Sadness...

Life has been interesting the past couple weeks in the Trepanier household. Some of you may already know that our new home church out here in California has been having difficulties. Let me rewind and give you the background of things...

When we first moved out to California, we attended a great church is Pasadena. The plan was to be mentored by the wonderful pastor that was there and work at the church to get through seminary. About a month after we moved out here, the pastor decided that God was moving him along and he left the church. That pretty much left us high and dry, but we just simply trusted that God would work out the details.

Before the pastor left, he introduced us to a asst. pastor in Santa Clarita, CA whose name is Jon Duncan. When we met Pastor Jon, we knew that our hearts and minds were on the same page as far as ministry. We were so excited to work with him at Santa Clarita Baptist Church. Because of that, we relocated to Canyon Country, we moved out here about 2 miles from the church and got jobs out here so that we could be close to our new church.

About 4 months after we moved out here, the senior pastor, Pete Mothershead resigned. We were sad, but excited about the prospect of Pastor Jon to be moving into the position of senior pastor.

We have spent the last 7 months in close ministry with Pastor Jon and his wife Marlene while he has held the position of interim pastor. Not only do we get along in the ministry, but also on a deep personal level we consider them to be close friends.

About two weeks ago, the pulpit committee/deacon board of our church decided that they would not be pursuing Pastor Jon for the senior pastor position at our church. To say that we were stunned would be an understatement. Most of the church was stunned, and the church body was in upheaval. To make a very long story short, in order to prevent more hurt and division, Pastor Jon announced from the pulpit today that he would be no longer pursuing the senior pastor position (because there was talk that the deacons might change their minds and ask him). He announced that they would be pursuing other senior pastorate positions.

We spent last night with Pastor Jon and Marlene and were just encouraged by their friendship and their humility. The way that they have handled this whole awkward situation has just been a testimony to their godly character.

Please pray for our church, Santa Clarita Baptist Church. There are a lot of hurting and confused people. There is potential for many members of the church to be leaving because of this decision. Right now, Dave and I feel like the Lord would have us to stay and try to minister to this church as best as we can. We are sad about Pastor Jon and Marlene leaving, but we know that God is in control, and that life is good because God is. We don't always understand His ways, but we trust that He is in control.