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When I came to NMBCH after seventeen years in the pastorate, I thought I understood ministry. I had preached funerals and weddings, sat in hospital rooms, and walked congregations through seasons of grief and joy. What I did not fully understand, not the way I do now, was what it looks like when an entire organization decides, together, to be relentlessly faithful to its mission and calling.
That is what I found here. And as I prepare to return to the pastorate in North Carolina, I wanted to share, from the inside, what this place has meant to me.
The first thing I learned is what a healthy team actually looks like. Serenity Richard has built something rare at NMBCH: a staff where people tell each other the truth, where hard days are met with understanding instead of blame, and where no one sees themselves as bigger than the mission. I have sat in enough meetings, in enough organizations, to know that kind of culture does not happen by accident. It is built, decision by decision, by a leader who cares as much about her people as she does about her outcomes. Serenity is that leader, and NMBCH is stronger for it. I leave with complete confidence in where she is taking this ministry.
The second thing I learned is what it means to trust the Lord with things you cannot control. In development and communications work, you learn quickly that you cannot manufacture a donor’s generosity, and you cannot force a story to have the ending you want. You can only be faithful with what is in front of you and trust God with the rest. I watched that play out over and over: in planning as much as we can but putting the real work in God’s hands, in campaigns that exceeded every expectation, and in a legal process this past year that tested our whole staff’s resolve. Through all of it, I learned that faithfulness and outcome are not the same thing, and that God can be trusted with both.
The third thing I learned is the power of a story and how to tell it well: carefully, honestly, and with dignity for the people in it. Every child and family NMBCH serves has a story that belongs to them, not to us. Learning to tell those stories in a way that honors that truth, while still inviting others into the work, is one of the most important skills I will take into my next pulpit. Good preaching and good storytelling are closer cousins than I ever realized.
Beyond those lessons, I learned again what relational ministry actually costs and gives. NMBCH is not a program. It is people: houseparents who show up at 2 a.m., caseworkers who carry more than they should have to, and a staff that prays hard and works hard in equal measure. I have been changed by working alongside people who do good work quietly, faithfully, and without needing credit for it.
As my position transitions into two roles, I could not be more at peace about what comes next. Dana Philips, stepping into Director of Communications, has been part of this ministry for many years and understands its heart in a way that cannot be taught. Having worked alongside her since I started here, I am confident that she will lead communications with wisdom and care. And I am confident the search for a Senior Partner Ministries Representative will bring someone who will do the same.
As I leave NMBCH, I am very much carrying it with me as well. Every sermon I preach in North Carolina will be shaped, in some way, by what I learned here. Wherever I go, I will always consider myself part of this family.
I will miss the work, but I will miss the people most of all. Working alongside all of them was one of the great joys of my career, and it has been a privilege to be one of them.
Thank you, NMBCH, for a time that I will never forget.
Lon Graham
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