Greetings to you all! It is with great joy and excitement that we join you this week at Parkway Baptist Church. May God’s grace and peace be with us all.
God has graciously led us through our endings and our time in the wilderness. It was our faith in God that proved to be the most important compass in making the trip through and it was in the agony of transition that the Israelites taught us the most basic lesson regarding faith…namely that we can count on God to bring us through our transitions and to establish us again in new life.
“‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.
Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.’” — Jeremiah 29:11-12.
I’m praying for you as we take up the task of a new beginning…we have gone through the endings and the wilderness…now we are moving together into a promised land where there is the hope and blessing of renewed ministry. This is the time God has ordained for a restart of the mission…a renewing of our minds…a revival of spirit of all that has made this place a beacon of hope through many years of worship and service. Now is the time to take all God has taught us in the wilderness and look ahead to all that God has for us in the future. Together we will find that the God of the past is the God of the future.
As we look forward to connecting as pastor and people on mission, I ask you to pray daily for God’s provision and direction as together we remember the deep roots of faith planted here years ago…watered and cared for by the dedicated ministry of the saints who have gone before us. I look forward to serving as your pastor to lead and guide you in the coming years.
As pastor and people, let us be led by God’s steady radiance and yield fresh fruit for the work of the Kingdom. So, here we are about to wade into the water and enter the Promised Land together. Are you ready to journey with all the lessons of the past into the new? A new call is before us and we must not be afraid to say yes, Lord.
The Resurrected Jesus’ first words to fearful disciples following his death (an ending) and entombment (a wilderness) were “Do not be afraid.” So you and I in encountering the Living Lord hear his words for us…Do not be afraid, Come and follow me…All authority has been give to Me in heaven and on earth…go therefore and make disciples …and I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:10, 18-20)
For all that has been…THANKS!
For all that is ahead…YES!
-Dag Hammarskjöld
This Sunday, September 26, marks a new beginning! I can’t wait!
Until then…may the face of Christ shine through your actions and your being
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Caroline