Farewells challenge us but also bless us with a new begininning. Becca and I are answering the call to Asbury Seminary with a sense of joy, but we will definitely miss Trinity United Methodist Church. Trinity truly is a great place to serve. Here is the farewell letter that I sent to the congregation after I was formally accepted into the Beeson Program at Asbury:

"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door … you step into the road and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to."
Frodo Baggins quoting Bilbo Baggins (J.R.R Tolkien)

The Fellowship of the Ring, p. 83

Becca and I are blessed to serve such a wonderful place as Trinity. In June 2006, I will complete three years as one of your associate ministers. When I arrived I was little more than a whiskerless youth, had only served two churches prior to Trinity and was also unmarried. Three years later, not quite so young but still whiskerless, I have served one of the great jewels of the North Alabama Conference with one of the most generous senior ministers in Methodism and married the greatest lady on the face of the earth. At Trinity my cup has truly run over.

Yet now a new challenge has come. It is a challenge that Becca and I have actively sought. In fact, it is a challenge that many of you have helped me embrace – chiefly, Charles Gattis, Patty Lowe, Niles Schoening, and Tony Akers.

I have been selected as a finalist for the Beeson Pastor Fellowship at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky for the 2006-2007 academic year. This is a four-year Doctoral Program, consisting of 11 months of on-campus course work and then a three year continuing education period during which time I will complete a dissertation. Usually, there are nearly 200 applicants to the Beeson Pastor Fellowship. Only 12 are selected.

Why am I doing this? Nearly as long as I have experienced a call to the ministry, part of that call has been to start a new United Methodist Church. The Beeson Fellowship at Asbury Theological Seminary is a great opportunity for a small group of pastors who have demonstrated gifts at leadership and preaching to gain the skills needed to build new congregations. In short, it is the best training in the world for what is known as 'church planting' ministry.

Where will this new church be? Not even the Bishop knows that, only God. However, Becca and I take comfort in the fact that God is getting the soil ready for a great ‘ChristGarden’ that will help many people not only grow in their own faith but be a place where the faithful may be so pruned and directed that they might also lead others to grow in their faith in Christ.

Asbury Seminary will care for us almost as well as Trinity has. The program offers a living stipend, tuition, books, a nice little apartment which is dedicated to serve the Beeson students, and travel expenses for all the on-site visits to churches that are growing in quality, quantity and faith in Christ. The whole scholarship is valued at approximately $40,000.

When I told one person about this opportunity, she said, “Kentucky? Isn’t that a long commute?” Becca and I are excited about this doctoral program, but, unfortunately, there will be no commute. We will be very sad to be leaving Trinity on June 13, 2006. And it is difficult for me to even write those words: 'leaving Trinity.'

You have been our family as Becca and I have started our lives together. In the faith, you have been our brothers, sisters, fathers, and mothers, bringing unexpected magic into our lives. We’ve held your babies. We’ve been there when your loved ones arose to touch the face Jesus. We’ve seen much together in three years, but ...

"The Road goes ever on and on

down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

and I must follow, if I can.

Pursuing it with eager feet,

until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet

and whither then? I cannot say."

We still have four months together. Our common journey on this road is not complete. I promise: no slacking off. There shall be no trifling sermons that merely inspire you to go to lunch. However, if you see me looking wispy-eyed while walking the New Room stage, if you see me in the sanctuary pulpit on a Monday morning looking out over empty pews, or if you see Becca and I holding hands in the Sanctuary’s East Transept where we got engaged, don’t be concerned. We are merely reflecting and also praising God for all the wonderful times that we have had serving at Trinity United Methodist Church and how we will miss you all very much.

In Christ,
Trav Wilson