August 1, 2024
On August 1, I will have been serving as Senior Pastor of Ardmore Baptist Church for five years. I am so grateful for this season of ministry we have shared together, friends.
Since my coming, I have helped to lead 54 funerals of beloved Ardmore saints. Some of those losses were expected and some caught us by awful surprise. Hearing their stories, honoring their memories, and testifying about the resurrection has always been my goal in those moments. I have learned from their lives and continue to benefit from their example.
I accepted the call to serve as your pastor because I felt that you were a kind, intelligent, innovative, creative, loving church community. And in the past five years, my time with you has only strengthened that feeling.
A lot of research shows that it takes about five years for a pastor to really get to know a church and for a church to really get to know a pastor. And that same research says that when the pastor and the church get to that point, they can really do some beautiful ministry together.
So, I’ll end by saying two things: I love you and my prayer for us all is, in the words of our friend Mike Queen: “the best is yet to be.”
