Dear Members and Friends of Trinity Grace,
As many of you know RUF at UTSA will be undergoing a transition of pastoral leadership this summer. After 3 years of faithful ministry and launching a new RUF chapter on the campus of UTSA, the Castleberry’s will be leaving RUF on May 31. We thank God for the Castleberry family and the meaningful Gospel ministry that was accomplished through their efforts.
Beginning June 1, Rev. Lee Wright will transition into the role of RUF Campus Minister at UTSA. Lee and Sarah Wright are coming from Orlando where they spent the past 6 years serving with RUF at the campus of University of Central Florida (UCF).
Lee and Sarah both attended Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis where they each earned a Master of Divinity and a Masters of Arts in Counseling degree. They have three beautiful children - Tillie, Margot, and Max.
We are thrilled that the Wright family will be joining us in San Antonio this summer. Please be praying for them as they make the transition from Orlando to San Antonio in the coming weeks. You can friend them on Facebook (Lee Wright and Sarah Wright) and let them know you’re excited to welcome them to Trinity Grace and San Antonio!
We look forward to how God will continue to use the ministry of RUF at UTSA under their leadership to reach students for Christ and equip them to serve the Church.
Below is the letter Lee sent to his supporters at UCF to let them know of this transition. You can learn a bit more about the Wrights below.
As always, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at michael@trinitygracesa.org.
In the Hope of the Gospel,
Michael
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One of the nice benefits of the current quarantined state for our family has been the adventures. Typically we take a fun, family adventure in the summer but in the current stage of the world, we are taking adventures daily. Thanks to the nature preserve 0.5 miles from our house, we can be in nature and see great animals very easily! Above: Max and I are on one such adventure.
In the midst of all of this, we informed our children that we are set for a bigger adventure and one that sadly will conclude our time in Orlando. At the end of March, Sarah and I informed the RUF students at UCF that Spring 2020 would be our last semester with them and that we'd be moving at the end of May. It was such a sad evening. Not only are we leaving students we love and a campus we love, but we had to tell them on a Zoom call. The process has been very sad and we continue to grieve without saying goodbye in person.
However, in sadness, there is great hope. We look forward to a new adventure both for our family and for the ministry of RUF at UCF. The RUF Committee in Central Florida has hired my replacement, and he will be communicating via email in the coming weeks. And we have a new adventure to share with you.
Sarah and I have been praying for the past two years to discern what was next. We felt that the Lord wanted us to continue working for RUF and with college students, and desired to be closer to family. I was also interested in starting a new ministry in RUF in a place where we could also contribute to the local church. Our time in Orlando has proven that a strong connection to the local church has been a huge benefit to our family, the ministry of RUF, as well as the local church itself. It was my desire to co-labor closely with a local church, possibly a new church plant, so we began exploring calls toward this end.
To our amazement, the Lord opened an opportunity in our home state! We will be working alongside friends Michael and Rachel Novak in San Antonio, TX as the Novak's continue planting the Trinity Grace Church and we continue the RUF ministry at the University of Texas-San Antonio (UTSA). UTSA is a growing and thriving school in the rapidly growing city of San Antonio. The RUF ministry is three years old, but still very much at a young and moldable stage of its life. We had the privilege to meet a handful of RUF at UTSA students on a Zoom call last Monday and are excited to invest in them!
With this move comes changes in our finances. Some of you love UCF and want to continue supporting the ministry of RUF at UCF. If you give monthly, your giving will continue going to RUF at UCF. Some of you want to follow the Wright family and give where we will be going in our ministry adventure to UTSA. There is a link below that will direct you to our giving site. For those writing checks, the Memo line will say "UTSA-0333." If you have any questions about any of this transition from the financial side of things, or anything else, please reach out to me via email or phone (205.541.4078).
As for housing, we would love your prayers. Our house in Orlando is under contract (!) but we are one month from our close date and still working to secure a house in San Antonio. Pray for us as we prepare to make this move with all of the details up in the air. My prayer broadly is for peace as we make this transition.
Thank you all for your love and care and kindness in our time at UCF and in Orlando. We will miss many of you so much, and I look forward to co-laboring with many of you in the future!
Lee Wright, RUF Campus Minister at UCF