Today was an extremely emotional day as I shared about our family's future at the end of the service. I appreciate the outpouring of love and support from our great people.
Below is my letter to our church family:
July 3, 2011
To the people of Life Community Church,
We serve an awesome and mighty God! Everything He does is perfect and can be trusted. When we seek and trust Him, He makes clear the path that we are to follow in life. I have always clung to this passage in Proverbs 3: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”
I am writing to share some news with you that I shared at the end of this past Sunday’s service. This letter is probably one of the most difficult letters I have written. I write it with a heavy heart, but with a peace that can only come from God. I am writing to inform you of my resignation as pastor of Life Community Church effective August 15, 2011. I recently notified our staff and board of directors so we could immediately begin a positive and healthy transition to the next pastor. My last Sunday will be August 14th. During these next 6 weeks, I will continue to preach as well as assist the staff and board in the process of having a smooth transition that focuses on Christ and the future of this church.
I understand this decision comes as a big surprise. I want to assure you that I was not sending out resumes nor looking for an opportunity to leave LCC. I still love LCC very much and will be praying for its’ future. On April 26th I was contacted by Sycamore Creek Church near Columbus, Ohio about their Lead Pastor position. I did not desire to leave LCC, but agreed to discuss it with them. After hours of prayer, extensive interviews, and other processes, the elders have offered me the position and the church voted last Sunday to affirm me as their next pastor. While it would be much easier for our family to stay here, I am confident that this is a calling that God is placing upon me and therefore to stay would be in disobedience to God.
Sherri, the kids and I are excited to follow God into this new great adventure for our family. After living in Northern Virginia since 1996, this will be quite a change. I appreciate your prayers as I will be taking on the new challenges and responsibilities of leading a congregation of 700 people. I sincerely appreciate all the investments that you have made in me and my family over the last 9+ years at LCC. I look forward to spending some precious time with you over these upcoming weeks before our departure.
Please remember that LCC is Christ’s church and He is already working in the heart and mind of the next pastor of this church. God would not lead me in this direction if He did not already have great plans in store for LCC’s future. I firmly believe that more days of incredible ministry are ahead.
Thank you for being such a loving church family. You will be hearing more about the transition plan in the days ahead from our board of directors. I have transferred my decision-making authority to our board and I have full confidence in my staff, Josh and Jeff, as well as in our board to guide our search for a new lead pastor. A search team is already being formed and we expect a tremendous amount of interest from prospective candidates. If you have any suggestions or questions about the process, please feel free to contact the board at BoD@lifecc.us. Please be praying for our church during this time.
Sincerely,
Rev. Steve Markle
Lead Pastor
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