A New Chapter

4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
    he delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him are radiant;
    their faces are never covered with shame.
6 This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;
    he saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
    and he delivers them. - Psalm 34:4-7

After many months, many letters written, and many meetings, it's (temporarily) official! Starting October 1st, I will be employed by St. Mark's U.M.C. full-time! The Executive Council voted last Tuesday to proceed with my proposal for the remainder of the year until the committee, which has been assigned the task of sorting through current employee roles, can make their official recommendation.

This is great news for me, as I was recently laid off of my "other" half-time position and was left looking for other part-time or full-time employment. I was concerned that I would not be able to find a job that fit with my current work schedule for the church, and I would be forced to make an unfortunate decision between staying at the church part-time, or working somewhere else full-time. Fortunately the Executive Council came through and I will now be spending all of my time working at St. Mark's in both the Music Ministry and Youth Ministry positions.

This (I hope) is great news for the Youth and Music ministry areas of St. Mark's as well! I will now have more hours to dedicate to the Youth of the church, which will increase the opportunities we have exponentially! Some of my preliminary ideas include: separate Jr. High/Sr. High meetings, (not all the time, just on occasion) and more one on one time with Youth and their families. The possibilities are really limitless.

I should, of course, say thank you to all of you who supported me in this time! I received some AMAZING letters of support from parents and Youth alike! I am not in the habit of asking people to write a letter telling me how great I am, so to say I felt uneasy about it is an understatement. But, wow! What great things to hear from such great people! To know how much support I have from the church community was probably the biggest blessing to come out of the whole ordeal. I cannot thank you all enough for your kind words of support!

I started working in Youth Ministry as a calling I felt. I didn't know when I started how long I would work in Youth Ministry. The average Youth Minister stays in the field for an average of 1.5 years, and frankly, if you had told me that's how long I would have worked as the Youth Director at St. Mark's when my time first began, I probably would have believed you. But now, more than three years on, I feel more than ever that I am in the right place. I am so excited for the future of this Youth Group!

Blessings,
Rob