No longer a pastor's wife

Dear friends and family,

This last week was one of the worst weeks we have experienced as a married couple, if not (for me) in my life. On Tuesday, Raleigh was asked to resign from his position as college pastor. The leadership of our church did not feel that Raleigh had "performed" to their expectations. They thought his leadership was "not a good fit" for this job. They did not think the numbers in the group were high enough, and therefore, asked him to resign. At least that is what they would say...

As I write this there is nothing more that I want to do than to tell you all the details and exactly what happened- yet Raleigh has reminded me that on my blog may not be the best place to do that, since it is so public (even though I say that is the purpose of a blog! To say what you want to say when you want to say it!). But let's just say this: the last 5 months have been torturous. Raleigh has come home discouraged, beaten down, and has had his character attacked. We together as a couple have basically tried to do ministry with our hands tied behind our backs. I have probably said too much already but 95% of you that read this live in Oregon and care about us, and are far enough removed from the situation that I feel it's OK to say this. And, it's the truth. So you see, we now feel that this leadership team has called us down here (well, GOD called us down here but you know what I mean) and now have said, 'well, we gave you a year and a half, allowed you to go to a few conferences, and made you read these books, so that should have been plenty of time to grow a group.' Did you not remember that Raleigh had JUST GRADUATED COLLEGE when you hired him?!!? And do you not realize that this group is more healthy now than it ever has been (according to people who would actually know 'cause they've been here)?

I'm sorry..this is just an extremely frustrating situation. Injustice has been done, lies have been told, and our prayer now, is that truth will come out. If you think of it, pray this with us. We want nothing more than God to be glorified in all circumstances, and are just processing these things, grieving the loss of this job/opportunity, and trying to pray that truth will prevail.

In closing, Raleigh and I both have had the week to get through but in turn are stronger for it. We feel stronger as a couple, stronger as individuals, and stronger in our relationships with the Lord. He is leading us somehow- and will lead us to the next step, even though unfortunately right now we just don't feel like we want to go into ministry right away. These wounds will take a while to heal but we know they will, and that God will use this someday to empower us and use us as effective, POSITIVE leaders for His kingdom. I want to thank you Oregonians for your support. We love you and miss you SO much. Ok that's all for now.