One of the first commands we ever see Jesus give to his future disciples is, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” He didn’t tell them much more than that. I wonder what they really thought in those moments. They knew fishing and, of course, they knew what men were, but it might have been pretty comical to hear what they envisioned for this new reality He was calling them into. I think many of us have felt that same tension of wanting to follow, but equally, or more so, maybe, wondering exactly what we were signing up for. I know I felt it 15 years ago when God asked me if I would be willing to step out of the engineering world and into full-time church work.
I had such conflicting feelings. What would I really be able to do for a full week at this church thing? I knew that I had plenty of formal training for engineering, but none for this new role. I had been part of Blue Ridge for about 6 years at that point and had been pretty involved in the leadership. (When you’re really small they will take anybody, I guess). But since then, I have had an amazing front-row seat to watch God invite so many people into a relationship with Him and build this local body into what we get to experience now in two different locations.
Over this time He has taught me so much about letting Him lead and learning to abide. I have watched Him provide many talented and gifted people to be servant leaders in this work of His. The servanthood and commitment of so many of these gifted leaders is truly humbling. But one thing I have learned is that this movement He calls us into must be constantly growing and changing. For the last couple of years I have personally felt a shift coming. It wasn’t just multisite, but that was part of it. It was this principle that God wanted us to be more missional: To be going out to people and cultures that He cared about and reflecting this message of hope in our words and actions.
My wife Debby and I felt that He was personally inviting us to be part of this movement of going out. So for the past 18 months we have been praying and seeking God as to when or where. And I will admit that one of the hardest things on this journey has been patiently waiting for God to move and not just coming up with a good plan and asking God to bless it. But that’s what we have been trying to do. We have learned that the right thing at the wrong time is still the wrong thing and we have come to trust that God will make it clear when He wants us to move.
At the same time, God has been burdening me with a new thing. Well, maybe not new, but a fresh awareness of the importance of it. It has to do with this current message series we are in about living missionally in our workplaces. Billy Graham recently said, "I believe one of the next great moves of God is going to be through the believers in the workplace.” I couldn’t agree with that more. I think the recent excitement around this subject here at Blue Ridge has shown that God is igniting something along these lines as well.
In the last month or so God has shown our family our next move. I will be stepping down from my staff position here at Blue Ridge on June 30. That doesn’t mean that we are leaving, or that we won’t still be serving in some of the same roles. But it does mean that God has given me a new position with a local company to help them transition their culture and to be a catalyst for His movement in the workplace. Woody has often talked about Blue Ridge being birthed on the imperative that lost people matter to God. And the Elders have led us to relentlessly work to create environments that are safe to bring people to hear a dangerous message of grace. However, we also know that Jesus created a movement of people willing to go out and be that witness to the reality of His grace. Deb and I are confident that this is the next “ask” for our family.
We will be forever grateful for the journey and the roles He has let us play in the life of Blue Ridge. We also look forward to Blue Ridge 2.0, to see what God has planned next. But we are equally excited and dependent on Him to see what He will do in this new chapter of living missionally in the workplace once again. We know that this may seem sudden to some of you, but the leadership of Blue Ridge has been part of this journey all along the way. They have been prayerful and supportive, and we are very grateful to be part of a community that desires to do what God wants. So once again, God is calling us to just follow and watch what He builds out of this.
With much gratitude….Dave