On The Move
As someone who craves consistency, my vocational journey has been anything but in recent years. Since 2018, I've held 4 jobs, each with a unique contribution to my understanding of calling. Adaptability has been a necessary strength for me and one that I haven't yet had in my top 10, according to Gallup.
For those who have been following along, I left Fuller Seminary in 2018 and then started up at a non-profit for about 6 months before landing a full-time job at APU (my alma mater). In January of this year, I received an unexpected phone call that would once again change my work trajectory, but almost circling back to where I started.
When I was wrapping up my seminary degree, I wrote a 40-something page capstone project on what I believed my unique contribution to the Kingdom would be. I wanted to work at a church, overseeing small groups or somehow involved in Christian Education, helping people become faithful interpreters of Scripture, learning how to apply that to ministry, and better our hands and feet for fruitful ministry. In that paper, I valiantly argued that many believers are good at discerning what a passage might mean but often miss what the author(s) intended to communicate. The mantra that day was, "A text, without a context, is a pretext, for whatever you want it to mean." This really means that if we aren't careful with what words really meant or read with too much of a Western lens, we might miss out on what the Scriptures really have for us.
I've heard a few modern wisdom sayings over the years. "One phone call can change your life." And "the best opportunities come when you aren't looking." I'm sure we can name a few other sayings that somehow help us interpret our situation, that help "shape our destiny." For me, both of those (quite literally) rang true. After a few phone calls, an interview over dinner at Corner Bakery, and lots of prayer, our family decided to take a new opportunity in San Diego. I recently accepted a job and started working as the Director of the Rock School of Ministry at Rock Church San Diego under Pastor Miles McPherson. I've got a few good friends on staff there who I've had the chance to work with at some previous places of employment.
I used to sort of snort/scoff when people said, "nothing is lost on God," mainly because I hadn't experienced anything like that. I felt plenty of things were "lost," especially some of my big dreams. While in seminary, I received a scholarship from a generous donation from the Kern family; the scholarship's condition was to take on a full-time job at a church upon graduation. While I love the church, I also love the Academy and found myself one foot in each world, except the paychecks came from the Academy. Today, I am wrapping up my 7th week on staff at a church, bringing a little bit of academics into the life of the church through the school of ministry.
This summer, Kristen, Zane, and I will move to San Diego to start our new ministry season. We are excited about how God has flattened the hills that represent our challenges and questions and filled in the valleys of our doubts and insecurities. I can't wait to share more with you soon about what we are doing at Rock Church and how you can be involved in the Rock School of Ministry.
Much love, friends!