A word from Michael...

Repurposing of Ministry

As the title suggests, things are changing with MMMM.

After several years of pursuing God's will in concert ministry, we feel God's gentle pull back into local church ministry. There are a number of factors that lead us to this decision:

1. The economy is making it harder for churches to justify "extraneous" expenses like concert series. Though we've always only ever come on love offerings, many churches feel obligated to more than they can really justify. Consequently, invitations have gone down.
2. God never removed from my heart the love for serving the local church. In fact, I would not say I love concert ministry more than local church service. There has always been a part of me that yearned for the blessing of ministering to the local body.
3. The dynamics of my family (especially the kids getting older) make the prospects of out-of-town excursions difficult. As they get older, the kids will become less mobile. Already we are seeing their involvement in church are complicating plans to minister outside it.

I do not really intend to give up concert ministry completely, but I believe God is leading us to invest ourselves more deeply in the local church. (At our home church, Hixson First Baptist, we're already involved up to our eyeballs!) I will still take engagements here and there, but for now we'll be putting the ministry on a lower setting.

I hope you will keep us in your prayers as we endeavor to follow God's leading. He never makes mistakes (though we often do), but he is gracious in always making a way for us to glorify Him with our service.

For His glory alone,

Updated 12/28/2008