Over the past few weeks, we have been talking about faith.

I have outlined three faith-inspired principles that God uses to guide our lives. Each of these principles came into play in my own life as the Lord led me to a life-changing decision recently.

After almost 38 years of ministry and more than 20 years at the same church, the Lord has called me to step away from pastoral ministry. As you might imagine, this is a giant step of faith for my wife and me. This is certainly not at all where I expected I would be at this stage of my life and ministry.

The Lord has made it clear to me that you don’t necessarily pass the baton when you are ready to pass it. You pass the baton when the next person is ready to receive it. And as the runner with the baton, you must begin releasing your grip before the transition can take place.

I initiated the transition process for my role as lead pastor at The Point early last year. This decision required that I trust God completely in this important process.

At the time of this writing, my wife and I are still unsure of what this decision will mean for our future. God has not revealed what he has in store for us yet. While we have no idea what the future holds, we have complete confidence in the one who holds the future.

One of the great blessings of my life has been the opportunity God has given me to serve this church that I love so much. The thing that has made this union so special and the thing that has made it work so well is the fact that it has been spirit-led. We have done our best to stay in step with the holy spirit, and it has been good. And that is why we want to continue to follow his leading as we look to the future.

From the start, my wife and I decided nothing in our lives would be off limits to God. That has been the right decision, even though the journey of faith sometimes takes us to unexpected places.

Laurie and I have invested a third of our lives and more than half of our years in ministry here in Seymour. We love this community. We love the church. And we love so many wonderful people that God has brought into our lives over the years. That’s what makes this decision so difficult. I’ll explain more next time.

Steve Greene is the lead pastor at The Point in Seymour. You may email him at [email protected]. His weekly blog can be found at pastorgreene.wordpress.com. Send comments to [email protected].