So I have to put this down to type. I have a story to tell. Sit back and enjoy this one.

As many of you know, I had a very tough time making a decision as to whether to go or stay in the old United Methodist Church. There was a lot of wrangling and prayer. So when several churches got in the disaffiliation process and were ready to leave the conference a year ago last April 22, mine had just completed the discernment process and began planning for a vote. Fortunately, that vote happened on July 9, and it went overwhelmingly to disaffiliate. So the next day I applied for and was received as a member into the Global Methodist Church. It took the church a little longer. They voted this past March 14 and again, overwhelmingly voted to become a part of this new denomination for traditional Methodists.

In September of last year, as disaffiliation was becoming final for the church I had been serving, my wife and I realized we had no place to live if there was any possibility of that church not working out for us. So we did some planning and praying and bought a house in North Carolina near our son and grandkids. We weren’t sure when we would move and I had no idea how we would get to live in it.

These details get a little convoluted, but here is the best account I can remember. In August last year as disaffiliation was becoming real to the folks I was serving, I made contact with some leaders of the Global Methodist Church in North Carolina. I was told by the then Presiding Elder of the Greensboro District that there was a church that needed a pastor immediately. I answered that I had promised to walk with my congregation in Sweetwater, TN through the entirety of the process before I would move on. So I couldn’t go at that time. He understood and looked elsewhere.

Now fast forward to January. On the 7th of January we took a break and stayed in our new home in Greensboro. That Sunday morning I told my family, “I think I need to go to church at Tabernacle” a church about two miles from our home. To my utter surprise, they all agreed to tag along. My wife was praying that if it was God’s will for us to relocate to this place that I would hear from the pulpit or in conversation from the pastor at Tabernacle of an opportunity to serve a church. Well the pastor, Matt Morris, saw us soon after we came into the sanctuary, and came and greeted us, having seen us before. I told him hello and we sat in our seats. My son asked me after Matt went on to some other people, “Dad, why didn’t you say something about a church? Maybe he knows some things you don’t.” I responded, “Son, he’s about to go into the pulpit. He doesn’t need to be bothered with that right now.”

Then as soon as Matt got into the pulpit, he said, “Friends, let’s be in prayer for our associate pastor, Joe Essick, who is filling in today over at Pleasant Garden Methodist Church. They are looking for a pastor.” Every body on my row (and there were 8 of us) looked at me. Tammie slipped me a note saying “This is what I was praying for.”

So after church, I went to greet the pastor at the door and said, “Can you tell me more about this church looking for a pastor?” Which led to a Tuesday morning meeting and Pastor Matt, as it turned out, had become the presiding elder of the area, and soon I was interviewing for a position.

The people at Pleasant Garden had received a minister in the fall, but it didn’t work out as a long term assignment due to distance from her home. I really think this was the church I was practically offered in August. So now I’m here. God has been so good. Parting the waters and letting me cross over into North Carolina on dry land.

If you think God is calling you to something, pay attention. The signs are all around us.