One Year Later: A Letter to Southpointe Community Church

  Precious Brothers and Sisters,

It seems futile to even try to express the joy I have in being with you over the past year. Living life along side of you in Nolensville has been so incredibly enjoyable and life-giving. This year has been both the busiest and the most enjoyable year I have ever had, and for that I am humbled by both God’s grace and your warm welcome. I remember as if it were yesterday, getting word that SPCC was looking for a Youth Pastor. After attending Tennessee Tech and having multiple friends in the Nashville area, coupled with my love for the state of Tennessee, the opportunity caused my heart to leap with excitement about the possibility of moving back to Middle Tennessee to walk the road of repentance with precious saints, following the leading of God in my own life as well as the life of Southpointe Community Church.  I was with SPCC and the folks of the search committee about 10 minutes before I knew this was a place I would like to be for a really long time!

So, on this, the one year anniversary of our stories coming together I want to say Thank You. Thank You that you allow me the privilege of spending time with your covenant children, to walk alongside you as we carry them to the foot of the cross, preparing them for seeing their Savior who loves them and gave himself up for them (Gal 2:20). Thank You that you allow me to stand and deliver the Word of God to you, and by God’s grace you see that this Jesus I proclaim to you is the Christ (Acts 17:3). Thank You that you open your homes to me. As an unmarried man in ministry, the looming loneliness can be overwhelming. You have not failed to treat me as a native among you and not a sojourner, and you have loved me as one of your own (Lev. 19:34). 

My prayer as we continue on is for many more years together as the Lord would allow. I pray that you and your covenant children would continue to see the beauty of the Lord (Psalm 27). I also pray that SPCC and Elevate Student ministries would be as a city on a hill.(Matt. 5:14).  A beacon for the community of Nolensville that loves and serves the town with gospel intentionality, so much so that if, God forbid, SPCC would ever have to close its doors, the town of Nolensville would be heartbroken to see her leave, and that a watching world would see, believe, and fall in love with the Gospel of grace, and that SPCC would continue to be humble, gracious, and loving as it seeks to advance the Kingdom to all the corners of the Earth, and that the knowledge of the glory of the Lord would spread across Nolensville and the surrounding areas, as the waters cover the seas (Hab 2:14). 

It is the desire of my heart to walk this road of repentance with you. I hope that I will always be the chief repenter on the journey of faith and obedience to a greater dependence of God and his transforming grace, for as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love for those who fear Him (Ps. 103:11)

Because He Lives,

Darrell E. Jones