September 11, 2023

Greetings church family,

As we embark upon the next phase of our church family together, I find it important for you to know what my commitments and promises are to you.  When I married Stephanie in 2018, I wrote a series of vows to her. Those vows are my commitments to her and our marriage. In a similar spirit, I am writing to you promises that I make to you, through our local church body.  These are the promises I make to you.

I promise to preach the Word. There is no higher honor than to preach the full counsel of God’s Word. There is no power in my words- but there is life changing, eternity altering, soul saving power in the Holy Scriptures.  As under-shepherd of this flock, we will feed upon the milk and feast upon the solid meat of God’s Word. I promise not to serve you worldly junk; microwaved, shallow sermons; or sugar-coated motivational speeches. I promise to serve you with the tender, slow-cooked meat of the Word, marinated in prayer, seasoned with love, and presented with passion.

I promise to be your Under-shepherd. I promise to pray for you and with you.  I will pray for your spiritual, emotional, and physical health. I promise to teach you God’s Word and show you how it applies to your daily life. I promise to correct you and rebuke you when needed, and to do so in grace and love. I promise to warn you of false teachers and unbiblical practices. I promise to give you Godly counsel.

I promise to direct you to Jesus. To paraphrase another minister, we pastors don’t have all the answers, but we point to the One who does.  No one else can save you, but Jesus.  There is no hope apart from Jesus.  There is no soul satisfaction apart from Jesus.  You will not be content apart from Jesus.  Your salvation, hope, fulfillment, and satisfaction must come from Christ. I promise to continually and perpetually point you to Jesus Christ.

I promise to do my best. Excellence is a personal core value of mine. This does not mean I am the best- far from it.  This does mean that I promise to give my personal best.  With whatever time, energy, and ability God has given me for a particular task, my drive is to tackle that task with excellence.  God deserves our best, and I refuse to give anything less.

I promise to guard the health of our church. Too frequently churches become imbalanced.  On one hand, there are pastors who overwhelm themselves by trying to do it all.  On the other hand, there are churches that have a small number of volunteers that wind up exhausted and frustrated because they are the only ones serving.  Ministry is to be shared by all Christians in God’s church. As a Christian who attends HCC, if you are not already serving, you should be in ministry serving our body in some way.

I promise I will not make everybody happy. My goal is to bring glory and honor to God. We may have disagreements from time to time, you may not always agree with my decisions or the way I do things. We can still maintain unity even if we don’t fully see eye to eye all the time.

I promise to grow together with you.  I am 39 as I write this letter. By God’s good grace I have grown significantly in the past decade. God has taught me much and matured me in many ways. Yet, there are so many ways left to grow. I promise to keep my spiritual fire going and to continue to be molded by the Holy Spirit as He sanctifies me through the washing of the Word.  As one mentor told me, “As a pastor it is far more important WHO you are than WHAT you do.”

These are seven of my commitments to God and to you. I am eager and excited to see what God has in-store for this local flock of His worldwide, time-spanning Kingdom.  Together we will make much of the name of Jesus, grow deeper in our walk with Jesus, and spread His Gospel to our neighborhood and beyond.  

In Christ Alone,
Adrian Black, Lead Pastor