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I've know AJ Sherrill a long time. I met him in Orlando when we were both running 20something ministries at mega-churches. That was almost 13 years ago. I've seen him grow from a college student with a lot of potential, to a man of stature with maturity and authority. I have handed over ministries to him on 2 occasions. The 1st, STATUS, the 20 something ministry I led, which blossomed and bloomed under his leadership in remarkable ways. The other was the Chelsea Parish of Trinity Grace Church. This too flourished under his care. I have been involved in pioneering a church planting network with him (The Origins Movement) which saw him move to LA to plant Origins LA, and taught with him at various leadership events over the years. I had the honor of helping introducing him to his wife, and performing their wedding ceremony when they eventually married. (To say he married up is an understatement). I've seen him move from a Batchelor degree at UCF to multiple seminary degrees and a Doctorate from Fuller. It's been a joy.
AJ moved to Manhattan 5 years ago join our staff team, lead out at Chelsea, and contribute to the movement as a whole. Over that time he has grown in his passion for sacrament and history, the contemplative and the charismatic, and brought that to the table to enrich us all. But New York is one of those places, and the wind blows where it wills, and several months back a cool Michigan breeze began to blow on the shores of the city.
Mars Hill church has been an anomaly in American Culture. Founded by Rob Bell and one of the fasted growing in our countries history, it's struggled to find its way and place and beyond its charismatic founding pastor. But a church is its people, not just its pulpit, and a faithful core committed to the way do Jesus and the city of Grand Rapids, have serviced and loved in a faithful, fruitful and resilient way. In a sovereign act of God, and a shared sense of call, the Sherrills sensed God moving them from The Highline to the Lake. Starting in September AJ will become the Lead and Teaching Pastor at Mars Hill. When he first shared this with me I was immediate struck by both sadness and joy. Sadness for the loss around our table, joy for the new one he will create and lead. I have been both blessed and challenged by AJ and Mars Hill over the years, and the thought of one of my friends leading this church into the future, out of a rich biblical and theological history into a spirit filled future is a source of joy.
So on a beautiful Summer day, in a back alley on a roof in the middle of Manhattan, we gathered to honor our brother. Favorite wine, South African Scotch, and celebratory cigars all came together to mark a moment of sadness and joy. Words of affirmation, prayers of blessing, and gratitude to God, rose to heaven with the smoke of our cigars. And the most biblical way we know how, we sent one of our own who has been joining God in the renewal of all things, to live out the way of Jesus in missional communities, announcing the arrival of his kingdom, working for measurable change among the oppressed.
And our simple prayer is found in Colossians 1,
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of Colossians 1:9-12
