Family Update: Candidating at Stonebridge Church in Cedar Rapids

I don’t typically use this blog for family updates (let’s be honest . . . I don’t typically use this blog lately). But it seems as good a venue as any to let folks know about some recent developments in our life and ministry.

In two weeks, I will be candidating for the Lead Pastor position at Stonebridge Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Pastor Randy Scheil, who has served in that role for 27 years, will be retiring this year. And if God wills, it will be my privilege to succeed him in joining the elders and pastoral staff in leading Stonebridge in their passion to help each person they meet take their next step with Jesus.

For some of you this will come as quite a surprise. When we came to New England nearly eight years ago, we had no intention of ever moving on. And it has been an unspeakable privilege to share life with our Westgate Church family and partner with them in gospel ministry. We truly cherish the years God has given us here, and especially the people he has placed in our lives.

Yet being far from our family in Nebraska has been difficult. And with some recent health concerns among our family back home, and the increasing difficulty of making the trip back, the Lord brought Carissa and me to a place last summer where we felt we needed to be open to the possibility of relocating to the Midwest.

Little did we know that within a few weeks we would be contacted by Stonebridge Church. I had met Randy and several others from Stonebridge a few years earlier through the Charles Simeon Trust Workshops on Biblical Exposition. With the help of their search consultant, Greg Allen, we began getting to know each other more closely last fall. Through our conversations with the Stonebridge search team and leadership, and through the counsel and prayers of friends, mentors, and fellow elders at Westgate, the Lord recently brought Carissa and me to a sense of unity and confidence in his call to Stonebridge. We are thankful that our Westgate family, despite their sadness, has supported us in this call, and we are prayerfully eager for the Lord to confirm it through the candidation process at Stonebridge in two weeks.

Transitions like this are by nature bittersweet. There is a real excitement at the prospect of serving God in this new opportunity. Stonebridge is a healthy church, with godly leaders, humble servants, a heart for their community, and a gospel-driven approach to ministry. We have really enjoyed getting to know the leadership, and are excited for the days and years ahead. But it’s not without the sadness that comes from saying goodbye to our Westgate family, to dear friends, to our Veritas school community, and to life in New England. New England has been our home. We have seen God move here. We have been deeply loved here. One of our children is buried here. There have been many tears so far, and there will no doubt be more to come.

Several years ago, when we were coming to the end of our time at College Church in Wheaton and waiting on the Lord to see what was next, I sat down with one of our pastors, Wendell Hawley. I remember lamenting to him at the time how awkward it felt to think of serving a new church, and how I didn’t know how I’d be able to love them the way I loved College Church, or Oak Lake Church (where we had previously served in Lincoln, Nebraska). Wendell’s response went something like this: It’s kind of like having another child. When you have your first child, your heart is so full with love for them, that it’s virtually impossible to imagine having any more room for loving a second child. And then one day you meet that second child, and the love is just there. Not because you love your first child less, but because God has expanded your heart.

That was certainly our experience when we came to Westgate; we loved you as soon as we met you. And that love has only grown over the last seven-plus years. And so far, that’s been our experience with Stonebridge too in the time we’ve spent with your leaders—we loved you as soon as we met you. And we trust, by God’s will, it will be our experience as we meet the rest of you in the weeks ahead.

So we invite you to pray with us—for our family, for Westgate, and for Stonebridge, as we seek to follow God’s call. May his gospel continue to bear fruit and grow, for the glory of his name and the good of his people.

Brandon & Carissa