nitty gritty

Spring 1986: It was a late spring wednesday afternoon.  Our new Youth Pastor @ Crossroads had been around a few months and he and I had started hangin’ out.  We were eating at the Del Taco on Main St.  Tony asked me a surprising question, as I chowed through my green burritos with sour cream… “Hey, why don’t you quit your job and come work at the church doing the Jr High stuff and then start at PCC in the fall?”  After I swallowed my ample mouthful I leaned back and came up with several bullet points as to why not.  Tony just replied with, “Just pray about for 2 weeks.”  ”Okay.” I said.

Early 2010: Again, Tony & I eating - talking about the joy of serving.  I told him that after the summer of 2009 I had a few fleeting moments when I didn’t want to be with students.  I didn’t hate them or even bristle at their craziness.  Just the opposite, even today, I love the way Jesus speaks to them & through them (tear……………….) Okay I’m back, sorry. We then talked about what we should do.  Again Tony said, “Just pray about it for a couple weeks.”  ”Okay.” I said.

In churches when a Pastor senses the Holy Spirit moving him to focus on a different set of lives, one is faced with the high possibility of having to quickly discover what that focus will be - then see if their current church leaders will let that happen there (most often the answer is “Sorry Brother, but we will pray for the Lord’s blessing as you grow.”) - then find a new community to be a member of.  Not so at Fairview.

After much prayer and thought and discussions, we were able to go to our Godly leadership team (Elders & Staff) and ask them if we could begin working through a transition.  Train up 1 or 2 young men to take over the Student Ministry and take it where God wanted and simultaneously let me discover how the Holy Spirit would have me invest in our community.  They had questions, but guess what?  We did it.  And our Leaders have been an immense blessing to Judi & I.

So, last night, July 13 2011, Judi & I sat in our home for a Student Bible study for the last time (Sawyer - 15 & Kellan - 13 in attendance).  tear……………  I’m trying to keep that from happening again, sorry. After 13 years hear at Fairview Christian Church in Carthage, Missouri, 3.5 Years @ The Gate Christian Fellowship & 8.5 years @ Crossroads Christian Church both in Corona, California… just over 25 years of Student ministry, Judi & I are excited to see how the Holy Spirit is going to use us.

When we moved to Carthage and started serving @ Fairview we began telling people that we wanted to grow old & fat here.  Guess what, we’re working on both.  Just physically though (P90X here I come)! I am amazed at how spiritually fired up we are! We are PUMPED to serve families through investing in Marriages, Parenting, Men & Global Outreach (+ a little creative and music in there too).

I cannot tell all of you whom the Lord has blessed us to serve and serve alongside, how much you have meant to us.  You have taught us about relationships, about genuine faith, about joy, about pain and about how rich-wealthy-oppulent (in our hearts and memories) life is lived because one serves the King.  We will always be grateful to each of you and would welcome you to our home on Carrie St in Carthage, MO.  Thank you for touching our lives, YOU ARE MY HEROES!

One Last Thing…

If we have been allowed to invest in your life, and you are reading this, I want you to do some of the following…

1. If you’re not going to church (for whatever reason, even if you were hurt), please go back.  Just find a church that teaches the Word and soon after take a pastor to lunch and ask them to invest in you.

2. If you know someone that needs to be loved back to the flock… DON’T HESITATE! They need you to love them.

3. If you’ve settled into life and not spiritually invested your life into someone else… GET UP AND DO IT!  

4.  If you ever want to talk, please don’t hesitate to contact Judi & I.  We love you and will always make time for you.

undone,

chris