Donnie Carroll's Transition

On May 16, our children's minister Donnie Carroll announced his resignation from his staff position at Southern Hills in order to devote himself more fully to his role at Hendrick Home for Children.  Below is the statement he read:

In the past 3 years, Lisa & I have felt God calling us to reach out toward children without parents.  We were trained for infant care through Christian Homes of Abilene, but then we were approached by Hendrick Home to do relief parenting.  We kept girls in our home on weekends that Terry and Malinda Calhoun were “off.”  We did this for about a year, and then, last May, the death of our good friend, Malinda, set in motion the opportunity to be the houseparents for the very girls to which we had been relief parents.  We accepted that position last June at Hendrick Home. 

This summer, as of July 15, at the end of our Summer Bible Adventure, I will be leaving the children’s ministry position here to work full-time at Hendrick Home for Children.  We are not leaving Abilene, we are not leaving Southern Hills – we are seeing this as a front-porch opportunity that Lisa & I can share together.  What makes this change hard is that it will mark an end to the daily interaction with our incredible staff; what makes it easier is knowing that we’re not going anywhere and we can maintain our relationships here with the kids & parents & church family.  I believe these are great times for this church family and even greater days are ahead.  I just cannot maintain the physical, mental & emotional demands of two jobs of this nature and I have chosen to put my energies into the mission of Hendrick Home.

Donnie has been a beloved member and minister at Southern Hills for over seven years.  We are thankful for the ministry he and Lisa have done among us, and will continue to do at Hendrick.  And while we will miss having Donnie as a part of our ministry team, we are thrilled that the Carrolls will continue to be part of our church family.