Now that it’s been officially announced, I can write this. Pete and Kathy, our senior pastors announced this morning that they’ll be moving on and planting in the inner city. In many ways it’s been a long time coming – they’ve been pretty worn out for quite a while and it’s probably what needs to happen for the church itself to move from being a church of 400 to anything bigger, but it’s a pretty hard thing to come to terms with.
I had a chat with Pete on some unrelated stuff on Thursday morning and he let me know then, and to tell you the truth it’s taking quite a bit of processing to get used to. It’s part of the reason I’ve been a little bit less positive in the last few days postings, and why I’m a little bit everywhere at the moment.
As silly as it obviously sounds, I always had in the back of my mind that Pete and Kathy would always be around. I’ve been a part of Pete’s churches for most of my life – first in Bendigo and then here, so I haven’t got much experience of anyone else being in charge. And while I know for certain that it’s a positive thing that I’ll now be experiencing a new leadership style and see church done differently; it certainly has attached to it a lot of fear.
And when that’s coupled with Mark and Jamie leaving the youth ministry, it’s a pretty scary time in general. I know that it’s probably what is needed, and it’s almost certainly going to force me to put a lot more faith in God, there’s certainly a not-insignificant amount of fear attached.
Geoff is a 25 year old Database Administrator Consultant. He was a volunteer youth leader at Yarra Valley Vineyard Christian Fellowship for 6 years, but doesn't do that any more. He is cursed with barracking for Richmond. His favourite number is 17 and his favourite song is Last Goodbye by Jeff Buckley
in the past two years or so, my own church has witnessed the miniters (both of them) leave in pretty hard cirumstances (both had been at the church for 15 or so years).
and then God brought us someone else, and he left too (he was from america, and only around for a year).
i guess this level of uncertainty and not knowing exactly where God is leading you is hard. but, i guess something which you have to beleive is that God has it in control. he knows what hes doing even if we dont. (and yes, there is the calvinist coming out in me).
Yeah, I guess my biggest problem is not just believing that God’s got it in control, but actually being able to rest on that and not giving in to the temptation to let it all get stressful. Appreciate the comment though Sam – it’ll be good to have another Calvinist putting in 2 cents worth (although I suspect we might get more than just your 2 cents)
another calvinist?
whos the other?
Rick (aka Ckgod1) is an evangelistic predestinationalist. He loves it. But given that he’s an American living in Germany, you’ve got to expect him to be a little bit different.