Changing Ministry

This Sunday we announced that I will be stepping down at the youth minister in September due to the financial situation of the congregation. The reality is I am in a shrinking town and the church is shrinking with it and the congregation cannot afford two full-time ministers. I have known since the beginning of this year that this would have to be done, but the date was set a couple of weeks ago. It is not a decision that the elders or I wanted to make, but had to make.

Parkway has been very good to me. I will have been here three years this August. They have been supportive of my ministry, and I never felt like a “hired hand” but like a full member of the congregation with full love and support. I have made some wonderful friends and have thoroughly enjoyed working with my youth group. Not only has Parkway been good for my career, but it has been good for my life as a whole. I have been able to be there with and for my family, and I have been able to grow and love with a good church family. Being here has been an answer to prayer. God was with me in all my frustration in my youth ministry job search by giving me more than what I hoped for by allowing me to live with my family.

As for me, I will be looking for another ministry position in the area (youth or preaching). I am staying close to Martin so that I can be there for my nieces. I promised Ashley that I would be close until she graduated. If full time minstry doesn’t work out at this time, I will be working somewhere and still involved in ministry as much as I can be. If I am not ministering elsewhere, there is no reason for me to leave the congregation here. I do know I will take some time to visit some other congregations, but this is a good place to be and a place that I can still volunteer with.

I am blessed to be able to make my living doing what I love to do. I consider it a privilege to be able to do full-time ministry. But if I don’t have the opportunity at the moment, I will still be involved in the church and in the Lord’s work. I can do nothing else. It brings my heart joy. I told myself a when I started in ministry that if it ever became “just a job” than I needed to get out of it, fast. Times like this remind me how much I enjoy ministering, and that I would be doing this regardless.

Of course I don’t know what the future has in store, but I do know that God is the God of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and that with every door that closes, it provides an opportunity for one to be opened. I know that the Lord will take care of me and regardless of the circumstances, it will work out to His glory, and I am excited to see what He has in store.