It's time to write it out, and put it out there, the enormous, wonderful, terrifying, sad and happy thing that's been unfolding for the past two years or so (depending on how we measure time on this stuff).
As of May 27, 2018 I will no longer be Senior Pastor at Highview Community Church, and will embark on an expanded adventure into all that God is doing at Hot Springs Church in Thailand.
There. I said it. Somehow saying it 'out loud' like this helps make it sound more real. Because, to be honest, I'm finding it hard to believe, even after this slow and careful process, that this is really what's happening. But it is.
On Wednesday, September 27, 2017 the Members of Highview Community Church took the last step in an official nine-month process, and strongly affirmed our Associate Pastor Erin Wildsmith to step into the Senior Pastor role at Highview next spring. I will continue as Senior Pastor until May 27th, after which time I will take a six month hiatus from attendance at Highview, and then return in an unpaid, separately-funded capacity as Missionary In Residence.
This has been a work in progress for some time.
Yes, how
do you measure the timelines on these things? Because in a way, I could say that this has been in the works since I was eleven when I first felt a 'call' to Southeast Asia. I could say that this has been what God was providing for when I didn't end up a career missionary as a young woman, but married instead a man who would prove to be the exactly perfect partner for ministry both here
and abroad. I could say that this was furthered in purpose when Suradet, in a pastor-to-pastor, heart-to-heart conversation six years ago, shared his vision for an expanded ministry from Hot Springs Church, and invited me to ask God if I might partner with him and Yupa in it.
I could say that it's been forming slowly over the past nine years as I have felt an undeniable pull towards this land and this people so very different from my own, but with whom I am feeling more and more at home. I could say that it had a strong movement in this direction when a smart and eager- to-learn seminary student named Erin asked if she could intern at Highview, based largely on a curiosity and pull on the part of both herself and her husband to get to know our community better. I could say it gained urgency and energy when, in the summer of 2016, it became obvious that for various reasons Highview would require some restructuring, and that staffing would be a significant part of that.
And then, the real work began.
Real work for us as leaders at Highview committed to a consensus-oriented decision making process, to seeking discernment in community, listening and praying and listening some more so as not to make any knee-jerk decisions about something so precious to our hearts as the beautiful, grace-filled community that is Highview.
Real work for our people as they heard the presentation of ideas that seemed somewhat premature, given it hadn't looked like Ruth Anne was going anywhere for a little while yet, and everyone kind of thinking that in some ways we weren't broke so why fix it?
Real work for Erin and the nothing-short-of-brutal process it is when a congregation has to get their head around the kinds of change we were presenting, and how much it feels like something it's not, and putting aside ego and agendas, which she did with astonishing grace, revealing a stellar character all the way.
Real work for me, who in so many ways does not want to leave this work and the people I love so deeply in my being, and into whom have poured myself for twenty years and more. But I love Highview more than I love my position among them. I love God's ideas more than any plans I try to make for myself.
And so we pursued it. All the way. And here we are. And it's really happening.
It is way too soon to be saying goodbyes or determining details for the next steps. My focus and concentration will be firmly on finishing well, leading and loving right to the last possible moment. So, while ideas are formulating and some needful things are already falling into place, I will leave the fleshing out of my own next steps for future blogs as they unfold more clearly before me.
I do want to say, in case it's been left unsaid, how wildly and deeply and fully I love Highview Community Church. You are an unusually grace-filled people among whom I am honoured and blessed to pursue my own spiritual formation.
I do want to say, in case it's been left unsaid, how astonished and beyond-words grateful I am for my husband Ken who is with me all the way on this, and with whom I eagerly anticipate moving into these next things, very much together.
I do want to say, in case it's been left unsaid, how impressed I am with the character and spirit and capacity of Erin Wildsmith, with whom I have had the deep pleasure of growing and being challenged by and watching God at work in her. Highview is in good hands.
And very personally, I do want to say, in case it's been left unsaid, that I am completely surprised and profoundly grateful that God would take a timid, bullied, insecure 11 year old girl, and lovingly walk her through a whole big life, providing her with opportunities beyond herself, with mentors and supports all along the way, into adventures she never, in a million years, would have imagined for herself.
So that's what's happening; then, now and beyond.
Jesus promised abundant life (John 10:10).
It is.
