A Letter from Robert, and a Letter from the Session
A Letter from Robert
Dear TCPC family and friends,
I am writing to share important news that is both sad and exciting, but my prayer is that the excitement will win out over the sadness. Let me start with the sad news: my time as your senior pastor is coming to an end. The exciting news is I am not leaving for another pastoral position. In fact, I’m not leaving at all. I will continue in the community I love, committed to the vision I love, commissioned to reach the commonwealth I love, all for the glory of the Savior I love. But my role within that greater vision is going to change. I believe God is calling me to direct my pastoral focus to full-time public theology here in the Bluegrass.
I know that’s a lot to take in, so let me explain.
This past December, I was approached by a church to consider becoming their senior pastor. The institutional significance of this particular church combined with the vision they presented to me as their pastor was extremely compelling, making it perhaps the only opportunity I would ever consider leaving TCPC to accept. I could not dismiss it without serious prayer and consideration.
From a worldly perspective, and one could easily argue from a Kingdom perspective, accepting this opportunity made sense, and I felt a lot of internal and external pressure to do so. But I didn’t want to. I feared it, ran from it, and at one point in the process even removed my name from consideration. But all along the way, God would do something that convinced me to continue moving forward in faith. All this culminated in the gut-wrenching decision to inform our elders that I believed God was calling me to resign from TCPC and accept this new calling. But God had one more surprise for me.
After informing the session of my resignation, I experienced profound sadness about leaving as well as an unexpected freedom to truly lay my life before the will of God. I look forward to sharing the details with you in the near future, but long story short: Abby and I became undeniably convinced that God was not just calling me to move on from pastoring TCPC, but from conventional pastoral ministry altogether.
As you know, I am not a stereotypical pastor. And TCPC has so graciously sought to accommodate my broader passions for public thought and cultural engagement, solidified even further when the session recently approved my PhD studies. The Lord has certainly blessed my decade as senior pastor. However, the time has come for TCPC to be led by another pastor and for me to give full-time attention to a different ministry focus rooted in our shared desire for the glory of Christ and the good of the Bluegrass. In the months to come, the session will be working out the timing and details of my transition along with the level of my future involvement at TCPC, and you will be fully informed as plans are solidified.
For now, I hope and pray you can join me in giving thanks to God for His good and perfect will. Jesus is my Lord, and I must follow His call on my life, but blessed be His name that I get to do it here. I love you, and I love Kentucky. And I am overwhelmed with joy that God has not asked me to give either up.
For Christ and the Bluegrass,
Robert
A Letter from the Session
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
As you have read in Robert’s letter, he will be stepping down as our Senior Minister. In his letter, Robert shared details of the personal journey he went through in reaching this difficult decision as well as his plans for the next phase of his ministry. While we are saddened that Robert’s time as our pastor at TCPC is drawing to a close, we support his desire to follow God’s calling on his life, and we are excited that he will continue to serve the Bluegrass in a new ministry focused on public theology. Although no specific date has been set, we anticipate that Robert will officially transition sometime in the Fall.
We have many reasons to be confident during the transition. First, we have a God who is sovereign and loves His church. He is sovereign over every person, interaction, and process in our church, including this one. Our confidence is rooted in the Almighty God, who has been faithful to us through the years and who has promised that his faithfulness will continue to all generations.
On Sunday, May 29th, Will Witherington preached on the steadfast love of God using Lamentations 3:22-24 as his text. We concluded worship by singing the hymn, “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” God has shown His faithfulness to TCPC by giving us a strong and healthy church. We have been through pulpit changes in the past, and each time, the Lord has raised up the right man at the right time for the work that needed to be done. For many churches a change in Senior Minister is either the result of a crisis or it causes one. Neither is the case with us. By any measure, the ministries of TCPC are flourishing. In addition, God has given us a remarkable staff, including many capable pastors and ministry leaders. He has blessed us with a denomination and a presbytery full of wise individuals who are familiar with pastoral transitions—we have sound wisdom and resources available to us.
Pastoral transitions are a time to seek the Lord and his wisdom rather than to move hastily. In churches of our size, the transition usually takes more than a year. Because this process has just begun, we have few details to share at this time. There are many decisions to be made, and we are committed to keeping you informed every step of the way.
There is one final blessing God has given TCPC—a praying congregation. We ask for your prayers throughout this process. Pray for wisdom for the session, fruitfulness for the ministry of our staff and leaders, and thank God for His unfailing faithfulness.
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
TCPC Session