To our Southside Family

So, it's after the official announcement at big church... we (Jacob & I) are going into full-time missions together... we have accepted full-time positions as Missions Coordinator with Praying Pelican Missions... effective January. My heart feels like it is in one million different places with one million different emotions. I don't know how else to explain this expect by writing a letter to our Southside family.  So... here it goes. (I will explain more about the actual jobs and what that means for us in the next post)

To our Southside Family:

Thank you.

Thank you for loving us so well and allowing us to be part of your family for the 6 years (for Jacob) and 4 years (for me).  Thank you for taking this young married couple into your hearts and allowing us to serve with you. Thank you for loving us... the crazy Morgans... who probably rocked the boat more than a few times with our ideas and ways of doing things. Our prayer is that God was/is/will be glorified through our efforts.

Thank you for letting us, and encouraging us, in loving your children well and teaching them the precious Word of God. Our heart, day in and day out, has been to show each youth the vast and great love of Jesus and the great joy in loving Him back.  Thank you for entrusting your students with us - for every Wednesday night service, for every Monday night Bible study, for every event, for every trip, for every random night they came to our house... THANK YOU. We love each and every student... we really do. They are the reason that we wanted to wake up each day and do life.  They have AMAZED us.
To our youth - we love you. You have our hearts. Thank you for sharing life with us. We pray for you EVERY day. Thank you for the smiles, the laughs, the tears, and everything in between. Thank you for loving us well. Thank you for taking risks with us - from trying out Student Life camp for the first time to taking a mission trip to Belize.  And to my girls - the best nights of my life were with you... hearing your hearts, listening to your dreams, crying with you, laughing with you, and trying to figure out with following Jesus LOOKS LIKE in real life. You are more than precious to me. Youth - YOU WILL NEVER BE REPLACED! We pray, most of all, that you saw Jesus in us and that you know Him more because of our time with you. This youth ministry was never about us - it's just about Jesus. This is our prayer for you:

¹⁴ For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶ I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

²⁰ Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Ephesians 3:14-21

Thank you for being you.

To our college students - oh... our hearts ache leaving you. What a blessing life with you has been. We had no clue what God had planned for us when we risked starting a college ministry. We have never experienced "church" like we have on Wednesday nights with you - prayer for each other, caring for each other, honesty in its most raw form, and laughter like I've never known. We could have never imagined the community and love between such different individuals than we've experienced with you. The relationships and the community we have with you will be hard to match. Thank you for loving us. For sharing life with us. For volunteering your time and energy and life to love our church and students with us.  You have taught us more than words can explain. You are absolutely wonderful.

Our prayer for you - that you would live as crazy ambassadors for Jesus:

If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit.¹⁴ Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. ¹⁵ He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.

¹⁶ So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! ¹⁷ This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
¹⁸ And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. ¹⁹ For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. ²⁰ So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” ²¹ For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:13-21

We are beyond thankful for these silly faces: 

To the Connection ministry - My heart was to create unity within our church and within our community. I don't know if that happened completely, but learned so much and experienced so much joy working with the people who invested time in coming and serving the people of Troy. I am grateful for this ministry. Thank you so much to Robin who was my constant companion, friend, and fellow servant leader. I am thankful for you and praying as you continue to lead this charge! Thank you to Mrs. Pam, Mr. Gary, Jaleesa, Andrew, Jacob, Derrick, Samantha, and so many others who believed in the mission of simple meals and relationships.

Each person at Southside is so special to us. Our hearts are heavy as we think about leaving. I hope we can tell each person all that they mean to us. I just have to say a special thanks to the following people...  

To the Knicks... what we have done without you? 

Words cannot express what you mean to us - as our pastor and his family and as our best friends.  Thank you for always being there. Thank you for sharing life with us in Troy - the great, the good, and the ugly! So thankful we could always lean on each other... whatever was going on. So thankful for Sunday lunches together, week night dinners together, and being such a part of Parker's life. Thankful for Jacob and Andrew and the once-in-a-lifetime relationship they shared - hunting, fishing, ministry, and all the other guy stuff. Thank for pedicures, Bible studies, and support that I got to share with Kelli. We love you like family and would never let change hinder our relationship.  We love you so much and would NOT be who we are without you! We love you Knicks! 

To Judy - I would have never guessed the amazing friend/co-worker God would bless me with in you. Grateful to be able to interpret with you week in and week out at church. Thankful that we work together at Troy - I WOULD HAVE DIED WITHOUT YOU!!!  Thankful for the encouragement, laughter, understanding, kind words, passion, and truth you bring to my life. I know God is using and will continue to use you and your beautiful family! We love the Robertsons! 

And the last shout-out for this post is to The Motes! 

We love you Mrs. Wanda and Mr. Terry. We would have been lost without you.  Since DAY ONE you took us in. You let us know you were there and you weren't leaving. You spoke truth to us any time it was needed. You stuck by us no matter what was going on. You stepped in to make sure we were okay when our parents were miles away. You offered your home to us and the youth, you stood up for us in EVERY situation, you loved us extremely well, you prayed for us, encouraged us, came and fixed our AC, came and looked at houses with us, cried with us, laughed with us, went on every youth trip with us... WE WOULD BE LOST WITHOUT YOU!!! We are so thankful for you Motes... I can't even find the words. 

Thank you Southside. We love you and will forever be grateful for you.