Today has been a very emotional day for our family. Our oldest son, Peter, concluded twenty-two
years of ministry at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Fort Worth, Texas. For the last fourteen years he has been lead
pastor at their satellite campus in Aledo.
Our whole family, along his wife Amy’s family, were able to be present
to him preach his farewell sermon. The
congregation hosted a luncheon and short program for Peter and his family
following the second service. A definite
highlight was hearing the mayor of Aledo talk about Peter’s impact on not just
the City of Aledo but on her personally.
As I shared in a previous blog, Peter has accepted a call
as a mission developer in Towson, Maryland, a suburb of Baltimore. Peter and our oldest grandson, Andrew, will
leave the end of this week to being the trek east. Amy and the other two boys, Caleb and
Jonathan, will finish out the school year in Fort Worth before relocating. Peter’s new assignment is unique. It is a joint call to First Lutheran Church
in Towson and Concordia Preparatory School.
First Lutheran is closing and selling their property and partnering with
the school to start something new. On
the plus side, Peter and the whole family will be part of the school community;
Peter as chaplain, Amy as teacher and the boys as students.
It is a bittersweet time for Barb and me. We are excited to see what God has in store. In some ways we should accustom to saying
goodbye. Between
us we have served five different congregations, plus my tenure at Lutheran High
– Dallas, prior to retiring. On the plus
side, we have lived in the same house in Dallas for the last thirty-one years
and have had the added blessing of having our three children all in ministry in
the DFW area. Mark is pastor at Tree of Life Lutheran Church in Garland and Katie serves as director of worship and the arts at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Carrollton, where Barb and I worship.
Today was a reminder that being a ministry family can be
difficult at times. When you work in a
congregational setting life can get messy. I often commented during my DCE
years that sometimes I felt like the whole congregation was my boss. Everyone has expectations and many of them
also had needs. Life can be difficult if
you are an affirmation addict, which I am. All of this
puts a strain on a marriage and family.
Sometimes I have seen those I love get hurt the most. And then there is the impact of "God;s divine call." When He surprises us and sends us in a different direction our only response can be "Yes Lord."
Still I feel very blessed to have had the opportunity to
be in full-time ministry. God is good,
and I have felt the presence of my Savior every step of the way. I continue to wait in joyful anticipation as
to what God has in store next.
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