It has been a long time since I blogged! But I wanted to take a moment to share what God has been doing in our lives over the past few months.
In the summer of 2015, I felt God was calling me to finish my time in ministry as a Student Pastor. During this time, I began to pray and consider church planting in the northeast part of Florida. I met and talked with a few church planting mentors - and heard about the growth that was happening on the Northside of Jacksonville. They encouraged me to drive around and pray about whether or not God was calling me to plant in that area. I drove up there and prayed, but believed the Lord was saying, "not yet" and "wait."
So last summer I transitioned into a new role as the Teaching Pastor and Groups Pastor at the church I had been serving at for the last four years, Church @ The Springs. During this season of ministry, I have been learning a lot as I preach at the campuses, train small group leaders and oversee the Men and Women's ministries. It has been a joy for me to serve The Springs in these areas, but I haven't been able to shake the tug in my heart to begin a new work.
After much prayer, I'm excited to announce that I'll be taking the next step to begin a new Chets Creek Church Campus in North Jacksonville. We are excited to move back to the area of Jacksonville as it was the location of my first full-time position in ministry and where Cassidy and I were engaged and lived during our first year of marriage. The area and people that we know there have a special place in our hearts and we consider it "home" for us in a lot of ways.
God has worked in my life through Pastors, friends and family to help me take this next step of faith in ministry. I owe a lot to the Pastors I have worked alongside who have helped shape, develop and encourage God's call on my life.
My passion is to communicate the Bible, reach the family and equip the church to live on mission. As a Campus Pastor, I'll be the primary Teaching Pastor at the new campus and will lead the campus staff and volunteers. God-willing, I will join the Chets Creek Church team on May 2nd and begin to develop the strategy with the Lead Staff for the campus launch in Spring 2017.