by Shaun Murray

Jordan Valley Church,

You are the beautiful bride of Christ. As many of you have heard, we are moving up to West Haven in the coming months. I want each of you to know that I have not taken this decision lightly, especially given my calling to you here at JVC as one of your shepherds. I have spent hours in prayer seeking the Lord on what his will is for my family’s life and none of this has come easily. I recognize that I’ve been called to JVC as an elder and shepherd and need an equal sense of calling to leave that, which I feel the Lord has given me. As of now, I believe the Lord is calling my family to move to the Ogden area so that we can have Éowyn be in a Christian school that has a program specific for her educational needs. This new area will also make it so my parents can move up and find affordable and nice housing next to us and be involved in their grandchildren’s lives. It also provides a means for us to eventually own a home, which is one of our desires. This move, though quick, is not something that I just take lightly, as I have been called to serve JVC. I will continue to serve you all here, Lord willing, through the summer and help provide the smooth transition that you and my fellow elders deserve.

I rejoice in each of you and am so thankful to the Lord for you all. You have truly been our family from the first day we moved to Utah. Those that have had our family over for dinner, our community groups, our times helping others move, and our men’s group have been highlights to me. It has been an honor to lead you all in worship and preach to you throughout the years. I have been thankful for the privilege of praying for you, and for the joy that comes in seeing each of your hearts in your prayer requests. Men, I have enjoyed meeting on Thursday nights and being transparent with you all and you with me. We have friendships that will last a lifetime. You all have been there for my family in the rough years and have encouraged us, week after week, and for that I am eternally grateful.

I now want to spend time in this newsletter encouraging each and everyone of you. The Lord is a good God and worthy of all of our praise, worship, glory and honor. My heart’s desire is that Christ would be formed in you. That you would know the fullness of the love of God, know the height, width, and depth of his love. That you would see Christ is worthy of your whole life’s devotion. That he is worthy to be followed in the good and the bad, in the easy and the difficult, in the trials, the suffering, the persecution, and on and on. Our Lord Jesus Christ is gentle and lowly, there for the least of you to the greatest of you. His heart goes out to each and every one of you, and I feel the same way. I love you all and would gladly jump in front of a bullet for each and every one of you. Whether I have had a deep conversation with you or just said hi in passing, I am thankful for you.

Paul says in Ephesians 4:11-16 that “he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

Beloved, this is such a beautiful passage, that we are a whole body joined together, and when working properly we grow and grow. We are to reach maturity, the fullness of Christ and grow up in every way into our Head, the Lord Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, this has been my desire to see all of you grow. To see you reach maturity and fullness and I know that God who began a good work in you all will bring it to completion. My call for you all is to pursue Christ your King in all of your life. To be the hands, the feet, the heart, the lungs, and the organs for one another. To build up those that are struggling and weak, to exhort one another while it is called “today” so that each of you may not be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. You have your pastors and shepherds here to do this very thing, and my prayer is that more would be raised up.

Again, I want you all to know that leaving is not something we have taken as an easy thing or quick thing to do. Though it has come abruptly I do feel it is the Lord’s will and will provide a means to give Éowyn the help she needs and our family a place to continue to be built up, renewed, and, Lord willing, able to continue to serve the church and body of Christ up there. I would love to speak to each of you individually after church on Sunday or over coffee and food so that I can share our reasons for moving and also my heart for JVC. Please come up after church to ask any questions that you have and give us the opportunity to share what we feel called to.

With deep love for you all,
Shaun