What follows is my farewell letter and final charge to the congregation I have pastored since February 1, 2000: 

Dear Members and Friends,

My last day as the pastor here is Sunday, June 8^th, so this is my farewell newsletter article.  Everything I’ve done here has been motivated by two overarching passions - a passion to be faithful to God and His Word, the Bible, and a passion to see lost souls get saved.  So my final charge to the congregation is an encouragement to be consumed with those two things. 

First of all, be a Berean and love God by loving His Word.  The more we know His Word, the more we are able to know Him.  The more we know Him, the more we love Him.  My first sermon, way back on February 6, 2000, was entitled, “Be a Berean,” based on Acts 17:10-11 which says that the Jews in Berea eagerly received God’s Word and searched the Scriptures daily to make sure that what Paul and  Silas were preaching to them was true.  Semper Reformanda is a popular slogan in Reformed churches, being a Latin term which means “always to be reformed.”  The slogan communicates that no Christian or church is perfect, so we must always be digging deeper into Scripture to see how we can reform and align our individual lives and the life of our church more closely to God’s Word.  Love God by loving His Word and always seeking to be ever more faithful to it and Him.  

Secondly, be missional and love others.  Be consumed with pursuing the mission Jesus gave His followers to “go and make disciples of all nations” and don’t be content with any aspect of church life that is not seeing people converted to Christ on a very regular basis.  Our nation is rapidly descending into paganism, but rather than lamenting what we have lost let us see this as a rich opportunity for evangelism and mission.  Rather than retreating into Christian circles, let us instead turn outward in love to build relationships with non-Christians and do whatever it takes, short of sin, to reach them for Christ.  It is messy and uncomfortable, but in the end it always feels great to do what the Lord commanded us to do.  Every pastor and every church must rethink and retool everything they do in order to live like missionaries (being missional they call it these days).  How would a missionary in a Muslim country seek to share the gospel and make disciples of Muslims who are converting to Christ?  Some of the specific things we do will be different, but whatever principles the missionary would use over there we need to use right here.  May the Lord use you to reach non-Christians with the gospel and see them made into spiritually mature disciples of Christ in explosive numbers!

I’m grateful to have been able to serve here for over fourteen years.  That is an abnormally long pastorate in this day and age and makes me the second-longest tenured pastor in the history of the church.  I’m also grateful for the many good memories and good friends I have made along the way.  I will pray for this church and I covet your prayers for me and my family in this new endeavor to be a church-planting home missionary.  I hope the Lord will use all of you to mightily build and advance His Kingdom!  I hope many non-Christians will be converted to Christ and discipled through the ministries of this church!       

Yours in Christ Always,

Pastor Brett