I’m humbled and honoured that this past weekend, I became the Lead Pastor of Beulah Alliance Church in Edmonton, Alberta.
If you’ve been following along with our journey, you know that for Christina and I, the journey started back in November 2018 when God began unsettling our hearts.
To learn more about the backstory of our journey back to Edmonton—and how we discerned that this was God’s calling over our lives—take a look at these two articles:
- The Most Important Question When Discerning Your Next Steps
- The Difference Between an Opportunity and a Calling
So on May 15/16, 2021, more than two and half years later, the transition officially took place as I received the baton of leadership from Pastor Keith, who has been a role model in integrity and Jesus-centred, Jesus-honouring, and Jesus-loving leadership for the past 30 years.
Here’s a highlight reel from the weekend (the full service can be viewed at the bottom of this article):
As I was preparing for the service, Brent Trask who is our regional District Superintendent for the Alliance in Canada, asked me to carefully consider making a pledge to Beulah as their new Lead Pastor. As I prayerfully considered the words he sent me, I decided to study the Scriptures and make them my own, so that I could sincerely commit myself to live by them.
In sharing my pledge to Beulah with you, I humbly ask that you would take a moment to pray these over me, but also consider what sort of commitment you are making to your church and those around you.
Here it is:
As I am strengthened by the Holy Spirit and directed by Jesus Christ who is the Head of his church, I pledge:
- To never let the word of God depart from my mouth and to meditate on it day and night so that I may be careful to observe everything written in it
- Joshua 1:8 CSB – “This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to meditate on it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do.”
- To guard my heart and give careful attention to my own hidden life with God
- Proverbs 4:23 CSB – “Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.”
- To be a man of integrity, with no gulf between my public and private life
- 1 John 1:6-7 CSB – “If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”
- To maintain moral, doctrinal, and sexual purity
- Matthew 5:18-19 CSB – “For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass away from the law until all things are accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
- 1 Timothy 4:16 CSB – “Pay close attention to your life and your teaching; persevere in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.”
- To assist in leading Beulah in an attitude of dependence upon God and his Word, trusting him to empower, fill and protect me
- 1 Peter 5:2-4 CSB – “Shepherd God’s flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed for money but eagerly; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.”
- To lead with the towel, not the sceptre, serving the spiritual needs of Beulah and the greater community as best I can
- Matthew 20:28 CSB – “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
- Philippians 2:7 CSB – “Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man,”
- To preach the word of God in season and out of season
- 2 Timothy 4:2 CSB – “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and teaching.”
- To lead us to know Jesus deeply and be known by Him fully
- Philippians 3:8-11 CSB – “More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith. My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.”
- Psalm 139:23-24 CSB – “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way.”
Thank you!
Here is the full service: