i have now been at pulaski wesleyan 2 years. as you have read in my blogs the past two years i have loved every minute of it. i love the church, the pastoral staff, the youth. we made a home here. this has been an amazing experience that i will always look back on and say i saw so many amazing things happen there. in the two years we have gone from 270 and grown alot the last month we have average 400. people are coming to know Jesus every week. in the last 10 weeks we have seen 12 come to follow him and last week we baptized 6 of them. but as you have probably already realized i am speaking in the past tense. last night after church conference i made my resignation official to the newly elected church board.
it is hard to leave something you love. the last couple months i have been agonizing on what my life might look like. if i was really cut out for youth ministry. was it a calling or just something that i enjoyed. last wednesday i met with the staff and it really confirmed what i already knew. youth ministry is just not for me. my personality, gifts and strengths or i guess you could say SHAPE is not really suited for youth ministry.
i am starting to look ahead now. what is in my future? i have no clue. it is kind of interesting and i am not sure how often this happens but over a long distance cell phone conversation with my friend dave, i realized that a few of our friends from college including myself have less of a clue on what they want to do know then 4 years ago when we graduated from college. or maybe i am narrowing my vision by knowing now that youth will not be a part of the equation. i guess it is all about perception.
while this is one of the toughest decisions i have ever made. (i have cried more in the last week then i have in the last 10 years combined.) i am at complete peace. i will miss this place called pulaski. i will miss the church we called home for 2 years. but i am looking forward to the adventurous journey ahead.
7 comments:
Hey Nate,
Came across your blog from some other IWU'er today. I will be praying for you and wish you the best in this transition.
I remember making a 5 year plan for life and ministry about 6 years ago. I've done almost everything on that plan. I guess i should have put at the end of year 4: "Plan the next 10."
It seemed easier then to plan, I'm not sure if the problem now is that i just haven't sat down to do it, or if it is just impossible/impractical. Maybe it was only necessary then because you weren't actually doing anything during college, you were just getting ready to do something.
The church planter I am hosting finds the idea of a 5 year plan rather foreign; nonetheless, here he is almost 2 1/2 years into his plant with many new Christians. So maybe the idea that we have to know where our next 10 years will take us is a lie. Maybe that definition of "stability" or "success" is flawed.
brooks,
i have come to that same conclusion. in college i could not wait to find a ministry. i wanted to be involved and not have to worry about a paycheck. i think i have come to the point where jenny and i are going to settle down somewhere and let the ministry find us.
i have seen a lot of churches hire from within because they are already familiar with the church and community. i think i am going to do the opposite, find the community, find the church and get involved and see what happens from there.
Hey bro! I know how it feels. Following God's call is full of sharp turns and dark tunnels. Your courage to make a tuff decision will be rewarded. Keep me up to date. We know what it's like to be in the middle of a season of change.
i could use a nice young couple at my church. :)
We too could use a nice young couple @ our church!!:)
Keep us updated on the journey!
D & J
brooks, danielle and john- you never know what might happen. any of them paid?
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