Dear Brentwood Baptist Church Family,
I’m writing to share personally how God is working in my life during a season that requires your prayers and support.
Today, you’ve been hearing about suffering and how the Bible teaches us that Christ himself suffered for us. Peter reminds us that because we live in a fallen world, we’re not immune as believers to pain, grief, and heartache. He tells us we “suffer grief in various trials” (1:6). It’s time for me to share about a trial I’m going through right now.
I discovered in early December that I had a large mass in my right abdominal area. After meeting with doctors and undergoing medical testing, it has been determined to be malignant. Like many of you who have dealt with medical issues, the answers have not come as quickly or been as clear as I would have liked. There are additional complexities to my condition for which we’re still awaiting results. I have no doubt that God has placed me in the hands of a well-trained medical team, but they’ve been honest that the road ahead will not be easy. The treatment plan hasn’t been finalized, but at some point in the near future, it’s almost certain that I’ll have to step away from ministry for a time for treatment, major surgery, and an extended recovery.
My posture through this waiting period has been to hold onto Matthew 6:33-34: Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all of these things will be provided for you. Therefore, don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. By God’s grace, I’ve been taking it a day at a time and a step at a time.
Why am I sharing this with you?
First, timing – I knew we’d be preaching on suffering from 1 Peter today. After over two months of processing my condition with trusted mentors and prayer partners, I knew it was time to let our entire church family know, so you can walk with us through this journey.
Second, conviction – As a church, we’ve committed to making prayer our first response, not our last resort. I believe deeply in the power of prayer, and it only makes sense to ask my church family to pray with and for me. As an old preacher friend reminded me, the harder the story, the greater the glory. Cancer is big, but God is much bigger. And somehow, some way, He will get the glory from this.
Third, transparency – I wanted you to hear the news directly from me. We’re living stones (2:5), a family, and a body all in one. I didn’t want you to be surprised when you hear that I’ll be out of the pulpit for a while. I’m convinced our church is healthy, our leadership bench is deep, and I believe we have the spiritual maturity to weather any storm. Our church isn’t built around a single leader; our cornerstone is Christ. We’re setting up a special place on the website where you can get regular updates and a special email address where you can drop me a note.
Here are the best ways to respond:
First, pray! Pray for my health and healing, pray for my wife and kids, pray for the doctors that they’ll have Spirit-led wisdom. Please pray that I’ll be a good witness to them. Pray for our staff and leadership teams. Pray that, if this is spiritual warfare, the enemy be stopped and that God get all the glory.
Second, keep leaning into God’s Word with me. Peter tells us that suffering means we’re not abandoned by God, but proof we’ve been called by God (2:21). Our God is good, even when everything doesn’t feel good to us. Whatever you are facing, I pray that God’s Word will continue to give all of us both truth and strength.
Third, be engaged! The mission of the church is too important. I don’t want news of my illness to slow down our vision. I pray that God will use this season to keep building momentum at our campuses. If you’re not in a group, find one. Our group has already proved life-giving to us. If you’re not serving, now is the time to get involved – don’t wait any longer.
Last, but certainly not least, never forget that in any trial, Christ is the main character, not the diagnosis, not the cancer, not the treatment. It’s Christ who “bore our sins in his body on the tree so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (2:24). I believe in that promise – for all who believe, we can receive immediate spiritual healing and one day, we’ll all experience physical healing and wholeness as well.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you … in this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith – more precious than gold though it is tested by fire – may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:3-7)
You are loved, you are sent. Thanks for standing with us and praying for me, my family, and our church during this season.
In Christ,
Jay Strother
Senior Pastor
Brentwood Baptist Church
Dear Brentwood Baptist Family,
By now, many of you have heard about Pastor Jay Strother’s recent health update. On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I want to reach out to you during this significant moment in our church’s life.
The Trustees are actively monitoring this situation and remain in close communication with church leadership. We are grateful for our exceptional staff, who are walking alongside Pastor Jay and his family. We have complete confidence in their leadership and their ability to shepherd our congregation well through the days ahead.
God’s faithfulness to Brentwood Baptist Church has never wavered, and we trust that He will continue to be faithful in this situation. The timing of this news, as we’ve been studying 1 Peter together, is not lost on us. We are reminded that God strengthens His people through trials and that His purposes are always good, even when circumstances are difficult.
Like you, we are praying through this situation and trusting God. We invite you to join us in lifting up Pastor Jay, his family, and our church body. In the coming days and weeks, our staff will provide updates as appropriate information becomes available.
We are confident that the same God who has carried us through every season of ministry will sustain us now. Thank you for your prayers, your faithfulness, and your continued partnership in the gospel.
In Christ,
Kevin Drake
Trustee Chair
Brentwood Baptist Church