Pastor’s Corner – April 2011
Why Ohio?
For a true southern boy
raised in the hills of North Georgia (no, I don’t
mind being called a hillbilly. I wear the title
proudly!) and his wife, who hails from Western
Colorado, we have been repeatedly asked, “Why Ohio?”
“Why would you leave South Carolina and move to
Ohio?” Frankly, it’s a question we asked ourselves.
Ohio was not on our top 5 (ok, not even our top 49)
list of states we could choose if it were left
completely up to us. But thank God, it was not
totally up to us! God had a big say, in fact, the
ultimate say, in our moving to Ohio.
In all honesty, we came to
check out the opportunity at Berean out of
obligation. We knew we couldn’t refuse to at least
check out the opportunity for no other reason than
because Ohio wasn’t our place of preference. It’s
kind of hard to do that and then preach about being
willing to do whatever/go wherever God wants you to
go. Come to think of it, it’s not only hard – it’s
hypocritical!
So we came for a visit
honestly praying that God would use that visit to
give us clear direction to know whether to continue
pursuing this opportunity. Again, honesty compels me
to say, we were hoping we would have a reason to say
no, that’s not God’s will for our family. But
because God is God and He knows best, we came away
from that first visit with a totally different
spirit. Don’t get me wrong. We didn’t know for sure
that we were Ohio-bound from that visit, but we were
a lot more open to seriously considering Berean (and
yes, Ohio) as a great opportunity of ministry for
our family.
Why the sudden change? What
made us more open to Berean? It wasn’t the place. We
weren’t instantly converted into Ohio fans – sorry
Buckeyes! My wife especially prefers warmer
climates. It wasn’t even the position. I was looking
for a main assistant pastorate rather than a lead
pastorate. It was the people. From that first trip,
God began uniting our hearts with the people of
Berean and giving us a burden to minister with and
to them.
And though Ohio hasn’t
completely gotten the memo that Spring is here, we
wouldn’t trade being here for anything. There is
nothing comparable to knowing God’s will and being
right in the middle of it! We look forward with
anticipation to what God will do in us and through
us in the days to come at Berean Bible Church!
- Pastor John, Sarah, Hailey,
McKenzie and Macy Hutcheson
