The Years of Transition

We pastored at Aurora, Indiana, for 7 years. During the last year of ministry there in 1984, I began to feel stirrings for something different. I had a desire to step out of the boundaries I had always known. One area of interest was planting a new church. Although this desire was real I never felt the climate was right for it in the circle of ministry I was in. During the last years at Aurora I also was slowly breaking free of the legalism that had been a part of my life since childhood.

In 1984 we accepted the pastorate of a Wesleyan Church in Martinsville, Indiana. The move to Martinsville was a move that I soon realized was a mistake. I did not wait on God to work out His will although it took me some time to come that realization. We were at Martinsville for only 18 months.

During out short stay at Martinsville we adopted our second child, our son Shawn came into our lives when he was 11 days old.

The Wesleyan Church at Greenwood, Indiana, just 25 miles from Martinsville came open and I felt on my heart to go there in 1986. The Greenwood church had declined in the last several years to almost nothing. Our first Sunday there we had only 23 people in Sunday School. The parsonage there was in a declining section of town and not a good place to live with my young family. Despite the negatives it seemed this was a move that God was in. The church responded to my ministry and we began to grow and see new people come in and come to the Lord. I took on my second building project there as well. We built a very nice new parsonage near the church. Although we only were there 2 ½ years it was a good pastorate. The church more than doubled in attendance and my confidence was rebuilt from the bad move I had made to Martinsville. Greenwood church was like many southern Indiana churches, a small mindset and no real desire to really step out and do something “out of the box” for God. I longed for a more challenging ministry. I began to search and God moved us nearly 600 miles away to Neighbors Grove Wesleyan Church in Asheboro, North Carolina. My parents had moved to Salisbury, North Carolina with my younger brothers and sister 13 years before. Although our move to North Carolina was not related to them being there, it was an extra blessing that God sent our way.