Younger pastors and other church leaders were reaching out to me for help and advice. This consumed more of my time and was God’s way of preparing me for what was next. I sensed God leading me into a new ministry focused less on a single local church and more on the health of many local churches. That week of staycation was the beginning of a new adventure that came to be called The Shepherd’s Refuge.
Have you ever asked God for direction only to have him answer more clearly than you expected?
In the summer of 2023, I took a week of “staycation.” As I began that week, I recorded a short prayer in my journal: “Lord, lead me into what’s next. May I work hard this week in thinking, writing, and praying. Show me the path or at least the next step.”
By week’s end, he answered clearly–my assignment as Aylmer EMMC’s Lead Pastor was ending and a new assignment was in store.
I felt rumblings in the months leading up to this, but no more than at other points in the past. During my 15 years at AEMMC, I regularly sought the Lord about my calling and every time I asked the answer was the same: “Stay.”
Each time I stayed, it was not a grudging or half-hearted commitment; I resolved to love the people of the church and lead them as best I could.
Privately and publicly, I consistently said that if the Lord’s assignment was to stay at AEMMC until I reached 65, that would be fine with me. And if he had something else for me, that would be fine too.
When I checked in with him in the summer of 2023, the answer was different for the first time–he had a new assignment for me.
Seasons of Preparation
God first called me to be a pastor in 2007, and this was a surprise–to me, not to him. He had been covertly preparing me for years. I realized in 2023 that he had been preparing me again.
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