Get Thee Out!

The Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.”

- God, Genesis 12:1

Can you imagine getting a message from God to leave the only life you’ve ever known and go to a place “to be named later?” But that is exactly what God said to Abram (later to become Abraham). In the King James Version, it sounds even more commanding, “Get thee out...”

It was August of 1988 when God told Pam and me to take our two children and leave all that we had ever known. Life in northern Indiana was surrounded by family, as well as the culture and values that made us who we were. We were not the first to leave the village, but we were the first with grandchildren to do so, so there was some angst to be worked through. But… God said go, first to Ashland, OH for my first year of seminary, then one year later, packing up a 26-foot U-Haul for the trek to Phoenix, AZ. There I finished my seminary education and we began looking for a church to pastor. That is, until the title insurance company I worked for called, and God laid upon our hearts to make the move to San Diego in 1994. Steve and Brittany were 10 and 8, respectively, and now settled into their culture and their people in Phoenix. There were definitely some tears shed. But… God said go, so we trusted, and went to the land He would show us.

It is hard to believe it has been 33 years since that original move, but now, 27 years after our arrival in San Diego, we believe it is our Promised Land.

God had a plan that we could not begin to grasp when we left Goshen, IN all those years ago. He has been faithful, and He has been good, and we are grateful beyond measure for the privilege of serving here, first at The Church at Carmel Mountain, then The Church at Rancho Bernardo, as members of the staff of this amazing church family.

There is no perfect church, for we are not perfect people (as if there was any doubt), but The Church at RB has been the perfect place for us to grow in our relationship with Jesus and have the privilege of ministering to others. Both Steve (a pastor in the Bay area) and Brittany (a 4th grade teacher) have grown to love the Lord more deeply because of you and are sharing their faith in their respective vocations.

Thank you for clearly being the place God meant for us when He said, “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land I will shew thee.” (KJV)

Pastor Ken

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