Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

A few days ago I posted – or reposted – my thoughts from our last day at First Presbyterian Church of Brandon in 2013. Anniversaries, especially ten-year remembrances, always seem to grab special attention.

By the same calculus, it was ten years ago this week that Rebekah and I rolled into Wake Forest to begin an epic eight-year tenure with WFPC.

What strikes me today is how unexpectedly different life is after what feels like such a short amount of time.

We arrived here in our mid-fifties, with two grandchildren younger than two, our son Andrew newly married, a brand-new ministry under way, a new hometown and state to explore, and so many opportunities opening up we were just about breathless with excitement.

Then in just a blink of the eye here we are retired, fast approaching 70, suddenly the “elders” of our family, trying to keep up with four grandchildren (one now in middle school), carefully weighing professional opportunities in the context of this new reality, wondering if our next move will be our last, and scrambling to pace ourselves going forward…

Ten years ago we turned off Capital Boulevard at South Main and hit the ground running. Wake Forest Presbyterian Church was soon firing on all cylinders, and we had the privilege of experiencing unprecedented highs in ministry, from vast herds of children to huge confirmation classes to youth sitting on the floor when we ran out of chairs to crowds of young families to multiplying men’s ministry groups to more than 3,000 people at Walk Through Bethlehem (2019) to amazing hunger initiatives to so many creative ad innovative ministries throughout the community – and much more.

(Slide show: The first Sunday – August 2013 – plus a few other images)

It all seems both so very recent and so very far away.

Regardless, we are grateful we made the move to North Carolina in August 2013. God had some amazing plans for us, and we not only fell in love with WFPC we fell in love with Wake Forest too.

Today, ten years on and looking at this community through a different lens, we pray that God will bring a senior pastor to WFPC who not only owns a passion for Jesus but also commits themselves and their family to a personal investment in this amazing town.

I have some very specific thoughts on what effective leadership should look like, and there’s a better than good chance I’m going to share my (admittedly unsolicited) viewpoint in this space in the not too distant future!

So here we are, ten year veterans of Wake Forest. Good grief, life today is different than 2013!

In love – always – DEREK