The Orchard

The Orchard is a church out in Brentwood, where Christa and I are thinking about moving. The Senior Pastor is the best friend of my pastor at Bay Hills. His name is Steve.

I talked to Steve today about a part-time position at his church should Christa and I move out there and he up for getting together to talk about it. The Orchard is part of the Reformed Church of America (Bryguy would be so proud). They're running about 100 people or so which would make it a great chance to pug and do a lot of hands-on ministry work.

We're going to get together in 2 weeks or so to talk about things and see what we can come up with.

Numbness in finger

I've had some numbness on the tip of my left middle finger for a couple of days now. It's more a little irritant than anything else. I don't knwo what is causing it. I did have a tickle in my ulnar nerve (funny bone for you, Matt) on Friday that took a couple days to subside and I'm not sure that is connected or not. I looked in a medical reference guide and couldn't find much help there either. There's a thing called "Reynaud's Syndrome" where fingers can become numb but it's usually not just the tip of 1 finger and they normally turn white at the same time. If it's a stroke (highly unlikely) then it is the smallest stroke in teh history of mankind. SO I'll give it a couple of days and see what happens.

Starting to get some nibbles

I'm starting to get some nibbles on the resuems I am sending out. The first is from a church in Powell Wyoming. Powell is a church about 75 miles south of Billings Montana and about an hour from Yellowstone. Location-wise, it would be ideal for what I have always looked for. It's for a Senior Pastor position for a church of about 150 people. When I had sent my resume, the first response I got was that I seemed like a breath of fresh air after some of the other resumes he had looked at. They asked for a Statement of Faith, a copy of a sermon and answers to some key theological questions.

Wyoming here we come????

Maybe wr'e just working our way through the states alphabetically. First Wisconsin, then Wyoming. Christ better hope this one works out because next up on the list are Alabama and Alaska.

Regan is learning to speak Russian

My little girl is quickly becoming proficient in the Russian language. When we ask her a question, most of the time she answers with "Da".

Perhaps things looking up a bit

I've been a little frustrated with things at my job the first 2 days this week. I've been getting a lot of good responses in the field and car dealers are signing up, but it hasn't really translated into anything concrete as far as funding contracts. Things took a slight uptick today.

1. Saturn of Concord said that I'll be getting a lot of business and there are some contracts on the way.

2. Hilltop Nissan told me that tye have 3 contracts in for funding

3. Dublin Toyota committed to 10 contracts for the month.

4. I was 6-for-6 on loan approvals in the office today

Tagged

Tagged? What does that mean?

Meeting with Gary

I met with Gary this morning, one of the elders at our church. Many years ago he also was a pastor. He ended up leaving his church and looking for another vbut coulnd not find anything in almost 3 years of looking and sending out resumes. Toay he is a Sales Manager for a pharmaceutical company. Hoe did he get to the point of no longer being as pastor? How did he balance what he felt was God's call to ministry to a barren field of ministry opportunity?

I wanted to ask some of these questions because I'm starting to deal with some of these thoughts. How do I balance the fact that God called me to ministry and Him (so far) no providing a place to do it?

Gary was encouraging me to keep trusting in God on this. If God has a place for me, if there is a pastoral job out there for me, then God will open the door. This was refreshing to hear because I have been tilting towards the perspective that I just have to send out more resumes, try harder...that sort of thing. There has to be the angle that God has a hand in this also, that if it is the right situation then He will sprinkle a little magic dust on it. SO I need to work on my trust in God for this...that He has indeed called me to this and we will see whatv happens.