To The Students at The People's Church (Spring Hill Campus)

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, we had to communicate to our students on Sunday that we are leaving The People's Church and transitioning to West Ridge Church near Atlanta at the end of January. For those of you that missed it Sunday, I want to make sure you know exactly what I wanted to say to you. We'll make the audio available on our Verve Radio podcast soon, but here are my notes.

Over the last few months, God has been stirring in my heart and Angie’s heart in some crazy ways. Back in September I called my old youth pastor to seek wisdom from him about some things. He started a church outside Atlanta called West Ridge the summer after my senior year. 14 years later they are a church of over 5,000 and God has used them to reach a lot of people. He mentioned to me that their current high school pastor was getting ready to transition into a new role at the church and they would be looking for a new high school pastor. He asked if I was interested in talking to them about it. I said we could talk and see if that was what God had in store for us. For 2 months, we’ve walked through this process, met with their team, and prayed a lot. Just before Thanksgiving, they offered us the job. We took through the Thanksgiving holiday to continue to pray and see what God wanted from us.

Throughout the process, we couldn’t escape the feeling that this was a door God opened for us. We feel this is something God is calling us to. Last week we accepted their offer and will be moving to GA at the end of January. My last Sunday at TPC will be January 22nd.

During our FOLLOW ME Series we talked about following Jesus no matter the cost. Following Jesus means our lives do not belong to us, but to God. Angie and I are comfortable here. This is home. But following Jesus means putting what He wants ahead of what we want. And I can’t stand on this stage and tell you to live that way if I’m not willing to live that way also.

4 Things I Want You to Know

1. I love every single one of you! I am so thankful for the opportunity to be your youth pastor for the last 5+ years! This is the part I have been dreading the most. Because you are such a huge part of our lives! I have memories with you that I will have for the rest of my life! I've had the privilege of leading some of you to Christ, baptizing some of you, and seeing God move in significant ways in many of you. My one desire for each of you is that you become incredible men and women of God! That has been my motivation every single day! And I know God will continue the work He has started in you.

2. This isn’t my youth group. I don’t own this. This is God’s, and I’m His servant. And He called Angie and me to serve in this area for the last 5 years and help start the Spring Hill Campus. It's been a great ride! But I can’t get upset if he calls us somewhere else because it’s His. It’s sad and it means saying goodbye to people we love, but all of this belongs to God. Including us.

3. Sometimes God brings people into your life and sometimes God leads people away. As we grow in our relationship with Christ and help build His Kingdom, people come and go. We experience different seasons of ministry and live life with different people. God allows us to minister together for months or years, and then He moves us to our next place. That’s part of life. It’s not unhealthy or unfair and it doesn’t mean people don’t care about you. But it does make you cherish the times you have together.

4. I believe the best days are ahead for this Student Ministry! 1.) Because of our adult volunteers who will continue to be in place after I transition. They love you and are committed to helping you grow. 2.) Because some of you students in the room are going to step up and take a bigger role and God’s going to use you to do significant things. I believe whoever comes in after me will help take this Student Ministry to the next level! And the leadership of this church is committed to making that happen.

The good news is I’m not dying or moving to Afghanistan. I’m only moving 4 hours down the road. I’ll be back in town from time to time. I still want to hear from you on Facebook & Twitter. And you can call me up anytime. I will do anything I can for any of you.

If you were not in the room yesterday to hear this, the bottom line is I love you. Thanks for allowing me to minister to you and lead our incredible team. I don't deserve what I was able to do the last 5+ years. Thanks for helping to make it so amazing!

Todd