05/17/2022
I suppose an update is long over due. I do not like talking about my happenings on social media, but I use this platform to keep my prayer partners informed. Thank you for praying for my family and I. Your prayers are being answered in so many ways. I can't give you details, but I can give you some over arching things that have been going on in my life the last year or so.
This July, I will officially be done with my master's degree. Better late than never. It was hard for me to make the decision to switch to a lesser degree, and even harder to carry on to complete the degree after I had failed my capstone twice. I successfully completed and passed my capstone class and have one final course to complete. History of Global Christianity. Surprisingly, I am looking forward to the class. I've read through the introductions to the text books, and they seem like some well written texts. Ordinarily I struggle with textbooks like this, but I enjoy being able to have just one course to focus my attention on at once. Taking the smaller degree has allowed me to take my time in these courses and really absorb the things we are being taught.
I will also be getting ordained this Summer, June 24th, 7 pm at College Wesleyan Church. For me, ordination is a culmination and continuation of a call God has placed on my heart over 15 years ago. I feel affirmed in this process, and empowered to live out my call. Not just by my denomination, but by the friends and family that have supported and prayed for me through the years and spoken that truth into me.
I am now pastoring a small church in Huntington County, Indiana. This is where Ally and I felt strongly God was leading us to. For what purpose, I am not entirely sure, but we continue to be sure that God has placed us here. When God calls us to something, it's not to be successful or to fail; he calls us and we obey, and in that obedience alone is God pleased with us. It's been incredibly important to me in the last several years to acknowledge this truth because when we wrap our calling up in success, we lose sight of what God has for us. I see many pastors dropping out of ministry, not because they are not called, but because they felt they failed God. If we've obeyed Him in the first place, God is pleased.
I am bi-vocational, meaning, as well as pastoring, I grind stumps as a secondary source of income. The business is going well after having a year to firmly seat my reputation in our area as a reputable business. I enjoy it, not because it's fun work, but because it is an extension of my ministry. I am not in the chruch constantly handling administrative duties and sermon writing. Often I am in the community, getting to know my neighbors and sharing my story with them.
Ally and I are currently unsure of what the future may hold for us, but we are sure of this, we will continue to be faithful to the things God calls us to because we don't always know what's best for us. One of the last and possibly most important thing my Grandpa told me was to be faithful to God, and he'll be faithful to me. I believe that, and have believed it my whole life; and from my experience this continues to be true. Thanks for praying for me and my family. Do let me know if you have any questions or just want to hear more from me.
