Redeemer Family,
I am writing to you today with bittersweet news.
Over the last few months Oldson Duclos, our Director of Community Care, and I have been in conversation about the form of ministry to which he senses a particular call. After much prayer and discernment, he has chosen to depart from Redeemer staff and move towards exciting plans he has for a new ministry here in the city.
If you’ve spent any time with Oldson or his wife Bree, undoubtedly you would have heard them talk about their heart for the urban poor and their commitment to ensuring that the poor and marginalized in our city encounter “an accurate and accessible representation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” It is an integral part of their family’s personal mission statement. Over the last year, Oldson and Bree have been spending their Friday and Saturday evenings hosting pick-up basketball for middle school boys and men at a gym in Fairfield Court (one of Richmond’s six public housing courts). They have used this opportunity to build meaningful relationships with those who attend their open gym. Many of these relationships have begun to produce buds of transformation in the lives of these boys and men.
Oldson now desires to focus the majority of his time and energy on ministry to boys and men among the urban poor in Richmond. Unfortunately for us, this means that at the end of this month, Oldson will officially transition off of Redeemer staff.
On behalf of all of Redeemer’s leadership and our parish, I want to thank Oldson for his years of service with us and give our prayers and support towards this new ministry!
Oldson - we love you and will miss you, but are glad that you’re not going far! We look forward to seeing the ways you will continue to love, serve, and lead our neighbors in the city.
Note: If you’d like to connect with Oldson to thank him for his service to us these past two years or to learn more about this new ministry, you can email him at oldson.duclos@servantpartners.org.
Redeemer family, if you’re wondering how to think or feel about this, let me encourage us all to remember that the Kingdom of God is vast, diverse, and includes so many different kinds of churches and ministries. Our little parish is just a tiny part of the whole.
Our brother may be laboring in another part of our city but we are never to forget that we are co-laborers in the Kingdom! It’s okay to be sad. In Acts 21, Luke describes a parting of friends as “tearing ourselves away.” Anytime one of our own is sent out, we feel the tearing.
On the other hand, it’s okay to be excited for Oldson as well. He is following the Lord’s call on his life, and we are glad to pray for him and celebrate it.
In the Father’s love,
