It’s been a year…

November 5, 2008

Wow.  It’s crazy to think it, but servingseattle.org has been here now for over a year.  It is now a couple weeks short of a year here for us in Seattle.  A lot has happened, and I hope that in this post I can give the update that many have been waiting on.  Shortly after moving to Seattle, my computer died - and with it, the list I had made for e-mail updates…so it is just the blog now, I’m afraid.  Some of you are here visiting for the first time, some of you have us in your RSS readers (the best way to get SS), and some of you have stumbled upon the site looking for information on Pastors who have lived in Scotland AND Seattle.  Welcome to all.

How We Got Here

A year ago today, I would have almost assuredly been working on our house.  I spent a lot of time just getting the place livable, and although it sat on the market for 8 months, I hope the new owners appreciate it.  For the year and a half before that I had been employed by New Song PCA in Salt Lake City as a Ministry Apprentice and then Assistant Pastor.  The hope, on all sides, was that I would work to be ordained - get apprenticed by my great Sr. Pastor there - and that this would result in Sarah and I planting a church in Salt Lake.

However, by March of 2007, after a lot of prayer and thinking and reading and writing and conversation - I began to realize that church planting in Salt Lake City was not what I felt called to, it did not excite energy or really even interest.  I didn’t see external confimation. I felt incredibly guilty - over the next months I fought back and forth, wondering what was wrong with me.  I had lived in Salt Lake before and had seen people leave, over and over (it is a hard place to minister)…but as I prayed about it, and slowly began speaking with others about it, it started to become clear that I might be one of those people who was going to leave.

In June and July it started to come to a head, as I spoke with the Elders and my Senior Pastor in definitive (rather than in general) terms that I was beginning to believe that God was leading us out of Salt Lake.  Leaving was not easy, and was complicated by the fact that in my fear and insecurity - I was not being honest about what I really desired, and I limited what I believed God was capable of doing.

After several months of interviewing for both solo and assistant pastor positions, I was nearing my wit’s end - when, while interviewing with a church in Indianapolis, a friend asked why I wasn’t just going to Seattle.  He had heard my story and just laid me out with one punch - he named what I had been afraid to name.  I contacted the church I now work at, asked them for a job, and moved (all within a month).

What We’ve Been Doing Here

When I came, I was hired by CrossPoint Churches to serve as the part-time “Site Pastor” of their Greenlake congregation.  This involved congregational care, worship leading, a touch of Christian Education.  It was a lot of what I wanted to be doing - it stretched me as well.  But I was always hoping for a full-time gig.  This was made available when the Assistant Pastor left to return to school and the Elders decided to combine my job with his.  And I love my job.  I love my church.  I love my pastors and elders.

If there is one word that I could use to describe our experience here in Seattle - it would be “thriving”.  Sure - we have had hard stuff…we lived out of suitcases for months, we lost a load of money on our house sale in Salt Lake (which we’ll have to pay off over the next few years), we have had church trouble, we have been major sinners.  But weighed against the blessings and everything we have seen, how could either of us complain?

On arrival, Sarah was immediately welcomed by a number of women, both younger and older, into the community.  She found the support and affirmation network that she had been seeking.  We have a house that we love and which isn’t a constant work site.  Sarah loves Seattle, and is constantly either at the beach, the zoo, picking fruit, walking around the lake, enjoying the fellowship of her friends and our daughter.  This is a huge blessing to me.  Probably the biggest one.

I have been stretched immensely.  I’ve had to deal with sin in my life that I never knew existed - especially through learning how to be honest about my understanding of my call.  

I love my job.  I love my youth especially.  I honestly never thought I’d be a Youth Minister again…and even though it is only a slice of my time, I value their friendship and the opportunity to challenge them.  I love our congregation - which ranges from infants to 80s+.  I’ve been stretched to learn how to minister up more effectively, I still fail - but it’s been a great challenge.  I love our artists, who are eager to bless the church and our community - and who let me use terms like “Seussesque” while only laughing behind my back.

In the past year I feel like I’ve really grown into a “pastor”.  I pray that this next year God would continue to mold me and make me into the man, husband, father and minister he wants me to be.  I hope God is gentle with me as he does that.

Where we are going from here

At this point I know that I love where I am at, and have things I want to accomplish, but I also know that God could call us away whenever he sees fit - and he will provide both the desire and needs for that call.  I hope that Sarah and I are much more honest and willing when he does this again.  He may have me plant a church here, he may have me take an existing church, he may have me go even further abroad to follow that call.   One of the great blessings I have here is that I feel encouraged to continually explore that, with my Senior Pastor and my ministry peers.  I have seed dreams, but I know that what I am doing right now is what I am supposed to be doing right now.  I feel a great freedom to dream about ministry, both now and future.

This month, we await the imminent arrival of our next daughter.  She opens a new chapter in our life as a family.  She will be a tool of sanctification in our lives and in Stella’s life.  We hope that we will be a great blessing to her and that she will always walk in the ways of Jesus.  I’m excited to meet my daughter, even if we have to do that whole “birth” thing to get there.

A couple of weeks ago I started blogging here again.  I realized that ServingSeattle was about to expire, and I needed to keep this going.  Thanks to the 5 of you who read and comment!

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