The Unexpected Fruit - Life Update

It has been just over a month since I stepped into the role of Senior Pastor at Earlham Church of Christ, and I have been trying to find the right time to sit down and write about it. Honestly, I think I have been putting it off because I am still trying to understand what has been happening in me. But I think that is exactly why I need to write it. Some of you have walked with our family for years. Some of you just met us. Either way, you deserve an honest update, not just on where we are, but on who I am becoming in the middle of it.

So let me try to put words to something that has been hard to explain.

When I served as an Associate Pastor, I loved the people. I loved the work. But there is a kind of weight that comes with being the one leading, the one the elders and the congregation look to, that I genuinely did not anticipate. It is not a burdensome weight. It is a holy one.

Almost the moment I stepped into this role, I felt something shift. People treated the position with a reverence I had not experienced before, not because I had changed, but because the role itself carries something sacred. There is a level of trust and respect handed to a lead pastor that is simply different than what is given to an associate, and I felt that difference almost instantly. It humbled me before I had done a single thing to earn it.

I think that is by design. Scripture tells us in James 3:1 that "Not many should become teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive a stricter judgment." That verse has taken on new weight for me. I do not carry this role lightly, and I don't think I am supposed to.

What has surprised me most has not been anything dramatic. It has been the small things.

The way I read a room shifted almost overnight. I find myself noticing details I used to walk right past, while at the same time feeling like I can step back and see the bigger picture of what God is doing across the whole church. It is a strange and wonderful combination, being more focused and more zoomed out at the same moment.

I have also noticed something happening in my own spirit that I did not orchestrate. I was already someone who prayed often. But lately my prayer life has deepened in a way I cannot fully explain. I find myself lost in conversation with the Father, not out of discipline or obligation, but because I genuinely do not want to leave the conversation. Galatians 5:22-23 talks about the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. I have come to believe that when God calls you deeper into a role, He hands you deeper measures of that fruit to sustain you in it. I did not ask for most of these changes. They simply started showing up.

Here is the part I want to say carefully, because I do not want it to sound arrogant. I do not feel that way about it at all. But I have to be honest with you.

I feel like I was built for this exact position.

Not because I am uniquely gifted or qualified above anyone else, but because I can look back over every season of my life, Kansas, Bible college, my time at Pathway under my uncle Dan, and see how each one was preparing me for this specific moment at Earlham Church of Christ. Nothing was wasted. God was shaping and molding and teaching me very specific things, and I could not always see the purpose while I was in it. I can see it now.

Jeremiah 29:11 says "For I know the plans I have for you, this is the Lord's declaration, plans for your welfare, not for disaster, plans to give you a future and a hope." I have read that verse a hundred times over the years. I don't think I ever felt it the way I feel it now.

Beyond all of the internal shifts, there is something simpler happening too. Tanja, our girls and I have fallen head over heels for this town. There is something about small town life, the way neighbors actually know each other, the slower pace, the way people show up for one another, that has captured our hearts far more than we expected. We came here for the ministry, but the people have been an incredible gift. Whenever I venture in to the market for lunch, I seem to stop and have three or four conversaitons with people. Some in passing venhicles, some waiving me down from a local business. It has been something I'm not used to, and have enjoyed incredibly.

I will say this too, just to be honest with you, because that is what this blog has always been about. As we have fallen in love with Earlham, God has also started stirring something in us about what our future here might look like. I do not have details to share yet, and honestly there is nothing concrete to tell. But I would not be surprised if the next couple of years bring some changes for our family, changes that grow out of this love we have found here. Whatever that looks like, I believe it will be good.

If you are part of the ECC family, thank you for welcoming us the way you have. The trust you have extended to me has not been lost on me, and I do not take it for granted. If you have been away from church for a while, I would love for you to come see what God is doing here. And if you are reading this from far away, just checking in on the Hudson family, know that we are well, we are growing, and we are grateful. The girls are doing incredible. Oakley starts daycare / preschool at Des Moines Christian in a couple weeks, and Evie is growing up way too fast! Tanja has had some great news at work recently and continues to absolutle love her job. She has already been such an encouragement and source of support for me this past month. I'm blessed so much more than I deserve every day!

This really does feel like our moment. Not because anything is finished, but because everything feels like it is just beginning.

Grateful and pressing forward,

-Tom, Tanja, and the girls