Something Brewing, Just Under The Surface

As I have been thinking about what I have been up to lately, it’s pretty amazing what all is going on, but most of it, or all of it, I either can’t talk about or I’m not ready to talk about.

There’s that project I’m working on with a couple of guys that I was with at Catalyst, but I don’t want to talk about it yet, mainly because we don’t have anything concrete.  We are in the early planning stages.  Soon, I hope we will be kicking something off that will be pretty cool and somewhat open to anyone who wants to be a part of it and it will hopefully contribute to the wider Church community.

There’s some stuff in our community that I became a part of this last week, indirectly church related, and I am definitely not talking about yet.  It’s not good or bad, it just is, but I think it’s pretty sensitive and fresh.  I hope someday to talk about it because there are some lessons that the church could learn from it.

There’s a couple of writing projects that I have on the table, one has been there for awhile just being ignored and the other one came up as the result of our road trip.  Again, I’m not ready to share anything about that yet but it’s cool and I hope it will benefit many church leaders.  I would ask for your prayers, that I would stay focused on it until it’s completed.  I’ll probably ask for some of your experiences in the near future.

There’s also a video project that I’m going to be working on with a couple of friends here locally.  Again, I’m not ready to share much about it yet but I will soon.  It was inspired by some events at Catalyst and has stirred up a video idea that I have wanted to do for quite some time.  We will be working on it soon and I definitely can’t wait to share it.

We just installed a SonicWall firewall, HP ProCurve switch and AccessPoint at church and that is very exciting.  The previous network was very unstable and very much in need of being rebuilt.  This is a huge deal to finally have it up and running, on so many levels.  There are still some bumps to work through but it will be resolved very soon.  Some of the issues are to move the AP’s above the ceiling so there is less interference and also to fine tune the content filtering.

As of a couple of weeks ago, I stepped down from my leadership role in my church and promptly left town.  That was a coincidence but I think it’s all in God’s timing.  It was good to pull back and actually get away, it gave me some space to consider the decision I had made.  Honestly, getting away gave me a new perspective and I was able to feel at peace with the decision God led me to.  It’s still bittersweet but it’s time.  I hope I have built up some solid leadership within the tech team and I expect they can carry on.  I didn’t build the team to be based on me, even though I never saw myself not being there, I wanted to have a team that can operate without me.  There is more that I could say and probably at some point, I will, but it’s not time for that yet.  I’m hoping to meet with a couple of the core team members early next week to share with them where I’m at and help ensure they have all that they need to carry on.  It has been such a blessing to be a part of what God has been doing at Fairview and I have had the privilege of serving with some very talented and diverse people.  Our friendship will continue, even as I step away, but I will miss serving side by side with them.

Ministry is a tough racket and it’s not for the meek.  Regardless of where I am right now and what brought me to this point, I still feel called to ministry, probably now more than ever.  I’ve felt for quite some time that my involvement at this church was not long term but I was honestly surprised that it ended so soon.  By the way, this was all my doing, in no way did anyone suggest I step down.  I think others were as surprised as I was, and I am doing my best to be clear about my motivation and reasoning, AKA God’s leading.  I definitely have more to say about this and I will soon, once I completely sever all ties concerning my volunteer leadership role there. 

Does my decision mean that my family and I have to leave this church?  No, absolutely not.  However, in unrelated news, we are laying low and seeking what God wants us to do as a family and where He wants us to worship and build relationships and serve and participate in small groups etc.

Over the last few weeks, we have visited another church in town and really enjoyed it.  Not just because they let us take snacks and drinks into the service with us but because it was just what we needed lately.  God is there, just as He is at “our” church and it’s ok to be somewhat anonymous sometimes.  Mary and I need some down time in a big way and I guess we need some space as we figure out where God is leading us.

There’s something brewing just under the surface and I don’t know what it is.  It’s almost like God needs me to let go of what’s important so He can prepare me for what’s next.  As I see what that is, I’m sure I’ll share that here.