SouthPort Dedication

SouthPort Community Church, The Church of which I was the "founding pastor", had their dedication of their new facility this Sunday. They graciously asked me to attend, but I was unable to squeeze out the time for a drive or the money for a plane ticket. In lieu of that, they invited me to send a letter to have read to the congregation. I did, they did and here is the first half of that letter. i will post the rest tomorrow:

Phillipians 1:3-6 (NIV) says: "I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

As we reflect on the incidents, activities and decisions of our past, their are, inevitably, some things that we are glad we were a part of, and some that we regret. Some events we wonder how we were ever blessed enough to be involved in and some that we wonder how we could have ever been so stupid as to get wrapped up with. And while we learn through all of our past experiences, there are some that we can continue to look back on to build our faith and confidence and to remind us of the joys that God wants to bring to us.

The experiences that my wife and I shared with SouthPort Community Church are among those that we look back on when we need to remember how God works and how wonderful his plan really is.

In April of 1999, ten years ago this month, my family first became involved with SouthPort when, after a lengthy process, we were called to come to this community, help close a struggling established Church, sell the building and lead a planting of a new Church in that wake. Later that year, we stood with just a handful of people and decided that we would be launching the new SouthPort Community Church in the coming spring.