From Dave...moving announcement

Hey friends,

I'm usually not the guy who dives off the side into the pool straightaway. I meet the cold water little by little in steps, and with opportunity to change my mind. This picture of stepping into the pool came to mind as we made the decision to move.

Some might see this announcement as a dive off the side. For Heather and I, it has been long days of little by little. We have experienced the accompanying fears and faith with long days of prayer, evolving T charts and many conversations. If you were to ask us about our interest in packing up and moving to Tennessee, for a great job, professional advancement, lower cost of living, and so forth, our 'cons' for the move outweighed the 'pros'. Some cons include leaving family after 36 years of essentially being home, 24 years of other dear friendships, and countless expressions of kindness, help, counseling, friends grieving with us, supporting us physically and financially and the list goes on.

While this past year has been challenging for Heather and I, due to the work pace I was running, our heavenly Father was kind to provide me with a unique opportunity. Once I resigned, I had a pit stop to take a breather, but also an opportunity to take inventory, to think strategically, to see a fork in the road, and prayerfully choose a path. I was offered a position with a company in TN pioneering a hot market in Knoxville and expanding into other local towns. Some close friends of 20 years who assist in leading the SGM church in Knoxville, shared that they were looking to plant a church in the upcoming year and this company will expand to that area into which this plant would occur. Additionally, I was also given a good option which seemed to offer an opportunity for success, stability and advancement here in this local DC metro area.

We visited the company down south, met the owners and found that it was a unique culture, one that saw excellence and service as its company life blood but also as its identity. The owners have a vision for making their cloud hosting offering the best in TN and they are driven to see all aspects of their business exhibit a culture of service; their goal is that their employees love coming to work and find their priorities well ordered with family first.

While this was an important ingredient in considering the challenges and sacrifices of a relocation, I did not yet have peace to make such a move based only on this. The local company was well positioned and well established in its market with opportunity for great reward. There are too many variables considered and weighed over the past few weeks to impose on your time sharing them. However, the biggest items on the scales after we saw that there was provision for necessities, were the key treasures of family, friends, church and mission.

We knew we would be letting material things go with uncertainty on full replacement. We were concerned at first it would seem we took family and friendships for granted by moving farther from them, and wrestled with the question of mission and excitement about joining hands in a church plant.

In summary, after much thought, prayer, discussion with family, friends and counsel, Heather and I were objectively aware of the provision for the move, for business success in that city, and but also the subjective sense that God has indeed called us to this move and given an excitement for the adventure and eternal rewards on the other side of the church plant. Our relationships with you are forever!  Our ability to take this risk is owed to your lives being poured into ours in your friendship, support, care, encouragement and inspiration. You are a part of us.

With affection,

David and Heather

Mckenna, Selah, Adelyn and Hailey

P.S. We need to sell our house soon and will initially look to sell by owner. If any know of potential interest, please direct them our way!  Info / Pics here : http://tinyurl.com/82qnto6  &  http://tinyurl.com/6sfsgpx

P.S.S. I want to mention that Heather and I (and our girls) love Covenant Life Church and the pastors, and highly appreciate and respect their integrity and efforts to honor God, his Word, and care for His church. This move is purely motivated by what I shared in my letter above. This is a painful move for us! It is very hard to leave here.