saying goodbye...
Don't you hate goodbyes? I know I do. But in just 15 days, all of us at CLC will have to say goodbye to some of my favorites, Sam & Heidi Stevens. Sam & Heidi served as our Community Outreach Pastors for the year of 2006, and, even before that, Sam had launched our Alpha Course outreach (that came pretty naturally, since he is the Chicago-area Director for Alpha USA!)
At any rate, early this year I approached Sam with a request that he leave his day job at Alpha to join our pastoral staff full-time, but instead he explained to me that the Lord had put a different call on his heart. He and Heidi and their family will be pioneering a brand-new church in the inner-city of Chicago, reaching out to some of the neediest people in all of Chicagoland. (In case you're wondering, I immediately tried to convince him that could be our 3rd CLC campus, but he quickly explained why that wouldn't work because of the other God-connections who actually approached him about starting this work). So I surrendered. Not happily, but I surrendered.
Probably no one expressed my feelings better than Pastor Mark Beeson in his blog about the departure of a trusted staff member from his church here. I really feel that way about Sam & Heidi - not only were they wonderful as co-workers here at CLC, but they have become true friends in the few years that we've been acquainted.
So it will be with many mixed emotions - sad to see them go, but excited for them in this new adventure with God - that we'll say goodbye on Thursday, June 7 during the first of our "Summer Splash" events (be watching your mailbox for full details soon). Sam will be sharing a message from his heart and we'll celebrate Communion together as a church family before sending them off with a special love-offering. Mark your calendar and help me say goodbye...as much as I don't like it!
At any rate, early this year I approached Sam with a request that he leave his day job at Alpha to join our pastoral staff full-time, but instead he explained to me that the Lord had put a different call on his heart. He and Heidi and their family will be pioneering a brand-new church in the inner-city of Chicago, reaching out to some of the neediest people in all of Chicagoland. (In case you're wondering, I immediately tried to convince him that could be our 3rd CLC campus, but he quickly explained why that wouldn't work because of the other God-connections who actually approached him about starting this work). So I surrendered. Not happily, but I surrendered.
Probably no one expressed my feelings better than Pastor Mark Beeson in his blog about the departure of a trusted staff member from his church here. I really feel that way about Sam & Heidi - not only were they wonderful as co-workers here at CLC, but they have become true friends in the few years that we've been acquainted.
So it will be with many mixed emotions - sad to see them go, but excited for them in this new adventure with God - that we'll say goodbye on Thursday, June 7 during the first of our "Summer Splash" events (be watching your mailbox for full details soon). Sam will be sharing a message from his heart and we'll celebrate Communion together as a church family before sending them off with a special love-offering. Mark your calendar and help me say goodbye...as much as I don't like it!
posted by Pastor Jerry McQuay at 8:43 PM
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