Departing To Plant Again

Shaun, Marci, Macayla, Clayton, Mason, August

About a year and a half ago Marci and I began to feel a tug. It wasn’t strong. It wasn’t clear, but it was there. As we felt this tug on our hearts we approached the leadership of BCC about it and asked them to engage in a season of discerning with us. We did not want to fabricate our own future (tried that before) or make any decisions that were not of the Lord. We wanted others to look into our lives with us and be prayerful and honest about what they saw. Others outside of BCC were sought after as well. We knew we could not keep these thoughts and feelings to ourselves because we might just convince ourselves of anything- that’s what happens when we isolate our thoughts and desires from the rest of Christ’s body. Instead, we wanted to hear God’s voice in some way. Throughout this long discernment process the Lord provided various confirmations that I will not go into here. Suffice it to say that the tug on our hearts ended with this message and confirmation: Move back to NH and share the Gospel there.

Outside the North Brunswick Municipal Building there is a memorial of Fred J. Hermann who was Mayor of North Brunswick, NJ for 20 years. Underneath Fred Hermann’s profile are the words, “These are my people”. Fred J. Hermann remained as Mayor of North Brunswick for 20 years in part because the people wanted him to remain as Mayor that long, but also because there was something in Fred Hermann’s heart which said, “These are my people, I must serve them”. Marci and I have loved the people of NJ for the past 9 years. I mean that completely. We have sought to give our lives for them. We have developed friendships with the church here that are as strong as an family ties can be. However, if we are honest we do not feel of NJ the same way we feel about NH. We do not feel like the people of NJ are “our people”- the people we are called to. Instead the Lord has placed on our hearts an affinity for the people of NH.

Marci and I make this decision to move to NH in January 2014 for this simple reason: We feel like the people of NH are our people and we want to be faithful to what we believe the Lord is calling us to. Annoying NJ traffic has nothing to do with it. Cost of living has nothing to do with it. Desire for change has nothing to do with it. Difficulty of ministry in NJ has nothing to do with it. Church dynamics has nothing to do with it. At the very root and base of this decision is the strong belief that the Lord has called us to be a part of planting new churches of Christ in NH much like we have been a part of in NJ. That’s all.

So what’s next for BCC then? Well again, we did not make this decision alone. The leadership of BCC has contributed to this conversation from the start- not telling us what to do but contributing. BCC is going to press on! Part of the reason Marci and I felt like now was the right time to transition was because we felt like BCC is better prepared now to handle our transition than they have been before. With the addition of Moses and Elizabeth to the leadership team we believe BCC is strong. BCC is caring for each other well. She is unified. She is focused. Though she may not be large in number she is, as I have always said, the best congregation I have ever been a part of.

So for those of you who are uneasy about the transition let me encourage you by reminding you that you are in the hands of able men of God. They love you. They have proven their love for you and they are deserving of your following- you know who these men are. But more than that; we believe God is orchestrating all of this. This is not our own making. 2 years ago Carl and Alicia Williamson left BCC to start the Gateway Church of Christ. Equal feelings of uneasiness were felt upon their departure. But 2 years later we look back and conclude that had Carl and Alicia not departed when they did, the Gateway Church of Christ would not have existed and the amazing work of God that is happening on the Jersey Shore right now would not be happening. We believe God placed Carl and Alicia and the Gateway church in Holmdel, NJ at just the right time. They could have planted a church in any other NJ city at any later time, but they didn't. Why? Because ultimately that’s where the Lord wanted them to be for such a time as this.

Through the uneasiness of this transition we press forward with the conviction that God is orchestrating it all. As a member of BCC, therefore, you are part of what God is orchestrating. You are now a part of a church who has participated in the formation of not just one new church of Christ, but 3. Praise the Lord.

Marci and I will depart NJ on January 15^th, 2014 but we are fully present in NJ until that time. We have much work to do as a church this Fall: A Fall Festival, Thanksgiving Food Delivery, Spiritual Cookouts all over town, Leaf Raking for our Elderly, Christmas Caroling at the train station, the daily work of redeeming the Marketplace for the Lord. We have numerous things happening which will put us in contact with God’s lost people whom He loves. Let’s work! Let’s press on! As Paul the Apostle said, “Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart” (Gal.6:9). Let us not let the Devil deceive us; this is God’s work. He is leading the train.

In great love for you all,

Shaun & Marci