It's Official!

For the last twelve years, I have been serving as the high school pastor at Canton Baptist Temple and I must say that I enjoyed every minute of it.  From a very young age, I knew I wanted to work with youth and I didn’t want to be one of those guys who was using youth ministry as a stepping stone to eventually become a pastor…I wanted to pastor the youth of this generation.  When I was nearing a decade of working with high school students, I began to feel an unexplainable restlessness in my heart and, for some reason, God was not allowing me to be satisfied in youth ministry.  I was very confused.  For the next several months, I was in a season of waiting until God began to unveil His plan for my future.  Everything unfolded quickly as our church staff was in serious talks about opening a second campus of our church, something we had actually been discussing for years.  I sensed God’s Spirit prompting me to pursue this opportunity as the pastor of our Green campus, The Summit.  To make a very long story short, our senior pastor discussed the possibility of me heading up The Summit and I jumped at the chance; however, it would be a challenge since I would remain the high school pastor until The Summit became a stable campus.

It has been 21 months since The Summit launched in September 2008, but yesterday (June 13, 2010) I became the full-time campus pastor at The Summit.  I have learned so much about myself and ministry over the last 21 months.  Some days and months were really hard and I thought about giving up, but I believe God equips those He has called, even when things get hard.  We have seen some tremendous things happen at The Summit during its’ brief history, but I’m convinced that the best is still ahead!  

A special note to all those who attend the Summit – you guys (or y’all, if you migrated from the south) have really become our friends and we have grown to love you very much.  I look forward to what is ahead for us!  Now, let’s continue inviting our friends and family so that they can hear about the hope and forgiveness offered through the death of Jesus Christ for our sins and His resurrection which guarantees eternal life!