Normally, I would have already written and posted this blog of last week’s
deputation services at Covenant Fellowship and Murfreesboro First Church, but
we have been on vacation all week at Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. What a blessing
to be able to spend time with family after a wonderful, but busy, two months of
deputation. Since August the 1 st we have travelled to 17 churches on the East
Tennessee District of the Church of the Nazarene, we have spoken in 21 services,
including Sunday morning, Saturday night, and online virtual opportunities to
share. We have driven 2,970 miles (we could’ve driven over halfway to Bulgaria!)
sold and moved out of our house, built new relationships, deepened and
celebrated old ones, and found ourselves in wonder at the faithfulness of our
Christ and the church. It was nice to spend time with family on vacation, but also
to take some time to reflect, to be thankful, to breathe deeply and just recognize
the beauty of this life we are being called to live so intentionally. Katie and I have
looked forward to this past week for several months, because (though we still
have several churches to go) it has felt like this would be an important marker on
our road through the first stages of our missionary journey. At times it has also
been that proverbial “rest stop” that we needed to get to. So, this blog is a bit
late, but we are thankful for the sabbath. After all, to quote Juliana Tzvetkova, as
she points out important Bulgarian sayings for living, in The Essential Guide to
Customs and Culture: Bulgaria, “Work is not a rabbit; it will not run away.”
6:45AM Sunday morning found us cruising down I-24 from Manchester towards Mt. Juliet,
and Covenant Fellowship Church of the Nazarene. We were generously offered
the opportunity to speak in both an early, more distanced and fully masked,
service starting at 8:30AM and a later service that follows small group hour,
starting at 10:30AM. We knew that it would be a blessing getting to share our
hearts with two separate groups, but we could not have imagined the joy we
would get by having the opportunity to mingle and connect with so many church
members before, after, and in between each of these services. Whether it was
wonderful greeters/ushers who “never met a stranger” like Lee, or old
connections like Gary Herndon, whose son Josh I bible quizzed with years ago as a
teenager, and whose other son Boomer played professional basketball in
Romania (the northern neighbor of Bulgaria). Each connection was a blessing.
If you have never been to the beautiful little town of Mt. Juliet then you
need to take a road trip. It is such a lovely place and Covenant Fellowship Church
of the Nazarene is a great complementary part of it. From our greeting by Pastor
Russ, to the wonderful spirit of worship, and passionately connected
congregation, it was quite a treat to get to do life and ministry with Covenant
Fellowship. As you can see from the pictures, this is a church that emphasizes that
great invitation to participate in the Mission of God both at home and abroad,
both in our town and in the nations, in our tribe, and in all tribes. It was good to
be with them. We pulled out of the parking lot with that kind of contented sigh
you get after the perfect meal. It was a taste of the Kingdom.
Sunday night we were at Murfreesboro First Church of the Nazarene. It was
good to be home amongst our Murfreesboro Nazarene family. As we walked
through the doors toting our children and supplies, with the help of Kara Cole, I
thought of the first time I walked through those doors with Erik Gernand to talk
about the possibility of a city-wide partnership of ministry. I could not have
imagined what God had in store. I walked past three classrooms where I have
journeyed in small group discipleship with my brothers and sisters from
Murfreesboro 1 st , Barfield, Blackman Community Church, and Real Life while
pastoring Blackman. Murfreesboro 1 st is one of those places that just knows how
to host well (a defining characteristic of Christ’s life). The NMI president Suzanne
Jenkins and Pastor Matthew Cole did an incredible job of facilitating the city-wide
deputation service. I could say so much about what I mean by that, but suffice it
to say, this is a church that has decided not to make COVID-19 responsibility and
faithful Christ-centered worship gatherings mutually exclusive. Instead, they
become complementary at Murfreesboro 1 st .
I could point out so many wonderful things about our time together with
our Murfreesboro family (all four churches were well represented). However, I
think the characteristic that will stand out most in my mind reminded me of that
conversation I had with my wife’s parents after I had proposed to her. There was
celebration and support when I put the ring on her finger, but then about a week
later Allan invited me over to a “sit down” in the Kirby house living room where
we spent some time discussing the particulars of what it would look like for him
to send off his daughter for us to start a life together. It felt like that this past
Sunday night at Murfreesboro First. We had almost a full hour of Q&A following
our presentation. It felt like we were having a serious “sit down” with our folks
who had celebrated and supported this calling to start new life in Sofia, but now it
was time for really discussing the particulars of what it would mean for them to
send their family over to Bulgaria to start a life. It felt like love, honesty, empathy,
concern, care, curiosity, character, faith, hope, and joy. Murfreesboro church, you
will always be our family. We got in our car for a 4-hour drive to Birmingham with
the sounds of Suzanne’s blessings ringing in our ears. Before he left Jude turned
around, and without any prompting shouted to Pastor Matthew, “I love
Machew!” We love you Murfreesboro family!
That late night drive gave us plenty of time to start our vacation reflections.
We are just overcome with gratitude at being sent by a church, by local churches,
such as these. It is hard to quantify what it feels like to know you are so called, so
sent, so supported. We cannot wait to share this journey. We cannot wait to be a
part of all that God is up to in Sofia. We know it will be incredible because we are
in it together. After all, to quote another Bulgarian saying noted by Juliana
Tzvetkova, “A united troop can move the mountains.”