Wow! Today is Saturday, November 28, 2020
I have not updated my personal blog since June 9, 2017
A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then. I am still the pastor at Central Baptist Church in my community of Lowesville which means I am going into year 11 as their pastor. I also finished my graduate work earning an MA in Professional Counseling. I am currently working on my residency as a substance abuse clinician in Charlottesville, VA. The two jobs go well together. My training and experience as a pastor helps me to empathize with the men who present with addiction and my training and recent experience as an addictions counselor helps me to offer counseling to my parishioners at church. I am thankful for how it has all worked out.
My children are all grown with the youngest about to turn 18! Where has the time gone? We've all lived a lot of life together as a family. I am proud of them all. I also now have three grandchildren! I am thankful to God for my family.
This spring my wife and I will celebrate our 30th Anniversary! Wow. Almost thirty years together and she still gets to me.
Not sure what else to update about other than personally I feel like I am in a good place. I am happy with life and God's blessings over me. Sure, there have been some tough times and struggles but I have learned lessons through it all and I cannot complain. I love my family. I love where I live. The community is great and it's a joy serving as the pastor at Central Baptist Church. There have been struggles there but God is working it all out. We lost about half of our membership this year. As if 2020 were not challenging enough, a small group in the church, who I thought truly loved and supported me, turned their backs on me and brought great division in our church by spreading malicious gossip about me for the better part of the year. I should have stopped it when I first realized that they were spreading discord but I had never had something like this happen so I tried to keep them in the church and reached out on multiple occasions to get them to repent but to no avail. They refused to work with me and things progressively got worse culminating in their group announcing that a vote would be held on October 11, 2020 to see whether I would remain or be terminated. I could write so much about it all but it's really not helpful. Ironically, had they got their way they would have voted me out on National Pastor Appreciation Sunday! Thankfully, their approach was unlawful according to our Church Constitution and Bylaws and there was no vote. Their reasons were all just personal attacks against me. All of it was unfounded. They did succeed though in impugning my good name. God's working it out though. Sure, I have my regrets and I am certainly not perfect. If anything I was too vulnerable with these folks and they used it against me. I just have to accept what has happened and move on. And we are doing just that. God is blessing our church. He continues to protect me and the church. It was all the work of the enemy. I have so appreciated reading the Psalms of David over the last several months and read Psalm 37 again today. Paul's experiences which he wrote about in the New Testament have also been helpful, especially II Corinthians. Other pastors have also been helpful and the supporters that remain at church have been a Godsend. They have really taken up for me and I thank God for their love and support. We all celebrated Thanksgiving together this year. It was the right thing to do. The picture is from our gathering.
I could ramble on but I think I'll just sign off for now with saying that I am in a good place now and I am grateful. God is good, all the time. I have gained experience in how to weather a storm and have learned so many lessons. I am at peace in my spirit and have forgiven all my detractors for their abuse. I look ahead to what God has in store for my future and for the future of our church.
Jeremiah 29:11
Advent begins tomorrow.
