God is Good

Hey friends, I wanted to give you a ministry update especially if you don’t follow me on Not the Bee, DLive or Facebook.

March of 2023 was the beginning of a rough time. I was encouraged because I had just got back from a conference and was excited to get back to my church. The people at Unity had other plans. I have shared this story a couple of times on DLive. Long story short, we had a meeting that went ok. It didn’t go exactly like I would have liked it to, but I had hope. Two days later. Friday. The first Friday in March, I get a phone call. One of the deacons called me to let me know that they had just conducted a secret meeting without me. They let me know that they had just voted to close the church - effective immediately. They also let me know that when they gave me my last check, there would be no further contact.

They told the truth. There hasn’t been any contact for over two years.

I immediately started sending out resumes all across the state of Georgia.

I received a phone call from a church that was an hour away. They wanted me to preach the whole month of December. So, I did. I preached all four Sundays. I got to know the people a little better, shared meals with them, even visited with them in their homes. Things were going really well. There was a watchnight service on New Year’s Eve. It was a lot of fun. They waited until after midnight to interview me. It was odd to me that they were interviewing me after midnight, but regardless of the time, it was a good interview and I enjoyed the conversation. A couple of weeks later, I received a phone call. The pastor search committee decided not to go with me.

I continued sending out resumes.

I continued receiving rejection after rejection. When you receive over 100 rejections, that really starts to weigh on you. There were nights that I began to wonder if God was done with me. I honestly wondered if I would ever preach again. I wrestled with doubt and fear. The only thing that kept me going during this time was going back to the night when God called me to be a preacher. There were nights that I prayed reminding God that He called me to be a preacher. It’s not like God needed reminding. I did.

Six months went by. Still nothing. Then when I least expected it a phone call. A church that was a little over two hours away needed a pastor. They had narrowed their stack of resumes down to two. I was one of the two.

At the same time, one of my pastor friends invited me to a local church camp to see what the camp chapels were like. So, I went. It was wonderful. He also let me know that one of the ladies in the lunchroom asked him if he knew of any pastors that were looking for a church. He said that he gave her my information.

I thanked him. I went to Lighthouse, the church that is two hours away, and preached for them. We shared a meal after the service and had a wonderful conversation. I enjoyed getting to know them.

I received a phone call from the lady in the camp kitchen. She asked me if I could preach for them in July. So, I did. Now, as of July 2024, I am preaching at two different churches.

Lighthouse called back. They wanted me to go preach for them again. I went. After the service, we went to the home of one of the church members. They made it clear that they were ready to hire me that day. There was only one problem. We could not move immediately. I tried to get them to understand that my wife would have to find a new job, we would have to find new schools for the boys, we would have to find a place to live, we would have to sell our house or rent it out, and there was a possibility that I would have to also work in addition to being their pastor. We told them that we would drive every Sunday and for any additional fellowships or church gatherings. They wanted someone that could move closer to the church as soon as possible. I knew when we left there, they were going to vote for the other man that was also preaching at the church.

That was a long two hour drive home.

Not too many weeks later, Pleasant Hill, the church that I had the opportunity to preach at in July, called back. They asked if my family could come to Homecoming and if I could preach the Sunday after Homecoming. I said yes.

Homecoming was great. It gave us another opportunity to meet the people and get to know them a little better. The Sunday after Homecoming, I preached again and this time, we stayed after church for lunch. Then came the interview.

They asked a lot of good questions and some hard questions. I left the interview not knowing what was going to happen. The rest of August passed with no answers. September was the same. Another month of not knowing what was happening. While we were waiting, we were praying. We prayed for our family and we prayed for the church to choose the man that God had for them. We prayed that if this was the place that God wanted us, He would make it so.

October arrived. We decided to go on vacation during the time that the schools were on fall break. At this point in time, it had been six or seven weeks since my interview. I sent the lady from camp, who is also on the pastor search team, if there was an update because we haven’t heard anything. She said that she would contact me later after we got back from vacation.

We got home. A week or so went by and then the phone rang.

She asked if I could start preaching starting the next Sunday. I said yes.

What God has done since October 2024, is nothing short of a blessing in my eyes.

We served with Pleasant Hill at the fall festival and continued serving through November. On the first Sunday of December, they voted me in as interim.

Since I have been interim:

• Someone has paid for my family to attend all events at Camp Eunice for 2025.

• I connected with other pastors in the association and connected with other pastors who are connected to the camp. I now call them friends.

• My boys went to the Worthy youth retreat.

• I went to the Men’s retreat.

• I went to the Shepherd’s Summit.

• My wife went to the women’s retreat.

• I was invited to preach at the spring association meeting.

• We had a wonderful Easter service at Pleasant Hill.

• The first Sunday of June marks the day that the church voted for me to be their permanent pastor.

• My boys went to senior camp and my wife served in worship.

That takes us to now.

I am very grateful for what God has done and I do not take it lightly. I am still in awe that He allowed Pleasant Hill to vote for me to be their pastor.

The church calendar is starting to get filled up with different events in the fall. I am excited about what God is going to do.

I could never have imagined or thought to have planned everything that God has done for me in this short time.

Jesus said that He would be with us always. I am proof of that.

He is the Shepherd. I am the sheep

He is the Potter. I am the clay.

I want to leave you with this:

God is good all the time and all the time God is good.

Pastor Jimmy