My Open Letter to Rock Bridge

The past few weeks have been some of the toughest of my life as we learned about Beth's diagnosis of MDS and now move toward a bone marrow transplant in NYC.  Part of the difficulty is that Beth has had to temporarily give up her calling into vocational ministry.  As a couple who share this call to ministry and a deep love for God's church, we have always lived with the tension that exists between our marriage, our ministry, and our children.  For eight years we have sought to maintain a healthy, albeit delicate balance between these areas of our life.  Often the balance tilted toward ministry and the church we started together ... and we understood that as part of the calling, part of the joy, part of the challenge, and part of the privilege of full-time, vocational ministry.

However, for the foreseeable future we must tilt that balance the other direction to our family and fighting (and beating!) MDS. For Beth it means a long period of medical leave from ministry.  For me it means my ministry at Rock Bridge will be limited as I serve and support Beth during this time.  While I will still be the Lead Pastor and preach as much as possible, I will not be as involved in pastoral care, leading our staff, or executing our vision as I normally am.  The great news is we have a tremendous staff, a clear vision, Elders who are servant-leaders, and a God who is committed to building His church!!

For portions of Beth's time and treatment in NYC, I will be spending most days with her and a few days each week at home (lots of flying in my future!).  There will be other times when I will need to be with Beth for several weeks in a row.  All of this is subject to change as we learn about the details of Beth's treatment and how she responds.  Our boys will mostly stay at our house with their uncle and aunt or their grandparents.

During this period I will be teaching "live" less and we will be using "video" teaching more often in the Wink Theatre (Dalton Campus).  I will also be reducing the number of times I preach (I typically teach 45-48 times per year and would expect that number to drop to 36-42 times over the next 12 months).  Alfred Turley, our Executive Pastor, will be overseeing and leading our church on a daily and weekly basis.  Our Student Ministry staff is a strong team with a good plan and solid vision. Our Elders will still be the "guardians" of our vision and resources while serving as the "discerners" who help navigate our church to fulfill our mission and glorify Christ.

I mentioned a few weeks ago during a "church chat" that I was more excited about God's work through Rock Bridge now than at any other time in our history ... I still am! Our church's renewed commitment to fulfill and obey God's Great Commission through increased missions giving and going, greater dependence on His Holy Spirit through intentional prayer, and planting more small groups is exciting and God-honoring.

Even though our roles at Rock Bridge are necessarily changing for the time being and our primary focus has shifted to Beth's healing, our hearts and our prayers are with the church we love so much.  We still believe God works miracles.  We still believe He will do more than we ask for or imagine (Eph. 3:20-21).  We still are amazed at His grace.  And we still believe the church is the hope of the world!!

Matt