A New Start

It’s been about three years since I stepped down from the rigors of life as a senior pastor. I am launching a website and blog as a platform for serving those who remain at the peak of their investment of time and resources, daily investing in the sacrificial service of God in the home, church and marketplace.

I am transitioning – with the help of God and the honest feedback of friends and counselors –away from a productivity mindset to one of growing effectiveness. As someone with a very active inner scorecard, this is an incredible challenge. I’m needing to acquire a different set of measurables (or immeasurables) and at this stage of life, this is a difficult transition.

I plan to post my reflections in blog and video from the trenches and sidelines of life as a disciple of Jesus, husband, father, grandfather, church leader, and entrepreneur. Over the past years, I have spent hundreds of hours (probably even thousands of hours) with teachers, mentors, coaches, and colleagues: reading books, listening to lectures, and attending seminars, all while on the job.

I’ve learned a few things about God, myself, leadership, and life that I think can be of assistance to the thousands and likely millions in earlier stages of life and leadership within the kingdom of God.

I am deeply indebted to many gracious people who have stepped up as I have stepped back. The church I served for nearly fourteen years was very gracious when I overstepped my personal capacity and needed to take time away to rest, recover and then reassess what the next stage of life will look like. I envision a new season of life; a new focus for ministry; closer attention to God, myself, my marriage, my family, and my friends while resuming an adjusted model for serving in the marketplace and church.

I come to these conversations from the perspective of one who has grown up in the Anabaptist world (Beachy Amish then Mennonite). I have served in church leadership for thirty years (from a small church plant in Ireland to a church of three hundred in Virginia) while also working daily in the marketplace as a bi-vocational minister. I’ve been married for well over thirty years, and God has blessed us with seven children and a growing band of grandchildren.

I invite you to join in the conversation. I welcome your comments and feedback. If there is a chance I can be of service to you in your stage and place of life, follow along by subscribing to this blog with your email address. There are some exciting conversations coming up – about life, continual learning and leadership in business and church; about personal growth through success and failure; about Anabaptism and its challenges and opportunities in the twenty-first century; about art, preaching, baptism, the Lord’s table, the Sermon on the Mount. You get it…lots of different topics but directed toward disciples of Jesus who have already been given a circle of influence (whether in church or business) and want to continue to grow and mature for the sake of God’s kingdom.