Our Big Announcement…

This past weekend, my wife and I announced to our church family at Edgewood that this July we will be leaving to launch a new church in the South Bay area of San Jose, CA.

This has been a day that Tiffany and I have been looking forward to with great anticipation for many years. We told our church that when we began in ministry, we knew two things: that God had called me to lead a church one day as the Lead Pastor, and that the church I would lead would not be an existing church, but a church plant.

This was the most bitter-sweet announcement I’ve had to deliver. We’ve spent the last several years with this church family, watching people grow to reach their full potential in Christ. I’ve performed weddings and funerals for these people, preached hundreds of sermons, and got to be part of seeing hundreds of people come to Christ. So telling them I would be leaving in 6 months was not easy for me – or them – a fact that I both love and hate at the same time. I love that they value me so much that they don’t want to see me leave, but I hate how much I know many of them are hurting as they process this news.

While my wife and I were showered with mingled tears of sorrow and excitement for us, I was reminded of what a great church family Edgewood truly is.

• This is where we’ve spent the greater half of our time in ministry thus far.
• This is where our family grew from 4 to 6!
• This is where we got to be part of hundreds of people’s story, and hundreds of people became a part of our story.

And so our official step into all-out efforts to launch a new church, to reach new people, in a new mission field, begins. While we have looked forward to sharing our exciting news with our entire church family, the truth is, the real work has only begun now. From here we must help our sending church understand our plans in more detail, begin raising partnerships (including finances), develop our Launch Team, and plan a great deal of traveling… oh yeah, and actually start a church! While we know the challenges ahead are going to be difficult, we remember the truth that we began teaching since we’ve been here, that nothing worthwhile is ever easy – but nothing is too difficult for God. We also take courage that we have a strong sending church family that has already begun to stand by us – just as they always have.

Thank you, to all of our church family at Edgewood who mean so much to us. We’ve met some of the best people we’ve ever known here. And God has used this church to make a big impact, not only on the Quad Cities, but on my life and my family’s. We still have a great deal of work to do together for God’s Kingdom.

Blessings,

Pastor John