So Long, Farewell

A week from this Sunday on May 6, Buckhead Church will be opening its new building at Tower Place. I hope to make some Sunday 6 p.m. services every now and then but for the most part I have to say so long, farewell. I will continue to meet with a group of guys from church on Wednesday nights but I will be absent most Sundays.

Don’t get me wrong. I love Buckhead Church. And the relationship with Christ that I have today is largely due to the impact the church has had on my life over the last two and a half years. I like to say that I am a “product of the system” – their mission is to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

Mission accomplished.

But for various reasons it is time to move on, and the transition to the new building at Tower Place has provided me with a great opportunity to make my own transition. I think that Buckhead Church knows their target audience so well and over the last few months I have begun to feel like I am not their target audience anymore. I feel very strong in my relationship with Christ and I think I am ready to accept my first missionary assignment – the suburbs. I love the music at Buckhead and I love Andy Stanley’s messages but it is time to give up my chair so some “Curt from two and a half years ago” can take a seat.

Also, in preparing to move to Bolivia as a missionary one of things I realized recently that is absolutely critical to my success in the field is a very supportive home church – not just financial support but relational support as well. Buckhead Church is set up to drive people into community groups so I really wanted a home church that could be more like the bar in Cheers – a church where everybody knows my name. And I also wanted a church that has a wider range of ages.

So I am currently pursuing membership at Holy Cross Anglican Church in Loganville. My best friend Chris and his wife Melissa attend there. Chris’ parents attend also. In fact the thought of this whole missionary thing first came to me when I went with a group from this church on my first mission trip last summer. My hope is to get as plugged in as possible these next seven months before I leave. To be honest, it’s kinda a nice change from the Megachurch. And it’s kinda nice to shake the pastor’s hand when you leave church.

Leaving Buckhead is definitely sad though. One of the saddest things to me is that I wasn’t able to say goodbye to my group of second graders. I hate to have them show up in that new building and me not be there to welcome them.

I think this pretty much sums it up…