Pastor Ed & Diane; We'll miss you.

Yesterday at the end of our church's morning worship service an announcement was made that caught Paula and me off guard. Our music pastor, Ed McGinnis,has resigned his position effective the end of August.

Ed and Diane are wonderful Christian people. They have been active and influential members of our church since they began attending nearly 4 years ago. Not only have they been active in many church ministries they have hosted several canasta tournaments, a Superbowl party and other fellowship events at their home as well.

They recently blessed Paula by letting her borrow their treadmill so she can start walking inside during the hot summer days. They even delivered it and helped move it to a room in the back of the house.

The music ministry at our church has grown under Ed's leadership. The praise team has grown to include 3 or 4 different groups who take turns leading worship each Sunday. The choir has grown in both numbers, spiritually and in their relationships with each other as Christian brothers and sisters. The Easter and Christmas cantatas have been better and better each year.

The solo singing ministry of the church has grown as well. Ed has always encouraged the people involved in his ministry to step out and sing a "special" during the Sunday morning service. I can think of at least half a dozen or more people who have sung songs prompted by Ed offering them the opportunity and his encouragement.

This is where his ministry has been a blessing to Paula and me. With Ed's encouragement I have seen Paula's passion for singing return to being an active force in her life. She has grown so much as a result of the preparation, performance and message of the songs she's sung on Sunday mornings.

I too have been given opportunities to sing songs that I've always wanted to sing in church. This coming Sunday I'm getting to sing one of my all time favorite gospel songs. Ed's been helpful in any way he could be not only with my solos but with my ventriloquist performances and my children's sermons as well.

As a matter of fact Ed encouraged me to pursue dramatic and light comedy presentations on Sunday mornings. That's an opportunity I never took advantage of. Now that he's leaving I'm wondering if the chance has passed me by. Or perhaps this is a sign that I should start working on getting it done in the near future.

Ed and Diane have recently found out that their 2 daughters will each have their first child by early next year. Both of the daughters live in Florida. The McGinnis family is a very close family. I have only seen them together as a family briefly on a couple of occasions but you can feel the genuine closeness of each member to the other. So it's really not that surprising that they have decided to move back to Florida to be close to their soon to be born grand babies.

Looking on the bright side of things, having friends who live in Orlando Florida (and we've already discussed our going to visit them) close to Disney World might not be a bad thing.

Paula and I wish the Ed and Diane all the best and pray that God will work mightily through them wherever He leads them in their future ministry. God Bless you, Ed and Diane. We'll miss you.