It Takes a Team

After essentially being in school from age 5 to almost age 43, I have finally completed my last degree! It is quite a relief and quite a joy. I marvel at how God has taught me through this dissertation writing process, and I am excited to take what I've learned and hopefully have a chance to communicate it more broadly and helpfully through future writing projects. But today I wanted to share with you what I called the "most joyful" part of the dissertation writing project: the last pages I wrote- the Acknowledgments and Thanks section. There is no way I would have been able to complete this dissertation on teams without a team of folks who were essential in helping me pull this off. I wanted to share with you my thanks to my support team. There are many others that could be mentioned, but I went on record with these folks, and my love and gratitude to them all is heartfelt.

With thanks to my team...

To my staff team at Wellington Presbyterian Church, words just can't convey the thanks and love I have for each of you. Your encouragement, flexibility, and willingness to work at being a team were fuel to my fire to keep learning, writing, and growing through this project. Your patience and input with the steady flow of "Parthenon" diagrams depicting teams was very encouraging- not to mention often hysterical.

To the Session of Wellington Presbyterian Church, I love you men dearly and believe the time you have given me to complete this project will bear much fruit in our vineyard in the years to come.

To my old friend Jason Baker, the marathon is run. Without your early input and encouragement, I do not think I would have been ready for the race. You have my heartfelt thanks.

To the two teams who graciously opened their ministries and lives to me, it remains my prayer that many staff teams would now be able to look to you as their team mentors from afar. I loved the fragrance of the gospel that ran through both of your teams and I pray that it would spread far and wide through the church at large.

To my boys, Nathan and Nicholas, I hope you are ready to have Daddy home on Saturdays now! I am so thankful for all of your prayers for me and encouragements to me as I finished my "schoolwork." I love you both more than I can say and I pray that God will continue by His grace to make me a better Daddy through what He has taught me in this project. Since before you were born, I have prayed that we would walk together all our lives as a team of "tender warriors" who love Jesus and others with everything we have. Keep praying this for me and be assured that I will never stop praying this for you.

To my parents, both the opportunities you enjoyed and those you were denied have been used of God to instill in me a deep love of learning. This project is the fruit of the seeds you planted and cultivated in my life. The joy that you exuded with each completed step was so encouraging. I love you both and long for you to know Christ more personally and deeply even as I do as a result of this project.

Finally, to my bride, Alice, there is no more important "team" in my life than you and I, Boo. Without your patience and willing sacrifice as my greatest supporter and partner in ministry, this project would have ended before it started- not to mention crashed and burned a few times along the way! I have said for years that this is a "mercy marriage." At least now you can point to this completed project as some tangible fruit of your mercy to me, your life-time mercy project!

It has been my deep passion through this project to both grow as a team leader, and to contribute something to the church through which others can grow as well. I leave to others the measure of the value of this project for the church, but for me, I am convinced that I am a very different team leader, pastor, husband, father, and friend as a result of this dissertation. For that alone, I am speechless before the mighty mercy of the Triune God to this speck of dust.

Soli Deo Gloria!