Tonight I resigned my position as Student and Community Minister at FBC Austell. This has been something that God has had in the works for a while, it’s also something that I fought with Him about for a while, now I have submitted.

I will be leaving FBC Austell at the end of July to take a Church Planting Internship at West Ridge Church. The internship is nine months and I will be assisting the Church Planting Pastor with the Church planting school (which I will also attend) and I will be put in leadership areas in other parts of the church so that I’m familiar with every ministry area. In addition to that I will be regularly meeting with the Lead Pastor and Executive Pastor, and occasionally meeting with the Elders. West Ridge’s philosophy is that they take a good leader and place him in the midst of great leaders in order to raise his game. That is the essence of this internship.

After nine months at West Ridge, my wife and I will set out to plant a church somewhere inside the perimeter (inside I-285 which runs around Atlanta, for you out-of-towners). We are still praying about the exact location, but at the moment I think the Decatur area is the most likely.

So, what does this mean for my family? It means raising some support now (taking the internship means taking a pay cut) and raising a lot of support later. It means that I will be working diligently to do more website work to make ends meet (please email me with any leads). It means that we will be moving within a year or so and need to get our house ready to sell. It means that we just stepped off a cliff into the unknown and we are trusting God to take care of everything. It means nervousness. It means excitement.

What does this mean for askingY? Well, it means that I will keep writing like always but will be more intentional in writing about community, leadership and ministry. I will also be talking about church planting and working to shift my focus towards a more God centered world view that is less based on tradition and more based on scripture. I will be assessing, discovering, exploring, asking and engaging in tough issues. And, I hope that you will hang on for the journey as a reader and a participant.

With that said, let me ask for prayer. This step has not been an easy one and I would be lying if I said that I’m not scared to death at times. Please pray:

• For God’s guidance and provision throughout this process
• That my wife and I will remain unified in vision and purpose
• For my humility as I assume a large leadership role
• That God will begin to bring people to us that want to help plant a new church
• That God will give use the strength and courage that we need for today
• That God will take care of our finances
• And most importantly, that Christ is glorified in this endeavor so that through us, people see Him.