As most of you know, this past Sunday, September 30, I announced that God is calling me to a new ministry and I will be leaving Founders Baptist Church. Founders is planning to ordain me during the evening service on October 14 and send me out to fulfill God’s calling in gospel ministry. There will be a reception after the service. I hope you can be there. If the Lord wills, we will be moving to San Antonio on October 31. We would love to meet with you before our departure if you have time. If you are interested, please give us a call to arrange a time.
For anyone who may not have been there, I thought I would post what I shared last Sunday.
Since I surrendered to gospel ministry seven years ago, I have always been committed to serving God wherever he would take me. For the past six years, the youth group of this church has been the place where God has called me to serve. I have had a lot of great students over the last six years, and it has been my joy to serve you and share the gospel with you. You mean more to me than I can express. Although I love working with our students, I have always felt that my long-term calling is to preaching, to pastoral ministry, and possibly helping train others for pastoral ministry.
I have always known that a day would come when God would send me from this church to serve Him elsewhere in pastoral ministry. Over the past several months, it has become clear that that day has come. As Michelle and I have considered and prayed about what ministry we should pursue, a recurring theme has been to go and plant a doctrinally sound, gospel-centered church in a place where there is minimal healthy gospel presence. We have considered locations as far west as Hawaii, as far north and east as Vermont, and as far south as Galveston.
After much prayer and consideration, we believe that God is calling us to plant a church in San Antonio. There are a number of good churches in San Antonio, but there are far more lost people than there are churches to serve them. I grew up in San Antonio and I have always hoped I would return there some day. We have family and close friends there. We have been meeting with a group of six other families that is really excited about reaching San Antonio with the gospel. We feel like we have a real unity and common purpose. We chose our name to represent the most important things about us. We want to work together to make known and worship our Redeemer who rescues sinners because of his great mercy and grace. We want to actively pursue our community with the gospel. We are a local church- the church of the living God, those called by God to serve, honor, love, worship, and obey him. That’s our name- Redeemer Community Church.
Michelle and I are really excited about this opportunity where God is calling us, and these families are really excited too. It will not be easy- church planting is incredibly hard work. If Satan believes we are a threat, he will do everything in his power to thwart our efforts. We really covet your prayers. Pray that we would be faithful to proclaim the gospel to everyone who will listen. Pray that our church would be deep in theology and strong in love and service. Pray that God would provide for the financial needs of a small church plant. Pray that our church would honor God in everything we do.
We are excited about serving God in San Antonio, but this is also an incredibly challenging step of faith. I have been here at Founders Baptist Church for a decade. This has been my church family for my entire adult life and married life. This is where God called me to ministry and this is where God has trained me for ministry. We have a lot of dear friends here. Founders has been so good to me and my family. We are so thankful for Pastor Richard, the elders, the deacons, and all the members of this church. You have been so generous to us. We love you and we will miss you greatly. Thank you for how you have served us and thank you for letting us serve you.
Grace be with all y’all,
Daniel
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