therefore, you will see the land only from a distance; you will not enter the land i am giving to the people of israel." deuteronomy 32:52 then the Lord said to him, "this is the land i promised on oath to abraham, isaac and jacob when i said, 'i will give it to your descendants.' i have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it." deuteronomy 34:4 now joshua son of nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because moses had laid his hands on him. so the israelites listened to him and did what the Lord had commanded moses. deuteronomy 34:9
i can share some news that i've had to hold in for some time now. i am starting a new ministry position in july. i'm leaving my positions at tennessee state univ. & hermitage umc to become director of youth ministries for first umc of hendersonville. i shared this news with the youth of hermitage tonight. as with anything of this nature it was tough. however, it was more emotional than i imagined it being. i shared this narrative of scripture with the youth. in some ways i feel like moses. i've been helping to teach and prepare these youth for something really great. however, it's time and God is saying that i am not the one to lead them into that greatness. there will be a joshua that he has prepared for them.
this change of ministry is a true blessing from God. for the past two years i've been trying to keep myself in a place of faithful discernment as i sought out a future in ministry that had God's hand and not my own desires. i questioned if i did full-time ministry as a staff person or continue to volunteer. i stayed away from and walked away from churches. crying, complaining, praying, frustration, sighing all were regular parts of last two years (not always me, but generally it was). many friends and family were helpful in supporting and uplifting me throughout this time. i have started referring to these folks as 'camp gavin.' well, 'camp gavin' got to celebrate as i was offered a position at fumc in hendersonville a couple weeks back. i was speechless because this really was a gift that i could never have dreamed of.
fumc has been a great church to interact with over the years through the conference of tennessee. the kids are great there. the community is equally as cool. i don't know many adults there, but the ones that i do know are high quality people. i was excited to explore an opportunity of ministry with the church. a few months back while in this process i received a call from jonathon telling me of his pastor being moved in the coming months. conversation goes as such gavin "dude, that stinks" jonathon "yeah, but you wanna know where he's going?" gavin "where is he going?" jonathon "he's going to hendersonville" gavin "..(insert silence).. no way!" jonathon "yeah, way". michael williams one of my 
favorite pastors in the conference. he's helped guide jonathon and myself in our exploration of monastic spirituality. most importantly though, he's someone that spiritually fills both erin and myself. before i started at hermitage we attended blakemore because we enjoyed the spiritual leadership of michael. now, the possibility of being in ministry with him.. awesome! over the coming months all things showed hendersonville being a great place. erin and i spent more time up there with friends, drove around neighborhoods, and figured out where some wi-fi spots are. our excitement grew for this opportunity as we realized that this is the first opportunity that we wouldn't have to compromise. till this time every church or ministry position i considered we would make some compromise to our life, and it would generally be a significant compromise, but something we were willing to consider. this time there were no compromises.
you can see why i was speechless. God provided after two years of faithfulness. it was and is amazing. i look forward to putting all this rhetoric talk into action. i will be listening for new and innovative images for youth ministry (oh yeah, this blog might have a lot more youth ministry posts in the future). we look forward to building a new church family.
so the narrative changes. the story of my ministry makes a new chapter. i am sad to leave my kids now, but i do believe that they have their joshua in the works. my only hope now is that i don't die like moses in this story. haha &:~D
