I do it to myself every time. I’m always saying, “I’ll never move again. With God as my witness, I’ll never go through this again.” Meanwhile, God looks on, chuckles, and starts counting the days till He has me reserved for a U-Haul.
Here we go again. As I am writing these words in late January, I am surrounded by boxes of books, files, and assorted junk. And that’s just the office. We are in the process of moving our office from the urban jungle of Jackson, IN, to the Nashville suburb of Franklin/Brentwood, about two hours down Interstate-40. (The office is in Brentwood, just across the street from Franklin, which is where the Post Office box is. See, it’s already confusing, and we’re just getting started.)
What prompts this move to the home of the Grand Ole Opry and Goo-Goo Clusters? After 16 years as a free agent, I am selling Preaching Resources, Inc., to iExalt, Inc., a Christian products and services company which also owns iExalt Electronic Publishing (formerly NavPress Software), Christian Times newspapers, ChristianSpeakers.com, and a host of other enterprises. In turn, iExalt is hiring me to become full-time President/CEO of Preaching Resources, under the iExalt umbrella.
Talk about a life transition. After nearly two decades of working with educational institutions full-time while editing Preaching on nights and weekends, this is about to become my day job. I’m leaving the cozy confines of academia for the competitive crunch of corporate life. But looking at it from another perspective, they are going to pay me to do what I’ve been doing for fun all these years. Is this a great country or what?
We’ll be moving to the Franklin area to share office space with other iExalt business groups, such as Christian Speakers and ChristianArtists.com. Since no one else in the office will be over age 30, and I’m 47 (a very youthful 47, to be sure), I’m anticipating clever personal references to “Grandpa” on a regular basis. (I’m only hoping that being the father of 6 and 2-year-old boys will cut down on some of the “Gramps” comments.)
As part of our move, we are going to have the opportunity to significantly expand our ministry resources and services for pastors. In the coming weeks and months you’ll be seeing lots of new features at preaching.com, expanded resources as part of Preaching On-Line, a new weekly e-mail newsletter, and lots more. Being part of a larger Christian organization will provide a foundation which will help us serve you more effectively.
But all that is in the future. For now, it’s boxes and U-Haul trucks and new telephones and all that. Just don’t forget to pack the rocking chair — Grandpa’s going to be needing it when we get there.
