Balancing Ministry N' Work

Tomorrow is the first day preaching as the Senior Pastor of New Life. I have prepared a message on the Great Commission. The point of it is essentially that for us to grow as a church we need to do what Jesus said to do 'Go therfore and make disciples' Matt 28:18. Following the Great Commission will lead to church growth. To some it is a foreign concept that being outward focused leads to an increase in the church, but it is a message I would like to teach New Life. Help them to understand that no matter what we do as people we cannot grow the church. Only Jesus can grow New Life, and all we can do is follow what He wants us to do. I am really looking forward to seeing what God is going to do in the coming weeks, months, and years. It is going to be exciting to see him work in my life and the lives of everyone at New Life. A New Journey is begining and I am glad that Jesus is letting me go along for the ride! Blessings, Robert

Just a quick update today! As of last night I am officially the Senior Pastor for New Life Chapel. I still have concerns about some of the issues, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that My God is Bigger than any concerns. I do feel that God has orchestrated this from the very begining and has given me a sense of peace. I know that God is in control! Please pray for us as we begin this journey! I cannot do this without God being involved in every step that I take. Many Thanks, Robert

I was expecting the Call today from New Life. The word 'call' had two meanings today. 1, the phone call telling me the results of the vote and 2, the Call to be the pastor of New Life. Well both 'calls' happened today! We were at lunch today at Culver's and my cell phone rang, it was the old SP. It was noisy so I had a hard time hearing him and called him back when we got home. When we talked he told me that it was almost a unanimous decision. Only the official members of the church could vote and 16 our of 17 voted to call me as the Pastor. It was a blind vote so the old SP did not know who voted no. He thinks it was because someone did not want him to step down, and would have voted no for anyone. It was a good conversation, but I did not commit to accept the position fully. I let him know that I felt that God is leading me in that direction but there were a couple of things we needed to talk about. The main thing was that I wanted to read the churches Constitutio...

Today was the day, that I was asked to preach at New Life in response to a Pastoral Call. I had prepared my message about Ephesians 5:1-8, was titled Imitate God! I feel this is what God wanted me to bring to New Life. My deepest desire was to preach God's word to them as He wanted regardless if it got the call or not. I do feel that is exactly what was done today. We showed up at the church about 10:30am for the 11am message. The Old Pastor was still teaching the Sunday School class when we got there. We waited until 10:45 when they were done. Then the introductions began, and everyone was very friendly. I was not sure what to expect with the situation with the old Senior Pastor (SP) being head of the Pastoral search committee. He seemed very happy to have us there. The old SP, lead the service. I would estimate roughly 30-40 people there this morning. They had a time of prayer with prayer request and praise reports. They specifically spent time talking about the answered prayer f...

This week has been an interesting week. Two weeks ago I was contacted by New Life Chapel in response to them looking for a Bivo Pastor position. I have felt God moving in me like I have not felt in several years. It has really been exciting! That excitement has been tempered by the knowledge I have about the church and the week of work. Dealing with layoffs, performance issues, and the planning for a new year have been exhausting. Thankfully the homework demands for my last MBA course have been minimal. That will change in a couple of weeks, but I am thankful for the timing right now. The message I am preparing for this weekend is 'Imitation or Imitator' based on Ephesians 5:1-8. Verses 1 and 2 just jumped out at me and it has grown from there. I feel this is the message that God is giving me for New Life. Whether I preach there for one time of if this turns into something more I am praying that God uses me to bless the congregation. While there are concerns about the expectati...

In the last 12 months our factory has seen a lot of layoffs. A total of 5 rounds, including today's. I have lost 2 full time salary employees, 2 part time salary employees, and 4 hourly employees. Through this we have eliminated 4 positions in the office and 1 in the stockroom. I know the numbers do not add up, some positions were filled by others with more tenure. Sitting down and telling people with 20-30 years of experience that they were being let go was not fun. Some of these individuals have worked for the factory since they were 18. Sadly we cannot keep everyone when business has dropped 35%. Today I am THANKFUL that neither myself or anyone in my department was 'right sized'. This round of layoffs was announced in December, but no details were released. The factory did lose two people today who have worked there for many years. Both were not daily contributors to our success, but both are very good people and hard workers. Their job functions were not as critical as...

As I continue to pray and think on the opportunity before me, I have conflicting feelings. On one hand I see a small church needing some help that I feel I can contribute to. On the other hand, I see a group of people who want a pastor to do everything for them. The second is not a healthy situation. New Life is a small country church where God has worked in the lives of a small group of people. The old pastor felt called to plant this church and has done a lot, including a building, etc... Sadly from my recent conversations with him, he has done pretty much everything. Here is a man who works 3rd shift, prepares for a weekly Sunday sermon, ministers to the flock, but is also the facility maintenance person, the Sunday school teacher, and the only mid week Bible study leader. Their are 3 meetings each week and he writes and delivers the messages at each one. No wonder he has burned out and feels he has let the church down. He cannot do everything. From where I sit right now, I will be ...

Have you ever felt confident that God is moving you in a direction and then He seems to be moving you in another direction? If you have been following this new blog, you will see that two weeks ago I applied for a pastorate. Last week I was notified that I was their first choice to interview for the position. I am scheduled to preach/interview on the 17th. That is when things started changing. First off I was excited and humbled by the opportunity to preach and that I am being considered for the pastorate. I am praising God! I have exchanged several email with the leader of the pastoral search committee and was trying to get a feel about the church. I finally asked him why they were looking for a new senior pastor (SP). He told me that the church has been struggling to grow for a while and that he believe the church needs some new blood. This has led him to resign as the SP and help the church find its next pastor. He is hoping to stay on as he does NOT feel that God is calling him awa...

This has been an exciting week off of work. My wife went to CA and came home, my Mother came for a visit from CA, and I spent a LOT of time with my kids. It was GREAT! I had planned on doing reviews and running some year end metrics for work, but I did not. I checked email a couple of times while off and that was it. It was truly a week and a half off of work, and it was very nice. The one thing I did work on this week was seeking God's will for me. I have spent more time praying this last week than I have in a while. Last Saturday I submitted a resume and sermon to a local Baptist church looking for a Bivo-Pastor. On Monday they sent me a questionnaire, and I returned that on Tuesday. Now today, Sunday January 3, 2010 I have been invited to preach at this church. I am their first candidate. I am humbled, nervous, and excited about this opportunity. January 17th, I will be preaching, be interviewed, and have lunch with the congregation. My prayers are: 1. That God gives me a messag...

2009 has been a challenging year in some ways and a blessing in others. Work has been really hard with every salary person required to take a week off without pay. This hurt the pocket book personally; but also meant that roughly half the weeks this year my department was short handed. This made it difficult for us to meet our goals. Thankfully my team pulled together and stepped up to the challenge and was succesful. Kudos to all of them for what they did. As 2008 came to a close, my family had not found a church we were comfortable with. Early in 2009 we found New Hope and have attended ever since. New Hope is a good church where people who want to, can get involved. Both Alexis and I have been involved from the very begining. Alexis sings with the praise team and helps with the children's ministry. I have been leading the prayer time and doing anouncements, atleast 1/2 the time. It has been good for both of us, and helped us get to where we are today. We are ready to take it to ...