Dear Friends,
I want to take a moment of your time to share with you what God is doing
with our family. As many of you know we moved to Inverness just over
three years ago as our kids were so involved with Oak Mountain Classical
School. A year later we moved to the Oak Mountain School System and God
once again proved faithful in providing a host of opportunities and
challenges. In addition we have become more and more engrossed in the
Oak Mountain community through baseball, track, cross country events and
even my own endeavors in mountain biking. It is a great time for our
family and God is giving us more and more opportunities in and around
the Oak Mountain Community.
Over the last several months I have been seeking counsel from Bill Hay
and other close friends regarding God's direction for my family. While
we are seeing huge opportunities develop we are also seeing that our
increased involvement in the Oak Mountain community is pulling us away
from Covenant's sphere of influence. In addition our kids need to be
involved in a youth group where they have a sense of continuous
community between school and church. With that said, and with mixed
emotions, we have decided to visit Oak Mountain Presbyterian Church
(OMPC) over the course of the summer. We love Covenant and we certainly
love being a part of the Foundations class. The hard part about all of
this is leaving that which we hold so dear. Even so we realize that
this is a necessary move to examine God's call and we are open to going
but just as open to staying. Either way we are excited about what God
has in store and know that he will again prove faithful in showing us
his plan.
As you might imagine this change will simply not allow me to fulfill my
role as shepherd with the Foundations class nor with the Session to the
extent that I believe they should be handled. I will remain an Elder in
the Presbyterian Church of America but, as a result, have stepped down
from an active role on the Session. I will be working with Brian
Beckett and other Session members during the transition so that all
areas of ministry I have been involved with are properly cared for.
This too is a difficult step but, as I have learned, there is a time for
all things and now is the time for me to minister to my own family.
Serving and being a part of Foundations has been a great experience.
While we have not had the privilege of meeting everyone we can sincerely
say we have made many new friends through this experience. As I shared
with the Session, God has taught us so many things over the last several
years and our emotions are quite mixed. While we would rather have
shared this news with you in person timing simply would not allow that,
however, we do plan to return one Sunday after summer shuffle to share
our plans personally. Until then please know that we will continue to
pray for you and ask that you keep us in your prayers as well. God is
awesome and has a wonderful plan for each of us.
Sincerely Yours
Greg Smith
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