I’m going back into ministry.
I tried three or four different ways of writing the first sentence, and decided to just say it. You may remember at the end of ‘07 I mentioned that this year would be full of change and that I was anxious about how things would turn out for my family.
More recently, I did a memorial service for a friend that reminded me of my purpose in life.
More than a year ago when it seemed inevitable that our current pastor and housemate Will would be moving and that we might wind up homeless and underemployed, I began a process in our denomination that will someday result in me becoming what we call a “licensed local pastor.” Because last year’s postal and writing workload was pretty heavy, I made slow progress. Ultimately I finished the first steps toward becoming a ministry candidate about two months ago.
On the very day that I finished the initial work and met with Will (the pastor of the church that is sponsoring me in ministry), our local superintendent called and asked Will about the possibility of appointing me to a nearby church that had requested a transition to a part time appointment. Following a meeting with the local committee on ministry in late March, the superintendent and I met privately. He said he definitely wanted to send me to this particular church but he needed ‘a couple of weeks’ to work out the details. “A couple of weeks” is ministry-speak for ‘forever.’
Today, eight weeks later, he called me. The next step, he said, is for me to appear again before the committee so they can certify me as a lay pastor. The church is Temple United Methodist Church and it’s only about five miles from where I currently live. In fact, it’s on rural route 6, which I deliver from time to time. The appointment comes with housing at their parsonage plus a salary.
The post office job? I’m keeping that. I’m also keeping the writing gig for the magazine. I will be very busy, but it’ll be more fun than sitting at home doing nothing, which I’ve had more than enough of lately, thanks.
I’ll share more later, but I wanted to take a moment now to thank three very good friends who I asked to be my prayer support over the last couple of months. I spent a fair amount of time praying over this whole thing, even about who to ask to pray for me. Those I asked did and are still doing a wonderful job; offering both encouragement and challenge as needed in addition to their faithful prayers. So thank you Eric, Randy, and Brett. Incidentally, Randy told me that he recruited his wife Carol to pray and I’m incredibly grateful for her as well.
Now I’m inviting you to pray along, if you are a praying person. If you’re not then hey, now’s a great time to start!
Gosh, I think I need to start another blog post category…
