Somethings Stirring!

I have worked/volunteered in churches for over 10 years now. My first church job was Recreation Ministry asst. at the church I grew up in. I saw some incredible things happen over the course of my time I worked there. I also saw a lot of legalism and politics inside of a church my family and I had given a lot to.

In college I was more of a nomad when it came to church. (The way I decided where to go was which ever one I woke up for and sometimes I didn't wake up) I found myself doing a lot of D-Now's and I lead worship at church with a worship band. I got to know some of ministers we met and I valued their friendship.

In seminary I helped out a buddy at the small baptist church he was student minister at. I got paid $50 a week to help train the students who led worship. It was a blessing to be apart of that experience but also hard because this church was small and had no vision or direction. It was a church with an older congregation. To be honest, this church was so small, there were Sundays I would wake up to go and I would not have been surprised if I showed up and no one else was there because the congregation decided to throw in the towel and send everyone to one of the "Big" Southern Baptist churches up the street.

I was director of worship at a church plant in Fort Worth. I didn't plant the church but I experienced the pains of waking up on Sunday mornings at 6 to be at the location to set up sound, stage, chairs, tables, everything and then take it down by 1. I enjoyed being apart of that staff. The thing I enjoyed the most was that even though my role was worship coordinator, I was able to pray for, encourage, and share life with many people that came through those doors. I felt very much like a partner in ministry. I learned tons about my calling in life and met some friends that I will have forever.

I am currently a student minister working at a large denominational church inside "the bubble". While there have been hard days and I realize that in the long run I am not cut out for denominational politics, I am thankful for and value my job. I have met some great people and student ministry is a passion of mine. But I do miss being able to minister to a wide variety of people like I was able to do the years earlier.

I have experienced the highs and lows of working with a church. And there are somethings I would change about the way I handled those situations. I also wish the others would have changed the way they handled those situations. What am I trying to say? Don't know but I will have something soon...