a time for every purpose...
Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:40 am
Hey Friends,
This coming Sunday - June 29th - will be a very emotional day for me. It will be the last day that I climb behind the pulpit as the pastor of the Harnedsville Charge. After eleven years it is time to move on ...
I grew up in the Methodist tradition and began preaching in 1984 when I was 22, as a lay speaker in the UM church. In 1997 I was asked to preach at three local churches that were very small. They could not afford a full-time minister, and so they were stuck with me. The third Sunday that I took to the pulpit as their pastor I discovered that my then-wife had been repeatedly unfaithful to me. I was devastated. I offered her forgiveness but within a few months she decided that she did not want to be married anymore to me, and so she divorced me.
During those days these three tiny churches became my life-line. I carried immeasurable emotional pain, and at times felt like I was "going off of the deep end." Sometimes it seemed that the only thing that prevented me from really losing it was the fact that I was a pastor to these people. I poured my heart into preaching and caring for them. It was the greatest therapy one could hope to have. I know now that God brought them to me just as much as I was brought to them.
Now, eleven years later it is time to say goodbye. I have decided not to take another pastoring appointment at this time. Rather, I feel that God may have me serve in other ways. My wife and I are planning on going to Africa this summer to preach and teach ( http://www.shol.com/featheredprop/mission.htm ), and I want to continue volunteer work at the local state prison. I am also working on my second book right now, and am exploring the opportunites that writing may provide.
So, if you could whisper a prayer for me this Sunday I would greatly appreciate it. It will be a very bitter-sweet day ...
peace,
dane
This coming Sunday - June 29th - will be a very emotional day for me. It will be the last day that I climb behind the pulpit as the pastor of the Harnedsville Charge. After eleven years it is time to move on ...
I grew up in the Methodist tradition and began preaching in 1984 when I was 22, as a lay speaker in the UM church. In 1997 I was asked to preach at three local churches that were very small. They could not afford a full-time minister, and so they were stuck with me. The third Sunday that I took to the pulpit as their pastor I discovered that my then-wife had been repeatedly unfaithful to me. I was devastated. I offered her forgiveness but within a few months she decided that she did not want to be married anymore to me, and so she divorced me.
During those days these three tiny churches became my life-line. I carried immeasurable emotional pain, and at times felt like I was "going off of the deep end." Sometimes it seemed that the only thing that prevented me from really losing it was the fact that I was a pastor to these people. I poured my heart into preaching and caring for them. It was the greatest therapy one could hope to have. I know now that God brought them to me just as much as I was brought to them.
Now, eleven years later it is time to say goodbye. I have decided not to take another pastoring appointment at this time. Rather, I feel that God may have me serve in other ways. My wife and I are planning on going to Africa this summer to preach and teach ( http://www.shol.com/featheredprop/mission.htm ), and I want to continue volunteer work at the local state prison. I am also working on my second book right now, and am exploring the opportunites that writing may provide.
So, if you could whisper a prayer for me this Sunday I would greatly appreciate it. It will be a very bitter-sweet day ...
peace,
dane
