To the Students of New Life...

Amazing students...

You are the ones that often take the brunt when situations happen like the one that we are experiencing at New Life. The church that you have grown to love and call home goes through turmoil and you are left feeling confused and wondering if the church is even worth being a part of.

My heart is sad.

If there is anything that I have wanted to do in student ministry it has been to give students a love for the church.

Why?

I believe that the church is the greatest entity in the world. It was established by Jesus. It is where people who follow Jesus gather to worship Him, learn more about Him, find community, and serve others. If I had a ministry goal it would be that students who were a part of my ministry would be committed to Jesus and serve in the church for the rest of their lives.

And yet, even though Jesus loves His church, the church is made up of imperfect people. And sadly imperfection in people leads to imperfect relationships, imperfect decisions, imperfect reactions, and imperfect results. We are experiencing this together and are pained.

I know that over the next weeks and months you will have many questions about what has transpired at New Life and you will go through the feelings of confusion, anger, and sadness. These are ok emotions. Let yourself feel these things. But in the end, I beg of you -- do not lose your love for the church. Do not let this situation, or those like it in the future, deter you from following hard after God. It is in God alone that you must place your trust. While churches or people might let you down, He never will.

I have processed deeply the events that have transpired and wrestled with what I should do given the situation. I have decided that the best course of action for me is to resign my position at New Life effective Monday.

I want you to know that it has been an honor to serve you and I hope that in our short time together you have gained something.

Since there are no services this weekend, I will be at the Starbucks on 83rd and Bell from 10:00am - 11:00am if you would like to stop by, grab a coffee, and say hi.

Just so you know, Ariel and I love Arizona and we are not planning on going anywhere! My number is not changing and I will still be very active on social media. Please know that you can always reach out.

Much love!

Zach