If I was a Senator...

Today marks the 6 year anniversary of my official start as the young adult pastor with New Covenant. I'm glad the "government" of our church isn't set up like the Senate where I would have to go through an election process to get to serve another 6 years! It has been such a joy to be at New Covenant, to co-labor with the awesome staff I work with (and play with!), to worship with the amazing people that make up this church family, and to know, love, serve, counsel, lead, and minister alongside the young adults that God has called to be part of our church family.

In 6 years, we've seen a LOT of changes. On the home front, LeAnn and I have added two more kids to our Birdnest, have seen a lot of turnover in our neighborhood which has led to wonderful relationships with new neighbors, are the parents of a soon-to-be middle schooler, and have added a little weight (well, at least I have - everyone said it would happen once I was in my 30s - they were right!). Our marriage is as good as ever, and we continue to see God work through us in the lives of others (including our kids).

Within the New Covenant family, the young adult population has gone from roughly 70 to 400+. We've gone from 1 ABF to 4. We've seen more young adults than ever go through membership, join or create small groups, jump into leadership positions, and bolster the ministries that exist. We've seen more weddings than ever, and a wonderful rush of new babies. And most importantly, we've seen some young adults place their faith in Christ and had their lives radically changed from the inside.

I keep personally receiving praise from people for all the changes happening within New Covenant concerning the young adults, but the praise really belongs to our elders who obeyed God's call to hire new staff, the existing staff that welcomed us "newbies" and supported us before we even had the keys to our new offices, the church family that had room in their hearts for 20 and 30 somethings, and people like the Berry's, Luebe's, and Purdy's that have hearts for ministering to this generation. But most of all, the praise truly belong to God, who has clearly been doing the work. I see my weaknesses everyday, and it is beyond obvious that the blessings we have in the young adult realm have truly been from our generous God and not me.

My dreams for the next "6-year-term" include seeing the college ministry finally be what I dream it to be, more young adults than ever going on missions trips, more young adults in leadership positions, existing leaders continuing to lead with excellence, young adults engaged in basic spiritual disciplines, young adults naturally sharing their faith, young adults making a difference in the community and their spheres of influence, and God changing more young adult lives with the incredible good news of Christ's death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sin.

As I sit here in a food court in a mall in Minneapolis (I'm here to support a friend), reflecting on all that has taken place, tears of thankfulness are threatening to flood my eyes. Hopefully those at the tables around me continue to ignore my presence. :o) I am so humbled that God would call me to this amazing place called New Covenant Bible Church and allow me to be here for such a time as this. And while I know it won't last forever, I am completely up for another 6 year term (or longer!).