A Bitter Sweet Providence
The following is a letter which we recently sent out to the congregation of Emmanuel Baptist Church regarding my recent call to come and shepherd the flock of Cool Community Church in Cool, CA.
Dear Emmanuel,
It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost five years since I first came to EBC to serve as the Pastor of Student Ministries. Many things have changed in the last five years, most notably the size of my family. When Amy and I first came to Mount Vernon, we brought ourselves and our luggage. Over these last 5 years the Lord has added to our family first with the birth of Micah in 2006, then with Cody in 2008 and this April we will be expecting our third boy, Luke.
While many things have changed over these last five years, one thing has remained the same: we still have a deep love for Emmanuel Baptist Church. In fact, that’s why we came here from California in the first place. I still remember my first conversation with the search committee and the unexplainable love which immediately welled up inside of me for this church.
As a pastor, my desire has always been to shepherd whatever flock God places me in. Over the course of the last few months the Lord has made it clear to Amy and me that He is calling us to care for another flock back in California. For us, this parting is a bitter sweet providence as we look forward to what God will do in the future and as we say our goodbyes to beloved friends.
In June, we will be packing up our house and our 3 kids and moving back down to California to take on a Senior Pastor role at Cool Community Church in Cool, CA (yes, the name of the town is “Cool”). Cool Church is a warm, loving body of believers located about 45 minutes outside of Sacramento and about 90 minutes from Lake Tahoe in Gold country. Cool reminds me a lot of Conway because it is in the country and yet relatively close to the city. Cool Church was started as a Village Missions church 30 years ago and recently joined the Evangelical Free denomination.
The last five years here at Emmanuel have been filled with joy for both Amy and me. We will always look back on our time at EBC with great love and affection and we look forward to visiting in the future to catch up with all of our friends. In the meantime, please continue to pray for us as we work to sell our home, get ready to have our next baby, and continue to minister through the rest of this school year.
‘Til Sin is Bitter Christ Will Not be Sweet,
Drew Buell
February 28 2010 11:30 am | Blog