I have sad but exciting news to share. Last night Pastor Grant shared with our students that they will be leaving this summer to plant a church in Shreveport, Louisiana.
I am obviously sad about this development. It has been a joy to work with Grant since the summer of 2019. It has been one of the highlights of ministry for me to see him grow from an excited young seminary graduate and husband to a seasoned pastor and father. During Grant’s time with us the student ministry has quadrupled. Both my children have become teenagers under his leadership. Therefore, Grant and Kara have forever impacted our family. When the pandemic hit, many churches and student ministries slowed down their ministries. However, I challenged our guys to get creative and keep ministering. Grant grabbed that challenge with zeal and faithfully shepherded our students through the difficult twists and turns of 2020. Related, student camps kept canceling due to COVID restrictions. Those challenges only fueled Grant’s resolve. He and his ALT basically have developed their own camps the past three summers! It was a tremendous amount of work, but last year we brought over 40 kids to camp! Grant has also added worship to RSM’s Wednesday nights and developed leadership teams. Suffice it to say, Grant has had a significant impact and we are sad to see them go.
However, I am also excited. When we planted Redeemer Church in 2013, we were committed to being a church planting church. Our vision has been to hire young staff, give them a season to develop, then send them out as planters. We hired Grant with the clear vision that we did not want him to stay forever. We wanted him to come in for three to five years, then go plant. Therefore, sending the Roses to plant is a real win for Redeemer Church. It also gives us both a short-term and I hope a long-term mission partner. It gives the Kingdom of God another church that will eventually be a self-sustaining gospel-sharing Jesus-proclaiming disciple-making ministry! Broken people loving broken people are headed to Louisiana!
You likely have a series of questions. Let me share what it looks like over the next few months. Grant will continue his normal duties until he leaves in the summer. He is beginning to transition “For Denton Co.” to Pastor Daniel. I will form a Search Team in February for our next Student Pastor. My prayer is to have a new Student Pastor in place by early summer. Grant and the ALT are tasked with getting camp planned and booked, but most likely a new Student Pastor will be leading summer camp.
Grant is also giving a portion of his time to developing relationships in Shreveport. I help lead the Denton Baptist Association’s SEND Church Planting Cohort. Grant will be in our Cohort this year as a way to help equip him for the plant. He and I will also meet monthly to work through some mentor material. The Cohort helps him build relationships with the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention which will assess and support Grant’s church plant. Being in the Cohort also opens up some DBA funds for his work that Redeemer Church is matching out of our missions fund.
I hope you share in our sadness and excitement. We believe Grant and Kara are ready. We know God is going to do a good work. However, 1 Corinthians 3:6 reminds us that churches have never ultimately been a work of humans, “but God gave the growth.” Therefore, this endeavor needs your prayers and support. This spring, please commit to pray daily for Grant, Kara, Sophia, and the unborn McKenna Rose. As you have questions, feel free to drop me or any of our Elders and email.