Thirteen years and two months ago, before there was Valor, James, or even Abby Gjertsen, a recent single college graduate Gjertsen had just relocated from Memphis to Orlando, and visited Orlando Grace Church for the very first time (after finding it in the Yellow Pages—how times change!).

I remember a lot of things from that first Sunday. One was that my very first Sunday was the last Sunday for a family who was moving—ironically—to Tennessee. It’s easy to this day to remember their surname was the Goforths.

Suddenly I find myself and my family learning very rapidly what it is like to Goforth.

I leave Orlando Grace Church with a heaviness in my heart because I have big, thick spiritual roots that are nourished here. I have a place where sin is confessed, where victory is celebrated, where love is demonstrated, where truth is proclaimed. It is a risky thing to leave that sort of a place and move to a small town without knowing much about the spiritual climate.

So Pastor Curt advised me to do some research, and write an email to a number of churches. With the clarification that he wishes no one else to leave OGC ever, especially in church leadership, he encouraged me to post the email on this blog:

Dear pastor,

I’m presently evaluating a job offer which would relocate me from the Orlando, FL metro area to New Bern, NC. As I presently serve as a deacon and my wife and I are very involved at my present church (www.orlandograce.org), finding a suitable place to worship in a new city is not a small piece of the evaluation process. I am hoping you are not too busy to indulge me in answering a few questions about your church:

1. what is your approach to preaching (expositional? topical? something different?)?
2. what is your philosophy or approach to corporate worship?
3. how is foreign missions emphasized to your people?
4. how is evangelism emphasized to your people?
5. does your church promote involvement / use of spiritual gifts within the congregation?
6. how is your church governed?
7. where does your church fit in a spectrum between “high church” and “seeker sensitivity”?
8. anything else you might add as far as “distinctives” of your church?

(I apologize if some of these questions are answered partially or fully on your website; I’m more or less sending this same email to a number of pastors in the New Bern area. I’d much rather you answer briefly or not answer all questions than not hear from you at all.)

Just by way of telling you where I’m coming from, Orlando Grace could be called a reformed Baptist church. We use (most of) the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith as a doctrinal statement, hold to the sovereignty of God in salvation, TULIP, the “solas”, etc. John Piper would be an example of an esteemed contemporary author.

While I don’t regard the extremely small slice of the evangelical pie which is “reformed Baptist” as an essential requirement in a new church home, it might not work very well to come alongside a church which was in any sense hostile to Calvinism, either. So as a bonus question, I’m curious to know how your church views such matters as Calvinism vs. Arminianism.

Please understand I’m certainly not writing this email to get into a debate with anyone over doctrine, and I’m thankful for brothers and sisters in Christ with a variety of doctrinal distinctions who share an eternal inheritance. If anything in this email you would prefer to answer over the phone, feel free to give me a call in the evening at 321-xxx-xxxx. I hope to hear from you soon!

For the sake of his name among all the nations,
John Gjertsen

I must confess that I had my doubts that this email would even be answered, much less answered well, but I was amazed at the response. Out of eight pastors, seven responded. There were churches that might work, churches that would definitely not work so well, and a couple that seemed like really strong possibilities. And regardless of the fit, each man who responded did so with grace and humility, and genuinely showed us hospitality and goodwill.

I write this for the sake of all people who dig deep in their relationships and invest in their local church. I can’t imagine living any other way. At some point, there is a time and season where God may call many of us to be in another place. Responses to a survey such as the one I sent can serve as a great comfort—or a warning—as you Goforth.