This Sunday we will be breaking ground for Parker Place, our new
manse, to house our pastors and their families for the foreseeable future. It
feels like it has been a long time coming, but in truth, it has only been a
little over a year. We praise God for giving the vision and the wherewithal
to make this happen, for the wisdom of the session and congregation, and
for the cooperation of many to bring us to this point.
Of course, this also signals the beginning of the end of my time as
your transitional pastor, which will continue until your next called pastor is
firmly in place. I love being a transitional pastor, getting to work with
churches that have experienced trauma, and helping to lead them to a
place of healing and new life, and I thank God that he has called me to
such a ministry.
As we enter into the last summer of my being with you, the Lord has
put it on my heart to preach through the Book of Joshua – “a new leader for
a new adventure.” In this series of messages, I hope to help us learn from
the experiences of Joshua and the people of Israel as they navigate leaving
a life of wandering in the wilderness to enter into the land God had
promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendants hundreds of
years before.
For most of the people that Joshua led into the promised land,
wandering in the wilderness was all they knew, because almost all those
who came out of Egypt had died in the wilderness because of their
unbelief. Therefore, these descendants of the original people had to adapt
to a new way of living and a new way of experiencing God’s presence with
them. I hope you will join us for this exciting adventure with God’s Word.

that will give us a sure foundation for the next steps this congregation will
be taking.