I’m grateful for small towns. In 1985, John Cougar Mellencamp released the song, Small Town which starts with:

Well, I was born in a small town
And I live in a small town
Probably die in a small town
Oh, those small communities

I don’t remember what I thought about that song (other than I liked it) in 1985, but growing up in a small town (Greenville, Texas), I assumed that was where I would always live.  I love my small town – which isn’t as small as it used to be – it is a great place to have been raised.  I’m grateful for my small town. Also, there’s something about growing up in a town with one high school – we all bled “red and white” and can still sing the words to “We Hail from GHS”… even if we didn’t win much back then!

Our parents raised us in a great church in that small town, where we were able to serve and be part of ministry.  My youth pastor, Becky Black, poured her life into her students and I am one of those that benefited from a woman who loved us well and showed us what it looked like to follow Jesus.  When I was 19 years old and felt like God was impressing on me that He intended for me to serve the church as a vocation, Becky was the first person I went to to help me figure that out.

I ended up leaving my small town to go to another (Marshall) to finish my undergraduate degree and prepare for ministry.  In 1998, I graduated with a degree in marketing from East Texas Baptist University and then headed to Ft. Worth, not a small town, to do graduate work at Southwestern Seminary.  During my first semester in seminary God opened a door for me to leave the church I had begun serving in during college and to move to Saginaw.

Saginaw was a great small town back in the late 90’s – in the middle of Ft. Worth, one high school, and the kindest people on the face of the earth!  The people in that church took me in and raised me up – they were patient with me as I learned to do ministry and they invited me into their homes and loved me as if I were their own.  It was a blind date in Saginaw that would change my life – that is how I met my bride, Theressa.  Then, God led us to serve a church in Denton, before allowing us to come to Arlington in 2009. I’m grateful for those churches.

It has been in this place that Theressa and I were able to grow our family; Kason, Adelaide, and Todd were all born here and First Arlington is their church.  This is the church that has welcomed us, helped us, and loved us.  Theressa and I are both from small towns – we had no idea that one day we would live in the “city” and get to live the life we do – but I’m grateful I have.

We can’t anticipate all the things that God will do in our lifetime, but how has God brought you along on this journey – maybe even from a small town – that has caused you to be grateful?\da