A new season is opening before us at Troy Christian Chapel, and I step into it with a grateful heart. My family and I have been blessed to know this congregation as the central part of our lives for many years. You have been our family, our friends, our supporters. You have blessed us and taught us more than we can express. So, becoming Senior Pastor feels less like entering unfamiliar territory and more like continuing a journey with people I love. There is deep joy in knowing that while roles may shift and responsibilities may change, the relationships, the shared faith, and the Lord who binds us together remain steady and sure.
As I step into this role, I do so with deep affection and gratitude for those who have faithfully shepherded this body before me. Pastor Jon has served with a steady heart and a genuine love for Christ’s people. His years of ministry here have shaped the life of this church in ways that will continue bearing fruit long into the future. Sharon has poured herself into this congregation with quiet strength and unwavering devotion, blessing countless lives through her faithfulness. I am profoundly thankful for both of them. Their faithfulness has prepared the ground for what comes next.
And yet, even as we honor faithful servants, in a time of transition it is important for the Church to remember where our confidence truly rests. Paul wrote to the Corinthians during a season when personalities were being elevated and compared, to the detriment of the witness of the church. We at TCC do not share those struggles, but the principle he gives still stands firm for every church in every generation: Christ is the true Head of the Church. We are all servants.
The Apostle Paul writes:
What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
—1 Corinthians 3:5–9
Paul’s words remind us that leaders—past, present, and future—are ministers through whom we have believed, as the Lord has assigned. Christ alone is the Head. God alone gives the increase. The church belongs to Him, and He is faithful to carry His work forward through every season.
And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
—Colossians 1:17–18
Christ says in Matthew’s gospel:
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
—Matthew 16:18
So, leadership may change, but the One who leads us does not. His character does not shift with seasons. His mission does not bend with circumstances. His commission does not expire when roles transition. That is the heart of this new beginning. We stand under the same Christ, the same Head, the same Lord, and the same commission He gave His disciples:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
—Matthew 28:19–20
The work before us is the same work entrusted to every generation of believers—to proclaim Christ, to love His people, to serve our community, and to walk in the power of the Spirit. And certainly, as we move forward, there will be changes. Seasons of transition always bring fresh opportunities to strengthen our witness and deepen our faithfulness. But every change we embrace will be anchored in Christ and shaped by the commands He has given us.
Over the past year I have spoken often of the Vision of Troy Christian Chapel as a City on a Hill. We are called to be a church whose life together shines the light of Christ clearly and beautifully into our community. A people whose worship, service, compassion, and holiness point unmistakably to our Lord. Together we are committed to being a beacon of hope, truth, and grace in Troy and beyond. That vision remains before us, and by God’s grace, we will walk toward it together.
My commitment to you in this season is this: I will love and serve this body as God directs and enables. I will seek His wisdom, His timing, His leading, and His heart. I know I will not walk this calling alone. My wife Dawn will continue serving alongside me as the Lord directs. I am grateful to walk this path with her at my side. And I know each of us as part of this beautiful family will continue to strive to become more like Christ in character and action, in calling and in obedience. Together, we will see this congregation continue to give glory to God through obedience to the work of His Spirit and Word in His people.
My prayer for TCC is that we would embrace this new beginning with joy, without losing sight of the foundation of all that God has wrought in the past. May we welcome fresh opportunities to forward the cause of the gospel that never changes. May we together, as one body, follow our unchanging Lord into the work He has prepared for us.
May the Lord find us all faithful in all He entrusts to our hands.
Grace and peace.
In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Brian