Eight Years of Saying “Yes!”

WACC, Beloved:

Earlier today, Lauri Warfield texted me with a message that began: “Happy Call Day!!!!” and I had to think to myself for a second, “Wait… what? Call day?” And then the anniversary date finally hit: Eight years ago today—on July 1, 2018—y’all called me to be your next senior pastor.

How can it be eight years already?

Two things are simultaneously true. July 1, 2018, feels recent, and because July 1, 2018, was pre-COVID, that date feels like it was forever ago. On a personal note, I’ve now lived in Elyria longer than I have lived in any city in Texas.

My hope in this article is not to reminisce about the past eight years. What we can say for sure is that our experience as the Church has swung like a pendulum. Together, we’ve experienced the heights of praise and the depths of lament. Our steady assurance throughout these experiences has been that God is with us.

A few years ago, I remarked that you can be the best pastor ever and have crummy lay leadership, and you’ll achieve little as a congregation. However, if a congregation is committed to cultivating discipleship, you can have an average pastor and change the world.

Eight years ago, I knew enough about Washington Avenue Christian Church to be interested, and y’all knew enough to call me. Now, I cannot imagine life without you.

And perhaps that’s what I want to say on this anniversary. Eight years ago, Washington Avenue took a risk. You entrusted your future to a pastor you barely knew. More importantly, you entrusted yourselves to a God who is always calling the church into a future that cannot be fully seen.

Since then, I have watched you choose faith over fear more times than I can count. I have seen you welcome strangers as friends. I have seen you grieve significant losses without surrendering to despair. I have watched you adapt, change, forgive, learn, and begin again. Through seasons of uncertainty, you have remained stubbornly committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ and to one another.

Do you see what I see?

When I look at Washington Avenue Christian Church, I see a congregation that is far more courageous than it realizes. I see a people whose faithfulness is often quiet, often unnoticed, and yet deeply holy. I see evidence of God’s grace written into the life of this church.

None of us knows what the next eight years will bring. The future has never been guaranteed. But the promise of God has never depended upon guarantees.
So today, I’m marking this eighth anniversary of call by giving thanks for a congregation that said “yes” NOT to a pastor eight years ago but “yes” to the Spirit of God. And here’s the best part: Y’all keep saying “yes” to God. How’d I get so lucky to participate in ministry with this congregation?

Look what God has done among us, dear church! If God’s faithfulness over these past eight years is any indication, our story is far from finished. The Spirit who brought us this far is still at work among us.

So come on, dear church! Let’s go from our doorsteps to the ends of the earth, making plain declarations and public demonstrations about the future God wants and ultimately will have.

Loving you (y’all),