I could have told you, but I'd have had to kill you...

For several months we have been praying about a move. Right after our April vacation the pastor of my home church (Emmanuel Baptist) in Billings, Pastor Paul, one of my closest friends and mentors, called me and asked me to pray about submitting my resume for consideration to become the new pastor of the church in Columbus, MT. After praying for a couple of weeks, we did. Columbus Baptist Church is basically a restart and it has been under the direct supervision of Emmanuel Baptist for the past 6 years or so. They are running about 100 in worship now and have really become active in reaching their community. Their current pastor is moving to be closer to his daughter and grandchildren because the dad is scheduled for his third tour of duty in Iraq/Afganistan. Last week Paul helped them form a pastor search committee...their first ever committee! Normally when they have business, they call a potluck fellowship and people just volunteer to do whatever needs to be done. Pastor Paul told me that they have a very sweet spirit and have really become missions oriented...which, in my opinion, is a direct influence from Paul and Emmanuel.

This really would be an ideal situation. We are still praying about it, but we are excited about the possibility. The chance to have Paul teach me how to pastor, to have the direct support of a growing, healthy church like Emmanuel, and to do it in a church that is healthy, growing and is missions/community oriented seems like a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Please pray with us about this...however perfect it may seem, it will be completely wrong if it is not God's will. Pray for us for God's wisdom and understanding, that we will be able to discern God's will. Pastor Paul would like to have the new pastor in place by the end of the summer, so it is coming up fairly quickly.

Thank you everyone for all of your prayers!

On to a more immediate need, thanks to everyone who is praying for Landon Meese. As of yesterday the situation had not changed...she is breathing, for the most part, on her own, but is still unconscious and shows no brain activity on the EEG. The doctors do not know the extent of injury and things still look bad.
Pray for the family, that they would have continued peace and strength as this painful situation continues.