay through Sunday evening but don't have the details on how exaclty we will be spending that time yet.

One of my very best friends, Nick Bradley (he was Best Man at our wedding) is the youth pastor FBCC so we know a little about this church and they know a bit about me through him. The church would like to create a new pastoral position to oversee discipleship and small groups and help out with some teaching ministry. Right now this sounds like exactly the type of position that I've been looking for. In addition the idea of being on staff with Nick and being only 3 hours from "home" (Roseville, where our families live) is very appealing, plus some of our very best friends from Seminary (Luke & Virginia Thomas) would only be 45 minutes away in their new home. With all of this in mind we are very excited about this possability but are trying to keep an open mind and really seek God's will in this.

We will let you all know how things go and when we have any hard information we will post it here promptly. In the mean time we would really appreciate your prayers for God's peace and clear guidance both for us and for the leadership of FBCC as we explore this possibility together. I continue to be in various levels of contact exploring possible Associate Pastor positions with a number of other churches but right now this potential opportunity is front and center in hearts and minds.

P.S. If you're curious about FBCC you can check out their website at http://www.fbclovis.com/