In March I was honored to be elected pastor of one of the great churches in South Florida–and indeed in America. Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church had been led by Dr. D. James Kennedy for nearly 48 years until he died in September 2007 at the age of 76. Even though I grew up in South Florida and attended Coral Ridge for a time with my family (I was just under two years old when my grandfather, Billy Graham, preached the dedication sermon for the sanctuary in 1974), I knew the challenges would be great. First and foremost was the fact that I would be only the second senior pastor in the 50 year history of Coral Ridge. And, if that wasn’t going to be difficult enough, because of my unwavering commitment to remain as Pastor of New City Church (the church I started here in South Florida 5 1/2 years ago), both churches agreed to consider a merger. So, not only would I be following an evangelical icon, I would also be in the position of “fathering” a blended family. But, God made it unmistakably clear that a merger between the two churches was exactly what he wanted and on March 15, 2009, a stunning 91% of the members at Coral Ridge voted both to call me and merge our young but growing church with their historic church.