Dear Gruene Church family,
Grace and Peace to you in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I love you all so much, and it is with a heavy heart that I share this news: I have been asked by our bishop Robert Schnase, and I have accepted a new appointment as the senior pastor at Colonial Hills United Methodist Church in San Antonio. I will begin the new appointment on June 27th, so my last Sunday at Gruene will be June 20th.
This news was a surprise to me and to our family, and I know it comes as a shock to many of you, and may be difficult to process. United Methodist pastors are itinerant, and sometimes that calling takes us in unexpected directions.
I want you to know how blessed I have been to have served at Gruene UMC over the past four years! Gruene is a congregation that cares deeply about the mission and ministries in our community. I have seen you embody the love of Christ for our neighbors in creative and beautiful ways. Through a global pandemic we strengthened our outreach as we improved our online worship and connections, sent cards and gifts, kept our ministries open, and continued giving to those in need in our community! I am so proud of the work that we have done together and how far we have come. There are signs of life springing up everywhere as folks are returning to worship and small groups, some of us seeing one another for the first time in over a year! We have so much to be thankful for, so much to look forward to, and so many blessings to experience together as we love God and one another. I will miss seeing you each week, working with our amazing staff, talented worship teams, and our warm and loving congregation. Our time here has been such a gift, and we will forever treasure this season of ministry.
Friends, I want to humbly ask something of you: In the next couple of weeks when we receive the news about who is coming to Gruene, please pray for, and be open to receive your new pastor, just as you would hope and pray that our family is welcomed at our new appointment. Greet the new pastor and the pastor’s family with open arms and the warmest of welcomes. May this ending be tied to a big bright beautiful beginning for them and for Gruene- and trust that all of this is in God’s strong and loving hands. Christ is going ahead of us into whatever the future looks like, always breathing new life, and inviting us into a new beginning.
May the Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ go with you,
Wherever he may send you…
with love, Pastor Dan